Issues to Consider

When you are deciding what important issues to consider for your wireless
network, it is important to take the following points into consideration.


Integrating your wireless network with your wired LAN

Dealing with several access points

Radio interference

Implementing proper network security

Integration is an important issue because it helps you determine how
you can access all your regular LAN services through your wireless or
mobile computing workstations and handheld devices.
Wireless workstations will require access to file servers, print servers,
and other network resources so that users can share documents and
files with other workstations on the wired LAN. When implementing a
comprehensive integration strategy, all your systems will function
together seamlessly so that a wired user would not even notice he is
operating on the wireless network.
Dealing with several access points can become difficult. In a large
wireless network, you will have several users scattered in various
departments. Deploying the network can help you save IT costs, but
much as in a cell phone network, you need to have capabilities so that a
wireless user can literally “roam” from the range of one access point in
the accounting department to another in the production area.

The 802.11b standard falls into the commercially licensed radio spectrum
with many other wireless devices including Bluetooth, cordless
phones, and others. The problem here is that there are a number of
devices which inadvertently cause interference with this standard. The
result is reduced throughput, slower connections, or broken connections.
In contrast, however, the 802.11a standard falls in the 5-GHz unlicensed
spectrum, so it is somewhat less common for any interference to
be generated in this incarnation of the 802.11 standard.
The most important tie that binds all these elements involves network
security. Since the 802.11b standard falls in the same radio spectrum
as many other devices, several devices exist that can be easily
modified to eavesdrop and intercept WLAN transmissions. This requires
you to be more security conscious (Figure 5.2) by implementing several
key elements for your WLAN:


Wireless encryption (wired equivalent privacy, or WEP)


Do not have an “open system” that allows any wireless station to join
your network; instead have each wireless network interface card’s
unique MAC address programmed into your access point so that only
authorized wireless workstations may connect


Be aware of the range of some of your wireless transmission devices;
hackers can easily access your network from just beyond the perimeter
of your building.


Keep logs! This is your best and sometimes only defense to determine
if someone is trying to attack your wireless network and gain access
to mission-critical systems through your wireless link.