WEBVTT 0:00:02.780000 --> 0:00:06.640000 Hello and welcome to this video titled Wifi Components. 0:00:06.640000 --> 0:00:09.580000 In this short video, really going to be covering just one thing which 0:00:09.580000 --> 0:00:13.140000 is the different types of wifi components or what makes up a wireless 0:00:13.140000 --> 0:00:17.580000 LAN. More terminology than anything else, but let's just dig into the 0:00:17.580000 --> 0:00:22.780000 three primary components you'll find in a wifi network, starting with 0:00:22.780000 --> 0:00:25.920000 the wifi clients. 0:00:25.920000 --> 0:00:30.880000 So wifi client, technically the term for this is a wifi station. 0:00:30.880000 --> 0:00:35.000000 So if you were reading an IEEE document and you see the word station or 0:00:35.000000 --> 0:00:39.500000 sometimes just STA, that's referring to wifi client. 0:00:39.500000 --> 0:00:43.020000 So this would be anything that is an endpoint for data, anything that's 0:00:43.020000 --> 0:00:47.360000 for example originating data and then sending it on to the wifi, or maybe 0:00:47.360000 --> 0:00:52.120000 data is coming through the wireless LAN and terminating on this device. 0:00:52.120000 --> 0:00:58.460000 So wifi client means that data is not passing through it, it's not transporting 0:00:58.460000 --> 0:01:02.880000 or forwarding data, it is the origination point for the data or the termination 0:01:02.880000 --> 0:01:04.920000 point for the data. 0:01:04.920000 --> 0:01:08.940000 So wifi clients as you can see here in these graphics here would be consisting 0:01:08.940000 --> 0:01:14.060000 of things like your laptop, your smartphone, your tablet, these would 0:01:14.060000 --> 0:01:15.620000 be examples of wifi clients. 0:01:15.620000 --> 0:01:19.380000 Basically the thing that you use to get on the internet or whatever to 0:01:19.380000 --> 0:01:21.360000 do your wifi networking. 0:01:21.360000 --> 0:01:24.940000 So what makes some things, you know, obviously different from their form 0:01:24.940000 --> 0:01:29.840000 factor clearly tablets and smartphones and laptops physically look different, 0:01:29.840000 --> 0:01:34.660000 but inside these devices what are some other differentiators between wifi 0:01:34.660000 --> 0:01:37.280000 clients or wifi stations? 0:01:37.280000 --> 0:01:39.880000 Well, number one, the power source. 0:01:39.880000 --> 0:01:43.540000 So wifi clients are basically subdivided into either those that utilize 0:01:43.540000 --> 0:01:48.360000 batteries like your smartphone or your tablet and those that have an AC 0:01:48.360000 --> 0:01:52.060000 power source. Now, why would we care about that? 0:01:52.060000 --> 0:01:57.460000 Well, if you know anything about wifi physical layer or phi standards, 0:01:57.460000 --> 0:02:02.200000 you'll know that wifi bystanders have a maximum theoretical data rate. 0:02:02.200000 --> 0:02:07.160000 For example, 802.11n which came out in like 2009 had a maximum theoretical 0:02:07.160000 --> 0:02:10.080000 data rate of 600 megabits per second. 0:02:10.080000 --> 0:02:14.660000 But there's a lot of things that are involved in getting as close as you 0:02:14.660000 --> 0:02:20.600000 can to that maximum theoretical data rate, part of which is your power. 0:02:20.600000 --> 0:02:24.320000 So if you want to get as close to the maximum theoretical data rate as 0:02:24.320000 --> 0:02:28.800000 possible, your wifi client needs to have as much power available to push 0:02:28.800000 --> 0:02:29.880000 out that signal. 0:02:29.880000 --> 0:02:33.500000 So clearly if I have two clients I'm using, one is plugged in with an 0:02:33.500000 --> 0:02:37.480000 AC power source, the other of which is using a battery, there's a very 0:02:37.480000 --> 0:02:41.200000 good chance that the device is operating under the battery is not going 0:02:41.200000 --> 0:02:45.960000 to be able to get as close to that maximum theoretical rate as the device 0:02:45.960000 --> 0:02:49.540000 that's using the AC power source because it just doesn't have as much 0:02:49.540000 --> 0:02:54.840000 electrical energy available to it to push out those radio frequencies. 0:02:54.840000 --> 0:02:57.440000 So that's one difference here and a big one. 0:02:57.440000 --> 0:03:01.480000 Another one is the quantity and types of antennas. 0:03:01.480000 --> 0:03:05.660000 The more antennas you have, the faster your wifi is. 0:03:05.660000 --> 0:03:07.240000 So let's back up for a little bit. 0:03:07.240000 --> 0:03:12.860000 When wifi first came out in 1997 and then was really became popular in 0:03:12.860000 --> 0:03:18.540000 1999 with 802.11b, there was only a requirement for one antenna. 0:03:18.540000 --> 0:03:19.280000 That's all you need is. 0:03:19.280000 --> 0:03:22.480000 Matter of fact, you couldn't find anything that had more than one antenna. 0:03:22.480000 --> 0:03:26.000000 But as these wifi clauses and amendments have come out over time like 0:03:26.000000 --> 0:03:34.240000 802.11b, then 802.11n, and then 802.11ac, they have found ways of manipulating 0:03:34.240000 --> 0:03:39.240000 the electromagnetic energy by using more than one antenna. 0:03:39.240000 --> 0:03:43.900000 So once again, with the newer standards of like 802.11n, AC, and soon 0:03:43.900000 --> 0:03:47.880000 we're going to have AX, once again, to get closer to that theoretical 0:03:47.880000 --> 0:03:52.240000 maximum data rate, you have to have more antennas available to you. 0:03:52.240000 --> 0:03:55.260000 And this is also something that's different with clients. 0:03:55.260000 --> 0:03:59.540000 For example, a lot of wifi clients like a smartphone will only have one 0:03:59.540000 --> 0:04:06.460000 antenna in it. Now, by way of comparison, 802.11n is a very good option. 0:04:06.460000 --> 0:04:10.320000 Specifies that you could have, I believe, will definitely with 802.11ac. 0:04:10.320000 --> 0:04:11.620000 Let's talk about AC. 0:04:11.620000 --> 0:04:16.900000 With AC to get as close as you can to that maximum theoretical data rate, 0:04:16.900000 --> 0:04:20.640000 you would need 8 antennas. 0:04:20.640000 --> 0:04:22.720000 That's right. Imagine it for a second. 0:04:22.720000 --> 0:04:25.440000 Imagine looking at something that has 8 antennas sticking out of it. 0:04:25.440000 --> 0:04:28.980000 You would need to use all 8 of those to get as close as you could to that 0:04:28.980000 --> 0:04:34.260000 maximum multi-gigabit rate that 802.11ac offers you. 0:04:34.260000 --> 0:04:38.300000 Have you ever seen a tablet or smartphone or anything else that has 8 0:04:38.300000 --> 0:04:39.860000 antennas sticking out of it? 0:04:39.860000 --> 0:04:45.840000 Probably not. So your tablet, your smartphone typically only has 1 or 0:04:45.840000 --> 0:04:47.780000 2 antennas in it. 0:04:47.780000 --> 0:04:52.860000 Your notebooks and your laptops might have 3 antennas in them. 0:04:52.860000 --> 0:04:56.840000 So what we're saying here is the more antennas you have, the faster you 0:04:56.840000 --> 0:05:00.540000 can go. And that's another thing that differentiates one client from another. 0:05:00.540000 --> 0:05:05.300000 And then lastly, the quantity and types of transceivers. 0:05:05.300000 --> 0:05:07.220000 And you might be thinking, what the heck is a transceiver? 0:05:07.220000 --> 0:05:08.580000 I've never heard of that before. 0:05:08.580000 --> 0:05:10.420000 All right, well, think about this. 0:05:10.420000 --> 0:05:15.540000 When using radio waves, you've got transmitters and receivers. 0:05:15.540000 --> 0:05:19.100000 For example, think of the radio in your car, in your automobile. 0:05:19.100000 --> 0:05:21.000000 That just has a receiver in it. 0:05:21.000000 --> 0:05:23.360000 There's no way, even if you're a MacGyver or somebody else, there's no 0:05:23.360000 --> 0:05:25.720000 way you could tweak that to transmit something out. 0:05:25.720000 --> 0:05:31.220000 It doesn't electrically have the components to push out to originate a 0:05:31.220000 --> 0:05:32.440000 radio frequency. 0:05:32.440000 --> 0:05:36.100000 All it can do is listen for radio frequencies coming in and then decode 0:05:36.100000 --> 0:05:39.280000 those. That's an example of a receiver. 0:05:39.280000 --> 0:05:44.000000 So a transceiver is a component that has both transmission capabilities. 0:05:44.000000 --> 0:05:45.980000 It can originate radio waves. 0:05:45.980000 --> 0:05:48.620000 And it has receiving capabilities. 0:05:48.620000 --> 0:05:51.160000 Hence we say transceiver. 0:05:51.160000 --> 0:05:55.640000 Well, once again, in the original world of Wi-Fi back in 1999, you only 0:05:55.640000 --> 0:05:59.720000 needed one transceiver to push out the electrical energy through your 0:05:59.720000 --> 0:06:03.600000 antenna. Or that's when it was transmitting or when it was listening, 0:06:03.600000 --> 0:06:07.500000 it would receive electrical, I would receive radio frequencies on the 0:06:07.500000 --> 0:06:12.040000 antenna and then turn that into electrical energy inside the body of the 0:06:12.040000 --> 0:06:15.100000 receiver and the receiver would decode that into ones and zeros. 0:06:15.100000 --> 0:06:16.560000 You only need one. 0:06:16.560000 --> 0:06:20.440000 But once again, with the newer standards of like AC and AX to get as close 0:06:20.440000 --> 0:06:25.080000 as possible to that really, really fast rate, you need more than one. 0:06:25.080000 --> 0:06:29.540000 So this also differentiates one type of Wi-Fi client from another is how 0:06:29.540000 --> 0:06:31.780000 many transceivers it has. 0:06:31.780000 --> 0:06:36.880000 So if you're ever in the market for a new smartphone, tablet or laptop, 0:06:36.880000 --> 0:06:38.320000 now you have something to think about. 0:06:38.320000 --> 0:06:41.280000 In addition to looking at how much memory it has, well, how fast the CPU 0:06:41.280000 --> 0:06:45.360000 is, you might want to dig into the specifications and ask yourself, hmm, 0:06:45.360000 --> 0:06:48.780000 between these two laptops I'm looking at, does one have more antennas 0:06:48.780000 --> 0:06:53.660000 than the other? Does one have more Wi-Fi transceivers than the other? 0:06:53.660000 --> 0:06:56.420000 That will also be a buying decision for you. 0:06:56.420000 --> 0:06:58.500000 So we clearly have the clients. 0:06:58.500000 --> 0:07:04.520000 Also some Wi-Fi clients don't support the newer Wi-Fi standards. 0:07:04.520000 --> 0:07:08.980000 For example, 802.11AX, which has not been completely standardized yet 0:07:08.980000 --> 0:07:13.980000 and ratified, but they're expecting to do so in 2020, you might have a 0:07:13.980000 --> 0:07:17.820000 client right now that like a laptop or tablet that doesn't support 802 0:07:17.820000 --> 0:07:24.100000 .1X. It physically, its transceivers don't have the capability to manipulate 0:07:24.100000 --> 0:07:29.740000 the radio frequencies the way that 802.11AX requires it. 0:07:29.740000 --> 0:07:30.760000 So that's another thing. 0:07:30.760000 --> 0:07:33.880000 You might, once again, if you're in a buying situation with two different 0:07:33.880000 --> 0:07:40.360000 laptops, one laptop may have been produced two months ago, very expensive. 0:07:40.360000 --> 0:07:43.420000 Another laptop may have been produced last year. 0:07:43.420000 --> 0:07:47.580000 You can save a few hundred dollars by buying that one, but in the Wi-Fi 0:07:47.580000 --> 0:07:51.540000 world, that one might not support the latest and greatest Wi-Fi developments, 0:07:51.540000 --> 0:07:55.260000 so you might not be getting as fast Wi-Fi on that as if you bought the 0:07:55.260000 --> 0:07:57.640000 latest and greatest laptop. 0:07:57.640000 --> 0:08:00.840000 What's another component of a wireless LAN? 0:08:00.840000 --> 0:08:02.500000 So we've got our clients. 0:08:02.500000 --> 0:08:07.460000 Well those clients are going to connect wirelessly to a central point, 0:08:07.460000 --> 0:08:10.620000 which is called an access point or a wireless AP. 0:08:10.620000 --> 0:08:14.220000 So this is a consolidation point for clients. 0:08:14.220000 --> 0:08:19.740000 When Wi-Fi first came out, once again going back to 1997 and 1999, you 0:08:19.740000 --> 0:08:24.900000 had an option. You could actually have Wi-Fi clients like two PCs use 0:08:24.900000 --> 0:08:27.500000 their transceivers to talk directly to each other. 0:08:27.500000 --> 0:08:29.800000 That was called ad hoc mode. 0:08:29.800000 --> 0:08:33.980000 And then alternatively, you could have them talk to a consolidation point 0:08:33.980000 --> 0:08:35.600000 called an access point. 0:08:35.600000 --> 0:08:41.300000 These days in 2019, most Wi-Fi clients out there don't even have the ability 0:08:41.300000 --> 0:08:42.360000 to talk to each other. 0:08:42.360000 --> 0:08:45.600000 When you go into their Wi-Fi settings or into your networking mode, you 0:08:45.600000 --> 0:08:47.400000 can't even get them to do that. 0:08:47.400000 --> 0:08:51.280000 So pretty much all Wi-Fi, you know, indoor and outdoor Wi-Fi these days 0:08:51.280000 --> 0:08:55.880000 involves a client connecting to an access point. 0:08:55.880000 --> 0:08:59.080000 And the access points function is not only to let different clients talk 0:08:59.080000 --> 0:09:02.860000 to each other, so for example, if you and your coworker Bob are sitting 0:09:02.860000 --> 0:09:07.020000 next to each other and you want to share data over the Wi-Fi, you're not 0:09:07.020000 --> 0:09:08.740000 going to be sharing data directly with each other. 0:09:08.740000 --> 0:09:10.800000 Your radios are not going to be talking directly. 0:09:10.800000 --> 0:09:13.720000 You're going to be talking to the access point and then the access point 0:09:13.720000 --> 0:09:17.320000 will then send your signal over to Bob and vice versa. 0:09:17.320000 --> 0:09:20.380000 So that's one way an access point can be used. 0:09:20.380000 --> 0:09:25.580000 But 99.9% of the time, when you're sending your data, sending or receiving 0:09:25.580000 --> 0:09:30.140000 data via Wi-Fi, the destination is not meant for somebody sitting next 0:09:30.140000 --> 0:09:32.860000 to you. It's meant for somebody on the wired network. 0:09:32.860000 --> 0:09:35.840000 Or maybe even far away across on the internet. 0:09:35.840000 --> 0:09:38.540000 So this is another point that the access point does. 0:09:38.540000 --> 0:09:42.960000 The access point bridges the wireless and wired domains. 0:09:42.960000 --> 0:09:49.020000 It has the ability to take in Wi-Fi frames and convert them into wired 0:09:49.020000 --> 0:09:52.740000 Ethernet frames and then put them onto the wired network. 0:09:52.740000 --> 0:09:57.060000 Because remember that the way Wi-Fi frame headers are created are completely 0:09:57.060000 --> 0:10:00.900000 different than the way that wired Ethernet frames are created. 0:10:00.900000 --> 0:10:05.120000 So your access point knows the difference and can translate from one type 0:10:05.120000 --> 0:10:07.220000 of frame to the other. 0:10:07.220000 --> 0:10:11.320000 So maybe you're in the market for purchasing an access point and there's 0:10:11.320000 --> 0:10:13.120000 a lot of them out there. 0:10:13.120000 --> 0:10:14.820000 How do you differentiate between them? 0:10:14.820000 --> 0:10:16.820000 What are some of your buying decisions? 0:10:16.820000 --> 0:10:21.720000 Well, number one, you have to decide do I want a centrally managed access 0:10:21.720000 --> 0:10:25.340000 point? We sometimes call this a lightweight access point. 0:10:25.340000 --> 0:10:29.380000 Or do I want an individually managed or autonomous or standalone access 0:10:29.380000 --> 0:10:34.680000 point? What this is referring to is let's say you're purchasing an access 0:10:34.680000 --> 0:10:36.320000 point for your house. 0:10:36.320000 --> 0:10:39.520000 You want to have some wireless connectivity in your home. 0:10:39.520000 --> 0:10:42.160000 Well, in that case, you're probably going to want to get yourself what's 0:10:42.160000 --> 0:10:45.200000 called an autonomous or standalone access point. 0:10:45.200000 --> 0:10:49.360000 That's an access point that like it says doesn't need any external device 0:10:49.360000 --> 0:10:53.740000 to control it. Once you plug in that access point, you can get access 0:10:53.740000 --> 0:10:58.460000 directly to its GUI or its command line that's built right into that access 0:10:58.460000 --> 0:11:00.200000 point box itself. 0:11:00.200000 --> 0:11:03.600000 And by connecting to the access point, you can configure it, you can manage 0:11:03.600000 --> 0:11:06.560000 it, you can change it, you can turn features on and off. 0:11:06.560000 --> 0:11:08.760000 It all has that ability right there. 0:11:08.760000 --> 0:11:12.880000 Whereas let's say you're a network administrator in a company that has 0:11:12.880000 --> 0:11:15.460000 dozens or hundreds of access points. 0:11:15.460000 --> 0:11:18.360000 Well, you're probably not going to want to log into each access point 0:11:18.360000 --> 0:11:21.300000 one at a time to configure it and manipulate it. 0:11:21.300000 --> 0:11:23.760000 So that would be a case where you probably want to purchase what's called 0:11:23.760000 --> 0:11:28.600000 lightweight access points, which are centrally managed by a central box 0:11:28.600000 --> 0:11:33.440000 that we're going to get into the next slide that controls all of these 0:11:33.440000 --> 0:11:37.580000 access points. So in that case, the access point itself might not even 0:11:37.580000 --> 0:11:40.700000 have a GUI. It might not even have a command line that you could get into 0:11:40.700000 --> 0:11:42.060000 even if you wanted to. 0:11:42.060000 --> 0:11:47.420000 You'd have to access this other box itself and from there, it can manage 0:11:47.420000 --> 0:11:49.100000 the access point. 0:11:49.100000 --> 0:11:52.480000 What other things make access points different from each other? 0:11:52.480000 --> 0:11:57.560000 Well, the quantities and types of transceivers or you could say the radios 0:11:57.560000 --> 0:12:04.200000 within them. Most access points these days support both a 2.4 gigahertz 0:12:04.200000 --> 0:12:07.540000 transceiver and a 5 gigahertz transceiver. 0:12:07.540000 --> 0:12:12.580000 Now these are physically separate electronic components, a 2.4 gigahertz 0:12:12.580000 --> 0:12:16.980000 transceiver. If that burns out and gets fried, if your 5 gigahertz transceiver 0:12:16.980000 --> 0:12:20.380000 is still working, you can still connect to that with your Wi-Fi clients. 0:12:20.380000 --> 0:12:23.180000 They're physically distinct things. 0:12:23.180000 --> 0:12:25.160000 And how many of them you have? 0:12:25.160000 --> 0:12:30.360000 You know, back in the old days, back in 2000, 2001, your typical access 0:12:30.360000 --> 0:12:34.480000 point on the market would just have one 2.4 gigahertz transceiver and 0:12:34.480000 --> 0:12:37.100000 one 5 gigahertz transceiver. 0:12:37.100000 --> 0:12:38.380000 And that was it. 0:12:38.380000 --> 0:12:44.600000 Nowadays with the newer Wi-Fi standards of 802.11ac, ad, and aX coming 0:12:44.600000 --> 0:12:47.720000 out, access points need to have multiple transceivers. 0:12:47.720000 --> 0:12:53.300000 Maybe 4 or 5 or even 8 of the 5 gigahertz transceivers alone. 0:12:53.300000 --> 0:12:56.340000 And maybe 4 or 5 of the 2 .4 gigahertz transceivers. 0:12:56.340000 --> 0:13:00.220000 So the more transceivers you have, the faster that access point can go 0:13:00.220000 --> 0:13:03.840000 and the more clients can connect to it. 0:13:03.840000 --> 0:13:05.980000 And the quantities and types of antennas. 0:13:05.980000 --> 0:13:09.600000 I just talked about this in the terms of Wi-Fi stations or clients. 0:13:09.600000 --> 0:13:12.720000 The same thing here holds true with an access point. 0:13:12.720000 --> 0:13:14.980000 Well, look at that access point in the lower right corner there, that 0:13:14.980000 --> 0:13:18.560000 circle. You don't see it, but there's actually antennas in there. 0:13:18.560000 --> 0:13:21.120000 And I can guarantee you, it's got more than one antennas. 0:13:21.120000 --> 0:13:25.900000 That access point probably has at least three or four antennas built into 0:13:25.900000 --> 0:13:30.740000 it, minimum. So the quantities and types of antennas is important. 0:13:30.740000 --> 0:13:34.060000 So once again, if you're in a buying situation with access points and 0:13:34.060000 --> 0:13:37.180000 you can spend a little bit more money getting the access point that has, 0:13:37.180000 --> 0:13:41.940000 let's say, 8 antennas versus the other access point that only has 4, you'd 0:13:41.940000 --> 0:13:45.100000 be better going with the more expensive access point because it can have 0:13:45.100000 --> 0:13:50.780000 more clients connected to it and it can go faster. 0:13:50.780000 --> 0:13:55.140000 Another differentiator is whether the access point is indoor or outdoor. 0:13:55.140000 --> 0:13:58.000000 A lot of times we don't really think of this, but this is true. 0:13:58.000000 --> 0:14:00.760000 There are outdoor access points you can get. 0:14:00.760000 --> 0:14:04.800000 These are typically installed like on the walls of buildings, externally 0:14:04.800000 --> 0:14:09.760000 facing buildings or maybe on light posts outside or telephone poles. 0:14:09.760000 --> 0:14:13.120000 But these are meant to give people outside walking around or possibly 0:14:13.120000 --> 0:14:16.740000 even driving access to Wi-Fi connectivity. 0:14:16.740000 --> 0:14:21.620000 But clearly an outdoor access point has different needs than an indoor 0:14:21.620000 --> 0:14:24.920000 access point. An outdoor access point is going to have all sorts of fluctuations 0:14:24.920000 --> 0:14:28.100000 in temperature. It might get rained upon. 0:14:28.100000 --> 0:14:31.340000 It might get snowed on and icicles might hit it. 0:14:31.340000 --> 0:14:36.860000 So it has to be able to withstand all those weather elements. 0:14:36.860000 --> 0:14:39.040000 An indoor access point, not so much. 0:14:39.040000 --> 0:14:43.460000 So you could say that an outdoor access point is more ruggedized than 0:14:43.460000 --> 0:14:44.920000 an indoor access point. 0:14:44.920000 --> 0:14:47.300000 And you're going to pay a little bit more for that outdoor access point 0:14:47.300000 --> 0:14:49.300000 because of that. 0:14:49.300000 --> 0:14:56.160000 And then lastly, another differentiator is enhanced and proprietary features. 0:14:56.160000 --> 0:15:02.240000 So your typical Wi-Fi standards of like 802.11n, 802.11ac, if you read 0:15:02.240000 --> 0:15:06.900000 those documents which are really heavy reading by the way, there are lots 0:15:06.900000 --> 0:15:10.440000 of different features that the standard itself can do. 0:15:10.440000 --> 0:15:15.740000 Some of which are mandatory, some of which the document will say, hey, 0:15:15.740000 --> 0:15:19.060000 if you want to, you can use this feature and you can use this feature. 0:15:19.060000 --> 0:15:23.520000 So any access point that supports, let's just pick one out of thin air, 0:15:23.520000 --> 0:15:29.420000 802.11ac. Any access point that says it's 802.11ac should support every 0:15:29.420000 --> 0:15:34.860000 single feature whether it's optional or mandatory that's in the AC specification. 0:15:34.860000 --> 0:15:39.980000 But above and beyond that, if that access point was created by Cisco as 0:15:39.980000 --> 0:15:44.060000 an example, Cisco quite probably will also have their own proprietary 0:15:44.060000 --> 0:15:49.020000 features built into that access point as well to do it other fancy spiffy 0:15:49.020000 --> 0:15:54.260000 things that maybe a maraki or a ruckus or an aruba access point would 0:15:54.260000 --> 0:15:55.440000 not be able to do. 0:15:55.440000 --> 0:15:57.560000 So that's another thing that differentiates them. 0:15:57.560000 --> 0:16:00.960000 So so far in a wireless LAN, we've talked about two different components. 0:16:00.960000 --> 0:16:05.940000 The two main components you have to have are your stations, which are 0:16:05.940000 --> 0:16:09.600000 your clients, and they all connect to an access point. 0:16:09.600000 --> 0:16:14.220000 The third thing which is optional is called a Wi-Fi controller. 0:16:14.220000 --> 0:16:17.900000 Now this goes with those lightweight access points I just talked about. 0:16:17.900000 --> 0:16:23.500000 This manages a group of access points if they are lightweight access points. 0:16:23.500000 --> 0:16:25.060000 So it controls them. 0:16:25.060000 --> 0:16:29.260000 It can also control Wi -Fi access for clients. 0:16:29.260000 --> 0:16:33.340000 So if you're a network administrator for a large company that has dozens 0:16:33.340000 --> 0:16:36.560000 or hundreds of access points, you're probably going to want them to be 0:16:36.560000 --> 0:16:40.000000 centrally managed by one of these things called a controller. 0:16:40.000000 --> 0:16:42.820000 And sometimes a controller is a physical box like here's a very small 0:16:42.820000 --> 0:16:44.500000 one that we see right here. 0:16:44.500000 --> 0:16:47.520000 Sometimes a controller will just be a software element that you'll load 0:16:47.520000 --> 0:16:51.260000 into a server. But either way, the main point that controller is to number 0:16:51.260000 --> 0:16:53.380000 one, discover all the access points. 0:16:53.380000 --> 0:16:57.180000 It has to somehow know where they are and what their IP addresses are. 0:16:57.180000 --> 0:17:01.560000 Number two, it'll probably download some software or firmware onto those 0:17:01.560000 --> 0:17:04.480000 access points to make sure they're all operating at the same software 0:17:04.480000 --> 0:17:08.140000 levels. Number three, it'll probably push out a standard configuration, 0:17:08.140000 --> 0:17:11.180000 all of them saying, hey, access point over here. 0:17:11.180000 --> 0:17:14.520000 Okay, your Wi-Fi network is going to be called payroll. 0:17:14.520000 --> 0:17:17.720000 Access point over here, your Wi-Fi network is going to be called HR. 0:17:17.720000 --> 0:17:20.480000 So it'll push that stuff down to the access points. 0:17:20.480000 --> 0:17:26.700000 And then from a security perspective, we have the question of who is allowed 0:17:26.700000 --> 0:17:28.360000 on the Wi-Fi network? 0:17:28.360000 --> 0:17:31.420000 What are they allowed to do when they get on the Wi-Fi network? 0:17:31.420000 --> 0:17:33.740000 The controller can also control that. 0:17:33.740000 --> 0:17:38.540000 So when a client, like a laptop, a PC, or a tablet, first connects to 0:17:38.540000 --> 0:17:42.320000 an access point, the access point might say, hey, who are you? 0:17:42.320000 --> 0:17:43.800000 Give me your credentials. 0:17:43.800000 --> 0:17:46.460000 Once that client provides the credentials, maybe just something as simple 0:17:46.460000 --> 0:17:47.600000 as a passphrase. 0:17:47.600000 --> 0:17:51.360000 At that point, you as a network administrator, you have a choice. 0:17:51.360000 --> 0:17:55.080000 Even though that's a lightweight access point, you could say, hey, access 0:17:55.080000 --> 0:17:59.560000 point, you yourself are going to be in charge of authenticating this client. 0:17:59.560000 --> 0:18:01.640000 We're not going to bother the controller with that. 0:18:01.640000 --> 0:18:04.680000 I'll give you the information you need to be able to do that yourself. 0:18:04.680000 --> 0:18:08.120000 Or we could have the authentication information pass through the access 0:18:08.120000 --> 0:18:10.320000 point and go up to the controller. 0:18:10.320000 --> 0:18:13.200000 So that's what this saying right here, control Wi-Fi access for clients. 0:18:13.200000 --> 0:18:16.820000 Maybe we want the controller to have the visibility of every single client 0:18:16.820000 --> 0:18:20.700000 that's connected, what credentials they have supplied, how long they've 0:18:20.700000 --> 0:18:24.220000 been connected, and variety of other things. 0:18:24.220000 --> 0:18:27.220000 So you're in the market for a Wi-Fi controller. 0:18:27.220000 --> 0:18:30.260000 What are some differentiators of those? 0:18:30.260000 --> 0:18:35.120000 Number one, the quantity of Wi -Fi clients that are supported. 0:18:35.120000 --> 0:18:38.420000 Pretty much every controller that's out there will support at least 100 0:18:38.420000 --> 0:18:42.840000 or so clients. But a lot of the bigger controllers can support tens of 0:18:42.840000 --> 0:18:45.540000 thousands of Wi-Fi clients. 0:18:45.540000 --> 0:18:49.740000 Clearly, the features that are available, and depending on who produced 0:18:49.740000 --> 0:18:53.500000 the controller, whether it's Cisco or Ruba or somebody else, you'll have 0:18:53.500000 --> 0:18:55.600000 different features available. 0:18:55.600000 --> 0:18:59.200000 And the control you're buying is an appliance, or is it cloud-based? 0:18:59.200000 --> 0:19:01.460000 An appliance would be like what we see here in the graphics, something 0:19:01.460000 --> 0:19:05.360000 you can physically hold in your hands, you can plug a cable into, requires 0:19:05.360000 --> 0:19:07.260000 you to plug it into a power source. 0:19:07.260000 --> 0:19:08.200000 That's an appliance. 0:19:08.200000 --> 0:19:12.060000 Cloud-based is a software -based controller. 0:19:12.060000 --> 0:19:17.240000 So you could actually have a controller residing in Amazon web services, 0:19:17.240000 --> 0:19:21.320000 for example. You could use AWS and have your controller there, and it's 0:19:21.320000 --> 0:19:24.600000 able to reach out and talk to all of your access points. 0:19:24.600000 --> 0:19:27.160000 That's possible as well. 0:19:27.160000 --> 0:19:30.640000 And the type and quantity of up-link interfaces. 0:19:30.640000 --> 0:19:35.100000 So your controller is going to be physically connected to the wired network. 0:19:35.100000 --> 0:19:38.040000 That's how it's going to talk to the Wi-Fi access points. 0:19:38.040000 --> 0:19:41.860000 So while each access point is doing Wi-Fi with its clients, the access 0:19:41.860000 --> 0:19:46.280000 point also has at least one wired Ethernet cable. 0:19:46.280000 --> 0:19:49.680000 Probably a fast Ethernet, maybe a gigabit Ethernet cable, but that's how 0:19:49.680000 --> 0:19:53.300000 it connects to the wired network, and that's the cable it uses to talk 0:19:53.300000 --> 0:19:54.840000 to the controller. 0:19:54.840000 --> 0:19:58.240000 So another different share of controllers is how many physical cables 0:19:58.240000 --> 0:19:59.460000 can they connect to? 0:19:59.460000 --> 0:20:03.220000 Do they have connectors for 10 gigabit, 40 gigabit, fiber optic cables, 0:20:03.220000 --> 0:20:04.680000 or just copper cables? 0:20:04.680000 --> 0:20:07.340000 Those are some differentiators there as well. 0:20:07.340000 --> 0:20:11.700000 So as we can see here, the three to sum it up, the three components of 0:20:11.700000 --> 0:20:16.620000 a wireless LAN or a Wi-Fi network are your Wi-Fi stations, which is the 0:20:16.620000 --> 0:20:20.460000 technical term for your clients, like your laptops, your PCs, your tablets, 0:20:20.460000 --> 0:20:21.720000 your smartphones. 0:20:21.720000 --> 0:20:26.440000 All those devices connect to a central consolidation point called an access 0:20:26.440000 --> 0:20:31.060000 point. So at minimum, you have to have those two, and then optionally, 0:20:31.060000 --> 0:20:34.700000 you could get a controller involved which controls and manages the access 0:20:34.700000 --> 0:20:38.100000 points if you have a lot of access points to deal with. 0:20:38.100000 --> 0:20:40.520000 So that concludes this video. 0:20:40.520000 --> 0:20:42.080000 Thank you very much for watching.