2. What It Is

AirMagnet describes its products as "wireless integrity management systems". Although packet sniffing and protocol anaylsis are among the tools in the AirMagnet kit, its strengths are more in the deployment and ongoing maintenance of wireless networks. In other words, if you're a WLAN product developer trying to figure out why your new product won't associate with an AP, you may be better served by a dedicated packet sniffer / protocol analyzer. But if you're trying to find out which of your AP's are the most used, or in charge of hunting down and removing rogue APs, AirMagnet is just the ticket.

The Trio is AirMagnet's latest version of its laptop-based product adding 802.11g support , plus 22 new alarms to its 11b-only and 11a/b products. The new features include this list stolen shamelessly from AirMagnet's promo material:

Six 802.11g-specific alarms including the ability to identify pre-standard 802.11g devices and competition between 802.11b and 802.11g clients that negatively affects connectivity and lowers available throughput.

A new coverage feature that allows network managers to monitor service levels and ensure that they are in compliance with service level agreement components, including voice-over-IP (VoIP) requirements, minimum and maximum user support, throughput rates and other parameters.

A new signal quality tool that detects signal fluctuations and correctly identifies their sources as malfunctioning access points (APs), multi-path interference or a range of other possible problems.

The ability to identify multiple SSIDs within a single AP. This allows WLANs to recognize different classes of users, or set up multiple functions on a single AP by designating one SSID for VoIP and one for WLAN data.

The ability to identify the latest developments from hardware vendors, including multiple radios within a single device.

Running Laptop Trio requires a laptop running WinXP or 2000 and a wireless adapter. AirMagnet has expanded its list of supported cards to include adapters from Cisco, NETGEAR, Nortel, Proxim and its own two CardBus adapters. AirMagnet shipped me its dual-band, tri-mode NL-5354CB, which is sourced from Senao (PDF) and also available rebranded from EnGenius and other vendors.

The PocketPC-based Handheld product has also been bumped to Version 3, but only gets 16 new features. Because the PocketPC platform does not support the 32bit CardBus slot required by 802.11a adapters, it can't detect 802.11a WLANs.

However, the CompactFlash card that AirMagnet supplied for my Handheld evaluation detected both 11b and 11g APs and clients (STAs) just fine, although it could only associate with 11b APs. The Handheld product also supports Cisco AIR-LMC352 or AIR-PCM352 PC cards.

AirMagnet uses a licensing scheme that requires entering both the serial number from the install CD and MAC address of the wireless adapter used. This info is sent via Internet to AirMagnet, which then issues a license file that's downloaded to your laptop or handheld to activate the product. (There are also "alternate ways" to get a license file if you don't have an Internet connection handy.) The process worked without a hitch for both Handheld and Laptop installs.