While wireless access to information and applications does increased productivity, wireless LANs bring a new set of management and security challenges.
Wireless technology does not replace Wired Ethernet. They compliment each other. Both wired and wireless can claim advantages over the other; both represent viable options for local area networks.
Wired Vs Wireless
|
Wired |
Wireless |
Installation |
Moderate difficulty |
Easier, but beware of interference |
Cost |
Less |
More |
Reliability |
High |
Reasonably high |
Performance |
Very good |
Good |
Security |
Reasonably good |
Reasonably good |
Mobility |
Limited |
Outstanding |
For the employee, the idea of having wireless access throughout the company is very appealing. Users interface with access points, bridges, handheld, client devices, antennas and accessories. But for the IT executive who has to deploy, manage and secure those wireless connections, things are a bit more complicated. Technicians have to deal with Wireless Switches, Gateways, Management Tools, Protocol Analyzers, Site Surveys Tools, Power Over Ethernet, Intrusion Detection Systems, Authentication and Performance Testing.
Wireless LANs can be tricky to design and deploy because you need to be able to pinpoint and resolve problems that occur during day-to-day operations, and make sure you have the tools to actively monitor and manage your wireless systems.
Popular WLAN networks all follow one of the three main Wi-Fi communication standards. The benefits of wireless networking depend on the standard employed:
In theory, wireless LANs are less secure than LANs, because wireless communication signals travel through the air and can easily be intercepted. Wireless LANs protect their data through WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) encryption standards that makes wireless communications reasonably as safe as wired ones n homes.
Corporate WLANs are more particular about security than the homeowner wireless network. 802.1x is the standard deployed to protect WLAN in major corporations. The basic 802.1X protocol provides effective authentication regardless of whether you implement 802.11 WEP keys or no encryption at all. Most of major wireless LAN vendors, however, are offering proprietary versions of dynamic key management using 802.1X as a delivery mechanism. In typical 802.1x implementations, the client can automatically change encryption keys as often as necessary to minimize the possibility of eavesdroppers having enough time to crack the key in current use.
It's important to note that 802.1x doesn't provide the actual authentication mechanisms. When utilizing 802.1x, you need to choose an EAP type, such as Transport Layer Security (EAP-TLS) or EAP Tunneled Transport Layer Security (EAP-TTLS), which defines how the authentication takes place.
The software supporting the specific EAP type resides on the authentication server and within the operating system or application software on the client devices. The access point acts as a "pass through" for 802.1x messages, which means that you can specify any EAP type without needing to upgrade an 802.1x-compliant access point. As a result, you can update the EAP authentication type as newer types become available and your requirements for security change.