300952 Wireless and Mobile Networks

Tutorial Session, Day:

Time:

First name:

Last name:

SID:

Practical 1. Preliminary lab on WLAN

In this introductory practical session, you will establish an infrastructure Wireless Local Area
Network (WLAN) and do some troubleshooting. Before conducting this work, you are
encouraged to review some of the relevant commands, in particular: ipconfig, ping and arp.

Please carry out the instructions given below and write your answers or observations in the
space provided. Your work in this lab is assessed, with marks for each part indicated below
(for a total of 25 marks in this session). You also need to make sure that your tutor has
checked your work in each part and is satisfied with your work.

Part I: installing the wireless adapter (7 marks)

Follow these steps to install your USB wireless adapter, if not already installed.
 Install the software driver for the wireless adapter.
 Most of the wireless adapters have some configuration utility. Try to use the Windows
wireless configuration utility (by setting the adapter utility. Refer to the user guide or ask
your tutor.)
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 To see if your adapter is working properly, try to ‘view Available Wireless Networks’
relevant Windows icons or commands.

Answer the following questions:

1. 1 What is the type and model of your adapter? (1 mark)

1. 2 What is its physical address (MAC)? (1 mark)

1. 3 What WLAN standards are supported by this adapter? (1 mark)

1. 4 Try to identify an available wireless network and note their Service Set IDentifier

(SSID). Also, note down their security status (2 marks).

SSID:

Is security enabled? (Yes or No)

Security Type:

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1. 5 Does your wireless adapter support dual band? What does that feature allow you to

do? (2 marks)

Part II: Connecting to a wireless network (8 marks)

The Access Point (AP) for this lab is configured with Lab300952 as its SSID. Its IP address is
192.168.0.50. At this stage, the AP is not connected to the university network.

2.1 Before connecting to a wireless network, ask for your tutor to unplug any network cables
from your computer. Make sure that your computer is configured to obtain IP and DNS
addresses automatically.

2.2 Make sure you are connected to the wireless network, supported by the AP for this lab
(you may need to avoid using the ‘connect automatically’ option.)

2.3 Type the network security key1 provided by your tutor. Note that here:

2.4 Now, complete the following for your machine. Please note: do NOT connect any network
cables to your machine until the end of this lab.

2.4.1 Your IP address: (0.5 mark)

1
It may also be referred to as a WEP key, WPA key, Passphrase or WiFi password. Note that this may NOT be an
actual key, in its strict sense. It is used to generate the actual key used for encryption.
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2.4.2 The subnet mask: (0.5 mark)

2.4.3 The default gateway: (0.5 mark)

2.4.4 DNS Servers: (0.5 mark)

2.4.5 What is the data rate of your wireless connection? (0.5 mark)

2.4.6 What WLAN standard is used by your connection? (0.5 mark)

2.5 Based on the above information, answer the following questions:

2.5.1 Is a DHCP server enabled at the AP? Justify your answer. (1 mark)

2.5.2 Can you access the Internet? If not, what are the problems? (1 mark)

2.5.3 Can you reach the AP (try to ‘ping’ it)? (1 mark)

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2.5.4 Can you reach its admin/management page of the AP (i.e., by using IP address

of the AP in a browser)? If not, what are the problems? (2 marks)

Part III: Configuring an IP address to set up a wireless connectivity (10 marks)

Your tutor will give you a unique IP address from the range 192.168.0.2-192.168.0.49/24
subnet. Please configure your machine with the assigned IP address manually.

3.1 After configuring your machine, please write down the following information.

3.1.1 The IP address: (0.5 mark)

3.1.2 The subnet mask: (0.5 mark)

3.1.3 The default gateway: (0.5 mark)

3.1.4 DNS Servers: (0.5 mark)

3.2 Now all the machines (including yours!) should be able to communicate with the AP.

3.2.1 Ping the AP’s IP address and write down the average Round Trip Times (RTT) of

the default four Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) Echo Request messages:

(if you cannot ping the AP, ask your tutor for help with troubleshooting.) (1.5 marks)

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3.2.2 Can you reach its admin/management page of the AP (i.e., by using IP address

of the AP in a browser) and what it is asking for? (1.5 marks)

3.2.3 Ping another computer in the lab and fill the table. (2 marks)

i. IP Address:

Maximum RTT:

Minimum RTT:

Packets lost:

3.2.4 Use arp -a command to find the MAC address of the AP and the computer that
you did ping (3 marks).

i. Access point
IP address:

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Physical (MAC) address:

Type of IP (static/dynamic):

ii. Computer
IP address:

Physical (MAC) address:

Type of IP (static/dynamic):

Part IV: Uninstall wireless adapter and its driver

4.1 Uninstall the driver and utility of your wireless adapter (ask the tutor to check that) and
submit this sheet with your answers.

4.2 The tutor will check your answers and collect the wireless adapter.

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