For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.
At WiFi Trek2016 the discussion of Wireless Packet Captures with 4 or more spacial stream AP(s) was discussed. Currently, I use a Mac Book Air and the program Airtool to take a packet capture and then analyze it in Savvius OmniPeek. The Mac Book Air has the capability to see up to three spacial streams. What happens when a new site is deployed with Cisco 3800 series AP(s) with four spacial streams? How do you capture those packets?
Certainly one way is to use a Cisco 3800 series AP as a sniffer tool. But another way is to disable the spacial streams of the radios down to three or two. This is a disruptive change, but it can be a work around if you need to see the traffic.
What are your thoughts on the topic? Do you have another plan or idea? Let me know!
Doesn’t the MacBook Air only support 2SS capture? As well isn’t the 3800 only 3SS?
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The Cisco 3800 data sheet lists the AP as 4×4 but further down it does say it is capable of three spacial streams. As for MacBook Air it seems the information is a bit less definitive. Best bet is to check the radio and chipset docs.
You could be totally correct. Thank you for responding!!! I always try my best to verify my documents and information but writing a blog is not my full time gig so I only have so much time. Feel free to make suggestions any time!
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No problem fella, I think the 3800 is 4×4:3 for an extra antenna to assist in client link. I know my 2015 MacBook Air is crippled, a 3×3 chipset with a radio shut off giving me 2×2:2
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Now you have me curious because my MacBook Air is mid 2015 as well. Plus my MacBook Pro is around that time period as well. 👍
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