Users have been reporting that their wireless access point is not functioning. They state that it allows slow connections to the internet, but does not provide access
to the internal network. The user provides the SSID and the technician logs into the company’s access point and finds no issues. Which of the following should the
technician do?
A.
Change the access point from WPA2 to WEP to determine if the encryption is too strong
B.
Clear all access logs from the AP to provide an up-to-date access list of connected users
C.
Check the MAC address of the AP to which the users are connecting to determine if it is an imposter
D.
Reconfigure the access point so that it is blocking all inbound and outbound traffic as a troubleshooting gap
Explanation:
The users may be connecting to a rogue access point. The rogue access point could be hosting a wireless network that has the same SSID as the corporate
wireless network. The only way to tell for sure if the access point the users are connecting to is the correct one is to check the MAC address. Every network card
has a unique 48-bit address assigned. A media access control address (MAC address) is a unique identifier assigned to network interfaces for communications on
the physical network segment. MAC addresses are used as a network address for most IEEE 802 network technologies, including Ethernet and WiFi. Logically,
MAC addresses are used in the media access control protocol sublayer of the OSI reference model.
MAC addresses are most often assigned by the manufacturer of a network interface controller (NIC) and are stored in its hardware, such as the card’s read-only
memory or some other firmware mechanism. If assigned by the manufacturer, a MAC address usually encodes the manufacturer’s registered identification number
and may be referred to as the burned-in address (BIA). It may also be known as an Ethernet hardware address (EHA), hardware address or physical address. This
can be contrasted to a programmed address, where the host device issues commands to the NIC to use an arbitrary address.
A network node may have multiple NICs and each NIC must have a unique MAC address. MAC addresses are formed according to the rules of one of three
numbering name spaces managed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE): MAC-48, EUI-48, and EUI-64.
Incorrect Answers:
A: Strong encryption would not cause slow connections to the internet. WPA2 is the standard wireless network encryption method today and all new computers are
capable of using it.
Therefore, this answer is incorrect.
B: Clearing all access logs on the access point would not resolve the connectivity issues.
Therefore, this answer is incorrect.
D: Blocking all inbound and outbound traffic on the access point will render the access point useless as it will not be able to send or receive data. Therefore, this
answer is incorrect.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAC_address