Clear To Send: Wireless Network Engineering

CTS 386: A Day in the Life of a WLAN Engineer

Thank you to our sponsor: Meter: Visit meter.com/cleartosend to book a demo! Let me walk through what a day in the life of a WLAN Engineer looks like in Higher Education and in a consulting role. Both are different but they share similar characteristics. In Higher Education, the day can start with tickets or with a new Wi-Fi design. We have the flexibility here to design our day. But there’s no doubt it can be filled with unnecessary meetings. For a WLAN Engineer in a consulting role, those meetings can be absolutely necessary in order to have a positive outcome in an engagement. I’ve been fortunate to hold hats in both roles and I enjoy doing both. If you’d like to share what your day looks like as a WLAN Engineer, please leave a comment down below. The post CTS 386: A Day in the Life of a WLAN Engineer appeared first on Clear To Send.

CTS 385: Building Your Own Wi-Fi Dashboard Using APIs and Grafana

Thank you to our sponsor: Meter: Visit meter.com/cleartosend to book a demo! In this episode, we’re diving into some Python and APIs to visualize data within Grafana. This episode is part of Rowell’s automation journey. He has been learning Python with his daughter. For Rowell, this is just the beginning as he starts integrating Grafana with InfluxDB and Telegraf. A lot more has to be learned in addition to Python and API. Within the video, we look into the Mist API and see how Rowell was able to develop a script to pull specific information that could be part of a dashboard within Grafana. Resources Mist Postman Collection: https://www.postman.com/juniper-mist Mist API Documentation: https://www.juniper.net/documentation/us/en/software/mist/api/http/getting-started/how-to-get-started Install the TIG stack: https://www.turbogeek.co.uk/grafana-ubuntu-tig-stack/ Github: https://github.com/rowelldionicio/telegraf/tree/main/code Zero to Network Automation: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7LMO8gfmDqzg736fj1n1FAr8ln2Vz8Hx The post CTS 385: Building Your Own Wi-Fi Dashboard Using APIs and Grafana appeared first on Clear To Send.

CTS 384: Wi-Fi for Live Events: Lessons from the Real-World

Thank you to our sponsor: Meter: Visit meter.com/cleartosend to book a demo! Managing Wi-Fi at high-density events is a completely different game than running a typical enterprise network — it’s crowded, fast-moving, and unforgiving. In this episode, Francois and I break down what it really takes to deliver reliable event Wi-Fi, starting with planning and preparation. You have to decide early if you’re relying on the venue’s existing network or building your own (which can mean deploying hundreds of APs in just a few days), and even if it’s the same venue, the layout changes every time. What matters most is understanding how people move and behave — like when a huge crowd hits the security area and everyone downloads the conference app at once — and planning your capacity around those predictable bottlenecks so you’re not constantly reacting under pressure. We also talk about how monitoring event Wi-Fi needs a different mindset and a tighter feedback loop. Instead of waiting for tickets to roll in, you need to watch live performance signals like channel utilization, client counts per radio, and clients per SSID, because those trends tell you what’s about to break before it breaks. For visibility, we’ve leaned on custom scripts feeding Grafana dashboards from controller or cloud APIs, and when you’re on the floor you need tools that move with you — like Ekahau Analyzer with a Sidekick for raw channel utilization, or WN Pi Go for quickly spotting the APs under the most stress. And if you’re running both 5 GHz and 6 GHz, don’t forget to test with older 5 GHz-only devices, because modern clients will jump to 6 GHz and hide a bad 5 GHz experience. Finally, we get into interference and troubleshooting — because at events you’re dealing with both Wi-Fi and non-Wi-Fi problems constantly. Spectrum sweeps before the event can uncover noise sources like audio/video equipment, but one of the biggest offenders is wireless camera gear used for live streaming that blasts video across Wi-Fi channels and can even shift frequencies automatically. Add in rogue exhibitor APs running full power with 80 MHz channels and you’ve got a recipe for chaos unless you’re actively managing spectrum and enforcing RF rules. The big lesson: the more scenarios you plan for ahead of time — including staging backup APs you can activate instantly or deploying an autonomous AP on a reserved channel for a high-demand demo — the faster you can react in real time and keep the event experience solid. The post CTS 384: Wi-Fi for Live Events: Lessons from the Real-World appeared first on Clear To Send.

CTS 383: Deep Dive – Wi-Fi Troubleshooting at the Frame Level

Thank you to our sponsor: Meter: Visit meter.com/cleartosend to book a demo! This video, a deep dive on frame analysis, covers the essentials of capturing Wi-Fi frames and analyzing them using Wireshark. These skills discussed are useful for troubleshooting and for those studying for their CWAP certification. Capturing Wi-Fi Frames To properly capture 802.11 frames, a Wi-Fi network interface card (NIC) must be set to monitor mode, as simply running Wireshark will only capture data at Layer 3 and above. This video, a deep dive on frame analysis, covers the essentials of capturing Wi-Fi frames and analyzing them using Wireshark. The speakers note that the skills discussed are useful for troubleshooting and for those studying for their CWAP certification. Capturing Wi-Fi Frames To properly capture 802.11 frames, a Wi-Fi network interface card (NIC) must be set to monitor mode, as simply running Wireshark will only capture data at Layer 3 and above. Capture Tools and Tips: macOS: Users can employ the AirTool software to put their card into monitor mode and perform a packet capture on one channel. Unix-based systems are generally easier to use for capture due to more monitor-mode-friendly drivers. Dedicated Tools: Dedicated tools like the Sidekick (which uses Unix and has multiple Wi-Fi NICs for multi-channel capture) and the WLAN Go (a lightweight tool that can be attached to a phone and supports Wi-Fi 7 frame captures) are also recommended. Placement: The capture device should be closer to the client (for client-side troubleshooting) or the AP (for AP-side troubleshooting). AP Capture: Some systems allow packet captures to be performed directly on the access points, which can track a client's MAC address across different APs and channels, or even capture traffic on the wired port. Best Practice: The speakers recommend capturing all traffic first and then filtering later in Wireshark to ensure nothing is missed. Analyzing Frames with Wireshark Analysis begins by importing the 802.11 frames into Wireshark. Key features and tips for navigating potentially overwhelming files (containing thousands or millions of frames) include: 1. Filters and Profiles Display Filters: Filters are essential for cutting through the noise. Wi-Fi filters typically begin with wlan.. Right-Click Filtering: A fast way to create a filter is to right-click on a specific field in a frame and select “Apply as Filter” or “Prepare as Filter”. wlan.addr Filter: To see both uplink and downlink traffic for a specific device, modify a filter based on the transmit address (wlan.ta) to use wlan.addr instead. Profiles: Users can create or download profiles (like the WLAN Pros Master or MetaGeek profile) to store a set of default Wi-Fi filters and apply color-coding to different frame types, such as management or data frames. 2. Visual Aids and Customization Packet Diagram: This feature (found in Wireshark's preferences under the layout view) displays a diagram of the frame's header fields, bit-by-bit, which is helpful for studying different protocols. Column Customization: Columns can be added or adjusted by right-clicking on any column. Aliases: For devices not using randomized MAC addresses, users can create aliases (names) for MAC addresses in the ethers file to make the frame list more readable. 3. I/O Graphs (Input/Output Graphs) I/O graphs are an underutilized feature for visualizing events and trends over time. Roaming Analysis: They are particularly useful for analyzing roaming by graphing events like probe requests and reassociations. Signal Strength: I/O graphs can also track Layer 1 data like RSSI values over time, allowing analysts to correlate signal strength drops with client behavior like when the client starts probing. Other Applications: They can show the proportion of transmitted frames versus retry frames, or be used to visualize rate shifting. 4. Practice and Export Learning: The best way to learn is to study normal traffic first (e.g., active/passive discovery, authentication, association) to become more efficient at spotting anomalies later. Exporting: For large captures, users can mark frames of interest (Command M on a Mac) and then export only the marked packets to a new PCAP file, making the analysis of those specific frames faster and easier. Resources PCAPs – https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1werkXdRkSO0709myQ4q86Ric4tK7hGVD Wireshark cheat sheet https://www.cleartosend.net/cts-047-troubleshooting-wifi-wireshark/ Wireshark profiles: https://mrncciew.com/2025/09/02/get-rockstarwifi-wireshark-profile/ https://github.com/metageek-llc/wireshark-profiles CTS 125: 802.11 Frame Captures on Windows: https://www.cleartosend.net/wireless-frame-captures-windows/ CTS 121: Capturing Wireless Frames with a Mac: https://www.cleartosend.net/capturing-wireless-frames-mac/ CTS 102: Capturing Wireless Frames: https://www.cleartosend.net/cts-102-capturing-wireless-frames/ The post CTS 383: Deep Dive – Wi-Fi Troubleshooting at the Frame Level appeared first on Clear To Send.

CTS 382: Our Resolutions for the New Year

Thank you to our sponsor: Meter: Visit meter.com/cleartosend to book a demo! In this episode Rowell Dionicio and François Vergès, discuss their five New Year's resolutions for 2026, which encompass their Wi-Fi consulting businesses, technology, and personal well-being. Five Resolutions for 2026 Fully Understanding Wi-Fi 7 Determining the Success of MLO (Multi-Link Operation) Improving the Business (Growth, Balance, and Delegation) Leveraging Automation Tools and AI Health and Fitness Podcast Milestone Francois and Rowell reminisce on the podcast reaching its 10-year anniversary in August (started in August 2015). They are proud of this milestone and plan to continue producing content, noting the support of their listeners and community. The post CTS 382: Our Resolutions for the New Year appeared first on Clear To Send.