OmniPeek is the go-to solution for wireless network analysis and troubleshooting, used across the industry by WLAN equipment manufacturers, consultants, and enterprise network engineers alike. OmniPeek has achieved many firsts in the WLAN analysis industry – the first Wi-Fi analyzer ever introduced, the first to support 802.11n, the first to support 802.11ac, and more. WildPackets’ OmniPeek has been carefully designed to help IT Professionals analyze and diagnose increasingly diverse volumes of network traffic, providing precise, contemporary analysis of the problems facing today’s Wi-Fi networks. Here are ten cool things you can do today on OmniPeek on WLANs!

1. Capture wireless data from anywhere, with almost anythingWireless networks are highly distributed. It is now virtually impossible to be where the problem is being reported. You need to be able to capture data remotely, with whatever is available. And you need to capture data from the most up-to-date WLAN equipment, including 802.11ac 3-stream and 4-stream. OmniPeek provides the support you need. No other product offers this level of flexibility.

• WLAN USB adapters, including 802.11ac, for when you’re near the problem

• Remote adapters, for custom AP capture support

• RemotePcap, for standard AP capture support

• OmniEngines, for distributed, 24x7 monitoring and analysis

• OmniPeek Remote Assistant, easy enough for anyone to collect data

2. See who’s connected to which APsBefore initiating any analysis, you need to get the lay of the land. The WLAN view in OmniPeek does just that, showing you which networks are available, which APs are servicing those networks, and which clients are connected to which APs, along with all of the associated configuration details (bands, channels, security, signal, noise, data rates, etc.).

3. Multi-channel analysis – visibility into all Wi-Fi trafficMost WLANs operate on multiple channels – that’s how we keep APs from interfering with each other. Analysis solutions that scan through the channels do not provide the level of detail needed for analysis and troubleshooting. For example, if your AP infrastructure uses 3 different channels, and you scan for data, you’re only getting 1/3 of the data for each channel. Your WLAN analysis solution must be able to capture data on multiple channels simultaneously, without dropping any data. OmniPeek does exactly that

10 Cool Things You Can Do with OmniPeekWireless

4. Monitor and analyze overall WLAN efficiencyThe name of the game in WLAN design is efficiency. But once everything is deployed how can you ensure that throughput and capacity you spec’d out is truly being realized? OmniPeek provides interactive dashboards that allow you to view WLAN data from just about every angle, including bits, bytes, packets, signal, noise, data rate, retransmission rate, Expert events, response time, 2-way latency, and VoFi performance. The interactivity enables correlation that allows you to see exactly what is going on, whether per user, per AP, per channel, or per data type.

5. Expert Events – alerts to WLAN issuesWhat good is a WLAN network analysis solution if you have to sit in front of it all day long? A truly effective solution runs 24x7, performing analysis for you, and leaving you to do other things. When problems begin to surface you’re immediately notified so you can take quick action. OmniPeek provides over 50 Expert analytical functions, which constantly monitor and analyze your WLAN for you. Enjoy the freedom that Expert analysis provides.

6. Roaming analysis – uniquely wirelessWireless networks are designed for mobility. As users we take that for granted every day. As analysts, we know it implies a wide range of problems that are never encountered on wired networks. Once users connect to a WLAN, roaming is typically the number one issue that impacts the user experience. Handoffs from AP to AP take time, and although 802.11 standards and improvements have been introduced over time, these handoffs can cause significant issues for users, from poor voice over Wi-Fi (VoFi) quality to dropped VPN connections. OmniPeek continuously analyzes the WLAN and identifies and logs all roaming activity, whether from AP to AP, channel to channel, or both. It reports roam time for clients and APs, and provides a “single-click” drill down for detailed,

millisecond visibility of the roaming activity.

7. Filters – see only the data of interestNetwork analyzers capture a great deal of data quickly. OmniPeek is of course designed to handle that, but when it comes to analyzing the data a smaller data set is much easier to manage, especially when you know what you’re looking for. With OmniPeek you can apply filters before starting a capture, which limits the data collected, or on-the-fly, filtering out data simply for visualization, but leaving all the collected data in tact just in case you need to apply a different filter to find what you’re looking for. OmniPeek provides over 100 built-in filters, half of which are wireless-specific. Custom filters are extremely easy to create using the GUI filter builder, or they can be created using the BPF filter bar for quick, on-the-fly access.

10 Cool Things You Can Do with OmniPeekWireless

8. Find problem packets quickly using “Select Related”“Select Related” is a unique feature in OmniPeek that provides a single-click, context-sensitive, on-the-fly filter. It is extremely useful for quickly isolating data you want to analyze in greater detail. For example, if you find a critical Expert event has been triggered, you can simply right-click on the event and choose “select related”. OmniPeek with then isolate just the packets associated with that Expert event and load them into a separate buffer for analysis. All views of that data will include only the relevant packets, making it very easy to isolate the specific traffic causing the problem.

9. Detect a rogue deviceWith the rapid adoption of BYOD, keeping track of friend or foe on your WLAN can be a real chore. OmniPeek makes it easy with simple device classification that is session independent. Once you classify a device it is stored in the OmniPeek Name Table so it will always be recognized and categorized in the same way. Devices can be identified as Trusted, Known, or Unknown. Trusted devices are typically those under your control. Known devices include things like neighboring APs – you know they’re there, but not under your control. Unknown devices should be investigated – these are possible rogue devices.

10. Quickly analyze and understand errorsErrors are a fact of life on WLANs. Wireless signals in general are vulnerable to interference, and since 802.11 operates in unlicensed radio frequency bands there can be many sources of interference. In the context of WLAN analysis, errors are typically bad packets – packets which for some reason do not adhere to the 802.11 protocol, or whose characteristics change between transmitter and receiver. Errors, and the various consequences of errors, can tell you a great deal about your WLAN environment. If a packet protocol is corrupted, or just doesn’t reach a receiver, you see retransmissions without any indication of a problem. If a packet changes along the path, but still looks like an 802.11 packet, a CRC error is generated, and again the packet is retransmitted. OmniPeek provides detailed analysis of all WLAN error conditions, allowing you to correlate errors with overall WLAN performance conditions.

10 Cool Things You Can Do with OmniPeekWireless

Copyright© 2014 WildPackets, Inc. All rights reserved. WildPackets, the WildPackets logo, OmniPeek, Omnipliance and WatchPoint are registered trademarks and OmniAdapter, OmniEngine, OmniPeek Remote Assistant, OmniVirtual, and TimeLine are trademarks of WildPackets, Inc. All other product names and trademarks are the property of their respective companies.