Wi-Fi tester predicts real-world load scenarios

A new member of the EmulationEngine family provides support for 802.11i Robust Security Network (RSN) test and analysis for critical aspects of wireless network security

Extending its leadership in Wi-Fi test and analysis, Communication Machinery Corporation (CMC) has unveiled the EE-SEC, a new member of the EmulationEngine family that provides support for 802.11i Robust Security Network (RSN) test and analysis for critical aspects of wireless network security under full loads using multiple user-controllable wireless stations.
For the first time with the EE-SEC, WLAN network and equipment designers can test their features, design topography and design performance in real-world load scenarios to ensure the highest, most reliable performance possible for their security enabled WLAN products in an environment as specified in IEEE802.11i, 802.1x and 802.11 protocol operation.

In addition, using the EE-SEC, enterprises and government network engineers can create custom test scenarios and loads to anticipate performance and capacity problems before full secure wireless system deployment.

'WLAN security and performance of security enabled products is the key consideration today driving the rapid expansion of wireless LAN into core enterprise, government and business environments', said Dave Swan, CEO of Communication Machinery Corporation.

'Our customers rely on CMC's EmulationEngine to load, test, and verify their WLAN products performance to ensure they are selling solid, bug free, competitive products or designing and deploying robust and secure wireless networks'.

Only the EE-SEC includes the robust feature set that gives users the ability to control virtually all aspects of their 802.11i testing.
Using the EE-SEC, technicians can configure each of the multiple vSTA (virtual station) individually and independently to create real-world load scenarios and execute these tests with vSTA operating concurrently with bidirectional traffic and full security handshaking, exactly as if this were a multistation loading situation deployed in an enterprise setting.

This granular station-level control, over security and other parameters, and the EE-SEC's ability to impose this load on the system under test ensures the most stringent standards are designed-in and tested for products and wireless networks - every time.

The EE-SEC RSN (also referred to as 802.11i and WPA2) support includes correct handling on an individual vSTA basis of the RSN information element in beacons, probe responses, association requests and the AKMP four-way handshake, and user options for selection of RSN-PSK and RSN authentication types in addition to previous authentication modes.

The EE-SEC supports six authentication modes including open system, shared key, WPA-PSK, WPA, RSN-PSK and RSN.

With the EE-SEC, CMC also has expanded support for the Extended Authentication Protocol (EAP), a protocol supporting multiple authentication methods for WLAN access.

New EAP support includes two critical protocols for IEEE802.1X EAPoL authentication under WPA and RSN, the Protected EAP (PEAP) and the Tunnelled TLS (TTLS) authentication algorithms.

These new features, combined with the EmulationEngine's comprehensive support for TLS, allow network managers to rely on a single system for complete EAP test and analysis.

The EmulationEngine supports the TLS, TTLS with MS-CHAPv2, PEAPv0 with EAP-MSCHAPv2, and PEAPv1 with EAP-MSCHAPv2 EAP algorithms.

In addition, with the EE-SEC, engineers can build and run test scenarios which can be saved for future use.

They can also save the test run statistics and event log to a PC for review, analysis and reporting.

After changing their design, adjusting the equipment, or tweaking the network, the engineers can run the same test scenarios and compare results to identify and eliminate potentially problems or to ensure performance and operation issues are addressed.

The portable EE-SEC is priced between one-third to one-eighth the price of alternative systems, ensuring network engineers and designers that they can expand their test arsenal so units are readily available in multiple labs, in remote locations, and ready to be taken where needed.