Passed CWNA after 16 days

Hey all,

I just passed my CWNA exam, I am not as happy with my score as I would like to be but considering I studied for 16 days I cannot be that critical.

Radio Frequency (RF) Technologies 75%
IEEE 802.11 Regulations and Standards 80%
IEEE 802.11 Protocols and Devices 78%
IEEE 802.11 Network Implementation 60%
IEEE 802.11 Network Security 100%
IEEE 802.11 RF Site Surveying 71%

Totatl Score: 76%

Tools Used:
OnlineExpert.com : CWNA videos by Tom Carpenter
CWNA/CWSP : For Technical references (will write a review later)
CWNA Official Study Guide : Outstanding for providing exam knowledge and theory lacking in other areas (will write a review later)
GT Hill's Study Guide : Great quick overview of facts (will not help you understand exam questions)

Next: CWSP, VCP 4 and CEH through October and November

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Comments

veritas_libertas

Congratz! What is your thoughts on the exam? Do you feel like you have a much better handle on how Wi-Fi works?

dynamik

I think my score was something similar; some of the questions are pretty obscure. Congratulations all the same! I hope you have an interest in EAP because that makes up about half of the CWSP.

Chris:/*

The exam is not easy and does require a lot of analysis. I have heard there are those easy questions with basic definitions and so forth on it, well I did not get those. I really do believe I understand wireless communications better. I have experience with antennas and satellite communication already but not as much with over the air communication. So this really helped.

Thanks for the congrats and as dynamik said some of those questions you really have to filter.

JDMurray

Congratulations!

And your passing score only matters if you wanted to become a CWNP instructor.

ajmatson

Congrats on the pass.

Chris:/*

Thanks!

earweed

Congrats on the pass!
Did your experience figure into you're being able to prepare in such a short time?

Chris:/*

I memorize things very very quickly and can readily apply them. This binge studying I do is partly because I have so much I am currently required to know for my job and school.

That being said if I did spend more time on doing practice questions I would have done better on the test. The hang up for me was ascertaining what was needed in the form of the answer. I knew the material very well and understood it I just needed more practice applying the knowledge.

I typically spend 4 to 6 hours a night studying and around 12 hours each Saturday and Sunday. Since I have a family I do a large portion of the studying after they are in bed, so I survive through the week with about 4 to 5 hours of sleep each night.

mamono

Congrats!!!

cisco_certs

Chris:/* wrote: »

I memorize things very very quickly and can readily apply them. This binge studying I do is partly because I have so much I am currently required to know for my job and school.

That being said if I did spend more time on doing practice questions I would have done better on the test. The hang up for me was ascertaining what was needed in the form of the answer. I knew the material very well and understood it I just needed more practice applying the knowledge.

I typically spend 4 to 6 hours a night studying and around 12 hours each Saturday and Sunday. Since I have a family I do a large portion of the studying after they are in bed, so I survive through the week with about 4 to 5 hours of sleep each night.

congrats. Im currently studying this next.

anup.ch

hello boss,
I want to do some wireless based certification course but I dont know the difference between cwna/sp/np. Can u suggest any idea about this one n also which course is better to do as I completed master degree in Wireless communications.
thanks for ur help

Bokeh

Everything you want to know is here:

CWNP

anup.ch

10x bokesh......

Chris:/*

anup.ch wrote: »

10x bokesh......

I do not understand this comment, help?

JDMurray

Probably meant, "Ten thanks, Bokeh"

Chris:/*

Thanks JD.

Bl8ckr0uter

Chris:

How much wireless experience did you have when you started studying?

Chris:/*

Hey Bl8ckr0uter,

I have significant experience with SATCOM, RF, Oscilloscopes, Spectrum Analyzers, Wireless Penetration Testing and SOHO Wireless. I have had limited experience with Enterprise class Wireless installation or troubleshooting. So my foundation on RF theory and SATCOM communications is very strong but my actual work experience with Wireless Enterprise is weaker than I would like it to be for now.

Now this helped me pull all the pieces of the exam together and there were a lot of Ah Hah moments for me. That being said it is not required to pass the exam, I think even without my experience I could have plugged through in a similar timescale.

Let me know if I can help.

Cheers.

Bl8ckr0uter

I am trying to decided if it is worth it. Since I am going to be rolling out an enterprise level wireless network at some point soon, it seems like it would be a nice little piece of paper to study for/have. It might be something to load balance off of when I am doing the C|EH. Plus CWNP is selling CWTS, CWNA and CWSP books and practice test for 100 (total). That's a killer deal.

Chris:/*

I strongly recommend the CWNA program for such a project.

Bl8ckr0uter

Chris:/* wrote: »

I strongly recommend the CWNA program for such a project.

I looked at the objectives.

Man I realized how much I don't know about wireless.

Chris:/*

Agreed too many people overestimate what they really know about wireless. Since most people's exposure to wireless is SOHO class devices the reality shocks them.

Bl8ckr0uter

Chris:/* wrote: »

Agreed too many people overestimate what they really know about wireless. Since most people's exposure to wireless is SOHO class devices the reality shocks them.

I won't get to work with any controllers (since the Sonicwall will act as the controller) but I need to do a site survey and it absolutely has to be secure. One thing I need to find out is if the wireless devices can act as a NAC server as well, so if a particular device doesn't meet certain requirements, they can only get access to a patching vlan or something. Guess wireless is another concern. It really is going to be an awesome project once I get to it lol.

Bl8ckr0uter

Ordered my books. I'm looking forward to going through the CWTS book first.

Chris:/*

Yes the WLAN Controller can have the Lightweight access points move them to a different VLAN for patching. It is more complex than your standard NAC though but it is still stated the WLAN Controller has NAC capabilities.

The reason this is more complex is because the traffic between the Wireless Controller and Lightweight Access points are already encapsulated using GRE (most of the time). The Wireless Controller can dynamically allocate workstations on different VLANs once the traffic gets to the Wireless Controller it is funneled into the corporate network. The assignment of VLAN logic is done during the authentication/association phase but the traffic is still all sent to the WLAN Controller for processing but it is encapsulated. Hope this helps.

Bl8ckr0uter

You didn't go over my head but the I am having trouble visualizing it since I have never seen it/done it. Seems like it will make sense once I get it all set up.

Chris:/*

No problem the book for CWNA is really good at explaining this.

Just think of the Lightweight Access Point (LWAP) as a gateway to the network but all the work is done on the WLAN Controller (WLANC). The LWAP just wraps all the Mac Protocol Data Unit (MPDU) information in a 802.3 Ethernet packet using Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE) and passes it to the WLANC. The WLANC acts like a centralized resource where all the intelligence resides and does the decision making process. The WLANC acts like a VPN server, NAC, VLAN capable switch and 802.1X/EAP controller and possible RADIUS server.

Bl8ckr0uter

That makes sense. So basically there is a wlan to wlan controller VPN on the network? Interesting. I have seriously creating a lan based VPN for out network but I haven't been able to justify it (to me or to my boss).

I know GRE in and of its self doesn't provide any security so why is it usually a GRE tunnel between the ap and the controller?

Chris:/*

There are security features that can be used to increase security on the LAN itself. The security algorithm between the Wireless Controller and Access Points is dependent on the brand of the devices. Just remember over the air VPNs are useless normally in an Enterprise environment because I can pick up the information while the handshakes are being accomplished. 802.1X and EAP prevent the need for over the air VPNs.

Bl8ckr0uter

Chris:/* wrote: »

There are security features that can be used to increase security on the LAN itself. The security algorithm between the Wireless Controller and Access Points is dependent on the brand of the devices. Just remember over the air VPNs are useless normally in an Enterprise environment because I can pick up the information while the handshakes are being accomplished. 802.1X and EAP prevent the need for over the air VPNs.

Handshakes for the key exchange (like isakmp) or something else? I was thinking of doing an ipsec vpn between the devices (at least for the network that is suppose to be our "enterprise" wireless. We want guest access as well).

I have a feeling that I am probably going to do CWSP as well lol. I really do like the idea of the CWAP. It seems like it might go well with the WCNA. Idk....