Performing Diagnostics
This chapter explains how to use the client utilities to perform user-level diagnostics.
The following topics are covered in this chapter:
•Overview of the Diagnostic Utilities
•Viewing the Current Status of Your Client Adapter
•Viewing Statistics for Your Client Adapter
Overview of the Diagnostic Utilities
The diagnostic utilities enable you to assess the performance of your client adapter within the wireless network. These utilities perform the following functions:
•Display your client adapter's current status
•Display statistics pertaining to your client adapter's transmission and reception of data
Viewing the Current Status of Your Client Adapter
The Cisco Link Status (CLS) utility enables you to view the current status of your client adapter.
Step 1 To view your client adapter's status, select Start > Programs > Cisco > Cisco Link Status. The Cisco Link Status screen appears (see Figure 6-1).
Figure 6-1 Cisco Link Status Screen
Table 6-1 interprets each element of the Cisco Link Status screen.
Table 6-1 Client Adapter Status
|
|
The first line of the Cisco Link Status screen |
Indicates the operational mode of your client adapter and the name or MAC address of any associated access point. Value: Associated, Not Associated, Authenticated, or Ad Hoc Mode |
Signal Strength |
The signal strength for all received packets. The higher the value and the more green the bar graph is, the stronger the signal. The histogram below the bar graph provides a visual interpretation of the current signal strength. Differences in signal strength are indicated by the following colors: green (strongest), yellow (middle of the range), and red (weakest). Range: 0 to 100% |
Signal Quality (Beacons Received is displayed instead if your firmware version is less than 4.05) |
The signal quality for all received packets. The higher the value and the more green the bar graph is, the clearer the signal. The histogram below the bar graph provides a visual interpretation of the current signal quality. Differences in signal quality are indicated by the following colors: green (highest quality), yellow (average), and red (lowest quality). Range: 0 to 100% |
Overall Link Quality |
The client adapter's ability to communicate with the access point, which is determined by the combined result of the adapter's signal strength and signal quality. Value: Not Associated, Poor, Fair, Good, Excellent |
Step 2 Click OK to exit the utility.
Viewing Statistics for Your Client Adapter
The Client Statistics Utility (CSU) enables you to view statistics that indicate how data is being received and transmitted by your client adapter. It also shows message integrity check (MIC) statistics if your client adapter's driver and firmware support MIC and MIC is enabled on the access point.
Note The receive and transmit statistics are host statistics. That is, they show packets and errors received or sent by the Windows CE device. Link status tests from the access point or SST are performed at the firmware level; therefore, they have no effect on the statistics shown by this utility.
Step 1 To view your client adapter's statistics, select Start > Programs > Cisco > Client Statistics Utility. The Receive Statistics screen appears (see Figure 6-2).
Figure 6-2 Receive Statistics Screen
The statistics are calculated as soon as your client adapter is started.
Table 6-2 describes each receive statistic that is displayed for your client adapter.
Table 6-2 Receive Statistics
|
|
Multicast Packets |
The number of multicast packets that were received successfully. |
Broadcast Packets |
The number of broadcast packets that were received successfully. |
Unicast Packets |
The number of unicast packets that were received successfully. |
Bytes Received |
The number of bytes of data that were received successfully. |
Beacons Received |
The number of beacon packets that were received successfully. |
PLCP CRC Errors |
The number of times the client adapter started to receive an 802.11 Physical Layer Convergence Protocol (PLCP) header but the rest of the packet was ignored due to a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) error in the header.
Note CRC errors can be attributed to packet collisions caused by a dense population of client adapters, overlapping access point coverage on a channel, high multipath conditions due to bounced signals, or the presence of other 2.4-GHz signals from devices such as microwave ovens, wireless handset phones, etc.
|
MAC CRC Errors |
The number of packets that had a valid 802.11 PLCP header but contained a CRC error in the data portion of the packet.
Note CRC errors can be attributed to packet collisions caused by a dense population of client adapters, overlapping access point coverage on a channel, high multipath conditions due to bounced signals, or the presence of other 2.4-GHz signals from devices such as microwave ovens, wireless handset phones, etc.
|
Up Time (hh:mm:ss) |
The amount of time (in hours:minutes:seconds) since your client adapter was started. If the client adapter has been running for more than 24 hours, the time is displayed in days, hours:minutes: seconds. |
Step 2 To view the transmit statistics for your client adapter, click the drop-down arrow in the bottom left corner of the screen and select Transmit Stats. The Transmit Statistics screen appears (see Figure 6-3).
Figure 6-3 Transmit Statistics Screen
Table 6-3 describes each transmit statistic that is displayed for your client adapter.
Table 6-3 Transmit Statistics
|
|
Multicast Packets |
The number of multicast packets that were transmitted successfully. |
Broadcast Packets |
The number of broadcast packets that were transmitted successfully. |
Unicast Packets |
The number of unicast packets that were transmitted successfully. |
Bytes Transmitted |
The number of bytes of data that were transmitted successfully. |
Packets Retry Long |
The number of normal data packets that were retransmitted. |
Packets Retry Short |
The number of request-to-send (RTS) packets that were retransmitted. |
Packets Max Retries |
The number of packets that failed to be transmitted successfully after exhausting the maximum number of retries. |
Up Time (hh:mm:ss) |
The amount of time (in hours:minutes:seconds) since your client adapter was started. If the client adapter has been running for more than 24 hours, the time is displayed in days, hours:minutes: seconds. |
Step 3 To view the MIC statistics for your client adapter, click the drop-down arrow in the bottom left corner of the screen and select MIC Stats. The MIC Statistics screen appears (see Figure 6-4).
Note The MIC Stats option is available only if your client adapter's driver and firmware support MIC and MIC is enabled on the access point. See "Message Integrity Check (MIC)" section for additional information.
Figure 6-4 MIC Statistics Screen
Table 6-4 describes each MIC statistic that is displayed for your client adapter.
Table 6-4 MIC Statistics
|
|
Packets MIC OK |
The number of packets that were received successfully with a valid MIC. |
Packets No MIC |
The number of packets that were discarded due to no MIC being found. |
Packets Incorrect MIC |
The number of packets that were discarded due to an incorrect MIC value. |
Packets No MIC Seed |
The number of packets that were discarded due to no MIC seed being received. |
Packets Wrong MIC Seq |
The number of packets that were discarded due to the MIC sequence number being wrong. |
Step 4 Click OK to exit the utility.