In this article, we will be focusing on IEEE 802.11k support.
Presentation of IEEE 802.11k
If you want to learn more about how IEEE 802.11k, please read the following documents from the IEEE:
- IEEE 802.11k document: https://standards.ieee.org/findstds/standard/802.11k-2008.html
- Section "Clause 10.11 Radio measurement procedures" of the 802.11-2012 standard: Link to download the IEEE 802.11-2012 standard
- Section "Clause 11.11 Radio measurement procedures" of the 802.11-2016 standard: Link to download the IEEE 802.11-2016 standard
Beacon of a Wi-Fi network NOT supporting 802.11k
- The "Country" element
- The "Power Constraint" element
- The "Radio Management (RM) Enable Capabilities" element
If these information element are not present in the Beacon, the Wi-Fi network does not support 802.11k. Here is an example of a Beacon only advertising the "Country" element. As you can see , the "RM Enable Capabilities" and "Power Constraint" elements are missing.
Configuration of 802.11k on a Cisco Wireless LAN Controller (WLC)
- Navigate to the "WLAN" menu
- Select the WLAN profile that you would like to configure. This will open up the configuration view
- In the configuration view, select the "Advanced" tab
- Finally, in the "Advanced" tab, under the 11k section, check the following check boxes:
- "Assisted Roaming Prediction Optimization" & "Neighbor List": the controller will create an optimized list of neighbors to send to the client
- "Neighbor List Dual Band": By default, the neighbor list contains only neighbors in the same band with which the client is associated. This option allows 802.11k to return neighbors in both bands.
Beacon of a Wi-Fi network supporting 802.11k
If you want to know how the client devices can take advantage of 802.11k to better roam, head over to Rasika's blog:
mrncciew.com/2014/09/11/cwsp-802-11k-ap-assisted-roaming/
If you want learn how to check if a Wi-Fi network is supporting 802.11v, head over to this post:
www.semfionetworks.com/blog/wireshark-how-to-check-if-a-wi-fi-network-supports-80211v
If you want to optimize the way you use Wireshark to perform Wi-Fi analysis, head over to this post:
www.semfionetworks.com/blog/wireshark-most-common-80211-filters
Cheers'
written by François Vergès