| How we tested the WLAN tools All products were installed on our trusty Dell 710m equipped with an Intel 2915ABG wireless adapter, said adapter being used with only one of the tools tested. The objective was to install and use these products in a manner identical to how they would be applied in an end-user enterprise, and compare them functionally in a number of dimensions. Slideshow: Good options for wireless packet analysis abound If you need a tool to help capture and analyze your wireless traffic, you're not left wanting for choice. Both WLAN management suites as well as adhoc tools garnered perfect or near perfect scores in our tests, showing a very high level of maturity in this market. Other analyzers working in the wireless realm We also looked at Ufasoft Sniffer 4.126, but found it supports no contemporary WLAN adapters. This was surprising, as the program was last updated in May of 2008, but no documentation or even a help file is available. E-mails to the support contact went unanswered. WildPackets OmniPeek scores a perfect 5.0 WildPackets' OmniPeek Enterprise delivers Wi-Fi packet capture and analysis features as part of its full-featured network assurance package. It's important to mention here that OmniPeek is not specific to wireless - it's a full-function network analysis tool for wired segments as well. We must also note that there are less-expensive versions than the Enterprise one we tested so we're only making claims about this one. TamoSoft's CommView offers ease of use Tamosoft flagship product is CommView, and CommView for Wi-Fi is a special edition that provides the necessary drivers that allow a variety of off-the-shelf Wi-Fi cards to be used for capture and analysis tasks. CACE Technologies' point products hit the mark CACE is one of the most visible firms in network analysis today, offering a number of products for both wired and wireless applications. AirPcap is consequently one of the best-known tools for WLAN capture and analysis. It's based on the very popular, open-source Wireshark (formerly Ethereal) protocol analyzer. AirPcap adds the wireless-specific parts, and includes a Wi-Fi receiver as part of the package - no other adapter is required, so getting up and running is quick and easy: install the driver (as is always good practice, don't use the included CD; download the latest version), insert the USB adapter, install Wireshark, and that's it. AirDefense Mobile could improve packet capture AirDefense, one of the leading Wi-Fi security firms, is now part of Motorola. We tested their AirDefense Mobile 4.3 kit, which includes a dual-band a/b/g adapter card and several high-gain antennas. It's also possible to use a fairly restrictive set of other adapters as well, the restriction again being due to the need for custom drivers provided by Motorola. Installation was easy, although a reboot is required after the install. This product hasn't been updated in a while, and it doesn't support 802.11n at this time. Aruba's RFprotect Mobile offers a broad assurance suite Formerly part of the Network Chemistry product line acquired by Aruba, RFprotect Mobile is an omnibus WLAN assurance suite with a wide variety of functions. With respect to packet capture and analysis, however, the suite serves primarily as a source from which to get the custom drivers required to turn a set of otherwise ordinary Wi-Fi cards into sensors and (for our purposes here) packet capture vehicles. AirMagnet: A tool for every Wi-Fi occasion AirMagnet has been a fixture in the Wi-Fi assurance space since the company shipped its first Pocket-PC-based product almost a decade ago. AirMagnet offers a comprehensive set of tools for almost every WLAN venue, from handheld to enterprise class. For this test, we looked only at the company's WiFi Analyzer 8.0 (formerly Laptop Analyzer) product. | 
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