Cisco WLCOR 350-101 flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

dBm

Absolute power unit referenced to 1 milliwatt; 0 dBm equals 1 mW, 20 dBm equals 100 mW, and 30 dBm equals 1 watt.

EIRP

Effective Isotropic Radiated Power, calculated as AP transmit power in dBm plus antenna gain in dBi minus cable and connector loss in dB.

Fresnel zone

Ellipsoidal volume surrounding the line-of-sight path between antennas; at least 60 percent of the first zone must be unobstructed for a stable link.

SNR

Signal-to-noise ratio, the dB difference between received signal strength and the noise floor; 20 dB supports data, 25 dB or more is recommended for voice.

5 GHz channel count

Up to 25 non-overlapping 20 MHz channels are available across the US UNII bands, compared with only three usable channels in the 2.4 GHz band.

MIMO spatial multiplexing

Uses multiple transmit and receive radio chains to carry independent data streams, raising throughput roughly in proportion to stream count without requiring extra spectrum.

Predictive site survey

Software simulation using a floor plan, wall attenuation values, and AP antenna models; it produces a placement plan before any hardware is installed on site.

AP-on-a-stick survey

Manual survey method in which one AP is moved between candidate mounting locations while a survey tool records measured coverage, SNR, and cell overlap.

Validation survey

Post-installation survey confirming that the deployed network meets coverage, capacity, roaming, and overlap requirements before the customer accepts the design.

Cell overlap target

Design aim of roughly 15 to 20 percent overlap between neighboring AP cells so clients can roam without dropping; voice designs verify overlap at the -67 dBm contour.

Data rate pruning

Disabling the lowest 802.11 data rates shrinks the effective cell size, reduces airtime consumed by distant clients, and encourages faster modulation near the AP.

CAPWAP

Control and Provisioning of Wireless Access Points protocol; control traffic uses UDP 5246 and data uses UDP 5247 between lightweight APs and Cisco controllers.

Local mode AP

Access point that builds a CAPWAP data tunnel and forwards all client traffic to the wireless controller, which switches it onto the mapped VLAN interface.

FlexConnect

AP mode that keeps CAPWAP control toward the controller but switches client traffic locally at the branch, with options for local authentication and VLAN mapping.

AP join discovery order

An AP attempts DHCP option 43, DNS lookup of CISCO-CAPWAP-CONTROLLER, local subnet broadcast, a previously joined controller, and finally priming discovery.

Catalyst 9800 tags

Policy, site, and RF tags bind global profiles to a specific access point; a missing or incorrect tag is a common reason an AP fails to join.

802.11 association states

A client moves from unauthenticated and unassociated to authenticated and unassociated after 802.11 authentication, then to authenticated and associated after the association exchange.

PMK caching

Client and controller cache the pairwise master key from a prior 802.1X session so a roam needs only the 4-way handshake instead of full RADIUS authentication.

802.11r fast transition

Pre-authenticates or pre-reserves resources with neighbor APs so the key hierarchy exists before the roam, cutting handoff time to roughly 50 milliseconds.

Mobility group

Set of controllers sharing a mobility domain and exchanging client and AP information over EoIP on UDP 16666 and 16667 to support inter-controller roaming.

Mobility anchor

Configuration where a foreign controller tunnels a client's traffic to an anchor controller, usually in a DMZ, so guest traffic exits the network at one point.

SAE

Simultaneous Authentication of Equals, the WPA3-Personal passphrase handshake; it provides forward secrecy and resists offline dictionary attacks on captured frames.

Protected Management Frames

The 802.11w feature that encrypts and integrity-protects disassociation, deauthentication, and action frames; mandatory for WPA3 and optional for WPA2.

Four-way handshake

Exchanges nonces to derive the pairwise transient key from the PMK, installs the keys, and delivers the group temporal key to the client in message three.

EAP-TLS

Certificate-based 802.1X method requiring certificates on both server and client, considered the strongest EAP type because no password is ever transmitted.

Rogue AP classification

The controller compares detected BSSIDs against wired MAC tables and known APs, labeling each as unclassified, friendly, alert, or malicious.

RRM DCA

Dynamic Channel Assignment in RRM recalculates the channel plan at a default 600-second interval using interference, noise, and neighbor information.

RRM TPC

Transmit Power Control adjusts AP power in 3 dB steps based on path loss and neighbor RSSI, balancing coverage against co-channel interference.

CleanAir

Cisco spectrum intelligence that classifies non-802.11 interferers such as microwave ovens, DECT phones, and Bluetooth devices and reports them to the controller.

show wireless client summary

Catalyst 9800 command listing connected clients with MAC address, serving AP, WLAN, state, and protocol; the AireOS equivalent is show client summary.

Monitor mode AP

An access point converted to monitor mode stops serving clients and dedicates its radio to scanning for rogues, interferers, and security events.

show tech-support wireless

Collects controller configuration, logs, and diagnostic output into a single bundle used for deep troubleshooting and Cisco TAC case analysis.