Wireless LAN Hardware and Software
Infrastructure
Access points ship as autonomous/standalone, controller-managed, or cloud-managed devices. Controller architectures use a split MAC: management, roaming and security logic stays at the controller while real-time 802.11 framing stays at the AP. CAPWAP tunnels that traffic over UDP 5246 (control) and 5247 (data), optionally protected with DTLS. Know the AP modes - local/normal, monitor, sniffer, rogue detector, bridge/mesh, spectrum analysis - and what each can and cannot serve.
Power and cabling
PoE matters: 802.3af supplies 15.4 W at the PSE (12.95 W at the device), 802.3at Type 2 supplies 30 W (25.5 W at the device), and 802.3bt reaches roughly 60–90 W. Budget the switch's total PoE wattage, not just per-port draw. Copper runs are limited to 100 m.
Software tooling
Recognize protocol analyzers (packet capture, decryption with keys), spectrum analyzers (non-802.11 interferers), WLAN scanners (SSIDs, channels, SNR, retries), WIPS/WIDS, and site-survey applications. Client supplicants, drivers and roaming aggressiveness are frequent root causes.
Traps
Assuming CAPWAP encrypts everything by default; mixing PSE and PD wattage figures; forgetting that a monitor-mode AP stops serving clients; and confusing a spectrum analyzer with a protocol analyzer.
Rule of thumb
An AP that must serve clients and scan simultaneously performs off-channel scanning less effectively - dedicate a sensor or monitor AP where rogue detection is a hard requirement.