Wi-Fi Tools

Wi-Fi Tools

Xirrus has developed a set of free tools that are useful for monitoring and troubleshooting Wi-Fi networks. In addition, we have assembled a collection of cool Wi-Fi tools freely available on the Internet that we found to be of great value in planning, deploying, and managing Wi-Fi networks. Check them out:

Xirrus Wi-Fi Inspector

The Xirrus Wi-Fi Inspector is a powerful tool for managing and troubleshooting the Wi-Fi on a Windows XP or Vista laptop. Built in tests enable you to characterize the integrity and performance of your Wi-Fi connection. Applications include:

• Searching for Wi-Fi networks
• Managing and troubleshooting Wi-Fi connections
• Verifying Wi-Fi coverage
• Locating Wi-Fi devices
• Detecting rogue APs

Xirrus Wi-Fi Inspector for Windows Vista or XP SP2 or later

• Download Wi-Fi Inspector v1.0.1

• Download Wi-Fi Inspector User's Guide v1.0.1

Xirrus Wi-Fi Monitor Gadgets/Widgets

The Xirrus Wi-Fi Monitor allows you to monitor your Wi-Fi environment and connection in real time from your desktop in an easy-to-use mini-application. Nine different color skins allow you customize the Wi-Fi Monitor to your desktop. Applications include:

• Searching for Wi-Fi networks
• Verifying Wi-Fi coverage
• Displaying laptop Wi-Fi settings
• Detecting rogue APs
• Education on Wi-Fi

Gadget for Windows Vista

• Download Vista Gadget v1.11
• Download Vista Gadget Guide v1.1

Yahoo! Widget for Windows XP (requires Yahoo! widget framework - download here)

• Download XP Widget v1.1
• Download XP Widget Guide v1.1

Yahoo! Widget for Apple Mac OS X (requires Mac OS 10.5 or greater and Yahoo! widget framework - download here)

• Download OS X Widget v1.01
• Download OS X Widget Guide v1.01

Desklet for Linux ((requires gDesklets framework - download here)

• Download Desklet v1.0
• Download Desklet for Linux Guide v1.0

BgInfo v4.0

BGInfo automatically displays relevant information about a Windows computer on the desktop's background, such as the computer name, IP address, service pack version, and more. You can edit any field as well as the font and background colors, and can place it in your startup folder so that it runs every boot, or even configure it to display as the background for the logon screen.
For more information on BgInfo v4.0, click here.

Iperf

Iperf is an easy to use and very popular tool that every IT professional should have that measures maximum throughput. Iperf provides you the data to tune TCP and UDP characteristics. Iperf reports throughput, delay jitter, and datagram loss in easy to understand tables and graphs. You can run Iperf from and command line or a GUI interface.
Iperf is copyrighted by the University of Illinois, except for the gnu_getopt.c, gnu_getopt_long.c, gnu_getopt.h files, and inet_aton.c, which are under the GNU General Public License.
Iperf 2.0.2 installer for Windows - Provided by Ted Fines (fines@macalester.edu) at Macalester College, St. Paul, MN.
To download iPerf, click here: kperf_setup.exe

OmniPeek

Use OmniPeek Personal to analyze traffic from a local network segment allowing you to not only view “top talkers”, but also drill down to see which nodes are communicating, which protocols and sub-protocols are being transmitted, and which traffic characteristics are affecting network performance.
For more information on OmniPeek, click here. 

PingTest Tool

Ping Test Tool is a handy, powerful, visual ping utility and IP Scanner for IT professionals to check network connections. Ping Test Tool is a graphical ping utility that lets you watch the states of the network and test the connection speeds of various locations. It can save IP addresses and host names and its intuitive interface shows the route, hosts, packet loss percentage, min/max/average response times, etc.
To download PingTest, click here:

• http://www.tucows.com/get/501817_201691

Qcheck

Qcheck is a must have and handy tool for any IT professional. It does much more than the traditional “ping” command. As a comparison, here is a summary of the benefits of using Qcheck:

Qcheck vs. Ping	Qcheck	Ping
Tests the response time of traffic on IP networks.
Emulates real application flows across the network to test connectivity and performance.
Tests network throughput.
Tests whether a network can support multimedia traffic.
Tests a network link using the application flows generated by streaming multimedia applications.
Determines at what rate streaming traffic is received and how much packet loss occurs.
Tests the connectivity between your own computer and another computer.
Supports a variety of protocols and can test network performance using TCP, UDP, IPX, and SPX networks.
Shows a workstation's physical memory, operating system levels and CPU utilization.
Runs traceroute between any two workstations on your network, regardless of their locations.

To get Qcheck and use it:
Install Qcheck on the computer you'll use to run the Qcheck console. Qcheck runs on any computer running Windows 2000, NT or XP.

Install an Ixia Performance Endpoint (or Qcheck itself, which has the endpoint built in) on any other computers. (You can download Performance Endpoint software free from Ixia!)

Based on the parameters you select, the Qcheck console will instruct any two endpoints to run a test and return the results to you at the Qcheck console.

• For a response time test, Qcheck returns the minimum, maximum and average number of seconds it took to complete a transaction.
• For a throughput test, Qcheck returns the amount of data per second that was successfully sent between the two endpoints.
• For a streaming test, Qcheck returns the rate at which the streaming data was received by the second endpoint and the amount of packet loss that occurred.
• For a traceroute test, Qcheck returns the number of hops, average hop latency, and the address and names of the host at each hop.

TCPView

TCPView is a Windows program that will show you detailed listings of all TCP and UDP endpoints on your system, including the local and remote addresses and state of TCP connections. On Windows NT, 2000 and XP TCPView also reports the name of the process that owns the endpoint. TCPView provides a more informative and conveniently presented subset of the Netstat program that ships with Windows. The TCPView download includes Tcpvcon, a command-line version with the same functionality.
TCPView works on Windows NT/2000/XP and Windows 98/Me. You can use TCPView on Windows 95 if you get the Windows 95 Winsock 2 Update from Microsoft.
For more information on TCPView, click here.

WireShark

WireShark® is a network protocol analyzer, and is the de facto standard across many industries and educational institutions. It is the continuation of a Ethereal that started in 1998.
For more on Wireshark or to download the software, follow these links: click here.

Veriwave WLAN Capacity Calculator

The VeriWave WLAN Capacity calculator determines expected performance of your 802.11 and 802.11n network. Plug in parameters such as number of users, channel bandwidth, and rates to see how your wireless system stacks up.
To download the Veriwave WLAN Capacity Calculator, click here.