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This tab is used for
displaying detailed information on the active wireless nodes, i.e.
access points and associated stations that transmit data on the
channel(s) being monitored. Once you have selected a channel for
monitoring using the
Scanner, the program will start
populating this table with detected wireless nodes. The packet
analysis mechanism employed in the program will list all the access
points found on the given channel, stations in ad hoc mode, as well
as associated stations in infrastructure mode. Those stations that
are not associated and don't send data will not be
listed.
It's important to
understand that the radio used in a wireless adapter can receive
data on only one channel at a time. Therefore, when you have
selected a certain channel for monitoring, this table will contain
data on the APs and stations transmitting data on the selected
channel only. You can, however, select a different channel and
restart capturing at any time without resetting data in the table,
or even let the
Scanner
sweep through
the channels so that you could see active nodes on different
channels (be sure to check the Show
data in main window while scanning box in the Scanner options
if you want the Nodes tab to be populated while
scanning).
The meaning of the table
columns is explained below:
MAC
Address – MAC addresses
and/or
aliases
of the access
points and stations. The icon next to the MAC address represents
the node type. A box with two antennas is an access point, whereas
a notebook represents a station in infrastructure or ad hoc mode.
The golden key is shown when data encryption is being
used.
Channel
– the channel
the given AP or station is transmitting data on.
Type
– node type.
Possible values are AP (for access points), STA (for stations in
infrastructure mode) and AD HOC (for stations in ad hoc
mode).
SSID
– Service Set
Identifier, a unique string that differentiates one WLAN from
another.
Encryption
– shows
whether the node is using WEP or WPA encryption. For access points,
this column shows available encryption methods being "advertised"
by the access point.
Signal
– signal level
in the min/average/max format. The average value is calculated
since the data in this table was last reset. Please refer to
the
Understanding Signal Strength chapter for more
information.
Rate
– data
transfer rate in the min/average/max format. The average value is
calculated since the data in this table was last reset.
Bytes
– the number
of bytes sent and received by the node.
Packets
– the number
of packets sent and received by the node.
Retry
– the number
of packets where the Retry flag was set.
ICV
Errors – the number of packets
with ICV errors. See
Understanding CRC and ICV
Errors for a detailed
explanation.
You can show or hide
individual columns by right-clicking on list header or using
the View
=>
Nodes
Columns menu. The column order can
be changed by dragging the column header to a new
location.
Menu Commands
Right-clicking on the IP
Statistics list brings up a menu with the following
commands:
Copy
MAC Address – copies the local IP
address, remote IP address, or hostname to the
clipboard.
Create
Alias – brings up a window where
you can assign an easy-to-remember
alias
to the
selected MAC address.
Save
Nodes As
– allows you
to save the contents of the Nodes tab as an HTML report.
Clear
Nodes –
clears the table.
More
Statistics – shows a window with
data transfer and
protocol distribution statistics.
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