Capturing 802.11 frames with Ruckus Wireless access points and Wireshark

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Our Community Champ Primoz (@jazzycow81) just posted a very nice howto blog on setting up packet capture with Ruckus products and Wireshark. Have a look http://wlanimp.blogspot.com/2014/04/c...

It should be very helpful in troubleshooting wireless network issues.

BTW, we use Wireshark internally here and so attaching a trace to your case is a great way to accelerate resolution velocity

Keith - Pack Leader

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Posted 3 years ago

3 years ago

Primož Marinšek, AlphaDog

413 Posts
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Thanks for the bump Keith :)

I've just modified the post a bit, so it now includes how to change channels on APs which is important when using an AP just to capture frames.

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3 years ago

Alberto de la Cruz

42 Posts
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Nice post Primoz!

I want to add that this remote capture feature only works with wireshark for windows (what is very annoying for me)

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3 years ago

alexf

22 Posts
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Indeed a useful post for Ruckus clients, thank you for your contribution.

You could also include some info on how to capture on the uplink of the AP (on eth0). Sometimes, when troubleshooting is useful to compare the traffic coming on the uplink of the AP with what it is actually sent on the air side.

Have you notice any impact of enabling packet capture on the AP stability?
I've seen APs crashing after enabling packet capture (whether if it was done from the ZD webUI or from the AP's CLI). We're trying to understand why.

Comment

3 years ago

Primož Marinšek, AlphaDog

413 Posts
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Hi Alex

You could capture on the wired side also, but the intended topic of the post was how to capture packets from the air since you can do alot of troubleshooting that way.

I guess if there is any impact on AP stability it is down to some software bug rather than an overload due to the packet capture functionality in general. If capturing from a stand-alone AP I would suggest you use at least 7372 or better a 7982 AP for this since it is a 3x3 radio and the best hardware around so it shouldn't be a problem.

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3 years ago

alexf

22 Posts
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We actually experienced this behaviour with 7982's.
I look forward to receiving feedback from Support.

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3 years ago

2 Posts
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We found that the setup is very useful for troubleshooting.
And it will be nice if Ruckus 11ac APs (eg r700) can support the packet capture mode as well.
We look forward to this.