METHODS, APPARATUSES AND SYSTEMS FACILITATING MANAGEMENT OF AIRSPACE IN WIRELESS COMPUTER NETWORK ENVIRONMENTS

• US 20090028118A1
• Filed: 10/09/2007
• Published: 01/29/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/18/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: AirWave Wireless, Inc. (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Inventors: Luther, Jason Edward, Gray, Gordon Paul, Augustine, Daniel Thomas
• Granted Patent: US 8,576,812 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/338
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0213 Standardised network management protocols, e.g. simple network management protocol [SNMP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0058 Allocation criteria
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1416 Event detection, e.g. attack signature detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/122 Counter-measures against attacks; Protection against rogue devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/10 Scheduling measurement reports ; Arrangements for measurement reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 Access point devices

Abstract

Methods, apparatuses and systems facilitating the management of wireless computer network environments and the detection of rogue and other devices that may affect the performance and/or security of the wireless computer network. The present invention enables accurate and cost effective WLAN airspace mapping. In one embodiment, the present invention allows any conforming access point the ability to routinely scan its airspace, collect data on all operating frequencies and report this information back to a management platform. In one embodiment, the management and reporting functionality described herein uses a standards-based vehicle, such as Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP). In one embodiment, the present invention facilitates isolation of rogue wireless devices affecting the computer network environment and effective decision-making as to management of the detected device. The present invention also allows network administrators to optimize the configuration of the wireless network environment for performance and security.

Claims

1. A wireless access point facilitating detection of rogue access points, comprising

a wireless communications transmit/receive unit allowing for wireless communication with at least one wireless client device;

wherein the wireless communications transmit/receive unit includes scanning functionality operative to detect wireless traffic on at least one frequency channel;

a scanning agent operative, in response to a request from a requesting network device, to;

switch the operating mode of the wireless communications transmit/receive unit to scan for wireless traffic,

record scan data characterizing the detected wireless traffic, and

transmit the scan data to the requesting network device.

2. The wireless access point of claim 1 further comprising a management information base having an interface;

and wherein the functionality of the scanning agent and the scan data is accessible through the interface.

3. The wireless access point of claim 2 wherein the interface is an SNMP interface.

4. The wireless access point of claim 3 wherein the network access point is operative to transmit scan data as SNMP traps.

5. The wireless access point of claim 4 wherein scan data corresponding to a given detected device is transmitted in a separate SNMP trap.

6. The wireless access point of claim 1 further comprising a memory buffer and wherein the scanning agent is operative to parse information packets detected by the wireless communications transmit/receive unit and populate the memory buffer with information derived from the packets.

7. The wireless access point of claim 6 wherein the scanning agent is operative to summarize the information contained in the memory buffer and transmit the summarized information to the requesting network device.

8. The wireless access point of claim 7 wherein the summarized information is transmitted in an SNMP trap.