topic Re: Peer to Peer Networks in Wireless

Peer to Peer Networks

rpastorius — Sun, 04 Jul 2021 18:09:32 GMT

Hello,

I know this isn't Cisco specific, although I have a Cisco 1200 wireless network. While doing a security scan with NetStumbler I saw a lot of Peer to Peer (computer to computer) networks. I have a Sniffer but can not find where these computers are located. Does anyone know of a tool Cisco or anyone else uses to track down users that are using Peer to Peer networking?

Thanks,

Bob

Re: Peer to Peer Networks

sethgarnar — Fri, 23 Sep 2005 13:06:35 GMT

Do you have a WLSE? If so this will show you atleast what MAC addresses are doing the ADHOC networks. Based on this you can find the machines.

Re: Peer to Peer Networks

plehew — Tue, 25 Oct 2005 18:20:41 GMT

How much will this Windows XP peer-to-peer interfer with the wireless system? The reason I ask this is when I do a "carrier busy test" with the peer-to-peer enabled on a couple of laptops I don't see much on the carrier busy %. Does the peer-to-peer operate at less power?

Re: Peer to Peer Networks

bacland — Thu, 27 Oct 2005 15:27:19 GMT

Do you have Cisco A/B/G CB21AG cards? If so, the new Cisco Aironet Site Survey Utility that comes included with the Aironet Desktop Utility v2.5 will detect peer to peer (ad-hoc) networks.

Set your card to ad-hoc mode, and open the Site Survey utility and the ad-hoc networks will appear with "Ad-Hoc" in the "Other Info" field.

Other than that, Kismet is a good wireless scanner for Linux. It will detect pretty much anything.

Re: Peer to Peer Networks

plehew — Thu, 27 Oct 2005 19:26:56 GMT

How much will these laptop (adhoc) peer-to-peer networks interfer with the Cisco AP's.

Are they lower power, only designed for close proximity or are they the same power as an AP.

Re: Peer to Peer Networks

bacland — Fri, 28 Oct 2005 16:12:02 GMT

I ran some tests in the past using laptops setup in ad-hoc mode to answer that exact question. I found that a laptop in ad-hoc mode will broadcast a signal just as strong as an access point and cover the same distance.

It makes sense if you think about it. If the client couldn't communicate at the same power levels as an access point you would run into situations where the client would be able to see the access points signal, but the access point would not be able to see the clients signal, and you would get one-way communication.

I can only assume they would provide the same level of interference as having another access point on an overlapping channel.