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Drivers

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OmniPeek Distributed Analysis Suite Wireless Drivers

For wireless network analysis, OmniPeek requires the installation of special drivers to capture wireless management, control, and data packets. In addition to providing support for wireless network analysis, these drivers provide complete support for network services when OmniPeek is not being used.

WildPackets supports wireless network adapters from many different manufacturers, based on the underlying wireless chipset used in the device. Supported features may vary based on the underlying chipset. Please refer to the following descriptions to find supported wireless adapters and to identify and download the appropriate drivers for the hardware. Click here for a list of best practices for usage of these drivers.

To aggregate packets on different channels, from any set of wireless adapters, and perform roaming latency analysis, use our Wireless Channel Aggregator and Roaming Latency Analysis plug-ins.

The following drivers are available through MyPeek, the WildPackets community portal. These drivers are only authorized for use with OmniPeek.

Buy OmniPeek here:

Compatible Wireless Adapters and Drivers

Ralink wireless adapters

Ralink, a wireless chipset manufacturer who supplies chipsets to many name-brand OEM’s, has developed a driver that works with OmniPeek products and provides full support for all OmniPeek features. The list of commercially available wireless adapters, along with a link to the required driver, is as follows:

Model	Band	Driver	Download
Linksys WUSB600N ver 1, ver 2 (Dual-band USB adapter)	a/b/g/n	ralink_usb2870 (32 and 64-bit drivers)	Download through MyPeek
SparkLAN WMIR-200N (Dual-band MiniPCI)	a/b/g/n	ralink_cardbus2860 (32 and 64-bit drivers)	Download through MyPeek
Belkin F5D8013 (Wireless N Notebook Card)	b/g/n	ralink_cardbus2860 (32 and 64-bit drivers)	Download through MyPeek
Belkin F5D8073 (Wireless N ExpressCard)	b/g/n	ralink_cardbus2860 (32 and 64-bit drivers)	Download through MyPeek

Notes:

This list is expected to grow as more Ralink-based wireless adapters are introduced.
This driver is produced and supported by Ralink. For further information, please refer to http://www.ralinktech.com/support.php?s=1.
WildPackets has developed an Aggregator Plug-in that aggregates packets from multiple wireless adapters on different channels into a single capture. See MyPeek for details.

Marvell-based wireless adapters

Marvell has developed a driver that works with OmniPeek products. This driver provides full support for all OmniPeek features, including 802.11n support as well as WPA/PSK decryption, noise measurement and hardware time-stamping. The list of commercially available wireless adapters, along with a link to the required driver, is as follows.

Model	Band	Driver	Download
Buffalo WLI-CB-AG300N	a/b/g/n	Marvell v.3.0.3.4	Download through MyPeek
Netgear WN511T	b/g/n	Marvell v.3.0.3.4	Download through MyPeek

Notes:

This list is expected to grow as more Marvell-based 11n wireless adapters are introduced.
These adapters provide support for complete wireless network analysis: a/b/g/n.
This driver is produced and supported by Marvell. For further information, please refer to Marvell: Consumer Driver Search.
If you experience problems capturing packets with the WN511T, try the following.
1. Disable 802.11n Turbo mode in the Advanced Properties of the adapter.
2. Try capturing at 40MHz. Problems are sometimes encountered with captures at 20MHz frequencies.

Atheros-based wireless adapters

WildPackets develops its own Atheros wireless drivers to support Atheros-based wireless network adapters, and we support a broad range of hardware. These drivers are designed for use with Atheros AR5001, AR5002, AR5004, AR5005, AR5006 and AR5008 chipset-based adapters(except Super G and Turbo models), and support advanced functionalities such as 802.11n (AR5008-based adapters only), WPA/PSK decryption, noise measurement and hardware time-stamping in all OmniPeek products.

WildPackets currently supports three versions of the Atheros driver, v3.0.1.12, v4.2.2.9 and v6.0.4.13. The application of these drivers is typically as follows.

Atheros Chipset	Driver Version
AR5001	v3.0.1.12, v4.2.2.9
AR5002	v4.2.2.9
AR5004	v4.2.2.9
AR5005	v4.2.2.9
AR5006*	v4.2.2.9
AR5008	v6.0.4.13

Download these drivers below ↓

Some older Atheros wireless adapters, usually those based on the Atheros AR5001 chipset, are incompatible with driver v4.2.2.9. In these cases, driver v3.0.1.12 should be used.

*Note: This does not include support for the AR5006EX chipset. At this time WildPackets does not have support for any Athros-based PCI Express wireless adapters.

All three driver versions are included with OmniPeek. Those drivers can be found in the following directory: Program Files\WildPackets\OmniPeek\Driver\atheros. Instructions for installing or uninstalling a driver version are included in the driver readme.

Though any Atheros-based PC card or mini-PCI wireless adapters using the supported chipsets should work with OmniPeek, the following adapters have provided good results with OmniPeek.

Model	Band	Driver
Netgear WAG511	a/b/g	v4.2.2.9	Download through MyPeek
SMC 2336A-AG	a/b/g	v4.2.2.9	Download through MyPeek
Orinoco Gold 8480WD	a/b/g	v4.2.2.9	Download through MyPeek
Cisco CB21AG	a/b/g	v4.2.2.9	Download through MyPeek
3Com 3CRPAG175	a/b/g	v3.0.1.12	Download through MyPeek
NEC Aterm WL300NC	a/b/g/n	v6.0.4.13	Download through MyPeek
D-Link DWA-652	b/g/n	v6.0.4.13	Download through MyPeek
Other hardware models		v4.2.2.9	Download through MyPeek

To see a list of commercially available Atheros-based wireless adapters and the chipsets they use, please see http://customerproducts.atheros.com/customerproducts/default.asp

Intel Centrino

OmniPeek natively supports WLAN adapters that utilize the Centrino 3945 chipset for a/b/g wireless analysis. A custom driver is not needed for these adapters as the application will automatically recognize the adapter. Intel driver version 10.5.1.72 or higher is required. At the present time, the 3945 chipset is only supported on the Windows XP platform. Other Intel chipsets such as the 4965 and 5100 cannot be supported by OmniPeek until Intel adds ISV promiscuous mode to their feature set. It is incumbent upon Intel to make these changes, as OmniPeek already has the ability to recognize and work with chipsets that have this capability.

Best Practices

Single Channel, Single Band Captures

Just about any wireless adapter included on this page will do the trick. Simply determine which band (b/g or “a") and which hardware interface is available on the computer you’re using (PCcard, PCExpress Card, USB, etc.) and find a suitable card from the list.

Single Channel, Dual Band

For this type of capture, a card that supports a/b/g at a minimum is required. Simply use the “band” column to locate an adapter with a minimum requirement of a/b/g. It’s worth considering an a/b/g/n wireless adapter, even if you don’t need to capture and analyze 11n today since 11n is just around the corner, and it’s often no more expensive to buy an a/b/g/n adapter over an a/b/g adapter.

Single Channel 11n, Single Band

In this case you’ll need an adapter that’s either b/g/n or a/n, depending on the band in which you’re deploying 11n (2.4 GHz vs. 5 GHz respectively). Simply use the “band” column to locate a suitable adapter.

Single Channel 11n, Dual Band

In this case you’ll need an adapter that’s a/b/g/n. These adapters are still fairly uncommon in the market. We recommend the Linksys WUSB600N since it’s readily available and is USB – something that will fit into just about any computer. The Buffalo WLI-CB-AG300N is also a good choice, but it is very difficult to find right now.

Third-Party Applications

WildPackets does not authorize or support the use of our proprietary drivers in any applications other than OmniPeek.

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