User guide

Optimizing Performance
6-3
Alvarion
Eliminating Redundant Traffic
Data transmitted via your network can be divided in two major types of data:
! True Data - is data communicated between network stations, such as file-
transfer or e-mail. This “True Data”, usually referred to as “payload”, also
includes messages that were retransmitted one or multiple times as a result
of a collision, malfunctioning cable connection or poor radio link.
In the AP Manager Remote tab in the monitoring mode, the “True Data” is
displayed as Unicast Packets.
! Network Overhead Data - is data exchanged between network services
to control the dataflow. This overhead data that usually referred to as
“traffic load”, includes protocol and broadcast messages and/or error
messages that result from a configuration mismatch.
In the BreezeNET AP Manager Remote tab in the monitoring mode, the
“Network Overhead Data” is displayed as Non-Unicast Packets.
The ratio of network overhead in relation to “True Data” differs from one
networking service to another. However when the ratio of network overhead is
more than actually required, this may affect the performance of your wireless
LAN, because your “True Data” has to share the bandwidth capacity with the
network overhead.
Eliminating redundant traffic can significantly improve the performance of your
network. Using the AP Manager you can choose from one or more of the
following options:
! Protocol Filtering on page 6-3: to filter protocols that are not relevant to
wireless stations.
! Optimizing Wired Connections on page 6-5: to eliminate redundant error
messages due to failing connections.
! Optimizing Wireless Connections on page 6-7: to avoid retransmission of
lost or collided frames.
Protocol Filtering
Some network protocols send large volumes of broadcasts to all stations. In
many cases, these protocols may not be required by your wireless stations. In
these cases, protocol filtering may prevent the transmission of unnecessary
data, saving more bandwidth for the communication of “true data” in your
network.