User guide

6-4
BreezeNET DS.11b User’s Guide
Manual Version 1.0
Do You Need Protocol Filtering?
To diagnose whether or not the protocol broadcasts degrade the performance
of a wireless network, you can use the Remote Statistics tab as described on
Remote Statistics Tab.
1. Start the AP Manager and select the Base Station and click the
Monitor
button.
2. From the
Monitor menu, select Remote Statistics.
3. Select the
Remote tab to display the interface statistics.
4. Compare the number of Out collisions with the number of Bridge out packets.
! When the number of “Out collisions” is less than 1% of the “Bridge
out packets”, this indicates that the wireless medium is performing
fine, i.e. protocol filtering is not required, but might still be considered.
! When the number of “Out collisions” is more than 1% of the “Bridge
out packets”, this indicates that the wireless medium is very busy.
If the wireless medium is busy, and you do not see many users or
excessive traffic on the network, it might be worth investigating
whether protocol filtering will improve your network performance.
5. Compare the number of
Unicast packets out to the number of Non-Unicast
packets out
.
! When the number of “Non-Unicast packets out” is relatively high
when compared to the number of “Unicast packets out”, this might
indicate your network generates a large amount of network traffic.
This does not necessarily mean that the traffic load is caused by the
protocols, but it might be worth investigating whether protocol
filtering will improve your network performance.
It may require advanced networking expertise to identify which protocols are used within
your network, and to decide which protocols can be filtered without affecting the proper
operation of your network operating system.
Filtering Network Protocols
When you suspect that network protocols are adversely affecting the
performance of your network, use the following procedure to filter out
unnecessary or unwanted network protocols.
1. Investigate what type of network stations and services are located in the
environment of your network.
2. Consult the documentation that came with your network operating system
to investigate which protocols are required for network servers and
services, and for the (wireless) stations.
3. Start the AP Manager program.