In this course we will learn all about Aruba ACMA exam topics and wireless fundamental information.

Topics include:

• Wavelength, frequency, amplitude, phase, sine waves

• RF propagation and coverage

• Reflection, refraction, diffraction and scattering

• Multipath and RF interference

• Gain and loss

• Amplification

• Attenuation

• Absorption

• Voltage Standing Wave Ratio (VSWR)

• Return Loss

• Free Space Path Loss (FSPL)

• Watt and milliwatt

• Decibel (dB)

• dBm and dBi

• Noise floor

• SNR

• RSSI

• dBm to mW conversion rules of 10 and 3

• Equivalent Isotropically Radiated Power (EIRP)

• RF and physical line of sight and Fresnel zone clearance

• Beamwidths

• Passive gain

• Polarization

• Antenna diversity types

• Radio chains

• Spatial multiplexing (SM)

• Transmit Beamforming (TxBF)

• Maximal Ratio Combining (MRC)

• MIMO

• Omni-directional antennas

• Semi-directional antennas

• Highly directional antennas

• Reading Azimuth and Elevation charts for different antenna types

• Antenna orientation

• RF cables and connectors

• Lightning arrestors and grounding rods/wires

• IEEE

• Wi-Fi Alliance

• IETF

• Regulatory domains and agencies

• DSSS – 802.11

• HR-DSSS – 802.11b

• OFDM – 802.11a

• ERP – 802.11g

• Wi-Fi 4 - HT – 802.11n

• Wi-Fi 5 - VHT – 802.11ac

• Wi-Fi 6 - HE - 802.11ax

• DSSS

• OFDM

• OFDMA and Resource Units

• BPSK

• QPSK

• QAM (16, 64, 256,1024)

• Primary channels

• Adjacent overlapping and non-overlapping channels

• Throughput vs. data rate

• Bandwidth

• Guard Interval

• Frequency bands used by the 802.11 PHYs

• Available channels

• Regulatory power constraints

• Dynamic Frequency Selection (DFS)

• Transmit Power Control (TPC)

• Wireless LAN (WLAN) – BSS and ESS

• Wireless bridging

• Wireless Ad-Hoc (IBSS)

• Wireless Mesh

• Stations (STAs)

• Basic Service Set (BSS) (Infrastructure mode)

• SSID

• BSSID

• Extended Service Set (ESS)

• IBSS (Ad-Hoc)

• Distribution System (DS)

• Distribution System Media (DSM)

• MSDU, MPDU, PSDU, and PPDU

• A-MSDU and A-MPDU

• MAC frame format

• MAC addressing

• Management

• Control

• Data

• Scanning (active and passive)

• Authentication

• Association

• Open System Authentication and Shared Key authentication

• Connecting to 802.1X/EAP and Pre-Shared Key authentication networks

• BSS selection

• Connecting to hidden SSIDs

• DCF

• EDCA

• RTS/CTS

• CTS-to-Self

• NAV

• Interframe spaces (SIFS, DIFS, EIFS, AIFS)

• Physical carrier sense and virtual carrier sense

• Hidden node

• Roaming

• Power save modes and frame buffering

• Protection mechanisms

• Access Points (APs)

• WLAN controllers

• Wireless network management systems

• Wireless bridge and mesh APs

• Client devices

• Power Source Equipment

• Powered Device

• Midspan and endpoint PSEs

• Power classes to include power differences between PSE and PD

• Power budgets and powered port density

• Centralized data forwarding

• Distributed data forwarding

• Control, Management and Data planes

• Scalability and availability solutions

• Tunneling, QoS and VLANs

• Design considerations for data

• Design considerations for voice

• Design considerations for video

• Design considerations for location services including (RTLS)

• Design considerations for highly mobile devices (e.g. tablets and smartphones)

• Capacity planning for high and very high-density environments

• Design considerations for guest access/BYOD

• Design considerations for supporting legacy 802.11 devices

• AirTime Fairness

• Band steering

• Dynamic power and channel management features

• DHCP for client addressing, AP addressing and/or controller discovery

• DNS for address resolution for clients and APs

• Time synchronization protocols (e.g. NTP, SNTP)

• VLANs for segmentation

• Authentication services (e.g. RADIUS, LDAP)

• Access Control Lists for segmentation

• WEP

• Shared Key authentication

• SSID hiding as a security mechanism

• MAC filtering

• Use of deprecated security methods (e.g. WPA and/or WPA2 with TKIP)

• Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS)

• Application of AES with CCMP for encryption and integrity

• WPA2-Personal including limitations and best practices for pre-shared (PSK) use

• WPA2-Enterprise -configuring wireless networks to use 802.1X

• Access control solutions (e.g. captive portals, NAC, BYOD)

• Protected management frames

• Fast Secure Roaming methods

• Wireless Intrusion Prevention System (WIPS) and/or rogue AP detection

• Protocol and spectrum analyzers

• Best practices in secure management protocols

• Understand basic security enhancements in WPA3 vs. WPA2

• Understand basic security enhancements of encryption and integrity

• Network and service availability

• VoIP testing

• Real-time application testing

• Throughput testing

• Use of protocol analyzers for troubleshooting tasks

• Use of spectrum analyzers for identifying sources of interference

• Use of management, monitoring and logging systems for troubleshooting tasks

• Use of wireless LAN scanners for troubleshooting tasks

• Identify and troubleshoot common wireless issues