Free Practice Questions for CWNP CWNA-109 Exam

Authenticated and Unassociated. According to one of the web search results1, a STA can be authenticated to multiple APs, but it can only be associated to one AP at a time. Association is the process of establishing a logical link between the STA and the AP, which allows the STA to send and receive data frames through the AP2. Therefore, when a STA has authenticated to an AP-1, but still maintains a connection with another AP-2, it means that the STA is authenticated to both APs, but only associated to AP-2. The state of the STA on AP-1 is authenticated and unassociated, which means that the STA can switch to AP-1 without repeating the authentication process, but it cannot send or receive data frames through AP-1 until it becomes associated.

The beamwidth of an RF antenna is the angular measure of how wide the main lobe of radiation is. The main lobe is the area where the signal strength is highest and most concentrated. The beamwidth is calculated at the points where the main lobe decreases power by 3 dB, which means it is half of the maximum power. The beamwidth can be measured in both horizontal and vertical planes, depending on how the antenna is oriented. The horizontal beamwidth is also called azimuth, while the vertical beamwidth is also called elevation. The beamwidth patterns on an antenna polar chart indicate how the RF energy is distributed in different directions. References: 1, Chapter 2, page 66; 2, Section 2.3

Fade Margin is an additional pad of signal strength designed into the RF system to compensate for unpredictable signal fading. It is the difference between the receiver’s sensitivity and the actual received signal level. A higher Fade Margin indicates a more robust link that can withstand interference, attenuation, or other factors that may reduce the signal strength. A lower Fade Margin means that the link is more susceptible to failure or performance degradation. Fade Margin is usually expressed in decibels (dB) and can be calculated by subtracting the receiver sensitivity from the received signal level. References: 1, Chapter 2, page 51; 2, Section 2.1

The center frequency of channel 4 in the 2.4 GHz band is 2.427 GHz (2427 MHz). The center frequency of a channel is the midpoint of its frequency range, where the signal strength is highest and most concentrated. The center frequency of channel 1 in the 2.4 GHz band is 2.412 GHz (2412 MHz), as given in the question. The center frequency of each subsequent channel is obtained by adding 5 MHz to the previous channel’s center frequency, since the channels are spaced 5 MHz apart from each other in this band. Therefore, to find the center frequency of channel 4, we need to add 15 MHz (5 MHz x 3) to the center frequency of channel 1:

2.412 GHz + 0.015 GHz = 2.427 GHz

Alternatively, we can use a formula to calculate the center frequency of any channel in the 2.4 GHz band:

Center frequency (GHz) = 2.407 + (0.005 x Channel number)

Using this formula for channel 4, we get:

Center frequency (GHz) = 2.407 + (0.005 x 4)

Center frequency (GHz) = 2.407 + 0.02

Center frequency (GHz) = 2.427 References: 1, Chapter 3, page 85; 2, Section 3.2

 What you should tell him is that due to 802.11 network operations and the dynamic rates used by devices on the network, the two radios will likely not exceed the 1 Gbps Ethernet link. This is because the actual throughput of an 802.11 network is much lower than the theoretical data rates due to factors such as overhead, contention, interference, retransmissions, and environmental conditions. Moreover, the data rates used by devices on the network vary depending on their distance, signal quality, capabilities, and configuration. Therefore, it is unlikely that both radios of the AP will simultaneously use the maximum data rates and saturate the 1 Gbps Ethernet link. Upgrading to a 10 Gbps Ethernet link or running a second 1 Gbps Ethernet link may be unnecessary and costly. Compressing all data before transmitting it onto the Ethernet link may introduce additional overhead and latency. References: [CWNP Certified Wireless Network Administrator Official Study Guide: Exam CWNA-109], page 227; [CWNA: Certified Wireless Network Administrator Official Study Guide: Exam CWNA-109], page 217.

The scenario described suggests that while the Access Point (AP) is capable of 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6) with four spatial streams, the clients are only achieving data rates typical of 802.11n (Wi-Fi 4) devices, which indicates that the clients are likely 802.11n devices. Here's why this is the most plausible explanation:

802.11n Limitations: Devices that adhere to the 802.11n standard have lower maximum data rates compared to 802.11ax devices due to differences in technology such as modulation, spatial streams, and channel bandwidth. An 802.11n device with a single spatial stream operating on a 20 MHz channel can achieve a maximum data rate of 72.2 Mbps. Even with two spatial streams under ideal conditions, this would only double to approximately 144.4 Mbps, which is close to the 150 Mbps mentioned.

Spatial Stream Capability: The fact that the AP supports four spatial streams suggests it can achieve much higher data rates with 802.11ax clients that also support multiple spatial streams. However, if the clients are 802.11n devices, they may not be capable of using more than two spatial streams, and many earlier 802.11n devices were limited to just one.

The other options are less likely to be the primary cause based on the information provided:

B. Two Stream 802.11ax Clients: If the clients were 802.11ax with only two spatial streams, they would likely achieve higher data rates than 150 Mbps due to the efficiency improvements in 802.11ax.

C. Contention and D. Non-Wi-Fi Interference: While these could affect performance, they would not inherently limit clients to 150 Mbps, especially in the context of an 802.11ax environment where mechanisms to handle interference and contention are more advanced.

A possible cause of a sudden change in performance for the laptop computers is that a new tenant in the building has set their AP to the same RF channel that your customer is using. This can create co-channel interference (CCI), which is a situation where two or more APs or devices use the same or overlapping channels in the same area. CCI can degrade the performance of WLANs by increasing contention, collisions, retransmissions, and latency. CCI can also reduce the effective range and throughput of WLANs by lowering the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). To avoid or mitigate CCI, it is recommended to use non-overlapping channels, adjust transmit power levels, or implement channel management techniques such as dynamic frequency selection (DFS) or load balancing. The sky condition, antenna position, or Bluetooth headset are not likely to cause a sudden change in performance for the laptop computers. References: [CWNP Certified Wireless Network Administrator Official Study Guide: Exam CWNA-109], page 81; [CWNA: Certified Wireless Network Administrator Official Study Guide: Exam CWNA-109], page 71.

An isotropic radiator is a theoretical point source of electromagnetic radiation that radiates equally in all directions. It has no physical dimensions and no preferred direction of radiation. It is used as a reference for antenna gain because it represents the ideal case of a perfect omnidirectional antenna12

Antenna gain is a measure of how well an antenna concentrates its radiated power in a certain direction. It is expressed in decibels (dB) relative to a reference antenna. When the reference antenna is an isotropic radiator, the antenna gain is denoted by dBi, which stands for decibels relative to isotropic12

For example, an antenna with a gain of 3 dBi means that it radiates 3 dB more power in its main direction than an isotropic radiator would. Conversely, an antenna with a gain of -3 dBi means that it radiates 3 dB less power in its main direction than an isotropic radiator would12

TVHT stands for Television Very High Throughput and it is a PHY defined by the 802.11af amendment. It uses the TV white space (TVWS) spectrum in the VHF and UHF bands between 54 and 790 MHz, which are not in use by broadcast video signals at the time. It can provide long-range and low-power connectivity for WLAN devices.

 iPerf is an open source tool that is designed to perform a throughput test on the WLAN. iPerf is a cross-platform command-line tool that can measure the bandwidth and quality of network links by generating TCP or UDP traffic between two endpoints. iPerf can run as either a server or a client mode, depending on whether it receives or sends traffic. iPerf can also report various metrics of network performance, such as throughput, jitter, packet loss, delay, and TCP window size. To perform a throughput test on the WLAN using iPerf, one device needs to run iPerf in server mode and another device needs to run iPerf in client mode. The devices need to be connected to the same WLAN network and have their IP addresses configured properly. The device running iPerf in client mode needs to specify the IP address of the device running iPerf in server mode as well as other parameters such as protocol, port number, duration, interval, bandwidth limit, packet size, etc. The device running iPerf in server mode will listen for incoming connections from the client device and send back acknowledgments or responses depending on the protocol used. The device running iPerf in client mode will send traffic to the server device according to the specified parameters and measure the network performance. The device running iPerf in client mode will display the results of the throughput test at the end of the test or at regular intervals during the test. The results can show the average, minimum, maximum, and instantaneous throughput of the network link, as well as other metrics such as jitter, packet loss, delay, and TCP window size. References: 1, Chapter 7, page 287; 2, Section 4.3