0

We have 2 tablet PC's mounted to reach trucks that are used in a shipping / receiving warehouse. This warehouse is filled with huge metal racks and pallets of paper products. These reachtrucks seem to be losing their wireless connection quite a lot, and I'm not sure if its because they are roaming outside the access points, or if there is an issue with their wireless nic.

Where I would like to start troubleshooting this issue is to figure out when the wifi is or has been dropping. I tried looking in event viewer but there is so much information in there I haven't been able to find anything useful.

So what I ask of ServerFault is for a program or some information on how I can monitor the wireless connection to each of these reachtruck tablets.

Thanks and I hope to hear from you soon.

2 Answers 2

1

This is probably not the best solution to your problem, but if you configure static addresses for the laptops on the wireless you can then use a host monitoring tool such as nagios to send you email, text message or syslog alerts whenever one of the laptops drops off the wireless.

3
  • how do I enable logging of dropped wireless connections on an XP tablet w/ integrated wireless nic? I would like to get a report of how many times a wireless connection dropped during the course of a day or so. Is there a simpler way to accomplish this?
    – Will
    Jan 20, 2011 at 16:14
  • You might be able to get away with using the trial version of this software (30 days): passmark.com/products/wirelessmonitor.htm I haven't personally tried it but it looks like it should do what you want. Jan 20, 2011 at 16:20
  • @Will - If you use TrueDuality's suggestion of nagios, you can set it up to ping the devices in question. The frequency you ping is up to you. Nagios can then send you an alert when the device disappears. Nagios is really quite a powerful monitoring tool that is free.
    – Mike Chess
    Jan 20, 2011 at 21:30
0

NetStumbler (http://www.stumbler.net/) will help you see the actual signal level and other useful data on most wireless devices.

3
  • Thanks! I am still looking for something that will help me monitor connection drops.
    – Will
    Jan 20, 2011 at 14:34
  • @will-your WAP doesn't do any logging onboard? What kind of WAPs do you have installed? Netstumbler should give you some idea of what kind of signal strength you're getting in different spots around the warehouse. It's also possible you have equipment that's putting out radio noise and interfering. Jan 20, 2011 at 14:56
  • Cisco Aironet 1240AG Series Access points are the access points we have (we have 2 of them). It does have some logging but I'm not exactly sure what I'm looking for.
    – Will
    Jan 20, 2011 at 15:06

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .