AirCheck G2 - the Wifi Engineer's TSA Wand

Written by Matt Sutherland, Principal Technologist

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I was fortunate enough to have some alone time with NetScout’s brand new AirCheck G2 (announced May 17, 2016). I tried to play with every feature and capture every screen but there are just so many tricks in this handy box… Here is what I liked.

​While seemingly a little larger than its predecessor the AirCheck G2 fits perfectly in my left hand. Interestingly the Fluke Networks AirCheck was viably operable with one hand (the same hand holding it). Moving to a touch screen in this form factor makes this difficult in the new AirCheck. With this stated, however, I often find myself tapping at the screen of the old unit. The large touch screen just seems right for the new generation replacement of what is a fantastic tool.
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The responsiveness of the touch display must be highlighted. There is nothing worse than an application that lags behind the swipes and presses of your fingertips. I am happy to report that while it’s no Retina iPad the response is well within my acceptance level.

The AirCheck G2 is green, very green! I find it difficult to identify how I actually feel about the old yellow or the new green. The colour does provide a critical function as hand held tools are easy to put down and leave somewhere. Bright colours aid finding and reminding not to leave the unit behind.

This is a tool for people tasked with any variation of the following roles: managing, maintaining, installing, securing, troubleshooting, testing, hacking, supporting and auditing wireless networks. Within 10 seconds of being turned on the AirCheck begins to scan the nearby wireless environment. It collects information about networks, Access Points, clients and channels which are all accessible under corresponding menu buttons on the home screen. You can tell your AirCheck is working hard in the background as it indicates the current channel being scanned at the top of the screen. It’s also likely the counters indicating found networks, Access Points and clients are increasing on each button.

Ethernet Port

Remote User Interface

The addition of an ethernet port brings some new functionality. By patching the AirCheck G2 in to a live port you can test the link for Power over Ethernet (PoE), link status, switch port information (including VLAN via CDP, LLDP or EDP), DHCP, access to the default gateway and Internet URLs (which are user programmable). If you are familiar with Fluke Networks Link Sprinter 200, the test functionality here is effectively the same with the inclusion of a touch screen. It does not include cable testing like with the LinkSprinter 300. These over the wire tests are intended for verifying uplinks to Access Points.

​If you are not onsite or possibly just like the comfort of your office chair a little too much then the AirCheck G2 allows for remote management using VNC. To preserve the internal radio (802.11ac 3x3) for scanning and collecting duties the AirCheck G2 must be patched to operate in this mode. The local screen is rendered inoperable also so any local support personnel will not be able to simultaneously review the data. To stop Remote User Interface mode I had to reboot the device entirely. This could be annoying in an event where remote access is lost prior to saving session data. My colleagues were disappointed that the remote control was restricted to wired operation however this could be overcome with a small battery powered Access Point that can be configured in client mode if really necessary.

The channel utilisation screen is much like the previous AirCheck with a bar for each channel in which dots report Access Points detected, blue bars report channel utilisation caused by 802.11 sources and grey bars represent non WiFi utilisation. This is a great screen for a rapid view of the WiFi environment. Note though that this is not a spectrum analyser. Selecting a channel from here presents a more granular look at utilisation, signal level in dBm and direct access to view the clients and Access Points which are operating on the channel.

Hunting down specific Access Points or clients is made easier with the Locate feature, which is an option if you select a specific station from either the Access Points or Clients lists. I liken an AirCheck in this mode to a security guards handheld metal detector for WiFi Engineers. You’ll hear beeps increasing in frequency as you near your target (this can be muted if you are hoping for a silent kill) and the signal strength indicator and histogram assist in human computed trilateration. If client or crowd density, time to find or large distances are factors in your search then the exorbitant directional antenna option would be handy. This allows the operator to better isolate the direction in which signal from the station is at its strongest.
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Simply seeing whats nearby is cool but testing the network is where the AirCheck G2 begins to pay for itself. With the ability to associate to WPA2 Enterprise network (and all lesser options) with a great variety of EAP options the AirCheck can squash the time required to audit and test connecting to wireless networks. This is a good idea after deploying new infrastructure. You can even pre-load network profiles via the management software available for 64-bit Windows 7, 8 and 10 devices. Once connected you can perform roaming tests with detailed logging and check connectivity to DHCP, gateway, websites and DNS. Some of this data is then uploaded to Link-Live (for cloud logging) or full session data can be exported to the Windows management application.

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With the AirCheck G2 management tool all the goodness performed and collected by the device can be output to detailed, customisable reports. I could not believe my eyes when I saw the first report output. They are a goldmine of data - while the report is highly technical in nature it offers a superb snapshot of how things were at the time. So it is definitely worth ensuring you save your AirCheck G2 sessions and name the session files appropriately for review and reporting at a later time. 

Curiously, the right hand side of the AirCheck G2 is home to three USB ports. On that note I will finish up with one word: Roadmap 

Loves:

• Reporting
• WPA2 Enterprise connectivity testing
• Filtering Access Points by name; signal; SNR; security type; 802.11 type; band or channel
• VNC remote access (although I may never use it)
• Link-Live cloud logging
• Touch screen response
• Speculating about the roadmap

I would Love:

• Client and Access Point retransmission rates

If you are not already standing and shouting at your computer “Shut up and take my money” let me know why in the comments below. If you are interested in buying one (Australia/NZ and Asia Pacific readers) then let me know here.

Links:
AirCheck G2 - Virtual Test Drive & Product Specs
AirCheck G2 - Overview Video
WifiHax at CWNP - Dilip Advani demonstrates the AirCheck G2 live