request for a Access Point finder

[techidave]

after seeing Stoic Joker's Nany app for printers, it got me thinking about a similar app.  See this

Something similar that could find all the Access Points on a network and would report back:
IP address
MAC address
SSID
make and model
firmware version

and then report them all on one page.

is this possible??

[techidave]

perhaps I should have stuck this in the Nany 2010 program idea thread but at the time I couldn't find that thread.  Besides, I figured it might be a little late for that.

[skwire]

@techidave:  Have you, by chance, checked out NetStumbler? 

http://www.stumbler.net/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NetStumbler

[techidave]

actually I do use it some on my laptop.  I was thinking more of something that could be used on a desktop with a wired connection.

Sorry, I wasn't very clear in my thoughts.

[techidave]

I don't think that netstumbler will give you the nice list showing all the information at one time without clicking on each access point.

[skwire]

AFAIK, it's not possible to see wireless networks with a wired NIC.  Or, did I misunderstand you?

[techidave]

no you didn't.  Thanks for mentioning that, I hadn't thought about it.

[techidave]

I guess, I was assuming if it can find network printers then the same technology should be able to find access points.

But that is ok, I can just manually make my own list of AP's.  Sometimes its nice to run a scan and see what's there.

oh well...

[skwire]

I suppose I should have been a bit more detailed. 

A given network can have both wireless and wired hosts.  A scan from your wired NIC could find the access point's WIRED connection to the network but all that's going to seem to a scan is just another host on the network (router/computer/printer/NAS, etc.)  It's still not going to be able to see or know about the wireless network's metadata like you wanted to see.  Does that clear it up a bit?

[techidave]

yes. thanks a bunch for the lesson.   

[Stoic Joker]

I guess, I was assuming if it can find network printers then the same technology should be able to find access points.

-techidave (December 09, 2009, 05:34 AM)

And rightfully so as SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) is a popular protocol/technology.

I suppose I should have been a bit more detailed.  

A given network can have both wireless and wired hosts.  A scan from your wired NIC could find the access point's WIRED connection to the network but all that's going to seem to a scan is just another host on the network (router/computer/printer/NAS, etc.)  It's still not going to be able to see or know about the wireless network's metadata like you wanted to see.  Does that clear it up a bit?

-skwire (December 09, 2009, 05:57 AM)

Not necessarily, Routers typically have a TTL that is higher than the surrounding workstations/printers/etc devices so they can be easily singled out. And of you stay with the Industry Standard OIDs you can usually get a great deal of info about any device on the wire with SNMP.

The main SNAFU with scanning for wireless devices (from a wired network) is that they tend to be bridged between wired/wireless media and therefore have no IP to query them with/at.

[skwire]

Not necessarily, Routers typically have a TTL that is higher than the surrounding workstations/printers/etc devices so they can be easily singled out.

-Stoic Joker (December 09, 2009, 06:40 AM)

Agreed.  I meant that the intial scan is for determining if a given IP in a subnet is alive/responding.  Once you determine that, SNMP, et cetera, comes into play.  I've written several SNMP-related tools for my workplace.  It's a great (and maddingly frustrating at times) protoocol.  =]

The main SNAFU with scanning for wireless devices (from a wired network) is that they tend to be bridged between wired/wireless media and therefore have no IP to query them with/at.

-Stoic Joker (December 09, 2009, 06:40 AM)

Again, agreed.  That's exactly the issue I was explaining to techidave. 

Your app worked fine on my network at work.  Very nice.  The only issue I had with it was a listview redraw bug if you dragged another window over the top of yours.

[Stoic Joker]

I've written several SNMP-related tools for my workplace.  It's a great (and maddingly frustrating at times) protoocol.  =]

-skwire (December 09, 2009, 07:01 AM)

I sentence Ye to walk the MIB ... Yep, that's the one. I just love hating it.

The only issue I had with it was a listview redraw bug if you dragged another window over the top of yours.

Hm... I've had (have) several with the alternating line color code & the Vista/7 generation ListView control (which is why I gave up on using them). I don't recall seeing a drag over redraw issue ... can you give me some detail on what you're running and how to duplicate it? (Probably best done back in its own thread so we don't hijack Techi's)

[skwire]

Ah, yeah.     Walking a MIB...  Good grief...nothing like an endless stream of numbers and all you think is "WTF is that value?!"

[Stoic Joker]

Speaking of MIB Walking ... Ever try BP SNMP Utility? It's a small, fast, portable, free SNMP utility that will dump the MIB from any device so you can pick through for what you want/need. It (saved me a boatload of time) quickly became my favorite toy while doing research for Page Countster.

[skwire]

Speaking of MIB Walking ... Ever try BP SNMP Utility? It's a small, fast, portable, free SNMP utility that will dump the MIB from any device so you can pick through for what you want/need. It (saved me a boatload of time) quickly became my favorite toy while doing research for Page Countster.

-Stoic Joker (December 09, 2009, 10:45 AM)

Yep, love that tool.  I'm also intimately familiar with the standard snmpwalk/snmpget command line utils and their *bulk brothers.