AP Packet Capture

Use the AP packet capture feature on individual access points (APs) to capture traversing traffic from wired or wireless interfaces. Enable this feature through the web interface or through the AP CLI.

Consider the following regarding the AP packet capture feature:

  • Only one capture session can run on an AP at a time, but you can start captures on multiple APs individually.
  • Multiple users can perform captures, but batch operations are not supported.

In this section:

  1. Configuring an AP Packet Capture from the GUI
    Using the GUI for collecting an AP packet capture is a simple way for sampling the AP traffic either in the wireless or wired interfaces. The controller GUI provides options to select traffic type, and filter through the client MAC address, as well as options for streaming the traffic to a collecting computer for real-time analysis or save it in a file for later analysis.
  2. Configuring an AP Packet Capture from the CLI
    Using the CLI for collecting an AP packet capture is sometimes the only way to sample the AP traffic when the AP is not able to contact the controller.
  3. Configuring a Remote Interface in Wireshark
    APs have the capability to stream a copy of selected network traffic to a specified remote host. This can be initiated either through the controller’s GUI or directly via the AP’s CLI. Once streaming is active, the remote host can capture and analyze the traffic using a tool like Wireshark. To analyze the streamed traffic, you must configure a remote capture interface in Wireshark on the destination host.
  4. Troubleshooting with AP Packet Captures
    Packet captures are a powerful tool for diagnosing network issues. By analyzing traffic at the packet level, you can identify the root cause of many common problems. This section describes four typical issues and explains what to look for in a capture file to help you isolate and resolve them.
Parent topic: Troubleshooting Tools