CWNA Case Studies & Practical Application 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A retail chain with 200 stores wants centralized WLAN management without deploying a physical controller at each site. Which deployment model BEST fits this requirement?
- Autonomous APs with telnet-based individual management
- Cloud-managed APs with a cloud-hosted controller platform (Correct answer)
- Controller-based APs with a hardware WLC at corporate HQ only
- Mesh APs using proprietary backhaul managed via console
Correct answer: Cloud-managed APs with a cloud-hosted controller platform
Cloud-managed WLAN platforms allow centralized configuration and monitoring of APs across all sites without requiring on-premises controllers at each location.
Question 2: During a wireless assessment, a consultant finds that the corporate WLAN uses PEAP-MSCHAPv2 for authentication. The client is concerned about certificate validation. What vulnerability exists if certificate validation is disabled on clients?
- Clients will be forced to use WEP fallback encryption
- An attacker can deploy a rogue RADIUS server and capture MSCHAPv2 credentials (Correct answer)
- APs will broadcast authentication frames in plaintext
- The WLC will reject all client associations
Correct answer: An attacker can deploy a rogue RADIUS server and capture MSCHAPv2 credentials
Without server certificate validation, clients will authenticate to any RADIUS server presenting any certificate, allowing attackers to capture and crack MSCHAPv2 credentials offline.
Question 3: A warehouse uses 802.11ac WLAN for forklift-mounted scanners. The forklifts travel the full length of 300-meter aisles. Connectivity drops occur mid-aisle. What is the BEST solution?
- Increase beacon interval to reduce management overhead
- Add APs mid-aisle and configure aggressive roaming thresholds on the scanners (Correct answer)
- Switch to 2.4 GHz to improve range and reduce roaming frequency
- Deploy a single high-power AP per aisle with a high-gain directional antenna
Correct answer: Add APs mid-aisle and configure aggressive roaming thresholds on the scanners
Adding mid-aisle APs reduces roaming distances, and configuring aggressive roaming thresholds ensures forklifts roam before signal becomes critically weak.
Question 4: An enterprise WLAN deployment uses 802.1X with EAP-TLS. A new employee cannot connect wirelessly after receiving a laptop. The RADIUS logs show 'certificate not found.' What is the MOST likely cause?
- The employee's VLAN assignment is incorrect in Active Directory
- The client device has not yet received a user or machine certificate from the PKI (Correct answer)
- The AP is not configured to support EAP-TLS
- The RADIUS server is using an expired CA root certificate
Correct answer: The client device has not yet received a user or machine certificate from the PKI
EAP-TLS requires a valid client certificate; if the device has not yet received a certificate from the organization's CA via auto-enrollment, authentication will fail.
Question 5: A hotel IT team is asked to provide isolated guest Wi-Fi where guests cannot communicate with each other. Which AP feature MUST be enabled to enforce this?
- Band steering to separate guest clients by frequency band
- Client isolation (also called AP isolation or layer-2 isolation) (Correct answer)
- DTIM period set to maximum to reduce broadcast traffic
- WPA3-OWE to encrypt individual client sessions
Correct answer: Client isolation (also called AP isolation or layer-2 isolation)
Client isolation prevents wireless clients on the same SSID from communicating directly with each other at layer 2, enforcing privacy in guest networks.
Question 6: A manufacturing plant is rolling out IoT sensors on Wi-Fi. The sensors use 802.11b/g/n and the IT team notices the AP's airtime is dominated by legacy 802.11b transmissions. What configuration change would MOST improve overall WLAN efficiency?
- Increase transmit power on the AP to serve legacy clients faster
- Disable 802.11b data rates and set minimum basic rate to 6 Mbps or higher (Correct answer)
- Enable TKIP to reduce processing time for legacy sensors
- Decrease channel width to 10 MHz for sensor traffic
Correct answer: Disable 802.11b data rates and set minimum basic rate to 6 Mbps or higher
Disabling 1, 2, and 5.5 Mbps 802.11b data rates forces devices to use faster rates, reducing the time each transmission occupies the medium and improving overall airtime efficiency.
Question 7: A CWNA candidate is performing a predictive site survey for an office. The tool shows adequate coverage, but after deployment, real-world throughput is lower than predicted. What is the MOST common reason for this discrepancy?
- The predictive tool used the wrong frequency band for calculations
- The actual RF environment includes people, furniture, and interference not modeled in the predictive survey (Correct answer)
- The APs shipped with lower transmit power than their specifications
- The predictive survey was conducted during off-hours with no interference
Correct answer: The actual RF environment includes people, furniture, and interference not modeled in the predictive survey
Predictive surveys use theoretical models; real environments introduce attenuation from people, office partitions, furniture, and co-channel interference that models underestimate.
CWNA Case Studies & Practical Application 5
A retail chain with 200 stores wants centralized WLAN management without deploying a physical controller at each site.
Which deployment model BEST fits this requirement?