Components
Clients and adapters

The Cisco Aironet WLAN Adapters, also referred to as client adapters or NICs, are radio modules. They are pictured in Figure . The primary function of these wireless NICs is to provide transparent data communications between other devices, both wireless and wired. The client adapters are fully compatible with devices supporting Plug-and-Play (PnP) technology.

The NICs operate at both Layers 1 and 2 of the OSI Reference Model, as shown in Figure . The adapters operate similarly to a standard network adapter, except that the cable has been replaced by a radio connection. No special wireless networking functions are required. All existing applications that operate over a wired network will operate using wireless adapters.

As with Ethernet, a driver is needed to communicate with the OS on the computer. There are three types of drivers available for wireless client adapters. They are NDIS, ODI, and Packet. The Aironet Windows driver disk includes drivers for Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, and XP. Additionally, the driver is included on the operating system CD for Windows Me, Windows 2000, and Windows XP.

The different driver types and their platforms are as follows:

  • Network Driver Interface Specification (NDIS) – The primary purpose of NDIS is to define a standard API for NICs. NDIS also provides a library of functions that can be used by MAC drivers, as well as higher-level protocol drivers, such as TCP/IP. Current NDIS versions used by Windows are Microsoft proprietary specifications. NDIS drivers are supported under 95/98, ME, NT, 2000, and XP. The Novell NetWare Client32 is also supported.
  • Open Data-link Interface (ODI) – ODI is analogous to NDIS, but is NetWare specific. It is used in the Novell NetWare 3.x and 4.x environments and will work with either NETX or VIMs. ODI drivers will also work under DOS.
  • Packet – This interface is for use with DOS-based IP stacks. Some of the more popular DOS-based IP stacks that work with Cisco Aironet products include FTP Software and NetManage.
  • Windows CE – Windows CE is necessary to develop a separately compiled version of the driver, based on each processor and version. There are supported Cisco Aironet drivers for Windows CE versions 2.11 and 3.0.

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