312-50V9 · Question #384
A new wireless client that is 802.11 compliant cannot connect to a wireless network given that the client can see the network and it has compatible hardware and software installed. Upon further…
The correct answer is B. The WAP does not recognize the client's MAC address. When a client can see the SSID and has compatible hardware but the WAP ignores association requests, MAC address filtering on the WAP is the most likely cause.
Question
A new wireless client that is 802.11 compliant cannot connect to a wireless network given that the client can see the network and it has compatible hardware and software installed. Upon further tests and investigation it was found out that the Wireless Access Point (WAP) was not responding to the association requests being sent by the wireless client. What MOST likely is the issue on this scenario?
Options
- AThe client cannot see the SSID of the wireless network
- BThe WAP does not recognize the client's MAC address.
- CThe wireless client is not configured to use DHCP.
- DClient is configured for the wrong channel
How the community answered
(39 responses)- A13% (5)
- B74% (29)
- C5% (2)
- D8% (3)
Why each option
When a client can see the SSID and has compatible hardware but the WAP ignores association requests, MAC address filtering on the WAP is the most likely cause.
The scenario explicitly states the client can see the network, which means the SSID is visible and broadcast is not the issue.
Wireless Access Points can be configured with MAC address filtering, which creates an allowlist of permitted client hardware addresses. If the connecting client's MAC address is not in the WAP's approved list, the WAP will silently ignore or reject association requests from that client, which matches the described behavior exactly.
DHCP configuration is negotiated after a successful 802.11 association; a misconfigured DHCP setting would prevent IP assignment but would not block the WAP from responding to association requests.
If the client were on the wrong channel it would not be able to detect the wireless network at all, but the scenario confirms the client can already see the network.
Concept tested: Wireless MAC address filtering blocking association
Source: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/wireless-mobility/wireless-lan-wlan/68100-wlan-mac-acl.html
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