https://networkfieldnotes.com/ Campus networks, wireless, NAC, and the forum threads that keep asking the same question. en-us Thu, 10 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000 https://networkfieldnotes.com/p/academy-01-what-a-radio-actually-sends.htmlhttps://networkfieldnotes.com/p/academy-01-what-a-radio-actually-sends.htmlThu, 10 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000Frequency, wavelength, and the dBm math you can do in your head. Then a lab where you walk away from an AP and watch the number fall exactly the way the formula says it will.WirelessAcademyRF https://networkfieldnotes.com/p/clearpass-intune-eap-tls-lab.htmlhttps://networkfieldnotes.com/p/clearpass-intune-eap-tls-lab.htmlWed, 09 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000Most ClearPass and Intune builds look up a MAC address and call the result authentication. Here's the version where the certificate does the authenticating, Intune does the authorizing, and the two are tied together by something the client can't lie about.ClearPassIntuneEAP-TLSNAC https://networkfieldnotes.com/p/channel-173-survey-blind-spot.htmlhttps://networkfieldnotes.com/p/channel-173-survey-blind-spot.htmlWed, 09 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000A client sat on one AP for 49 minutes while the signal fell to -69 dBm, and every heatmap said coverage was fine. The radio it was stuck to was on a channel the survey never scanned.WirelessSurveyEkahauRF Design https://networkfieldnotes.com/p/saml-login-validates-and-still-fails.htmlhttps://networkfieldnotes.com/p/saml-login-validates-and-still-fails.htmlSat, 05 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000Admin MFA on ClearPass means SAML to your IdP, and every guide you find is about Onboard instead. Here are the three places an admin login fails silently, in the order to check them.ClearPassSecurityEntra IDSAML https://networkfieldnotes.com/p/one-pilot-ap-converts-all-of-them.htmlhttps://networkfieldnotes.com/p/one-pilot-ap-converts-all-of-them.htmlSat, 05 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000Someone with a hundred Instant APs on AirWave wanted to move them to a controller cluster and, sensibly, test on one AP first. The virtual controller had other plans.WirelessInstantAOS-8Migration https://networkfieldnotes.com/p/vsx-upgrade-hitless.htmlhttps://networkfieldnotes.com/p/vsx-upgrade-hitless.htmlFri, 04 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000Everybody has heard a VSX upgrade is hitless. Almost nobody has been told what hitless is conditional on. It's a single cable and a 180 second timer.SwitchingAOS-CXVSX https://networkfieldnotes.com/p/when-the-docs-disagree.htmlhttps://networkfieldnotes.com/p/when-the-docs-disagree.htmlFri, 04 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000Three official minimum versions, a withdrawn release note, and a command renamed without a memo. How to get to a decision you can put in a change record.ProcessDocumentationAOS-CX https://networkfieldnotes.com/p/mdns-bridge-mode-airtime.htmlhttps://networkfieldnotes.com/p/mdns-bridge-mode-airtime.htmlSun, 02 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000Someone counted. 269,253 mDNS frames in under six minutes, 84 percent of an uplink, and every one of them going out over the air at 6 Mbps. Here's the math nobody does.WirelessAOS-8Multicast https://networkfieldnotes.com/p/aos8-to-aos10-is-a-rebuild.htmlhttps://networkfieldnotes.com/p/aos8-to-aos10-is-a-rebuild.htmlThu, 30 Jul 2026 12:00:00 +0000Three threads in one week, three symptoms, one cause: people planned an upgrade and got handed a rebuild. What doesn't come with you, the pre-validate defect everyone blames on DNS, and the order of operations.WirelessAOS-10CentralMigration https://networkfieldnotes.com/p/poe-budgets-wifi7-aps.htmlhttps://networkfieldnotes.com/p/poe-budgets-wifi7-aps.htmlWed, 29 Jul 2026 12:00:00 +0000Wi-Fi 7 APs don't fail when they're underpowered. They negotiate, shrug, and come up in a reduced mode with the 6 GHz radio dark. Nothing turns red.WirelessPoEWi-Fi 7