Pass CWAP-403 Certification Exam Fast

CWAP-403 Exam Has Been Retired

This exam has been replaced by CWNP with new exam.

CWNP CWAP-403 Exam Details

The CWNP CWAP-403 test concerns capturing and analyzing data that relates to wireless-based networks following the principles as well as the methodology for troubleshooting. The CWAP validation in full is represented as Certified Wireless Analysis Professional and it’s offered by CWNP.

Exam Target Audience

Test CWAP-403 is considered for those having the intention to derive solid skills that support the analysis and troubleshooting of wireless LANs.

CWAP-403 Test Prerequisites

This professional-level test demands that anyone interested in pursuing it should have the CWNA certificate that is valid. Intensive knowledge in the domains given for such a test is also critical.

More about CWAP-403 Validation

Someone who has achieved success in this exam possesses a thorough comprehension of protocols, standards within the Physical layer as well as MAC one, and frame exchanges. Thus, this test checks one’s proficiency in using spectrum tools in addition to those for analysis. The details below belong to this CWNP test:

• Number of questions: 60;
• Duration: 1.5 hours;
• Question types: Multiple-choice, multiple-answer;
• Pass mark: 70%;
• Cost: $275;
• Delivery language: English.

CWAP-403 Exam Main Areas

Here are the exam main topic areas along with their weights:

• Protocol Analysis (15%);
• Spectrum Analysis (15%);
• MAC Sub-Layer & Functions (25%);
• PHY Layers & Technologies (10%);
• 802.11 Frame Exchanges (25%);
• WLAN Medium Access (10%).

Test Domains

CWAP-403 topics have been developed based on a JTA (Job Task Analysis), which involved experts and professionals in wireless networking. Thus, the topics and the domains represent how important the content is for acing the official test. The areas that you’ll come across on the exam day are captured as follows:

• Protocol Analysis

  This concerns detailing 802.11 frames with the use of proper methods as well as locations, analyzing what the 802.11 frame has captured to allow the discovery of problems and finding of solutions, and understanding as well as applying common capture parameters for the configuration that are available within protocol analysis. Other aspects are utilizing additional tools used for capturing 802.11 frames with the intention of analyzing, troubleshooting, and ensuring the usage of proper troubleshooting methods with all types of analysis.

• Spectrum Analysis

  Such an area includes explaining data for RF spectrum and understanding commonly available views within spectrum analysis, analyzing spectrum captures for the purpose of identifying relevant issues and information concerning RF, analyzing captures for spectrum for the purpose of identifying varied device signatures, and centralizing solutions for spectrum analysis.

• MAC Sub-Layer & Functions

  This part includes the understanding of frame encapsulation in addition to frame aggression. It also includes identifying and using MAC information within captured data to carry out analysis, which will be looking further at management, control as well as data frames, MAC Frame Format, 802.11 Management Frame Formats, Data & QoS Data Frame Formats, and 802.11 Control Frame Formats. Another portion looks at validating the configuration of BSS through analysis of the protocol. This covers country code, supported rates, minimum basic rate, WMM settings, beacon intervals, HT & VHT operations, primary channel, and more. There is also the part on identifying and analyzing CRC error and retransmitted frames.

• PHY Layers & Technologies

  This topic is about understanding and describing the functions as well as the PLCP sub-layers, applying the knowledge of PHY technologies that include PHY headers, training fields, preambles, data rates, and frame aggregations to captured data, and identifying as well as using PHY information as availed in pseudo-headers within protocol analyzers. More domains are focused on recognizing the limits related to protocol analyzers during the capture of PHY information that includes NULL data packets as well as PHY headers and using proper capture devices depending on the knowledge of PHY types.

• 802.11 Frame Exchanges

  The first part of such a segment regards capturing, understanding, and analyzing BSS discovery in addition to joining frame exchanges. This further looks at BSS discovery, 802.11 authentication as well as association, 802.1X/EAP exchanges, four-way handshake, group key exchange, neighbour discovery, and more. The second scope is centered on analyzing roaming behavior as well as resolving roaming challenges. It’s all about of where to find excessive roaming, sticky clients, and channel aggregation aimed at roaming analysis. The third section is about analyzing frame exchanges for data. It captures data frames in addition to acknowledgement frames, RTS/CTS and QoS data frame exchanges, and block acknowledgement exchanges. The fourth aspect of this topic concerns analyzing transmission methods that are specific to HT/VHT. Particularly, this looks into Transmit Beamforming (TxBF), MIMO, and MU-MIMO. In addition, you’ll know all you need about the frame aggregation (A-MPDU and A-MSDU). The fifth and final thing is about analyzing behavior and resolving problems that relate to operations within the MAC layer. This goes further into operations for Power Save, load balancing, band steering, and protection mechanisms.

• WLAN Medium Access

  The last tested domain delves into the understanding of 802.11 contention algorithms and knowledge of their impact on WLANs. This concerns DCF (Distributed Coordination Function), EDCA (Enhanced Distributed Channel Access), and WMM (Wi-Fi Multimedia). It also touches on the analysis of QoS configuration as well as operations. Also, it further discusses the verification of QoS parameters within capture files and ensures an end-to-end implementation of QoS.

Career Opportunities, Job Positions, and Expected Salary

With almost all industries relying on computers, the requirement for specialists who can perform various roles is always rising. Every sector needs IT employees with the appropriate skills. This includes software development firms, learning institutions, hospitals, the finance industry, manufacturing, utility companies, and more. Therefore, passing CWAP-403 test and gaining the CWNP CWAP certificate implies that your capabilities in network analysis will be attractive to those seeking qualified personnel for their businesses and organizations. The right job positions for you are such as a network administrator, network analyst, wireless network analyst, and network engineer. As stated by the vendor, the annual salary for the CWAP ranges from $98k to $137k per year.

Next Step after Certification

By passing CWAP-403 test, one obtains credits towards the expert-level CWNP CWNE certification. Also, you need to remember to renew your CWAP certificate at the right time as it has a validity of three years.