CCNA Wireless – CCNA Wireless Notes Chapter 6
802.11 Frame Format
In a wired Ethernet network, the switch is not an active participant in communication at L2. In a wireless LAN, the AP is an active participant unless something like 802.11z, Extension to Direct Link Setup (DLS) is used.
To direct frames through the AP, the radio must have a MAC address, known as the BSSID.
802.11 frames can carry a maximum payload of 2304 bytes.
To support wireless communication, the Ethernet frame format is quite different compared to wired networks. The Ethernet frame starts out with a 2-byte Frame Control field, identifying the frame type, the direction the frame is traveling in and more.
| Name | Length (bits) |
|---|---|
| Protocol Version | 2 |
| Type | 2 |
| Subtype | 4 |
| To DS | 1 |
| From DS | 1 |
| More Frag | 1 |
| Retry | 1 |
| Pwr Mgmt | 1 |
| More Data | 1 |
| WEP | 1 |
| Order | 1 |
In a common scenario with multiple clients associated with an AP that is connected to an DS, frames travel from clients towards the DS or from the DS towards the clients.
The frame motion is indicated by two bits, To DS and From DS, in the Frame Control field.
Frames sent by a wireless client will Continue reading

Microsoft, Facebook alums founded the database startup.
Check out the new Citrix channel on SDxCentral to learn about Netscaler SDN and Netscaler SD-WAN can help transform your cloud, datacenter, and branch network.