So with 802.11 there are different types of frames they they all have sub-types. Knowing these frames and where to find them is helpful when capturing data. It is not fun trying to get them in your head when studying for the test, however in my opinion it is easy when you are actually looking at the 802.11 frame capture. So that is when we use the term book knowledge which is needed in order to take the certification but it is also very useful in practical life as well. So we have the following:
- Management Frames – Type = 00
- Control Frames – Type = 01
- Control Frame Extensions – Type = 01 (also)
- Data Frames – Type = 10
So when you are looking at the 802.11 Frame Capture basically when you see the Frame type field and it has 00 in there you will know that this is a 802.11 Management Frame, same with Control and Data. Now this part is easy however each of these frames have sub types for example Beacon frame is a very well known 802.11 Management Frame. It is type 8 and sub-type 1000. There are many more such as Association Request, Association Response, Re-association Request, Re-association Response ….. So to make it easy to remember these I created a simple chart that helps me remember them hopefully this will help you as well, feel free to use and modify to fit your need. Also I welcome any suggestion to edit/fix/improve it if you see any issues with it.
You might notice there is a pattern in there. So I started with the following:
0000
0001
0010
0011
If you notice these are in batches of 4 and each one just changes the first two bits. So the next one is “01, then 10, then 10 and 11”. So using this logic next section would look like 0100 0101 0110 0111 and so on.
Next challenge is remembering all the sub-types. So in my mind I just used little word association. This may work for some and may not you can use your own methods, also once you work enough with the frames it just comes natural. Lets take the management frames, A/A/R/R/P/P/T/R/B/A/D/A/D/A/A/R. See below:
