Solved Automated monitoring of several wireless networks

[choleric]

I have 5 different wireless networks running on my router (an Asus RT-AC68U), and I'd like to monitor them automatically from my Window machine, to detect unauthorized client access on each of those networks.

I can do this manually by (1) Connecting to the desired wireless network; and (2) Using a utility such as NirSoft Wireless Network Watcher.

Is there a utility that can automate this--meaning, connect to each network in turn and scan it for connected clients on a recurring basis? Or do I have to resort to creating a command script that uses "netsh wlan connect" and launches Wireless Network Watcher for each?

 

[ColinTaylor]

Which router?

I can do this manually by (1) Connecting to the desired wireless network; and (2) Using a utility such as NirSoft Wireless Network Watcher.

I've never understood why this utility is called a Wireless Network Watcher as there is nothing about it that is specific (or limited) to wireless networks. As far as I can tell it's just a normal network scanner. In other words it just scans the entire address space of the network that it is connected to, wired and/or wireless.

 

[choleric]

It's an Asus RT-AC68U.

You are correct regarding "Wireless Network Watcher". The developer refers to it as "a small utility that scans your wireless network" for some reason. I'm guessing that's simply what he imagined its primary use to be.

 

[ColinTaylor]

So the obvious question is do you have any guest WiFi networks that are isolated from the intranet? If not then there's no problem.

Or do I have to resort to creating a command script that uses "netsh wlan connect" and launches Wireless Network Watcher for each?

The problem I foresee with this approach is that most PC's only have one active network connection. If that's a wireless connection and you're constantly disconnecting from one SSID and connecting to another it will make normal network tasks unusable.

 

[choleric]

I do have a couple WiFi guest networks that have no intranet access. But Wireless Network Watcher seems to work fine for those. All I need to do is join the wireless network and look for other clients; I don't need to connect to any ports on any clients that are found.

I am using a wireless USB adapter. I normally don't use it, but I just tested and I am able to connect to all of my WiFi networks without my ethernet network connection being impacted. So it seems I could automate this as I outlined before, I just would prefer not to, since it that's rather kludgey. This is why I'm wondering if such a utility exists.

 

[choleric]

I've decided to use the simple script I just created. I'll run it via Task Scheduler upon login, and it will loop indefinitely. I'll also leave Wireless Network Watcher running at all times, and it will check whichever network the adapter is connected to at the moment.

The script basically runs:

netsh interface set interface name="Wi-Fi" admin=ENABLED

And then a series of commands like:

netsh wlan connect %SSID%

Of course, it also waits as needed to give the commands (and Wireless Network Watcher) time to operate.

That's all there is to it.

Thanks.