Administrator’s Handbook

46

Link: Wireless

When you click the

Wireless

link the Wireless page appears. The Wireless page displays the status of your

Wireless LAN elements.

The Wireless page’s center section contains a summary of the Wireless Access Point’s configuration

settings and operational status.

◆

The

Wireless Operation

function is automatically enabled by default. If you uncheck the checkbox, the Wire-

less Options are disabled, and the Wireless Access Point will not provide or broadcast its wireless LAN ser-

vices.

Summary Information

Field

Status and/or Description

General Information

Wireless Operation

May be either

or

Network Name (SSID)

This is the name or ID that is displayed to a client scan. The default SSID for the

Gateway is

where

is the last 3 digits of the serial number located on

the side of the gateway.

Hide SSID

May be either

or

. If On, your SSID will not appear in a client scan.

Security

The type of wireless encryption security in use. May be

,

or

,

or

.

WPA Version

If WPA is selected, may be

Both

,

WPA-1

, or

WPA-2

,.

WEP Key Length

May be 10 characters for 40/64-bit, or 26 characters for 128-bit WP encryption.

Key

Here you can enter a manual encryption key.

Mode

May be 802.11

B

only, 802.11

G

only, 802.11

N

, or 802.11

B/G/N

.

Bandwidth

The capacity of the wireless LAN to carry traffic in megahertz,

20

or

40

.

Channel

The radio channel that your Wi-Fi network is broadcasting on.

Power Level

May be adjusted up to 100%, lower if multiple wireless access points are in use,

and might interfere with each other.

Wireless Protected Setup

(WPS)

May be either

or

47

◆

Network Name (SSID)

– preset to a number unique to your unit. You can either leave it as is, or change it by

entering a freeform name of up to 32 characters, for example “Hercule’s Wireless LAN”. On client PCs’ soft-

ware, this might also be called the Network Name. The Wireless ID is used to identify this particular wireless

LAN. Depending on their operating system or client wireless card, users must either:

• select from a list of available wireless LANs that appear in a scanned list on their client

• or enter this name on their clients in order to join this wireless LAN.

◆

Hide SSID

– If enabled, this mode hides the wireless network from the scanning features of wireless client

computers. Unless both the wireless clients and the Gateway share the same Network Name (SSID) in hidden

mode, the Gateway’s wireless LAN will not appear as an available network when scanned for by wireless-

enabled computers. Members of the hidden WLAN must log onto the Gateway’s wireless network with the

identical SSID as that configured in the Gateway.

Closed System mode is an ideal way to increase wireless security and to prevent casual detection by

unwanted neighbors, office users, or malicious users such as hackers.

If you do not enable Hide SSID, it is

more convenient, but potentially less secure, for clients to access your WLAN by scanning available

access points. You must decide based on your own network requirements.

◆

Security, WPA Version

,

WEP Key Length

,

Key

– see

“

Wireless Security

” on page

48

.

◆

Mode

– The pull-down menu allows you to select and lock the Gateway into the wireless transmission mode

you want:

B/G/N

,

B-only

,

B/G

,

G-only

, or

N-only.

For compatibility with clients using 802.11b (up to 11 Mbps transmission), 802.11g (up to 20+ Mbps), 802.11a

(up to 54 Mbit/s using the 5 GHz band), or 802.11n (from 54 Mbit/s to 600 Mbit/s with the use of four spatial

streams at a channel width of 40 MHz), select

B/G/N

. To limit your wireless LAN to one mode or the other,

select

G-only

,

N-only

, or

B-only

, or some combination that applies to your setup.

☛

NOTE:

If you choose to limit the operating mode to 802.11b or 802.11g only, clients using the mode you

excluded will not be able to connect.

◆

Bandwidth

– May only be selected if mode is some combination of 802.11

n

(from 54 Mbit/s to 600 Mbit/s

with the use of four spatial streams at a channel width of 40 MHz). Measure of the width of a range of frequen-

cies, in megahertz.

◆

Channel

(1 through 11, for North America) on which the network will broadcast. This is a frequency range

within the 2.4Ghz band. Channel selection depends on government regulated radio frequencies that vary from

region to region. Channel selection can have a significant impact on performance, depending on other wireless

activity close to this Wireless Access Point. You need not select a channel at any of the computers on your

wireless network. They will automatically scan available channels seeking a Gateway broadcasting on the

SSID for which they are configured.

The

Automatic

setting allows the Wireless Access Point to determine the best channel to broadcast automati-

cally.

◆

Power Level

– Sets the wireless transmit power, scaling down the Wireless Access Point’s wireless transmit

coverage by lowering its radio power output. Default is

100%

power. Transmit power settings are useful in

large venues with multiple wireless routers where you want to reuse channels. Since there are only three non-

overlapping channels in the 802.11 spectrum, it helps to size the Wireless Access Point’s cell to match the

location. This allows you to install a router to cover a small “hole” without conflicting with other routers nearby.

◆

Wireless Protected Setup (WPS)

is a not a new security protocol. It is simply an easier way to use existing

protocols to provide greater security for your wireless network connections.

By default, Privacy is set to Wireless Protected Access (WPA-PSK). WPS allows you to automatically

generate a new strong WPA key for your Gateway and any client devices on your wireless network.

Not all client wireless devices support WPS. Refer to their documentation.

Enter your all digit

WPS PIN

and click the

Submit

button.

Follow the instructions that came with your wireless client.

Administrator’s Handbook

48

Wireless Security

By default, Wireless Security is set to

with a pre-defined

WPA-Default Key

(

W

ireless

P

rotected

A

ccess

P

re-

S

hared

K

ey).

Other options are available from the

Security

pull-down menu:

◆

WEP - Manual:

WEP Security is a Privacy option that is based on encryption between the Router and any PCs

(“clients”) you have with wireless cards. If you are not using WPA-PSK Privacy, you can use WEP encryption

instead. For this encryption to work, both your Wireless Access Point and each client must share the same

Wireless ID (SSID), and both must be using the same encryption keys. See

“

WEP-Manual

” on page

48

.

◆

WPA-PSK:

allows you to enter your own key, the most secure option for your wireless network. The key can

be between 8 and 63 characters, but for best security it should be at least 20 characters.

If you select

WPA-PSK

as your privacy setting, the

WPA Version

pull-down menu allows you to select the WPA

version(s) that will be required for client connections. Choices are:

Both

, for maximum interoperability,

WPA-1

, for backward compatibility,

WPA-2

, for maximum security.

All clients must support the version(s) selected in order to successfully connect.

Be sure that your Wi-Fi client adapter supports this option. Not all Wi-Fi clients support WPA-PSK.

◆

OFF - No Privacy:

This mode disables privacy on your network, allowing any wireless users to connect to your

wireless LAN. Use this option if you are using alternative security measures such as VPN tunnels, or if your

network is for public use.

Click the

Save

button.

WEP-Manual

You can provide a level of data security by enabling WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) for encryption of net-

work data. You can enable 40- or 128-bit WEP Encryption (depending on the capability of your client

wireless card) for IP traffic on your LAN.

WEP - Manual

allows you to enter your own encryption keys manually. This is a difficult process, but

only needs to be done once. Avoid the temptation to enter all the same characters.

49

Key Length

: The pull-down menu selects the length of each encryption key. The longer the key, the

stronger the encryption and the more difficult it is to break the encryption.

Key

: You enter a key using hexadecimal digits. For 40/64-bit encryption, you need ten digits; 26 digits

for 128-bit WEP. Hexadecimal characters are 0 – 9, and a – f.

Examples:

◆

40 bits: 02468ACE02

◆

128 bits: 0123456789ABCDEF0123456789

Any WEP-enabled client must have an identical key of the same length as the Router, in order to suc-

cessfully receive and decrypt the traffic. Similarly, the client also has a ‘default’ key that it uses to

encrypt its transmissions. In order for the Router to receive the client’s data, it must likewise have the

identical key of the same length.

Click the click

Save

button.

Administrator’s Handbook

50

Link: MAC Filtering

When you click the

MAC Filtering

link the

MAC Filtering

page appears.

MAC Filtering allows you to specify which client PCs are allowed to join the wireless LAN by unique hardware

(MAC) address.

◆

To enable this feature, select

Blacklist

or

Whitelist

from the

MAC Filtering Type

menu.

Blacklist

means that

only MAC addresses you specify will be denied access;

Whitelist

means that only MAC addresses you specify

will be allowed access.

◆

You add wireless clients that you want to Whitelist or Blacklist for your wireless LAN by selecting them from the

List of MACs

or by entering the MAC addresses in the

Manual Entry

field provided.

◆

Click the

Add

button.

Your entries will be added to a list of clients that will be either authorized (Whitelisted) or disallowed

(Blacklisted) depending on your selection.

◆

Click the

Save

button.

You can

Add

or

Delete

any of your entries later by returning to this page.