25

Chapter 6: Configuring the Wireless-N Access Point

The Wireless - Advanced Wireless Settings Tab

Wireless-N Access Point with Power Over Ethernet

The Wireless - Advanced Wireless Settings Tab

This screen allows you to configure the advanced settings for the Access Point. The Wireless-N adopts several

new parameters to adjust the channel bandwidth, and guard intervals to improve the data rate dynamically.

Linksys recommends to let your Access Point automatically adjust the parameters for maximum data throughput.

Advanced Wireless

You can change the following advanced parameters (some only for Wireless-N) for this Access Point. Wireless-N

data rates are classified into 16

MCS

numbers (0-15).

MCS

stands for Modulation and Coding Scheme. For the

same

MCS

number, the data rate changes according to the Channel Bandwidth and Guard Interval settings. You

can see the change through the drop-down menu of

Tx Rate Limiting (11n clients)

.

Channel Bandwidth

. You can select the channel bandwidth manually for Wireless-N connections. When it is set

to 20MHz, only the 20MHz channel is used. When it is set to 40MHz, Wireless-N connections will use 40MHz

channel but Wireless-B and Wireless-G will still use 20MHz channel. The default is

Auto

.

Guard Interval

. You can select the guard interval manually for Wireless-N connections. The two options are

Short

(400ns)

and

Long

(800ns)

. The default is

Auto

.

Tx Rate Limiting

(

11b clients

). This option provides rate limiting on Wireless-B connections. Wireless-B clients

can be limited to data rate specified by IEEE 802.11b. The default is

Auto

.

Tx Rate Limiting

(

11g clients

). This option provides rate limiting on Wireless-G connections. Wireless-G clients

can be limited to data rates specified by IEEE 802.11g and 802.11b. The default is

Auto

.

Tx Rate Limiting

(

11n clients

). This option provides rate limiting on Wireless-N connections. Wireless-N clients

can be limited to data rates specified by draft IEEE 802.11n, IEEE 802.11g, and 802.11b. The data rate associated

with each

MCS

number (0-15) changes according to your selection on Channel Bandwidth and Guard Interval.

The default is

Auto

.

CTS Protection Mode

. CTS (Clear-To-Send) Protection Mode function boosts the Access Point’s ability to catch

all wireless transmissions, but will severely decrease performance. Keep the default setting,

Auto

, so the Access

Point can use this feature as needed, when the Wireless-N/G products are not able to transmit to the Access Point

in an environment with heavy 802.11b traffic. Select

Disabled

if you want to permanently disable this feature.

WMM

. Wi-Fi Multimedia is a QoS feature defined by WiFi Alliance before IEEE 802.11e was finalized. Now it is

part of IEEE 802.11e. When it is enabled, it provides four priority queues for different types of traffic. It

automatically maps the incoming packets to the appropriate queues based on QoS settings (in IP or layer 2

header). WMM provides the capability to prioritize traffic in your environment. The default in

Enabled

. Select

Figure 6-16: Wireless - Advanced Wireless

26

Chapter 6: Configuring the Wireless-N Access Point

The Wireless - Advanced Wireless Settings Tab

Wireless-N Access Point with Power Over Ethernet

High Performance (N-Only)

if you want to achieve highest throughput on 11n connections. Note that 11b and

11g clients performance will be affected by setting to this mode.

IOT Mode

. Interoperability Mode. Enabling this mode will help this AP to communicate with Linksys retail client

cards (e.g. WPC300N) at 11n rates. This mode is a temporary measure to cope with implementation differences

on 802.11n draft specification. This option will be removed eventually when IEEE802.11n is finalized. The default

is

disabled

.

Beacon Interval.

This value indicates the frequency interval of the beacon. A beacon is a packet broadcast by

the Access Point to keep the network synchronized. A beacon includes the wireless networks service area, the

Access Point address, the Broadcast destination addresses, a time stamp, Delivery Traffic Indicator Maps, and

the Traffic Indicator Message (TIM). The default is

100

ms.

DTIM Interval

. This value indicates how often the Access Point sends out a Delivery Traffic Indication Message

(DTIM). Lower settings result in more efficient networking, while preventing your PC from dropping into power-

saving sleep mode. Higher settings allow your PC to enter sleep mode, thus saving power, but interferes with

wireless transmissions. The default is

1

ms.

RTS Threshold.

This setting determines how large a packet can be before the Access Point coordinates

transmission and reception to ensure efficient communication. This value should remain at its default setting of

2347

. If you encounter inconsistent data flow, only minor modifications are recommended.

Change these settings as described here and click

Save Settings

to apply your changes, or click

Cancel

Changes

to cancel your changes. Help information is displayed on the right-hand side of the screen, and click

More

for additional details.

27

Chapter 6: Configuring the Wireless-N Access Point

The Security Monitor Tab

Wireless-N Access Point with Power Over Ethernet

The Security Monitor Tab

On this screen you can enable or disable the security monitor feature of this Wireless Access Point. It also allows

you to create user accounts for system administrators to use this advanced feature.

This feature works together with WPC4400N and future Linksys Business Series wireless client adapters. A client

utility will be provided with the client card, which will allow you to download information from the Access Point.

The current version will support wireless Access Points and wireless clients detection and classification. Please

check Linksys.com for future updates on this powerful security feature.

Basic Settings

Wireless Security Monitor

Enabled/Disabled

. You can enable or disable the security monitor feature here. When it is enabled, the Access

Point will work with selected wireless PCs to monitor your wireless network. If you don’t plan to use the client

utility to actively monitor your network, you can disable this feature to improve your wireless network

performance. The default is

Disabled

.

Security Monitor Accounts

The section allows the system administrator to create accounts for the purpose of wireless security monitoring.

You can create one account at a time. The administrator will be able to use his WPC4400N client utility to log in

and get authenticated to the system after user accounts are created.

User Name.

Enter the user name of this account.

Password.

Enter the password of this account.

Re-enter to confirm.

Enter the password a second time to re-confirm it.

Identify.

You can create either an Administrator or User account by making the selection here. You can create one

Administrator account and five User accounts.

Click the

Add/Save

button to create an account. The accounts that are created will display in the table.

Change these settings as described here and click

Save Settings

to apply your changes, or click

Cancel

Changes

to cancel your changes. Help information is displayed on the right-hand side of the screen, and click

More

for additional details.

Figure 6-17: Security Monitor

28

Chapter 6: Configuring the Wireless-N Access Point

The Administration - Management Tab

Wireless-N Access Point with Power Over Ethernet

The Administration - Management Tab

On this screen you can configure the password, Web Access, and SNMP settings.

Management

You should change the username/password that controls access to the Access Point’s Web-based Utility to

prevent unauthorized access.

Local AP Password

User Name

. Modify the administrator user name. The default is

admin

.

AP Password

. Modify the administrator password for the Access Point’s Web-based Utility. The default is

admin

.

Re-enter to confirm

. To confirm the new password, enter it again in this field.

Web Access

To increase the security on accessing the Web-based Utility, you can enable HTTPS. Once enabled, users need to

use

https://

when accessing the Web-based Utility.

Web HTTPS Access

. The default is

Disabled

.

Wireless Web Access

. Allow or deny wireless clients to access Web based Utility. The default is

Enabled

.

SNMP

SNMP is a popular network monitoring and management protocol. It provides network administrators with the

ability to monitor the status of the Access Point and receive notification of any critical events as they occur on the

Access Point.

To enable the SNMP support feature, select

Enabled

. Otherwise, select

Disabled

. The default is

Disabled

.

Figure 6-18: Administration - Management

29

Chapter 6: Configuring the Wireless-N Access Point

The Administration - Management Tab

Wireless-N Access Point with Power Over Ethernet

This Access Point supports SNMP version 1, 2, and 3. Select

SNMP V1 & V2

if you don’t need the enhanced

capability on V3 or your management software does not support V3. Otherwise, select

SNMP V3

.

Identification

Contact

. Enter the name of the contact person, such as a network administrator, for the Access Point.

Device Name

. Enter the name you wish to give to the Access Point.

Location

. Enter the location of the Access Point.

User Name

. SNMPv3 only. Create a administrator account to access and manage the SNMP MIB objects.

Password

. SNMPv3 only. Enter the authentication password for administrator account (minimum length 8).

Passphrase

. SNMPv3 only. Enter the passphrase for data encryption on administrator’s management traffic.

Get Community

. Enter the password that allows read-only access to the Access Point’s SNMP information. The

default is

public

.

Set Community

. Enter the password that allows read/write access to the Access Point’s SNMP information. The

default is

private

.

SNMP Trap-Community

. Enter the password required by the remote host computer that will receive trap

messages or notices sent by the Access Point.

SNMP Trusted Host

. You can restrict access to the Access Point’s SNMP information by IP address. Enter the IP

address in the field provided. If this field is left blank, then access is permitted from any IP address.

SNMP Trap-Destination

. Enter the IP address of the remote host computer that will receive the trap messages.

Change these settings as described here and click

Save Settings

to apply your changes, or click

Cancel

Changes

to cancel your changes. Help information is displayed on the right-hand side of the screen, and click

More

for additional details.