25

Chapter 5: Configuring the Dual-Band Wireless A+G Broadband Router

The Wireless Tab - Advanced Wireless Settings

Dual-Band Wireless A+G Broadband Router

Router’s ability to catch all Wireless-G transmissions but will severely decrease performance. If you do not want

to use CTS Protection Mode at all, select

Disabled

.

Frame Burst Mode

. Enabling this option should provide your network with greater performance, depending on

the manufacturer of your wireless products. If you are not sure how to use this option, keep the default,

Enabled

.

Beacon Interval

. The default value is

100

. The Beacon Interval value indicates the frequency interval of the

beacon. A beacon is a packet broadcast by the Router to synchronize the wireless network.

DTIM Interval

. This value indicates the interval of the Delivery Traffic Indication Message (DTIM). A DTIM field is

a countdown field informing clients of the next window for listening to broadcast and multicast messages. When

the Router has buffered broadcast or multicast messages for associated clients, it sends the next DTIM with a

DTIM Interval value. Its clients hear the beacons and awaken to receive the broadcast and multicast messages.

The default value is

1

.

Fragmentation Threshold

. This value specifies the maximum size for a packet before data is fragmented into

multiple packets. If you experience a high packet error rate, you may slightly increase the Fragmentation

Threshold. Setting the Fragmentation Threshold too low may result in poor network performance. Only minor

reduction of the default value is recommended. In most cases, it should remain at its default value of

2346

.

RTS Threshold

. Should you encounter inconsistent data flow, only minor reduction of the default value,

2347

, is

recommended. If a network packet is smaller than the preset RTS threshold size, the RTS/CTS mechanism will

not be enabled. The Router sends Request to Send (RTS) frames to a particular receiving station and negotiates

the sending of a data frame. After receiving an RTS, the wireless station responds with a Clear to Send (CTS)

frame to acknowledge the right to begin transmission. The RTS Threshold value should remain at its default value

of

2347

.

Change these settings as described here and click the

Save Settings

button to apply your changes or

Cancel

Changes

to cancel your changes. Help information is shown on the right-hand side of the screen. For additional

information, click

More

.

26

Chapter 5: Configuring the Dual-Band Wireless A+G Broadband Router

The Security Tab - Firewall

Dual-Band Wireless A+G Broadband Router

The Security Tab - Firewall

The

Firewall

screen offers the Block Anonymous Internet Requests feature. The use of this feature enhances the

security of your network.

Firewall

Block Anonymous Requests

. When enabled, this feature keeps your network from being “pinged,” or detected,

by other Internet users. It also reinforces your network security by hiding your network ports. Both functions of

this feature make it more difficult for outside users to work their way into your network. This feature is enabled

by default. Select

Disabled

to allow anonymous Internet requests.

Change this setting as described here and click the

Save Settings

button to apply your change or

Cancel

Changes

to cancel your change. Help information is shown on the right-hand side of the screen.

The Security Tab - VPN Passthrough

Use the settings on this tab to allow VPN tunnels using IPSec, L2TP, or PPTP protocols to pass through the

Router’s firewall.

VPN Passthrough

IPSec Passthrough

. Internet Protocol Security (IPSec) is a suite of protocols used to implement secure exchange

of packets at the IP layer.

IPSec Pass-Through is enabled by default. To disable IPSec Passthrough, select

Disabled

.

L2TP Passthrough

. Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol is the method used to enable Point-to-Point sessions via the

Internet on the Layer 2 level. L2TP Pass-Through is enabled by default. To disable L2TP Passthrough, select

Disabled

.

PPTP Passthrough

. Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) allows the Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) to be

tunneled through an IP network. PPTP Pass-Through is enabled by default. To disable PPTP Passthrough, select

Disabled

.

Change these settings as described here and click the

Save Settings

button to apply your changes or

Cancel

Changes

to cancel your changes. Help information is shown on the right-hand side of the screen. For additional

information, click

More

.

Figure 5-16: Security Tab - Firewall

Figure 5-17: Security Tab - VPN Passthrough

ipsec

: a VPN protocol used to implement

secure exchange of packets at the IP layer.

pptp

: a VPN protocol that allows the Point to Point

Protocol (PPP) to be tunneled through an IP network.

This protocol is also used as a type of broadband

connection in Europe.

vpn

: a security measure to protect data as it leaves

one network and goes to another over the Internet.

27

Chapter 5: Configuring the Dual-Band Wireless A+G Broadband Router

The Access Restrictions Tab - Internet Access Policy

Dual-Band Wireless A+G Broadband Router

Figure 5-18: Access Restrictions Tab - Internet

Access Policy

Figure 5-19: Summary

The Access Restrictions Tab - Internet Access Policy

The

Internet Access Policy

screen allows you to block or allow specific kinds of Internet usage and traffic, such as

Internet access, designated applications, websites, and inbound traffic during specific days and times.

Internet Access Policy

Access Policy

. Access can be managed by a policy. Use the settings on this screen to establish an access policy

(after the

Save Settings

button is clicked). Selecting a policy from the drop-down menu will display that policy’s

settings. To delete a policy, select that policy’s number and click the

Delete This Policy

button. To view all the

policies, click the

Summary

button.

On the

Summary

screen, the policies are listed with the following information: No., Policy Name, Access, Days,

Time, and status (Enabled). You can change the type of access, days, and times of a policy. To activate a policy,

click the

Enabled

checkbox. To delete a policy, click its

Delete

button. Click the

Save Settings

button to save

your changes, or click the

Cancel Changes

button to cancel your changes. To return to the Internet Access Policy

tab, click the

Close

button. To view the list of PCs for a specific policy, click the

Edit List

button.

On the

List of PCs

screen, you can select a PC by MAC Address or IP Address. You can also enter a range of IP

Addresses if you want this policy to affect a group of PCs. After making your changes, click the

Save Settings

button to apply your changes or

Cancel Changes

to cancel your changes. Click the

Close

button to exit this

screen.

To create an Internet Access policy:

1.

Select a number from the

Access Policy

drop-down menu.

2.

Enter a Policy Name in the field provided.

3.

To enable this policy, select

Enabled

from the

Status

drop-down menu.

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Chapter 5: Configuring the Dual-Band Wireless A+G Broadband Router

The Access Restrictions Tab - Internet Access Policy

Dual-Band Wireless A+G Broadband Router

4.

Click the

Edit List

button to select which PCs will be affected by the policy. The

List of PCs

screen will appear.

You can select a PC by MAC Address or IP Address. You can also enter a range of IP Addresses if you want this

policy to affect a group of PCs. After making your changes, click the

Save Settings

button to apply your

changes or

Cancel Changes

to cancel your changes. Then click the

Close

button.

5.

Click the appropriate option,

Deny

or

Allow

, depending on whether you want to block or allow Internet access

for the PCs you listed on the

List of PCs

screen.

6.

Decide which days and what times you want this policy to be enforced. Select the individual days during

which the policy will be in effect, or select

Everyday

. Then enter a range of hours and minutes during which

the policy will be in effect, or select

24 Hours

.

7.

You can filter access to various applications accessed over the Internet, such as FTP or telnet, by selecting up

to three applications from the drop-down menus next to

Blocked Application Port

.

Each drop-down menu offers a choice of ten preset applications (select

None

if you do not want to use any of

the applications). For the preset applications you select, the appropriate range of ports will automatically be

displayed.

If the application you want to block is not listed or you want to edit an application’s settings, then select

Custom

from the drop-down menu. Enter the port range you want to block. Then select its protocol(s),

TCP

and/or

UDP

.

8.

Click the

Save Settings

button to save the policy’s settings. To cancel the policy’s settings, click the

Cancel

Changes

button.

Help information is shown on the right-hand side of the screen. For additional information, click

More

.

Figure 5-20: List of PCs

tcp

: a network protocol for transmitting

data that requires acknowledgement from

the recipient of data sent.

udp

: a network protocol for transmitting

data that does not require

acknowledgement from the recipient of

the data that is sent.

29

Chapter 5: Configuring the Dual-Band Wireless A+G Broadband Router

The Applications and Gaming Tab - Port Range Forwarding

Dual-Band Wireless A+G Broadband Router

The Applications and Gaming Tab - Port Range Forwarding

The

Port Range Forwarding

screen allows you to set up public services on your network, such as web servers, ftp

servers, e-mail servers, or other specialized Internet applications. (Specialized Internet applications are any

applications that use Internet access to perform functions such as videoconferencing or online gaming. Some

Internet applications may not require any forwarding.)

Before using forwarding, you should assign static IP addresses to the designated PCs.

Port Range Forwarding

To forward a port, enter the information on each line for the criteria required. Descriptions of each criteria are

described here.

Application Name

. Each drop-down menu offers a choice of ten preset applications (select

None

if you do not

want to use any of the preset applications). Select up to five preset applications. For custom applications, enter

the name of your application in one of the available fields.

The preset applications are among the most widely used Internet applications. They include the following:

FTP

(File Transfer Protocol). A protocol used to transfer files over a TCP/IP network (Internet, UNIX, etc.). For

example, after developing the HTML pages for a website on a local machine, they are typically uploaded to the

web server using FTP.

Telnet

. A terminal emulation protocol commonly used on Internet and TCP/IP-based networks. It allows a user at

a terminal or computer to log onto a remote device and run a program.

SMTP

(Simple Mail Transfer Protocol). The standard e-mail protocol on the Internet. It is a TCP/IP protocol that

defines the message format and the message transfer agent (MTA), which stores and forwards the mail.

DNS

(Domain Name System). The way that Internet domain names are located and translated into IP addresses. A

domain name is a meaningful and easy-to-remember “handle” for an Internet address.

TFTP

(Trivial File Transfer Protocol). A version of the TCP/IP FTP protocol that has no directory or password

capability.

Finger

. A UNIX command widely used on the Internet to find out information about a particular user, such as a

telephone number, whether the user is currently logged on, and the last time the user was logged on. The person

being “fingered” must have placed his or her profile on the system in order for the information to be available.

Fingering requires entering the full user@domain address.

Figure 5-21: Applications and Gaming Tab - Port

Range Forwarding