ProSafe Wireless-N VPN Firewall SRXN3205 Reference Manual

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Wireless Configuration

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Wireless Equipment Placement and Range Guidelines

The operating distance or range of your wireless connection can vary significantly based on the

physical placement of the VPN firewall. The latency, data throughput performance, and notebook

power consumption of wireless adapters also vary depending on your configuration choices.

For best results, place your VPN firewall:

•

Near the center of the area in which your PCs will operate.

•

In an elevated location such as a high shelf where the wirelessly connected PCs have line-of-

sight access (even if through walls).

•

Away from sources of interference, such as PCs, microwaves, and 2.4 GHz cordless phones.

•

Away from large metal surfaces.

Putting the antenna in a vertical position provides best side-to-side coverage. Putting the antenna

in a horizontal position provides best up-and-down coverage.

If you are using multiple access points for 11b/bg/ng, it is better if adjacent access points use

different radio frequency Channels to reduce interference. The recommended Channel spacing

between adjacent access points is 5 Channels (for example, use Channels 1 and 6, or 6 and 11). For

11a/na, the 6 Channel spacing is not needed.

The time it takes to establish a wireless connection can vary depending on both your security

settings and placement. Some types of security connections can take slightly longer to establish

and can consume more battery power on a notebook computer.

Understanding SRXN3205 Wireless Security Options

Your wireless data transmissions can be received well beyond your walls by anyone with a

compatible adapter. For this reason, use the security features of your wireless equipment. The

firewall provides highly effective security features which are covered in detail in this chapter.

Deploy the security features appropriate to your needs.

Note:

Failure to follow these guidelines can result in significant performance degradation

or inability to wirelessly connect to the SRXN3205. For complete performance

specifications, see

Appendix A, “Default Settings and Technical Specifications

.”

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Figure 4-1Need new photo/picture

There are several ways you can enhance the security of your wireless network:

•

Restrict Access Based on MAC address.

You can restrict access to only trusted PCs so that

unknown PCs cannot wirelessly connect to the SRXN3205. MAC address filtering adds an

obstacle against unwanted access to your network, but the data broadcast over the wireless link

is fully exposed.

•

Turn Off the Broadcast of the Wireless Network Name (SSID).

If you disable broadcast of

the SSID, only devices that have the correct SSID can connect. This nullifies the wireless

network “discovery” feature of some products such as Windows XP, but the data is still fully

exposed to a determined snoop using specialized test equipment like wireless sniffers.

•

Use WEP.

Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) data encryption provides data security. WEP

open authentication and WEP data encryption will block all but the most determined

eavesdropper.

•

Use WPA or WPA-PSK.

Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) data encryption provides data

security. The very strong authentication along with dynamic per frame rekeying of WPA make

it virtually impossible to compromise. Because this is a new standard, wireless device driver

and software availability may be limited.

Note:

WEP and TKIP provide only legacy rates of operation. So, AES is the

recommended solution to use the 11n rates and speed.

ProSafe Wireless-N VPN Firewall SRXN3205 Reference Manual

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Wireless Configuration

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Basic Wireless Setup (No Security)

Test wireless connectivity in your environment by setting up the unit without wireless security. To

configure the SRXN3205 for basic Wireless access, follow these simple steps:

1.

Log in to the SRXN3205.

2.

Click

Wireless Settings

in the

Network Configuration

of the main menu.

The default Wireless Settings screen displays as shown below. Use this screen to setup your

wireless connectivity requirements.

3.

Click

Enable Wireless Access Point

on the right side of the screen.

Figure 4-2

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Wireless Configuration

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4.

If you want your SSID (network name) broadcast, leave the default setting as is.

If you disable

Allow Broadcast of Name (SSID)

, only devices that have the correct SSID can

connect. This nullifies the wireless network “discovery” feature of some products such as

Windows XP, but the data is still fully exposed to a determined snoop using specialized test

equipment like wireless sniffers. The default is enabled.

5.

Type your network name in the

Name (SSID)

field on the upper left side of the screen.

6.

From the

Region

pull-down menu, select the region where the SRXN3205 will be used (the

default Region is North America).

7.

Select your wireless

Mode

setting from the pulldown menu or accept the default (11ng)

setting.

The selections are 802.11[a only, b only, g only, g and b, 11ng, or 11a].

8.

Leave the other settings at the defaults, including

None

as the Wireless Security Type.

9.

Click

Apply

at the bottom of the Wireless Settings screen.

If the settings were accepted, a message appears in the center of the screen,

Operation

succeeded.

10.

Prepare a PC as the wireless PC Client with a wireless Ethernet adapter installed. Verify that

you can wirelessly access a file or a printer on the LAN connected to the SRXN3205.

Completing Wireless Setup (No Security)

The purpose of setting your wireless settings in stages, without the security settings, is to eliminate

any possible errors in setting up your wireless settings before adding the more complicated

security settings. This method will greatly aid you in discovering where the errors in your security

settings are by removing doubts about your wireless settings.

Configuring 802.11b/g/n Wireless Settings

To configure the 802.11 b/g/n wireless settings of your VPN firewall:

Note:

If your country or region is not listed, please check with Netgear Support.

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1.

Select

Network Configuration

>

Wireless Settings

from main.

2.

Configure the Wireless LAN settings based on the following field descriptions:

•

Mode

. Select the desired wireless operating mode. The default is 11ng. The selections are

802.11[a only, b only, g only, g and b, 11ng, or 11a]. Select an “only” option if all devices

in the wireless network can support. Select ng mode if there are clients in the network that

support 802.11n; this mode also supports legacy 802.11b and 802.11g clients. To support

802.11a and 802.11n clients concurrently, select na mode; this mode will NOT support

802.11b or 802.11g clients.

•

Channel (

&

Frequency)

. This is set to Auto by default, or select a channel and frequency

from the pull-down menu to use on your wireless LAN.

The Auto option intelligently picks a channel &

frequency

with least interference. The

wireless channel in use will be between 1 to 11 for US and Canada, 1 to 13 for Europe and

Australia.

It is not necessary to change the wireless channel unless you experience interference

(shown by lost connections and/or slow data transfers). If this happens, you may need to

experiment with different channels to see which is the best. See the article on “Wireless

Channels” available on the NETGEAR website. A link to this article and other articles of

interest can be found in

Appendix B, “Related Documents

.”

•

Channel Spacing.

From the pull-down menu, select the desired channel spacing.

•

20 MHz - This is the static, legacy mode. It gives the least throughput.

•

20/40 MHz - This is the dynamic, compatibility mode. Legacy clients can connect to

20 MHz and 11n clients can connect to 40 MHz.

•

40 MHz - This is the static, high-throughput mode. Legacy clients will not be able to

connect in this mode.

3.

Click

Apply

to save your wireless settings.

Testing Wireless Connectivity (No Security)

Follow the instructions below to test wireless connectivity. Once you have established wireless

connectivity, you can enable security settings appropriate to your needs.

Note:

The Enable Wireless Access Point checkbox must be checked to enable all the

options on this screen.