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ProSafe Wireless-N VPN Firewall SRXN3205 Reference Manual
4-2
Wireless Configuration
v1.0, October 2008
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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ProSafe Wireless-N VPN Firewall SRXN3205 Reference Manual
Wireless Configuration
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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.
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ProSafe Wireless-N VPN Firewall SRXN3205 Reference Manual
4-4
Wireless Configuration
v1.0, October 2008
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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ProSafe Wireless-N VPN Firewall SRXN3205 Reference Manual
Wireless Configuration
4-5
v1.0, October 2008
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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ProSafe Wireless-N VPN Firewall SRXN3205 Reference Manual
4-6
Wireless Configuration
v1.0, October 2008
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.

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