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Page 131 / 382 Scroll up to view Page 126 - 130
Chapter 7 Wireless LAN
P-870HN-51b User’s Guide
131
7.10
Technical Reference
This section discusses wireless LANs in depth. For more information, see the
appendix.
7.10.1
Wireless Network Overview
The following figure provides an example of a wireless network.
Figure 64
Example of a Wireless Network
Preamble
Select a preamble type from the drop-down list menu. Choices are
Long
or
Short
. The default setting is
Long
. See the appendix for more
information.
This field is not configurable and the Device uses
Short
when you set
802.11 Mode
to
802.11g Only
or
802.11n Only
.
Apply
Click this to save your changes back to the Device.
Reset
Click this
to reload the previous configuration for this screen.
Table 36
Wireless LAN > Advanced Setup
LABEL
DESCRIPTION
A
B
AP
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Chapter 7 Wireless LAN
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132
The wireless network is the part in the blue circle. In this wireless network,
devices
A
and
B
use the access point (
AP
) to interact with the other devices (such
as the printer) or with the Internet. Your Device is the AP.
Every wireless network must follow these basic guidelines.
•
Every device in the same wireless network must use the same SSID.
The SSID is the name of the wireless network. It stands for Service Set IDentity.
•
If two wireless networks overlap, they should use a different channel.
Like radio stations or television channels, each wireless network uses a specific
channel, or frequency, to send and receive information.
•
Every device in the same wireless network must use security compatible with
the AP.
Security stops unauthorized devices from using the wireless network. It can also
protect the information that is sent in the wireless network.
7.10.2
Additional Wireless Terms
The following table describes some wireless network terms and acronyms used in
the Device’s Web Configurator.
Table 37
Additional Wireless Terms
TERM
DESCRIPTION
RTS/CTS Threshold
In a wireless network which covers a large area, wireless devices
are sometimes not aware of each other’s presence.
This may cause
them to send information to the AP at the same time and result in
information colliding and not getting through.
By setting this value lower than the default value, the wireless
devices must sometimes get permission to send information to the
Device. The lower the value, the more often the devices must get
permission.
If this value is greater than the fragmentation threshold value (see
below), then wireless devices never have to get permission to send
information to the Device.
Preamble
A preamble affects the timing in your wireless network. There are
two preamble modes: long and short. If a device uses a different
preamble mode than the Device does, it cannot communicate with
the Device.
Authentication
The process of verifying whether a wireless device is allowed to use
the wireless network.
Fragmentation
Threshold
A small fragmentation threshold is recommended for busy networks,
while a larger threshold provides faster performance if the network
is not very busy.
Page 133 / 382
Chapter 7 Wireless LAN
P-870HN-51b User’s Guide
133
7.10.3
Wireless Security Overview
The following sections introduce different types of wireless security you can set up
in the wireless network.
7.10.3.1
SSID
Normally, the Device acts like a beacon and regularly broadcasts the SSID in the
area. You can hide the SSID instead, in which case the Device does not broadcast
the SSID. In addition, you should change the default SSID to something that is
difficult to guess.
This type of security is fairly weak, however, because there are ways for
unauthorized wireless devices to get the SSID. In addition, unauthorized wireless
devices can still see the information that is sent in the wireless network.
7.10.3.2
MAC Address Filter
Every device that can use a wireless network has a unique identification number,
called a MAC address.
1
A MAC address is usually written using twelve hexadecimal
characters
2
; for example, 00A0C5000002 or 00:A0:C5:00:00:02. To get the MAC
address for each device in the wireless network, see the device’s User’s Guide or
other documentation.
You can use the MAC address filter to tell the Device which devices are allowed or
not allowed to use the wireless network. If a device is allowed to use the wireless
network, it still has to have the correct information (SSID, channel, and security).
If a device is not allowed to use the wireless network, it does not matter if it has
the correct information.
This type of security does not protect the information that is sent in the wireless
network. Furthermore, there are ways for unauthorized wireless devices to get the
MAC address of an authorized device. Then, they can use that MAC address to use
the wireless network.
7.10.3.3
User Authentication
Authentication is the process of verifying whether a wireless device is allowed to
use the wireless network. You can make every user log in to the wireless network
before they can use it. However, every device in the wireless network has to
support IEEE 802.1x to do this.
1.
Some wireless devices, such as scanners, can detect wireless networks but cannot use wireless networks.
These kinds of wireless devices might not have MAC addresses.
2.
Hexadecimal characters are 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E, and F.
Page 134 / 382
Chapter 7 Wireless LAN
P-870HN-51b User’s Guide
134
For wireless networks, you can store the user names and passwords for each user
in a RADIUS server. This is a server used in businesses more than in homes. If you
do not have a RADIUS server, you cannot set up user names and passwords for
your users.
Unauthorized wireless devices can still see the information that is sent in the
wireless network, even if they cannot use the wireless network. Furthermore,
there are ways for unauthorized wireless users to get a valid user name and
password. Then, they can use that user name and password to use the wireless
network.
7.10.3.4
Encryption
Wireless networks can use encryption to protect the information that is sent in the
wireless network. Encryption is like a secret code. If you do not know the secret
code, you cannot understand the message.
The types of encryption you can choose depend on the type of authentication.
(See
Section 7.10.3.3 on page 133
for information about this.)
For example, if the wireless network has a RADIUS server, you can choose
WPA
or
WPA2
. If users do not log in to the wireless network, you can choose no
encryption,
Static WEP
,
WPA-PSK
, or
WPA2-PSK
.
Usually, you should set up the strongest encryption that every device in the
wireless network supports. For example, suppose you have a wireless network
with the Device and you do not have a RADIUS server. Therefore, there is no
authentication. Suppose the wireless network has two devices. Device A only
supports WEP, and device B supports WEP and WPA. Therefore, you should set up
Static WEP
in the wireless network.
Note: It is recommended that wireless networks use
WPA-PSK
,
WPA
, or stronger
encryption. The other types of encryption are better than none at all, but it is still
possible for unauthorized wireless devices to figure out the original information
pretty quickly.
When you select
WPA2
or
WPA2-PSK
in your Device, you can also select an
option (
WPA compatible
) to support WPA as well. In this case, if some of the
Table 38
Types of Encryption for Each Type of Authentication
NO AUTHENTICATION
RADIUS SERVER
Weakest
No Security
WPA
Static WEP
WPA-PSK
Strongest
WPA2-PSK
WPA2
Page 135 / 382
Chapter 7 Wireless LAN
P-870HN-51b User’s Guide
135
devices support WPA and some support WPA2, you should set up
WPA2-PSK
or
WPA2
(depending on the type of wireless network login) and select the
WPA
compatible
option in the Device.
Many types of encryption use a key to protect the information in the wireless
network. The longer the key, the stronger the encryption. Every device in the
wireless network must have the same key.
7.10.4
WiFi Protected Setup
Your Device supports WiFi Protected Setup (WPS), which is an easy way to set up
a secure wireless network. WPS is an industry standard specification, defined by
the WiFi Alliance.
WPS allows you to quickly set up a wireless network with strong security, without
having to configure security settings manually. Each WPS connection works
between two devices. Both devices must support WPS (check each device’s
documentation to make sure).
Depending on the devices you have, you can either press a button (on the device
itself, or in its configuration utility) or enter a PIN (a unique Personal Identification
Number that allows one device to authenticate the other) in each of the two
devices. When WPS is activated on a device, it has two minutes to find another
device that also has WPS activated. Then, the two devices connect and set up a
secure network by themselves.
7.10.4.1
Push Button Configuration
WPS Push Button Configuration (PBC) is initiated by pressing a button on each
WPS-enabled device, and allowing them to connect automatically. You do not need
to enter any information.
Not every WPS-enabled device has a physical WPS button. Some may have a WPS
PBC button in their configuration utilities instead of or in addition to the physical
button.
Take the following steps to set up WPS using the button.
1
Ensure that the two devices you want to set up are within wireless range of one
another.
2
Look for a WPS button on each device. If the device does not have one, log into its
configuration utility and locate the button (see the device’s User’s Guide for how to
do this - for the Device, see
Section 7.7 on page 126
).

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