Wireless/Redundant Edge Services xl Module Management and Configuration Guide WS.02.xx and greater

4-48
Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs)
Configuring a WLAN
9. In the MAC Address section, choose the format in which the Wireless Edge
Services xl Module forwards the MAC address.
The module sends the station’s MAC address as the username and the
password in the RADIUS request. The username and password must
match exactly those in the account against which the RADIUS server
checks them. For example, if the account uses delimiters in the MAC
address, the module must use delimiters in the same places.
Choose from among five options for the format:
• No Delimiter (xxxxxxxxxxxx)
• Multi Colon (xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx)
• Multi Dash (xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx)
• Quad Dot (xxxx.xxxx.xxxx)
• Single Dash (xxxxxx-xxxxxx)
10. Click the OK button.
11. If you want to use encryption, you should now configure the encryption
option. See “Configuring Encryption” on page 4-48.
Configuring Encryption
Encryption ensures the privacy of data sent through the wireless medium.
Even if hackers intercept packets, they cannot decrypt them without the
correct key.
The WLANs controlled by the Wireless Edge Services xl Module can support
any of these encryption standards, listed from least secure to most secure:
■ Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) with a 64-bit
■ WEP with a 128-bit key
■ Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA)/WPA2 with Temporal Key Integrity Proto-
col (TKIP)
■ WPA2 with Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)
No matter which type of authentication you select, you can select any type of
encryption. You can select both WPA/WPA2-TKIP and WPA2-AES at the same
time. However, all other encryption options are mutually exclusive.
If your WLAN does not use authentication, the encryption option enforces a
de facto authentication: the user must enter the correct encryption key in
order to connect to the WLAN. However, this form of authentication is less
secure, particularly when used with WEP.