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

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Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs)
Configuring a WLAN
If you click the Config button, the message in Figure 4-33 is displayed. The
message does not indicate a problem: it simply informs you that you have
completed all necessary steps for configuring encryption on this WLAN.
Figure 4-33. No Need to Configure WEP Keys
When the WLAN Uses 802.1X
Configuring WPA/WPA2 with 802.1X. WPA and WPA2 are similar stan-
dards, both of which provide more robust encryption than WEP and rely on
802.1X authentication. Both standards generate hierarchies (or sets) of
encryption keys. In the key hierarchy, each station has its own pairwise key,
which the Wireless Edge Services xl Module also knows. All stations in the
same WLAN use the same group key for multicast and broadcast traffic. WPA
uses TKIP for the key hierarchy and WPA2 uses CCMP with AES encryption.
To configure WPA/WPA2, you must select the protocol: TKIP, AES, or both.
AES is the most secure form of encryption and the one specified by WPA2 and
802.11i. However, not all stations support AES encryption.
In the Edit screen for a WLAN, as shown in Figure 4-34, the two options for
WPA/WPA2 encryption are listed as:
■ WPA/WPA2-TKIP
■ WPA2-AES