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

4-85
Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs)
VLAN Assignment
See “Identity-Based, or Dynamic, VLAN Assignment” on page 4-88 for an
explanation of how the Wireless Edge Services xl Module can dynamically
match WLAN traffic to multiple VLANs.
Considerations for WLAN-Based VLAN Assignment
By default, all WLANs are mapped to VLAN 1. In some networks that use
multiple VLANs, this VLAN is reserved for the management VLAN. Just as you
might prevent a switch port from carrying traffic in VLAN 1 before connecting
a user to this port, you might want to remove a WLAN from VLAN 1 and place
it in a different VLAN.
In addition, just as you might create several VLANs to isolate users from each
other and direct them toward the appropriate resources, you might create
several WLANs and assign different VLANs to these WLANs to control wireless
users’ network rights.
When determining how many WLANs to create and which VLANs to assign to
these WLANs, consider these issues:
■ What type of network access will users connecting to the wireless net-
work require?
For example, if the users need the wireless connection exclusively for
Internet access, then they probably will not need to be part of any specific
subnetwork. You could create a single WLAN and map that WLAN to any
user VLAN in your network. Remember, however, that the wireless users
will then receive the same sort of network rights as users in that VLAN,
which is not ideal in many cases. It might be a better idea to create a new
VLAN, such as VLAN 100, that is exclusively for wireless users; network
administrators could limit traffic in that VLAN to such applications as
DHCP, DNS, and HTTP.
You can then either:
• Add that VLAN to the Ethernet network—completing all necessary
steps such as tagging switch ports for the VLAN and configuring a
DHCP server to provide addresses in the appropriate subnetwork
range.
• Terminate that VLAN on the Wireless Edge Services xl Module and
configure the module to route traffic, act as a DHCP server, and
perform NAT.
For more information on these options, see “Determining the Layer 3
Services Your Wireless Edge Services xl Module Should Provide” on
page 1-17 of Chapter 1: Introduction.