WESM zl Management and Configuration Guide WT.01.28 and greater

1-7
Introduction
ProCurve Wireless Edge Services zl Module
After bridging the traffic to the VLAN, the Wireless Edge Services can handle the
traffic in a variety of ways at both Layer 2 and Layer 3. You will learn about these
capabilities later in this chapter; first you must understand more precisely how the
module joins the wireless and wired networks, receiving and forwarding traffic on
its downlink and uplink ports.
The Interface Between the Wireless and Wired Networks
As the interface between the wireless and wired networks, the Wireless Edge Services
zl Module includes two internal ports:
■ a downlink port
■ an uplink port
The downlink port is associated with the wireless world. It sends traffic to and
receives traffic from the external switch interfaces that connect, either directly or
indirectly, to RPs. The downlink port carries traffic tagged for Radio Port VLANs.
The uplink port sends traffic to and receives traffic from external switch interfaces
that connect to other devices in the Ethernet network. The uplink port carries traffic
in one or more uplink VLANs—VLANs used in the Ethernet network.
The following sections describe how the module forwards traffic between RPs and
the Ethernet network, focusing in particular on the VLAN to which the traffic is
assigned at various points in this process.
Communicating with RPs: Radio Port VLANs
The Wireless Edge Services zl Module uses a Radio Port VLAN to send traffic to
and receive traffic from the RPs it adopts.
The RPs are designed to isolate traffic that they transmit into your network until the
Wireless Edge Services zl Module can control this traffic. An RP encapsulates each
wireless frame, leaving the 802.11 header and any encryption intact, and forwards it
to the module on the Radio Port VLAN.
The Radio Port VLAN can be established in one of three ways:
■ with auto-provisioning on the wireless services-enabled switch
■ manually on an infrastructure switch (or, if you want, on the wireless services-
enabled switch)
■ dynamically on either a wireless services-enabled switch or an infrastructure
switch based on a VLAN assignment stored on a RADIUS server