WESM zl Management and Configuration Guide WT.01.28 and greater

4-13
Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs)
Configuration Options: Normal Versus Advanced Mode
■ You want your RPs to announce more than four SSIDs.
While a single RP radio can only beacon four SSIDs, it is possible to customize
WLAN assignments so that different RP radios beacon different SSIDs. That is,
you can configure certain WLANs as the primary WLANs on some of your
organization’s RPs, and other WLANs as primary on others. However, such a
configuration would mean that certain WLANs are beaconed only in certain
areas, which may not be ideal.
■ You want more than 16 WLANs in your network.
With advanced mode configuration, you can configure up to 256 WLANs on the
Wireless Edge Services zl Module. However, you cannot assign every WLAN
to every RP.
Each RP radio has 4 BSSIDs, and each BSSID supports at most 4 WLANs. So
each RP radio can support up to 16 WLANs. If your network includes dual-radio
RPs, you can expand the number of WLANs on a single RP from 16 to 32: enable
half of the WLANs on one radio and half on the other.
To provide coverage for different WLANs in different areas, simply assign the
WLANs to the correct RPs.
Providing coverage for more than 16 WLANs in one area is more complicated.
You can enable some WLANs on one RP and some on another, and then place
the RPs close together. (Remember to set the RPs to non-overlapping channels.)
For dual-radio RPs, you can also enable some WLANs on radios operating in
802.11bg and some WLANs on radios operating in 802.11a.
However, either method could cause connectivity problems and uneven support
for WLANs throughout your wireless network. For example, if you use the
second method, certain WLANs are supported only by radios operating in
802.11a mode and others only by radios operating in 802.11bg mode. Users
might well have difficulty connecting to the desired WLAN.
Enabling WLANs Using Advanced Mode Configuration
To activate WLANs with advanced mode configuration, complete these steps:
1. Configure WLANs just as you would in normal mode. (Instructions on this
process are provided in “Configuring a WLAN” on page 4-26.)
2. Enable advanced configuration:
a. Select Network Setup > WLAN Setup.
b. Click the Global Settings button. The Global WLAN Settings screen is
displayed. (See Figure 4-8.)