WESM zl Management and Configuration Guide WT.01.28 and greater

1-55
Introduction
Radio Ports
Figure 1-19. Infrastructure Mode
BSSID
The BSSID is the RP’s MAC address in a BSS. (See Figure 1-18.) Wireless stations
in a BSS address all frames to the BSSID.
ESS
An ESS is a set of BSSs that share a common network name, or SSID. An ESS may
consist of many RPs, and on the Physical Layer each of these RPs manages a different
shared medium. However, logically all of the RPs and the stations they support are
part of the same network, identified by the same SSID. The WLAN configured with
this SSID defines all options for the ESS.
In contemporary networks, it is often more useful to talk about an ESS than a BSS
because users may roam from RP to RP. Each RP may support a different BSS, but
all share the same SSID, as shown in Figure 1-20. In fact, at the logical layer, all
BSSs in an ESS appear as the same BSS to a wireless station.