Wireless/Redundant Edge Services xl Module Management and Configuration Guide WS.01.03 or greater

1-4
Introduction
ProCurve Wireless Edge Services xl Module
This chapter will give you a brief overview of these functions as well as some
of the technologies on which they are based.
The Interface Between the Wireless and Wired Network
Each ProCurve Wireless Edge Services xl Module includes two internal ports:
■ a downlink port
■ an uplink port
The downlink port sends traffic to and receives traffic from the external
switch interfaces that connect, either directly or indirectly, to RPs. The uplink
port sends traffic to and receives traffic from external switch interfaces that
connect to other devices 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.
Note The Wireless Edge Services xl Module’s uplink and downlink ports must carry
traffic tagged for these VLANs. You configure the actual +tagging through the
management interface on the wireless services-enabled switch. (See the
ProCurve Series 6400cl Switches, 5300xl Switches, and 3400cl Switches
Management and Configuration Guide and ProCurve Series 6400cl
Switches, 5300xl Switches, and 3400cl Switches Advanced Traffic Manage-
ment Guide.)
Communicating with RPs: Radio Port VLANs
Radio Port VLANs send traffic to and receive traffic from RPs.
One of the Wireless Edge Services xl Module’s roles is to isolate traffic that
RPs transmit into your network until it can control this traffic. An RP encap-
sulates each wireless frame, leaving the 802.11 header and any encryption
intact, and forwards it to the module over its Radio Port VLAN.
A 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 so desire, the wireless
services-enabled switch)
■ dynamically on either a wireless services-enabled switch or an infrastruc-
ture switch based on a VLAN assignment stored on a RADIUS server