Wireless Gateway Series User's Guide

ZyAIR Wireless Gateway Series User’s Guide
7-10 Wireless Security
Step 1. First enter identical passwords into the AP and all wireless clients. The Pre-Shared Key (PSK)
must consist of between 8 and 63 ASCII characters (including spaces and symbols).
Step 2. The AP checks each client’s password and (only) allows it to join the network if it matches its
password.
Step 3. The AP derives and distributes keys to the wireless clients.
Step 4. The AP and wireless clients use the TKIP encryption process to encrypt data exchanged between
them.
Figure 7-5
WPA - PSK Authentication
7.9 WPA with RADIUS Application Example
You need the IP address of the RADIUS server, its port number (default is 1812), and the RADIUS shared
secret. A WPA application example with an external RADIUS server looks as follows. “A” is the RADIUS
server. “DS” is the distribution system.
Step 1. The AP passes the wireless client’s authentication request to the RADIUS server.
Step 2. The RADIUS server then checks the user's identification against its database and grants or denies
network access accordingly.
Step 3. The RADIUS server distributes a Pairwise Master Key (PMK) key to the AP that then sets up a
key hierarchy and management system, using the pair-wise key to dynamically generate unique
data encryption keys to encrypt every data packet that is wirelessly communicated between the
AP and the wireless clients.