LevelOne WAB-1000 manual

LevelOne WAB-1000 Outdoor Access Point/Bridge User Guide[...]

Copyright © 2004 All righ ts reserved. No part of this docum entation may be repro duced in any fo rm or by any means or to m ake any derivative work (such a s translation, transformation, o r adaptation) w ithout written permission from the m anufacturer. The manufacturer reserves the rig ht to revise this documentation an d to make changes in co[...]

Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduc tion ............... ............................................................................ ............. .... 1 Basic Features ......................... ................... .... ................... .................. ................... .... ..... ..... 1 Wireless Basics ........................... .....[...]

General ................ ......................................................... .................................. ............. .. 18 Encryption ... ................... ................... ................... ....................... ................... ............... 21 WEP Encryption ......... ....................... ................... .....[...]

Chapter 5: Technical Suppor t .................................................................................... ............ 51 Manufact urer’s Stateme nt .................. ....................... ................... ................... ................... 51 Radio Frequenc y Interference Requirement s ................... .................. .[...]

1 Chapter 1: Introduction This manual covers the installation and opera tion of Level One’s WAB-1000 Outdoor Access Point. The WAB-1000 is a ruggedized access point/ bridge, which is intended for use in industrial and external enviro nments. It accommodates both 802.11b WLAN and 802.11g WLAN access and uses Power over Ethernet (PoE) access to the[...]

2 to reset to factory settings, u se the rese t function available through the web-scree n management module, or keep pressing the reset button located at the botto m of the device for 5 seconds. It has the following features: • Ethernet uplink WAN port • Local Ethernet LAN port (for configuration on ly) • Wireless (802.11b/g) interface • P[...]

3 802.11b The IEEE 802.11b standard, developed by the Wireless Et hernet Compatibility Alliance WECA) and ratified by IEEE, establishes a stable standard for compatibility. A user with an 802.11b product can use any bran d of access point with any other brand of client hardware that is built to the 802.11b standard for basic inter conn ection. 802.[...]

4 configured on the same subnetwork as the wired network interface and can be accessed by devices on the wired network. Possible AP Topologies 1. An access point can be used as a single AP without any connection to a wired network. In this configuration, it simply provides a stand-alone wireless network for a gro up of wireless devices. 2. The WAB-[...]

5 Bridging A wireless bridge is an access point configured to allow wireless commu nication from access point to access point. The wireless bridging function in the WAB-1000 allows use as a wireless bridge, in a number of alternate configuratio ns, includ ing the following po pular configurations: • Point-to-point bridging of 2 Ethernet Links; ?[...]

6 SSID The Service Set ID (SSID) is a string used to define a common roaming do main among multiple wireless access points. Different SSIDs on access points can enable overlapping wireless networks. The SSID can act as a basic password without w hich the clien t cannot connect to the network. However, this is easily overridden by allowing the wirel[...]

7 3DES is modeled on the older DES standard but encrypts data three ti mes over. 3 DES uses more CPU resources than AES because of the triple encryption . MAC Address Authentication The MAC address, short for Media Access Control address, is a hardw are add ress that uniquely identifies each node of a net work. In I EEE 8 02 networks, the Data Link[...]

8 Management After initial setup, maintenance of the system and programming of security functions are performed by personnel trained in the procedure using the embedd ed web-b ased management screens. The next chapter covers the basic proced ure for setting up the hardware.[...]

9 Chapter 2: Hardware inst allation Prep aration for use The Level One WAB-1000 Outdoor Access Point requires physical mounting and installation on the site, following a prescribed placement design to ensure optimum operation and roaming. The determination and planning of the wireless network solution sho uld have been determined by a wireless LAN [...]

10 Inst allation Instructions The WAB- 1000 inte nded to be instal led as pa rt of a complete wi reless d esign s olution. This manual deals only and specifically with the single WAB-1000 device as a unit. The purpose of this chapter is the description of the device an d its identifiable parts so that the user is sufficiently familiar to in ter act[...]

11 The WAN port is used to connect the WAB-1000 to the organization’s LAN. The Ethernet cable is run from the WAB-1000 WAN port to the power injector which is then connected to a power source and the wired LAN. A second (LAN Port) Ethernet con nector is designed for use during initial configuration only . This uses an RJ45 cable to connect the WA[...]

12 Sealing Antenna Connections Once all antennas have been installed, th e connection should be sealed to protect them in an exterior harsh environment using a self amalga mating polyisob utylene tape which, over a period of hours, adheres to itself and forms a single amalgamated rubber molding confo rming to the shape of the item it is covering. B[...]

13 Chapter 3: Configure the W AB-1000 for use as an access point Introduction The WAB-1000 Gateway comes with the capability to be configured as an access point. It can be further configured for Bridging. This is discussed in Chapter 4. Configured as an access point, it allows one LAN to freely exchange data with another LAN without restriction. In[...]

14 Initial setup using the “Local” port Plug one end of an RJ-45 Ethernet cable to the LAN port of the WAB-1000 (see page 11) and the other end to an Ethernet port on your laptop. This LAN port in the WAB-1000 connects you to t he device’s internal DHCP serve r, which will dynam ically assi gn an IP a ddress to your laptop so you can access t[...]

15 NOTE: You will be asked for your user name and password. The default is " crypt o " with the p as sw ord " officer " to give f ull acce ss for s etup c onfigura tion. (T his pa ssword i s case- sensitive.) System Configuration General You will immediately be directed to the S ystem Configuration —General page for the WAB-10[...]

16 Go next to the System Configuration—WAN page. W AN Click the entry on the left hand navigation panel for System Configuration-WAN. This directs you to the System Co nfiguration – WAN page.[...]

17 If not using DHCP to get an IP address, input the information that the access poin t requ ires in order to allow the wireless devices it co ntrols access t o the wired LAN. This will be the IP address, Subnet Mask, Default Gateway, and, where needed, D NS 1 and 2. Click Apply to accept changes. LAN This sets up the default numbers for the four o[...]

18 Wireless Setup General Wireless Setu p allows your co mputer’s PC card to talk to the access point. Once y ou have completed wireless configuration, y ou can complete the rest of the co nfigura tion wire lessly if you wish, assuming that you have installed and configured a wireless PC card on your computer. (If you have not done so, y ou will [...]

19 will accommodate legacy sys tems. The 8 02 .11g improves the wireless po wer but limits use to those WLANs that have only 802.11g clients. The 802.11 b /g mixed allows y ou to use both 802.11b and 802.11g clients but li mits power to that of the 802.11b band. You can assign a channel number to the AP (if necessary) and modify the Tx Pwr Mode. Th[...]

20 If you click o n the button S elect the optima l channel , a popup screen will display the choices. This action does not select the chann el for you but shows you what will most probably be the channel selected if you leave the following dropdown menu at Yes. Tx Pwr Mode and Fixed Pwr Level: The Tx Power Mode defaults to Auto, giving the largest[...]

21 All Rates 1 Mbps 2 Mbps 5.5 Mbps 6 Mbps 11 Mbps 12 Mbps 18 Mbps 24 Mbps 36 Mbps 48 Mbps 54 Mbps The rate at whi ch all data frames will be transm itted. Preamble Short/Long Preamble Specifies wheth er frames are t ransmitted with the Short o r Long Preamble Broadcast SSID Enabled/disabled When disabled, t he AP hides the SSID in outgoing beacon [...]

22 deployed on client stations and access points. But the use of WEP encry ption provides some measure of security. In WEP, you can set the Authentication Typ e for Open System, Shared Key, or Open/Shared. Select 64-bit, 128-bit or 152-bit encryption and enter the WEP key or keys as appropriate. Note that, if WEP is enabled, that same WEP key must [...]

23 Ra d i u s Serv e r, and ei t h er AES-CC M P enc r y ption stan d a r d, o r TKIP, w h i c h e v er is m o st suita ble f or your system . If you are a SOHO user, selecting pre-sh ared key means that you don’t have the expense of installing a Radius Server. Simply input up to 63 character /nu meric/hexadec imals in th e Passphrase field. If y[...]

24 MAC Address Filtering The factory default f or MAC Address filterin g is di sabl ed. If you ena bl e MAC Addre ss filtering, you should also set the toggle fo r Filter Ty pe. This works as follows: • If Filtering is enabled and Filter Type is Allow Access, only those devices equipped w ith the authorize d MA C ad dresses w ill be able to commu[...]

25 Bridging and Bridging Encryption Bridging is covered in Chapter Four. If you will be deploying this WAB-1000 as a bridge, follow the instructions in Chapter Fou r. The Bridging and Bridging Encryption screens are shown below for reference. See Chapter Four for details abo ut bridging.[...]

26 See Chapter Four for details abo ut bridging. Rogue AP Detection The Rogue AP Detection page allows the network administrator to set up rogue AP detection. If you enable rogue AP detection, also enter the MAC address of each AP in the network that you want the AP being configured to acc ept as a trusted A P. (You may add up to 20 APs.) Enter an [...]

27 Advanced The Advanced page allows you to enable or disable load balancing. Load balancing is enabled by default. Load balancing distribute s traffic effic iently among network servers so that no individual server is overburdened. For example, the load balancing feature balances the wireless clients between APs. If two APs with similar settings a[...]

28 Services Settings DHCP Server This page allows configuration of the DHCP server function accessible from the Local LAN port for internal management of the WAB-1000. The default factory setting fo r the DHCP server function is enabled. You can disable the DHCP server function, if you wish. Yo u can also set the range of addresses to be assigned. [...]

29 The Windows Internet Naming Service, (WINS) server, is used for name re solution. It is similar in function to DNS. It allows you to search for resources by computer name instead of IP address. This software release has added the field: Lease period for the DHCP server function. Th e lease times you can select are: 1 ho ur, 2 hours, 1 day, 2 day[...]

30 User Management List All Users The List All Users page simply lists all administrator accounts configured for the unit.[...]

31 Add New User The Add New User screen all ows you to ad d new Cr y pto Office rs or Admini strat ors, assigning and confirming the password for each. The roles of the “Crypto Officer” and “Administrator” are different, with the ad ministra tor role being more limited. NOTE: There is no default A dministrator account. You must login as the[...]

32 System Status This screen displays the status of the WAB-1000 device and netwo rk interfac e details and the routing table. There are also some pop-up informational menus on this screen that give detailed information about CPU, PCI, Interrupts, Processes, and Interfaces. Bridging Status This screen displays the Ethernet port STP status, wireless[...]

33 Wireless Clients The Wireless Clients report screen displa ys the MAC address of all wireless clien ts and their signal strength and transmit rate.[...]

34 Adjacent AP List The Adjacent AP list shows all the APs on the network which are not seen by the subject AP as trusted clients. DHCP Client List The DHCP client list displays all clients currently connected to the WAB-1000 via DHCP server, including their hostnames, IP addresses, and MAC addresses. Use the Rem ove button t o clear any DHCP clien[...]

35 System Log The system lo g displays sy stem-facility - messages with dat e and time sta mp. These are messages documenting functions performed internal to the system, based on the system’s functionality. Generally , the Ad ministrator would only use this information if trained as or working with a field engineer or as information provided to t[...]

36 change operating mode, etc., using the web browser. It establishes a running record regarding what actions were pe rformed and by whom. The Web access log will continue to accumula te listings. If you wish to clear listing s manually, use the Clear button. Network Activity The Network Activity Log keeps a detailed log of all activi ties on th e [...]

37 System Administration The System administration screens contain administrative functions. The screens and functions are detailed in the following sec t ion. Firmware Upgrade The System Upgrade utility is a functionality bu ilt into the WAB-1000 for updates to the device’s firmware as they become available. When a n ew upgrade file becomes avai[...]

38 Remote Logging Remote logging allows you to forward the sy slog d ata from each machine to a central remote logging server. In the WAB-1000 , this function uses the syslogd daemon. Yo u can find more information about syslogd by searching for "syslogd" in an Internet search engine (such as Google®) to find a version compatible w ith y[...]

39 Utilities This screen gives you ready access to two useful utilities: Ping and Traceroute. Simply enter the IP address or host name you wish to ping or traceroute and click either the Ping or Traceroute button, as appropriate.[...]

40 Chapter 4: Configure the W AB-1000 as a bridge Introduction In the WAB-1000, wireless b ridging uses a second WLAN card to set up an in dependent wireless bridge connection. Since wireless brid ging prov ides a mechanism for APs to collab orate, it is possible to extend the basic service set (BSS) of a standalone AP and to connect two separate L[...]

41 In the Wireless Configuration —Genera l screen, if you are setting up the WAB-1000 only as a bridge, the SSID can remain in its default setting , since the br id ge uses the BSSID for purposes of establishing contact. The BSSID is shown on the Wireless Configuration—Bridg ing page (see page 44). It is the MAC Address for the bridge WLAN card[...]

42 The Wireless Configuration—Brid g ing Encr yption page is used to configure static encryption keys for the wireless bridge. This is an important page to set up to ensure that your bridge is working correctly. The encryption key that you use on this screen must be the same for any bridge connected to your bridging network in order for communica[...]

43 The following sections describe the setup for three ty pes of bridg ing configuration: point-to- poin t, p oin t- t o - mu lt i po in t, or , last ly , re pea te r. Set up bridging type Point-to-point bridge configuration A point-to-point link is a di rect conn ection between two, and only two, locations or nodes. Because the WAB-1000’s bridge[...]

44 For the two bridges that are to be linked to communicate properly , they have to be se t up with c ompatibl e comm ands in t he setup screens . For instance, the bridges mu st have the sa me channel n u mber. Because there is a separate WLAN card for bridging, there can be a separate WLAN on the 802.11b/g card with no loss efficiency, as long as[...]

45 Navigate to the Wireless Configuration —Bridging screen. In the first section: General, you will see the MAC address of the bridging card. This is used as the BSSID on other WAB-10 00 s that will be co mmunicating w it h this one. Wireless mode can be set to 802 .1 1g for best rate, to 80 2.11 b (if necessary) or to mixed 802.11b/g. Set basic [...]

46 enter only hexadecimal numbers, no colons. Data entry is not case sensitive. You m ay also enter a note that defines the location of the remote brid ge. Then click Add to accept. The remote bridge's BSSID will now appear in the third section of the page. If, at some time you wish to delete the entry, simply click the check box next to it an[...]

47 You must complete the configu r a tion of your Bridge 1 by foll owing the ge neral inst ruction s in Chapter 3 of this guide to establish any other required con figuration options such as General, WAN and LAN setting s. Configure the second of your two point-to-point bridges followi ng the instruc tions given f or Bridge 1 above. Point-to-multip[...]

48 bridging encryption of each must be set to the appropriate ty pe and key length and must be the same on all. Because the WAB-1000 has two separate WLAN cards, one for the AP card a nd one for the bridging card, each bridge can have a WLAN on the 802.11b/g protocol with no loss of efficiency in bridging if you wish. The following diagram pictures[...]

49 Wireless Con figuration – Brid ging Encryption Select appropriate key type/length and value. Must be the same key as Bridge 2~n. Select appropriate key type/length and value. Must be the sam e key as Bridge 1. The above recommended setup requires only Bridge 1 to be set in point-to-mu ltipoint mode. It is possible to se t a ll br id ges in poi[...]

50 BSSID Add Bridge 2's BSSID Add Bridge 1's and Bridge 3's BSSID Add Bridge 2's BSSID Wireless Conf iguration – Bridging Encryption Select appropriate key type/length and enter key value. Must be the same as that on the other 2 Bridges. Select appropriate key type/length and enter key value. Must be the same as that on the ot[...]

51 Chapter 5: T echnical Support Manufacturer ’ s S t atement The WAB-1000 is provided with warranty. It is not desired o r expected that the user open the device. If malfunction is experienced and all external causes are elimina ted, the user sh ou ld return the unit to the manufacturer and replace it w ith a functioning unit. If you are experie[...]

52 Glossary 3DES Also referred to as Triple DES , a mode of th e DES encryption algo rithm that encry pts data three ti mes. 802.11 802.11 refers to a fam ily of specifications developed by the IEEE for wireless LAN technology . 802.11 specifies an over-the-air int erface between a wireless clien t and a base station or between two wireless c lient[...]

53 DHCP Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, DHCP, i s a protoc ol for assigning dyn amic IP addresses to devices on a network. With dynam ic addressing, a device can have a diff erent IP addre ss every time it connects to the network . In some systems, th e device’s IP ad dress can even ch ange while it is still connected. DHCP a l so supports a[...]

54 WPA WPA stands for Wi Fi Protected Access. It’s an interim standard developed by the WiFi Alliance pending full ratification of the 802.11i standard, to protect the wire d b and and impro ve upon the old WEP encry ption standard.[...]