ProSafe® 20-AP Wireless Controller Data Sheet
WC7520
Reliable, Secure and Scalable Wireless Controller for Mid-sized Businesses, Schools
and Hospitals
The NETGEAR ProSafe 20-AP Wireless Controller WC7520 offers a high-performance and
fully-featured Wireless LAN architecture to meet the demands of medium-sized businesses,
schools, and hospitals with thousands of users. Focusing on ease-of-use, the WC7520 Controller
simplifies wireless deployments and network management with best-in-class wireless reliability,
coverage, and performance. The scalable WC7520 Controller enables businesses to grow their
wireless network as needed with a dramatic return on investment, with optional licenses that
support their changing needs. Via licensing upgrades, the ProSafe Wireless Controller scales
up to 50 access points (AP). For larger deployments, the WC7520 Controller is stackable up
to three units, supporting up to 150-APs, including controller redundancy. Meeting the next
generation needs of larger installations, the WC7520 Controller delivers central wireless
management, integrated wireless mobility, robust top-end security and rich converged services
such as L2/L3 fast roaming, guest access captive portal and Voice over Wi-Fi support. Built to
last, the WC7520 Controller is backed by a Lifetime Warranty and delivers enterprise-class
connectivity and secure wireless LAN functionality.
Scalable Architecture
Centralized Management
Robust Security
Guest Access, Captive
Portal and Logging
The WC7520 Controller natively supports 20 APs and is upgradable in 10-AP increments up to
a total of 50 APs via WC7510L licenses. Stackable up to three controllers, a WC7520 Controller
stack can support 150 access points with a single interface. Importantly, the WC7520 offers
redundancy for always-on reliability and peace of mind.
Deployed as an overlay on the existing wired network infrastructure, the NETGEAR ProSafe
20-AP Wireless Controller simplifies the network management by providing a single point of
management for the entire wireless network. Easy to set up, the WC7520 Controller discovers
all supported access points in the network, even across VLANs and subnets. Once identified, the
access points are provisioned to dependent access points in minutes. Building floor plans can be
used to visualize live coverage and heat maps of the wireless network.
With identity-based security features such as support for RADIUS, Active Directory and internal
or external AAA server, NETGEAR ProSafe 20-AP Wireless Controller truly unifies wired and
wireless access without compromising on security. Management VLAN is configurable and up
to 8 security configuration profiles (SSID, 802.11i security, VLAN, ACLs, radio parameters) can
be active. Rogue AP detection permits rogue APs classifi cation (friendly or hostile). Standard RADIUS
compliance enables support for third-party authentication and billing system implementation.
Scheduled wireless on/off times permits the wireless network to be completely unavailable
during specified non-business hours.
Guest access allows restricted access to the network, using an integrated captive portal. Two
methods of entry are provided, either assisted or self certified. In the assisted model, the
receptionist can create a user name and password for guests in the GUI and the WC7520
Controller hosts a captive portal where guests can enter their pre-configured credentials to gain
access to the network. Alternatively, the WC7520 Controller hosts a guest portal where guests
can register themselves before entering the network. Backend VLAN policies ensure restricted
access to guests, prohibiting them any access to the sensitive data on the corporate network.
Guest activity logs are available.
24/7
TECHNICAL
SUPPORT*
1-888-NETGEAR (638-4327)
Email: info@NETGEAR.com
ProSafe® 20-AP Wireless Controller WC7520
RF Management and
Hole Detection
Load Balancing and
Rate Limiting
Fast Roaming and
Voice Over Wi-Fi
Heat Maps and Triangulation
Monitoring and Reporting
With integrated RF planning tools, an administrator can input floor plans, building dimensions,
and desired coverage. The planning tools compute the predicted RF characteristics of the
building, and display predicted coverage. Automatic control of AP transmit power and channel
allocation ensures coverage by minimizing interferences. Automatic WLAN healing after loss of
AP or due to RF interferences adapts the power and channel of the other APs around the area.
Scheduled automatic channel allocation authorizes enterprise-class reliable Wireless experience.
Automatic load balancing of clients across APs is provided based on number of clients per AP,
and signal strength threshold/data rate threshold of clients on the BSS. Rate limiting is provided
by SSID. Load balancing and rate limiting ensure fair bandwidth allocation among all clients for
robust wireless connectivity.
The NETGEAR ProSafe 20-AP Wireless Controller supports rapid mobility across VLANs and
subnets including 802.11i pre-authentication and fast roaming support (FRS). Seamless L2 and
L3 roaming provides support for latency-sensitive applications such as video, audio and voice
over wireless. Wi-Fi Multimedia (WMM) advanced prioritization extends Wi-Fi’s high-quality
end-user experience to voice applications (VoWi-Fi).
AP heat maps by wireless band, wireless channel and signal strength allows real-time view
of the wireless network status. Administrators can easily locate known APs, rogue APs, and
associated clients on the heat map directly from the monitoring page.
The WC7520 has a heartbeat mechanism between the controller and the AP. It is monitored
based on several factors, such as RF interference, clients, error levels, etc.
Each AP is constantly monitored (number of clients, traffic load, RF interference, packet error
levels and retransmission statistics). Statistics provide reliable metrics per AP, per client, per floor
and for the entire wireless network.
Performance
Supported Access Points
The best of centralized and distributed architectures are implemented by the NETGEAR ProSafe
20-AP Wireless Controller for outstanding Wireless-N performance. Local traffic is automatically
switched at the access points level for fastest processing, when roamed L3 traffic is processed at
the controller level with advanced data control. Real-time applications such as VoWi-Fi require
perfect inter subnet/inter VLAN mobility: WC7520 encryption tunneling delivers enterprise-class
fast roaming without any impact on Layer 2/Layer 3 performance.
Supporting standard NETGEAR access points, the WC7520 Controller enables customers to
select the right access points for their needs, even mixing models to provide the right coverage.
The standard access points are converted to dependent access points. Supported models include
professional-class ProSafe access points WNAP210, WNAP320 (single band) and WNDAP350,
WNDAP360 (dual band), all with Power over Ethernet capabilities and lifetime warranties.
WC7520
+3 x WC7510L
WC7520
+3 x WC7510L
(redundant)
10 GE
GE
STM600
SRX5308
Internet
GSM7352S
(stack)
PoEPoE
80 x WNDAP350 40 x WNAP320
WC7520
+3 x WC7510L
WC7520
GSM7252PS
(stack)
(stack)
Example of Wireless-N configuration with 120 access points (AP) and one redundant controller.
ProSafe® 20-AP Wireless Controller WC7520
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
SYSTEM INFORMATION AND LIMITS
Wireless Controller Model Number
Supported AP Models • WNDAP360 ProSafe Dual Band 802.11n Wireless Access Point
Supported Modes • Wireless-A/B/G/N
Maximum AP Supported per Controller • 20 (default)
Maximum Controllers that Can Be
Stacked Together
Maximum AP Supported per Stacked Setup
Maximum Profi le Groups per Controller • 8
Maximum Security Profi les (SSID) per Profi le
Group
Maximum Security Profi les (SSID) per
Controller
Maximum Security Profi les per Network
(3 Controllers)
Maximum Rogue APs Detectable
per Controller
Maximum Floorplans per Controller • 3 (default)
Number of Captive Portals per Controller 1
Maximum Clients per AP • WNAP210: up to 32 clients; WNAP320: up to 64 clients
Maximum Clients per Controller None other than maximum clients per AP
L2 Mobility L2 fast roaming support between the APs
L3 Mobility L3 fast roaming support with encrypted tunnelling between the APs and the controller
Maximum VLANs per Controller • 64 VLANs for SSIDs
Controller Redundancy • VRRP-based N+1 redundancy with failover
LICENSE CONFIGURATIONS
Per Controller: Up to 50 Access Points (AP)
with Appropriate Licenses
WC7520 ProSafe 20-AP Wireless Controller
• WNDAP350 ProSafe Dual Band 802.11n Wireless Access Point
• WNAP320 ProSafe 802.11n Wireless Access Point
• WNAP210 ProSafe 802.11n Wireless Access Point
• 50 with 3 x Incremental 10-AP License Upgrades (WC7510L)
3
150
• Each access point belongs to only one profile group
• 8 per radio (2.4 GHz; 5 GHz)
• 16 with WNDAP350
128 (assuming WNDAP350/WNDAP360 and 8 security profiles per radio)
512
512
• Additional floorplans possible with USB local storage (up to a maximum of 18 floorplans)
• WNDAP350 and WNDAP360: up to 64 clients per radio (128 clients total)
• 1 configurable management VLAN
• 1:1 when one cold redundant Controller and one production Controller are configured to form a Redundancy group
• 1:2 or 1:3 when one cold redundant Controller is added to a Stack of 2 or 3 production Controllers
• Licenses on the redundant controller need - at least - to match those on each protected production controller
WC7520
WC7510L
WC7510L
WC7510L
Per Stack: Up to 150 Access Points (AP)
with Appropriate Licenses
Supports 20 AP
WC7520
Supports 20 AP
WC7510L
Adds 10 AP
WC7510L
Adds 10 AP
Adds 10 AP
WC7510L
Adds 10 AP
WC7520
Supports 20 AP
Adds 10 AP
WC7510L
Adds 10 AP
Adds 10 AP
WC7510L
Adds 10 AP
WC7510L
Adds 10 AP
WC7520
Supports 20 AP
WC7510L
Adds 10 AP
WC7510L
Adds 10 AP
WC7510L
Adds 10 AP
CONFIGURATION EXAMPLES - WIRELESS A/B/G/N DEPLOYMENT
Number of Access Points - up to: 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150
Number of Wireless Controllers (WC7520) 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3
Number of 10-AP Incremental License
Upgrades (WC7510L)
01232345656789
IP AND VLANS CONFIGURATION
DHCP Server/Relay • Integrated DHCP server
• Multiple DHCP server/pool can be added for different VLANs (up to 64)
VLANs for the Wireless Controller
One management VLAN (configurable VLAN ID)
VLANs Access Points / Multiple SSIDs 64 VLANs
VLANs Deployment The Wireless Controller must have IP connectivity with the access points through the management VLAN. If the Controller and the
APs are on different management VLANs, external VLAN routing must allow IP connectivity between the Controller and the APs.
ProSafe® 20-AP Wireless Controller WC7520
RF PLANNING AND MONITORING
Integrated Deployment Planning • Hierarchical view of the network: Floor maps upload and floor maps dimensions input
• Automated RF planning algorithm: Computed number of APs required to cover a floor plan
• Theorical cloud coverage indicated for each AP for positionning assistance on the floor plan
RF Monitoring • Coverage computing per floor plan
• Alert for any detected coverage holes with mitigation options with neighboring APs
• Rogue AP/blacklisted clients triangulation
RF MANAGEMENT
Automatic Channel Allocation • Channel automatic distribution to reduce interference
• Auto-channel allocation takes into consideration the AP location, interferences, and neighborhood maps for each AP
• Modifiable list of corporate channels to be used
• Scheduled mode for auto-channel allocation
• Automatic mode available in case of high level of interference
Automatic Power Control • Optimum transmit power determination based on coverage requirements
• Automatic power control mode available
• Neighborhood scan of RF environment to minimize neighboring AP interference and leakage across floors
Coverage Hole Detection • Automatic mode
• Down APs or compromised RF environment detection with alerts
• Self healing: Automatic neighboring AP power increase to fill in for coverage losses
Load Balancing • AP load monitoring and overload prevention
• Client redirection to lightly loaded neighboring APs
Fast Roaming • Seamless rapid mobility across VLAN and subnets
• Includes 802.11i pre-auth and fast roaming
• Fast roaming support accross L2, and L3 for video, audio and voice over wireless client
QUALITY OF SERVICE
WMM Quality of Service WMM (802.11e) prioritizes traffic for both upstream traffic from the stations to the access points (station EDCA parameters) and
WMM Queues in Decreasing Order
of Priority
WMM Power Save Option
Rate Limiting • Rate limit per SSID set as a percentage of total available bandwidth
WIRELESS SECURITY
Client Authentication Protocols • Open, WEP, WPA/WPA2-PSK
Distinct AAA Server per SSID Yes
RADIUS Accounting Protocol Per Client tracking for:
LDAP-based Authentication • Standard interface to external LDAP server/Microsoft
Integrated AAA Server Local database authentication based on WC7520 internal AAA Server
Guest Access • Integrated captive portal available for client authentication in a security profile
Captive Portal Configurable portal page, including image files
Rogue Access Points • Rogue AP definition: AP with radio SSID oberved by any of the managed APs and seen transmitting on same L2 wired network
downstream traffic from the access points to the client stations (AP EDCA parameters)
• Voice: The highest priority queue with minimum delay, which makes it ideal for applications like VoIP and streaming media
• Video: The second highest priority queue with low delay is given to this queue. Video applications are routed to this queue
• Best effort: The medium priority queue with medium delay is given to this queue. Most standard IP application will use this queue
• Background: Low priority queue with high throughput. Applications, such as FTP, which are not time-sensitive but require high
throughput can use this queue
WMM power save helps conserve battery power in small devices such as phones, laptops, PDAs, and audio players using IEEE
802.11e mechanisms
• 802.11i/WPA/WPA2 Enterprise with standard interface to external AAA/RADIUS Server
• Local ACLs (512 MAC)
• MAC ACLs based on local AAA Server or external Radius Server
• Bytes Tx/Rx
• Connect/disconnect time
®
Active Directory Server
• Password based authentification mode: Local user store available, receptionist assigned user name/password
• External Radius server mode: External RADIUS authentication for the captive portal clients
• Open authentication mode: Guest auto registration with email address
• Extraction of logs of guest activity
• Detection and mapping of up to 512 rogue APs
®
ProSafe® 20-AP Wireless Controller WC7520
WIRELESS NETWORK MONITORING
Monitoring Summary Summary of managed access points status, rogue access points detected, wireless stations connected, Wireless Controller
Managed Access Points AP status for the managed access points and details that includes configuration settings, current wireless settings, current clients
Rogue Access Points • Rogue access points reported
Wireless Clients • Clients statistics and details per AP, per SSID, per floor, per location
Wireless Network Usage Network usage statistics display plots of average received/transmitted network traffic per managed access point. Three different
Heat Maps • Live coverage and visualization heat maps
DHCP Leases DHCP details for wireless clients
MANAGEMENT
Management Interface HTTP, SNMP v1/v2c, telnet, Secure Shell (SSH)
Logging and Reporting • If available syslog server on the network, the Wireless Controller can send all logs. Logs are also available on the GUI and
Diagnostics Managed access points ping
Maintenance Save/restore configuration, restore to factory defaults, admin password change, add user (read-only), firmware upgrade via Web
Dual Boot Image Supported
SNMP SNMP v1/v2c
IEEE AND IETF RFC STANDARDS
Wired IEEE Standards • IEEE 802.3 10BASE-T, IEEE 802.3u 100BASE-TX, IEEE 802.3ab 1000BASE-T
Wired IEEE Standards • IEEE 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n
RFC - System Facilities • RFC 1001 Protocol standard for a NetBIOS service on a TCP/UDP transport: Concepts and methods
RFC - Security and AAA • WPA-PSK, WPA2-PSK
IEEE AND IETF RFC STANDARDS
RFC - Management • SNMP v1, v2c
information and wireless network usage
and detailed traffic statistics
• Rogue access points in same channel
• Rogue access points in interfering channels
• Blacklisted clients, roaming clients
plots show Ethernet, Wireless 802.11 b/bg/ng and 802.11 a/na mode traffic separately
• Location visualization and device tracking
ready to download (log export file)
• Email alerts for events as per configuration to mutiple email addresses
browser for the Wireless Controller and the managed access points
• IEEE 802.1Q VLAN tagging
• WMM (from 802.11e)
• RFC 1002 Protocol standard for a NetBIOS service on a TCP/UDP transport: Detailed specifications
• RFC 1155 Management information for TCP/IP networks
• RFC 1305 Network Time Protocol (Version 3) Specification, Implementation and Analysis
• RFC 2131 DHCP
• RFC 3768 Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP)
• RFC 768 UDP
• RFC 791 IP
• RFC 792 ICMP
• RFC 793 TCP
• RFC 826 ARP
• RFC 1321 MD5 Message – Digest Algorithm
• RFC 1851 Triple DES Algorithm
• RFC 2246 TLS Protocol Version 1.0
• RFC 2404 HMAC-SHA-1-96
• RFC 3280 Internet X.509 PKI Certificate and CRL certificate
• RFC 3377 Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (v3): Technical Specification
• RFC 3565 Use of the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) Encryption Algorithm in Cryptographic Message Syntax
• RFC 4346 TLS Protocol version 1.1
• RFC 364 syslog
• RFC 854 telnet
• RFC 1156 MIB
• RFC 1157 SNMP
• RFC 1213 MIB II
• RFC 1350 TFTP
• RFC 2616 HTTP
• RFC 3164 The BSD Syslog Protocol
• Enterprise private MIBs
ProSafe® 20-AP Wireless Controller WC7520
HARDWARE
Gigabit RJ45 Ports LAN Switch 4-port 10/100/1000
Flash Memory/RAM 8 MB + 2 GB CF/1 GB DDR2
USB Port 1 port for USB storage
• More floor heat maps
• Extended statistics history
Major Regulatory Compliance FCC Class A, CE, WEEE, RoHS
Storage and Operating Temperatures Operating temperature 0°-45° C (32°-113° F),
Storage temperature -20°-70° C (-4°-158° F)
Humidity Operation 90% Maximum Relative, Storage 95% Maximum Relative
Electrical Specifi cations 100-240V, AC/50-60Hz, Universal Input, DC 5V/8A (internal power supply)
Dimensions (W x H x D) cm 26.1 x 4.3 x 44
Dimensions (W x H x D) in 10.3 x 1.7 x 17.3
Weight kb/lb 2.912/6.4
®
System Requirements Internet Explorer
Package Contents ProSafe 20-AP Wireless Controller (WC7520), Ethernet cable, power cord, installation guide, resource CD
Warranty ProSafe Lifetime Warranty
Next business day onsite hardware replacement support, 3 years (included)**
ORDERING INFORMATION - CONTROLLER
North America WC7520-100NAS
Europe WC7520-100EUS
Asia WC7520-100AUS
ORDERING INFORMATION - LICENSES
Incremental 10-AP License Upgrade WC7510L-10000S
PROSUPPORT SERVICE PACKS
OnCall 24x7, Category 3 PMB0333
XPressHW, Category 3 PRR0333-100 (Australia only)
5.0 or higher or Mozilla Firefox® 1.0 or higher
†
350 E. Plumeria Drive
San Jose, CA 95134-1911
1-888-NETGEAR (638-4327)
E-mail: info@NETGEAR.com
www.NETGEAR.com
© 2011 NETGEAR, Inc. NETGEAR, the NETGEAR Logo, Connect with Innovation, ProSafe, NETGEAR Green and Smart Wizard are
trademarks and/or registered trademarks of NETGEAR, Inc. and/or subsidiaries in the United States and/or other countries. Mac and
the Mac logo are trademarks of Apple, Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Other brand names mentioned herein are for
identification purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective holder (s). Information is subject to change without notice. All rights
reserved.
†
Basic technical support provided for 90 days from date of purchase.
** See http://onsite.netgear.com for coverage, availability and terms and conditions.
D-WC7520-7
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