Netgear orporated HA311 Users Manual

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NETGEAR HA311 802.11a Wireless PCI Adapter

Installation Guide

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FCC WARNING

This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital
device, pursuant to Part15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provife
reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installation. This
equipment generates, uses, and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed
and used in accordance with the instructions, may cause harmful interference to radio
communications. However, there is no guarantee that interference will not occur in a
particular installation. If this equipment does cause harmful interference to radio or
television reception, which can be determined by turning the equipment on and off, the
user is encouraged to try to correct the interference by one or more of the following
measures:

u Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna.
u Increase the separation between the equipment and the receiver.
u Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the

receiver is connected.

u Consult the dealer or an experienced radio/TXV technician for help. Modifications

made to the product, unless expressly approved by Netgear Inc., could void the
user’s authority to operate the equipment.

u RF Exposure Requirements WARNING!! To ensure compliance with FCC RF exposure

requirements, the antenna used for this device must be installed to provide a
separation distance of at least 20cm(8 in) from all persons and must not be co­located or operating in conjunction with any other antenna or radio transmitter.
Installers an end-users must follow the installation instructions provided in this
user guide.

Radio Frequency Interference Requirements This device is restricted to indoor use due
to its operation in the 5.15 to 5.25GHz frequency range. FCC requires this product to be
used indoors for the frequency range 5.15 to 5.25GHz to reduce the potential for
harmful interference to co-channel Mobile Satellite systems. High power radars are
allocated as primary users of the 5.25 to 5.35GHz and 5.65 to 5.85GHz bands. These
radar stations can cause interference with and/or damage this device.

Canadian Department of Communications Radio Interference Regulations This digital
apparatus (Model HA311 Wireless PCI Adapter) does not exceed the Class B limits for
radio-noise emissions from digital apparatus as set out in the Radio Interference
Regulations of the Canadian Department of Communications.

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NETGEAR, INC.

4500 Great America Parkway
Santa Clara, CA 95054
USA
Phone: 1-888-NETGEAR
E-mail: [e-mail]
www.NETGEAR.com

Technical Support

YOU MUST REGISTER TO OBTAIN TECHNICAL SUPPORT. PLEASE RETAIN PROOF OF PURCHASE and
the warranty information.
To register your product, get product support or obtain product information and product
documentation, go to http://www.NETGEAR.com . If you do not have access to the World Wide Web,
you may register your product by filling out the registration card and mailing it to NETGEAR
customer service.
You’ll find technical support information at: http://www.NETGEAR.com/ through the customer
service area. If you want to contact technical support by telephone, see the support information
card for the correct telephone number for your countr y.

©2002 by NETGEAR, Inc. All rights reserved.
NETGEAR is a registered trademark of NETGEAR, Inc. in the United States and/or
other countries. Other brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.
Information is subject to change without notice.

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Introduction

Thank you for purchasing the NETGEAR HA311 802.11a Wireless PCI Adapter. This wireless PCI
adapter enables you to network various PC’s together without physically laying any wire and
delivers high-speed wireless performance – up to 54 Mbps, 72 Mbps in turbo mode. It provides
small business networks with reliable, standards-based 802.11a LAN connectivity that is
protected with industry-standard security against unauthorized access. NETGEAR's 802.11a
solution is interference-free and coexists with 802.11b and Bluetooth™ devices. It works with
Windows® 98, Me, NT 4.0, 2000, and XP operating systems.

This installation guide shows you how to install the adapter and the software for the adapter, and
configure it to create a wireless network. Setup is easy—follow the instructions in this guide and
your system will be up and running quickly.
If you have problems, there is a troubleshooting section on page 18 to help you. Or you can get
more detailed troubleshooting information from the reference guide on the HA311 Resource CD­ROM. NETGEAR also offers free support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on the Web
(www.NETGEAR.com), by e-mail ([e-mail]), and by phone (see the provided
support information card for phone numbers).

Installation Overview

Estimated setup time: 10 to 15 minutes

1. Determine the configuration of your wireless network.

2. Install the wireless PCI adapter.

3. Install the wireless configuration utility for the adapter.

4. Configure the adapter.

5. Test the connection.

For more detailed information about installation, troubleshooting, and configuration procedures,
see the reference guide on the HA311 Resource CD-ROM.

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What’s In the Box

When you open the box, verify that you received everything.
The package includes:

• HA311 802.11a Wireless PCI Adapter

• HA311 Resource CD-ROM, including a full reference guide

• HA311 Installation Guide (this document)

• Warranty and registration card

• Support information card

If you don’t have everything listed above, see the Support information card for contact
information. If the support information card is missing, go to
www.NETGEAR.com/support_contacts.html to obtain contact information.

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1 Determine the Network Configuration

To set up the wireless PCI adapter, you need to determine the network setting of your wireless
network.

Are you running the wireless network in ad-hoc mode or
infrastructure mode?

There are two modes of configuring your wireless PCI adapter: ad-hoc mode or infrastructure
mode. In an ad-hoc wireless network, there is no access point. Each node communicates with any
other node directly. (A node is a network connection point. For example, a PC in a LAN is a node.)

In the infrastructure mode, the wireless access point bridges between the wired LAN and wireless
network. Connecting multiple access points via a wired Ethernet backbone can further extend the
wireless network coverage. As a mobile computing device moves out of the range of one access
point, it moves into the range of another. As a result, wireless clients can freely roam from one
Access Point domain to another and still maintain a seamless network connection.

If you are running a wireless network in infrastructure mode, please set up the access point (such
as the NETGEAR HE102 802.11a Wireless Access Point) first, before you set up this wireless PCI
adapter.

Ad-hoc mode or infrastructure mode: _________________________________________

What is the SSID for your wireless network?

The Service Set Identification (SSID) is an alphanumeric character string identifying the wireless
local area network. The HA311 Wireless PCI adapter only can communicate with wireless NICs or
access points configured with the same SSID. For the access point and wireless nodes to
communicate with each other, all must be configured with the same SSID. Either the SSID for your
wireless network was assigned in a preexisting wireless network or, if there was no preexisting
wireless network, you must create the SSID just as you would create a network name, using from 1
to 32 characters and not including any spaces or hyphens between characters.

SSID: _________________________________________

Which wireless channel to use?

When the HA311 Wireless PCI adapter is configured to operate in Infrastructure mode, it
automatically scans through all eight available channels (three when in turbo mode) for the closest
access point to associate with. When the HA311 Wireless PCI adapter is configured to operate in
ad-hoc mode, one of the HA311 Wireless PCI adapters will automatically operate as a virtual
access point. There is no need to set up the wireless channel for the wireless PCI adapter.

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What is the WEP Encryption key?

The absence of a physical connection between nodes makes the wireless links vulnerable to
information theft. To provide a certain level of security from eavesdroppers and hackers, you can
enable WEP encryption. The following information is needed to determine the WEP encryption
level.

Note : The Shared Key, as well as the key content used by the HA311 Wireless PCI adapter and the
wireless access point or other wireless nodes in the same network, must be the same. You can
enter up to four different keys in the dialog box (see the screen shot below) but only the selected
key is effective.

Note : Twenty-four bits in the encryption key are factory preset and not modifiable. A 64-bit
encryption key can be represented by ten (10) hexadecimal digits. For a 128-bit encryption key,
twenty-six (26) hexadecimal digits need to be provided. For a 152-bit encryption key, thirty-two
(32) hexadecimal digits need to be provided.

Note: Hexadecimal digits are the first ten numbers of the decimal system (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,
and 9) and the letters A, B, C, D, E, and F. Your choice of characters is arbitrary. You might use,
for example, a phone number. (Do not use an obvious one, such as your office phone number).
The table below shows you some examples of encryption settings.

Encryption
Key Size

64-bit
(24+40)
128-bit
(24+104)
152-bit
(24+128)

# of
Hexadecimal
Digits

10 4C72F08AE1

26 4C72F08AE19D57A3FF6B260037

32 4C72F08AE19D57A3FF6B26003715D

Example of Hexadecimal Key Content

AC2