Wistron NeWeb AP300G User Manual

802.11g WLAN Access Point

User’s Guide

Version 1.0, May 2003

1

Copyright Statement

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in
any form or by any means, whether electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or
otherwise without the prior writing of the publisher.

™

Windows

95/98 and Windows™ 2000 are trademarks of Microsoft® Corp.
Pentium is trademark of Intel.
All copyright reserved.

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Table of Contents

Regulatory Information

Introducing the 802.11G ACCESS POINT ....... 5

Overview of the Device ......................... 5

802.11G ACCESS POINT Features ........6

Network Configuration Examples ......... 7

As An Access Point..........................7

As A stand-alone repeater............... 8

As A point to multi-points Bridge .... 8

Setting Up the device............................ 9

Static IP ...........................................9

Automatic IP .................................... 9

Installing the 802.11G ACCESS POINT ..... 10

What’s in the Box? ...............................10

Connecting the Cables ........................11

High Level Configuration Steps Required for the

802.11G ACCESS POINT......................11

Setting up a Windows PC or wireless client as

DHCP clients........................................ 12

A Look at the Front Panel....................14

Connecting More Devices Through A Hub To The

802.11G ACCESS POINT......................15

Basic Configuration of the 802.11G ACCESS POINT

...................................................................16

Logging On...........................................17

Setup Wizard........................................ 17

Time settings .................................17

Device IP Settings .........................18

Wireless Settings ...........................20

Advanced Settings .................................... 22

Password Settings............................... 22

System Management ........................... 22

SNMP Settings .....................................24

DHCP Server Settings.......................... 25

MAC Filtering Settings.........................26

Wireless Settings................................. 27

Operational Mode ................................ 28

Radius Settings ...................................29

Managing the 802.11G ACCESS POINT.....32

....................................... 4

How to View the device Status .......... 32

How to View the System Log.............. 33

DHCP Client Table............................... 33

Wireless Client Table .......................... 33

Bridge Table........................................ 34

Upgrading Firmware ........................... 34

How to Save or Restore Configuration Changes

............................................................. 35

How to Reboot your 802.11G ACCESS POINT

............................................................. 35

What if you Forgot the Password?...... 36

Command Line Interface .......................... 37

General guidelines .............................. 37

Express Mode vs. Advanced Mode of operation

............................................................. 38

Conventions ........................................ 38

Command List ..................................... 39

System Commands ............................. 39

Port...................................................... 46

Filtering ............................................... 48

DHCP Server........................................ 49

SNMP ................................................... 51

Diagnostics ......................................... 53

Security............................................... 56

Wireless............................................... 58

Product Specification ............................... 61

Federal Communication Commission Interference Statement

This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital
device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide
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 off and on, the
user is encouraged to try to correct the interference by one of the following measures:

- Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna.

- Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver.

- Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to whi ch the receiver
is connected.

- Consult the dealer or an experienced radio/TV technician for help.

FCC Caution: To assure continued compliance, (example - use only shielded interface
cables when connecting to computer or peripheral devices) any changes or modifications
not expressly approved by the party responsible for compliance could void the user's
authority to operate this equipment.

This device complies with Part 15 of the FCC Rules. Operation is subject to the following
two conditions:

(1) This device may not cause harmful interference, and
(2) This device must accept any interference received, including interference that may

cause undesired operation.

IMPORTANT NOTE:

This equipment complies with FCC radiation exposure limits set forth for an
uncontrolled environment. This equipment should be installed and operated
with minimum distance 20cm between the radiator & your body.

This transmitter must not be co-located or operating in conjunction with any
other antenna or transmitter.

The user cannot use channel 12 & 13, or it will be a violation of the
sensitive restricted bands of 15.205.

Introducing the 802.11G ACCESS POINT

Chapter

1

Overview of the Device

The 802.11G ACCESS POINT is an access-point based on IEEE 802.11g based 2.4-GHz
radio technology. It contains an 802.11g and a full-duplex 10/100 LAN interfaces. The

802.11G ACCESS POINT can function as a simple Access Point (AP), and act as the center
point of a wireless network supporting a data rate of up to 54 Mbps. It can also connect these
wireless devices to wired network through the LAN interface.

The 802.11G ACCESS POINT can also function in a repeater mode, which is used to extend
the physical coverage of the wireless network. Finally, the 802.11G ACCESS POINT can also
function in a Wireless Distribution System (WDS) mode. Multiple 802.11G ACCESS
POINT’s can be configured to operate in the WDS mode to inter-connect wired LAN
segments that are attached to these 802.11G ACCESS POINT’s.

Since the 802.11g share the same 2.4GHz radio band as the 802.11b technology, it can inter­operate with existing 11Mbps 802.11b devices. Therefore you can protect your existing
investment in 802.11b client cards, and migrate to the high-speed 802.11g standard as your
needs grow.

To address growing security concerns in a wireless LAN environment, different levels of
security can be enabled in the 802.11G ACCESS POINT, including:

• To disable SSID broadcast to restrict association to only those client stations that are already
pre-configured with the correct SSID

•

To enable WEP (Wireless Encryption Protocol) encryption to protect the privacy of your
data.

• Support of Access List Control to allow you to grant/deny access to/from specified
wireless stations

•

Provisioning of centralized authentication through Radius Server(s).

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IEEE 802.11g Access Point User’s Guide

802.11G ACCESS POINT Features

 Compliant with 802.11g and 802.11b standards with roaming capability

 Support of the standard access point mode for connection to wireless clients

Support of the Repeater Mode to extend infrastructure coverage



 Support of the WDS mode for interconnecting LAN segments

 Built-in DHCP Server to Assign IP Addresses to wireless clients automatically

 Multiple security measures: to disable SSID broadcast, to define Access Control List,

to enable WEP based encryption (up to 128 bits), and enhanced Security with

802.1x using a primary and a backup Radius Server

 Extensive monitoring capability such as event logging, traffic/error statistics

monitoring

 Easy configuration and monitoring through the use of a Web-browser based GUI,

a Command Line Interface (CLI) through a remote telnet session, or SNMP
commands from a remote SNMP management station

 Setup Wizard for easy configuration/installation

6

Network Configuration Examples

A group of wireless stations communicating with each other is called a Basic Service Set (BSS)
and is identified by a unique SSID.

When an 802.11G ACCESS POINT is used, it can be configured to operate in the following
three network configurations

AS AN ACCESS POINT

When configured in the Access Point mode, the 802.11G ACCESS POINT allows a group of
wireless stations to communicate with each other through it. Such a network is called an
Infrastructure BSS.

The 802.11G ACCESS POINT further provides bridging functions between the wireless
network and the wired LAN network.

When multiple access points are connected to the same LAN segment, stations can roam
from one 802.11G ACCESS POINT to another without losing their connections, as long as
they are using the same SSID. This is shown in the diagram below.

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IEEE 802.11g Access Point User’s Guide

AS A STAND-ALONE REPEATER

The purpose of a repeater is to expand an existing infrastructure BSS. When configured to
operate in the Repeater Mode, the 802.11G ACCESS POINTs sit between wireless stations
and a “root” AP whose BSS is being expanded, as shown below:

AS A POINT TO MULTI-POINTS BRIDGE

When configured to operate in the Wireless Distribution System (WDS) Mode, the 802.11G
ACCESS POINT provides bridging functions between the LAN behind it and separate LANs
behind other AP’s operating in the WDS mode. The system will support up to eight such AP’s
in a WDS configuration.

Note that an 802.11G ACCESS POINT running in the WDS mode can also support wireless
stations simultaneously, as shown in the left most AP in the diagram below:

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Setting Up the device

The 802.11G ACCESS POINT can be managed remotely by a PC through either the wired or
wireless network. To do this, the 802.11G ACCESS POINT must first be assigned an IP
address, which can be done using one of the following two methods.

STATIC IP

The default IP address of the LAN interface of an 802.11G ACCESS POINT is a private IP
address of 192.168.1.1, and a network mask of 255.255.255.0. This means IP addresses of other

devices on the LAN should be in the range of 192.168.1.2 to 192.168.1.254.

This IP address can be modified to either a different address in this same subnet or to an
address in a different subnet, depending on the settings of the DHCP server in the network.

AUTOMATIC IP

The 802.11G ACCESS POINT can also be configured to “obtain” an IP address
automatically from a DHCP server on the network. This address is called “dynamic” because
it is only dynamically assigned to the device, which may change depending on the IP assignment
policy used by the DHCP server in the network. Since the IP address in this case may change
from time to time, this method is not recommended - unless the user uses UPnP or other
management tools that do not depend on a fixed IP address.

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Chapter

2

Installing the 802.11G ACCESS POINT

This section describes the installation procedure for the 802.11G ACCESS POINT. It starts
with a summary of the content of the package you have purchased, followed by steps of how
to power up and connect the 802.11G ACCESS POINT. Finally, this section explains how to
configure a Windows PC to communicate with the 802.11G ACCESS POINT.

What’s in the Box?

The 802.11G ACCESS POINT package contains the following items:

 One 802.11G ACCESS POINT 802.11g Access Point

. One 5V AC power adapter with a barrel connector

 CD of the 802.11G ACCESS POINT User’ Guide

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Connecting the Cables

The Back Panel of the 802.11G ACCESS POINT appears as follows:

Follow these steps to install your 802.11G ACCESS POINT:

Step 1. Connect a LAN hub to the LAN port on the 802.11G ACCESS POINT using

the supplied LAN cable.

Step 2. Connect the power adapter to an electrical outlet and the 802.11G ACCESS

POINT.

High Level Configuration Steps Required for the 802.11G ACCESS POINT

This section describes configuration required for the 802.11G ACCESS POINT before it can
work properly in your network.

First, it is assumed that in your LAN environment, a separate DHCP server will be available
for assigning dynamic (and often private) IP addresses to requesting DHCP clients. This
means that the 802.11G ACCESS POINT normally will not need to enable the DHCP server
function.

Additionally, since you need to perform various configuration changes to the 802.11G
ACCESS POINT, including the SSID, Channel number, the WEP key, …, etc., it is necessary
to associate a fixed IP address with the 802.11G ACCESS POINT, which is why the 802.11G
ACCESS POINT will be shipped with a factory default private IP address of 192.168.1.1 (and
a network mask of 255.255.255.0).

Therefore, during the system installation time, you need to build an isolated environment with
the 802.11G ACCESS POINT and a PC or a wireless client, and then perform the following
steps:

 Manually change the IP address of the PC/wireless client to become 192.168.1.2

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IEEE 802.11g Access Point User’s Guide

 Connect the PC/wireless client to the 802.11G ACCESS POINT and change its configuration

to a static IP address reserved by your LAN administrator based on the DHCP server setting.
For example, if the DHCP server assigns IP addresses of range 192.168.23.1-192.168.23.254 to
DHCP client devices, it can reserve 192.168.23.10 for the 802.11G ACCESS POINT. Please
note that at this point the PC/wireless client will lose communication contact with the 802.11G
ACCESS POINT, as they no longer belong to the same IP network address space.

 Change the setting of the PC/wireless client back to “obtain IP addresses dynamically”.

From then on, any wireless client configured to “obtain IP addresses dynamically” will work
with the AP, with each other, and with devices on the wired LAN network.

Setting up a Windows PC or wireless client as DHCP clients

The following will give detailed steps of how to configure a PC or a wireless client to “obtain
IP addresses automatically”. For other types of configuration, please refer to the
corresponding user manual.

For the case of using a LAN attached PC, the PC must have an Ethernet interface installed
properly, be connected to the 802.11G ACCESS POINT either directly or through an external
LAN switch, and have TCP/IP installed and configured to obtain an IP address automatically
from a DHCP server in the network.

For the case of using a wireless client, the client must also have an Ethernet interface installed
properly, be physically within the radio range of the 802.11G ACCESS POINT, and have
TCP/IP installed and configured to obtain an IP address automatically from a DHCP server
in the network.

Then perform the following steps for either of the above cases. To configure types of
workstations other than Windows 95/98/NT/2000, please consult the manufacturer’s
documentation.

Step 1. From the Win95/98/2000 Start Button, select Settings, then

Control Panel. The Win95/98/2000 Control Panel displays.

Step 2. Double-click on the Network icon.

Step 3. Check your list of Network Components in the Network

window Configuration tab. If TCP/IP has already been
installed, go to Step 8. Otherwise, select Add to install it now.

Step 4. In the new Network Component Type window, select

Protocol.

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In the new Select Network Protocol window, select
Microsoft in the Manufacturers area.

Step 5. In the Network Protocols area of the same window, select

TCP/IP, then click OK. You may need your Win95/98 CD
to complete the installation. After TCP/IP installation is
complete, go back to the Network window shown in Step 4.

Step 6. Select TCP/IP in the list of Network Components.

Step 7. Click Properties, and check the settings in each of the TCP/IP

Properties window:

Bindings Tab: both Client for Microsoft Networks

and File
and printer sharing for Microsoft Networks should be
selected.

Gateway Tab: All fields should be blank.

DNS Configuration Tab: Disable DNS

IP Address Tab: Obtain IP address automatically

should be selected.

should be

selected.

Step 8. With the 802.11G ACCESS POINT powered on, reboot the

PC/wireless client. After the PC/wireless client is re-booted,
you should be ready to configure the 802.11G ACCESS
POINT. See Chapter 3.

The procedure required to set a static IP address is not too much different from the procedure
required to set to “obtain IP addresses dynamically” - except that at the end of step 7, instead
of selecting “obtain IP addresses dynamically, you should specify the IP address explicitly.

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IEEE 802.11g Access Point User’s Guide

A Look at the Front Panel

The LEDs on the front of the 802.11G ACCESS POINT reflect the operational status of the
unit. The status of the LAN, the 802.11g, and power can be monitored from this display.

Power

LAN

802.11g

802.11G ACCESS POINT LED Description

Label 802.11g LAN POWER

Steady Light Link is active Link is active Power

OFF

FLASH XMT/RCV Data XMT/RCV Data N/A

No Wireless

connection

No LAN connection No Power

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T

Connecting More Devices Through A Hub To The 802.11G ACCESS POINT

The 802.11G ACCESS POINT provides an RJ45 LAN interface which you can use to

connect to a PC or an external hub.

Connect to the
LAN port and set
Uplink button to
“Uplink”

Plug this end into
any port of a
10Base-

repeater

hub

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Chapter

3

Basic Configuration of the 802.11G ACCESS POINT

This section describes the basic configuration procedure for the 802.11G ACCESS POINT. It
describes how to set up the 802.11G ACCESS POINT for Infrastructure BSS operation, and
the configuration of the local LAN environment.

Although the Command Line Interface (CLI) may also be used to configure the 802.11G
ACCESS POINT, the browser-based configuration mechanism is the tool of choice.

The 802.11G ACCESS POINT is designed so that all basic configuration may be effected
through the a standard Web browser such as Internet Explorer.

From a PC or a Wireless client that has been configured as described in Chapter 2, enter the IP

address of the 802.11G ACCESS POINT as the URL in your browser.

Note: The IP address of your PC must be in the same IP subnet as the 802.11G ACCESS POINT.

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The Home Page of the 802.11G ACCESS POINT screen will appear, with its main menu
displayed on the upper-side of the screen. The main menu includes the following choices:
Setup Wizard, Device Status, System Tools, Advanced Settings and Help choices, which can
be used to navigate to other menus.

Logging On

If you attempt to access a configuration item from the browser menu, an administrator login
screen will appear, prompting you to enter the password in order to log on.

If you are logging on for the first time, you should use the factory default setting “password”.
The password is always displayed as a string of asterisks (“*”). Clicking the LOG ON button
will begin the configuration session.

Setup Wizard

The Setup Wizard will guide you through a series of configuration screens to set up the basic
functionality of the device. After you finish configuring these screens and press the “finish”
button on the last screen, all your configuration modifications will take effect.

TIME SETTINGS

After logging in, the time settings page appears. The AP time is automatically set to the local
time of the management PC the first time a connection is made. To modify the AP’s clock,
modify the appropriate fields, and click “NEXT”.

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IEEE 802.11g Access Point User’s Guide

DEVICE IP SETTINGS

The Device IP setting screen allows you to configure the IP address and subnet of the AP
on the LAN. Although you can rely on a DHCP server to assign an IP address to the 802.11G

ACCESS POINT automatically, it is recommended that you configure a static IP address
manually in most applications.

If you choose to assign the IP address manually, check the button that says “Assign static IP

to this device” and then fill in the following fields

IP Address and IP Subnet Mask: These values default to 192.168.1.1 and 255.255.255.0,

respectively. It is important to note that similar addresses fall within the standard private IP
address range and it is an essential security feature of the device. Because of this private IP

address, this device can no longer be accessed (seen) from the Internet.

Gateway IP Address: Enter the IP address of your default gateway

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DNS Server: The Domain Name System (DNS) is a server on the Internet that translates
logical names such as “www.ebay.com” to IP addresses like 209.103.14.2. In order to do this, a
query is made by the requesting device to special DNS servers to provide the necessary
information. If your system administrator requires you to manually enter DNS Server
addresses, you should enter them on this page.

Then you should press Next to get to the next screen.

If you choose to use a DHCP Server to assign IP address automatically, check the button that
says, “Use the DHCP protocol to automatically get the IP address for this device”, and
then press Next to the next screen. Again, as a reminder, it is recommended that your

802.11G ACCESS POINT should be assigned a static IP address in order for you to be able
to manage it later on.

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