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Setting Wireless Encryption in Your Access Point
Without wireless security options configured in your network, an eavesdropper within your wireless range may be able to access
the network and the data that is being transmitted over it. The Dell Wireless 4350 Small Network Access Point provides Wired
Equivalent Privacy (WEP) and Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) encryption for wireless security.
WPA is an upgrade to the WEP standard for securing your wireless network.
If you would like to secure your wireless network using WPA, you must have WPA support for your wireless clients. If you are
using a Dell Wireless client, you can check for the availability of a WPA-enabled software update for your wireless client at
http://support.dell.com. The WPA-802.1x protocols supported by the Dell Wireless 4350 Small Network Access Point are PEAP,
TTLS & TLS.
1.
Log into the web configuration of your access point using it's IP address (for information on obtaining the access point's IP
address see
How to obtain the IP Address of the Access Point). The Enter Network Password login prompt appears.
2.
Type the following text in the user name and password fields: "admin".
3.
Click Basic Settings and then select Wireless Security from the drop down menu.
4.
Click to select Enable Wireless Security.
5.
Select either WEP or WPA in the Network Encryption list.
WEP
1. Select hexadecimal or ASCII characters as the Key Format. You can use either as a string of hexadecimal digits (characters 0
through 9 and A through F ) or as ASCII characters (any key on the keyboard).
2.
Select an encryption level from the Key Length list.
3.
Enter four different keys in the Key1, Key2, Key3, and Key4 fields to store on your router. For 40(64)-bit encryption, enter a
5-character (or 10 hexadecimal digits) WEP key. For 104(128)-bit encryption, enter a 13-character (or 26 hexadecimal digits) WEP
key.
4.
Select only one key out of the four keys as the Default Key for encryption.
5.
Click the NEXT button, and then click Save and Restart to apply the changes.
6.
Set up the WEP on your wireless clients. Refer to the documentation that accompanied your wireless clients, or your wireless
clients' on-line help systems, for information on how to set up WEP.
WPA
There are two options for network authentication (a) Pre-shared key or (b) 802.1x . Typically, in enterprises, WPA will be used in
conjunction with a RADIUS authentication server. In a Small Office/Home Office (SOHO) environment, where there is no
authentication server, users can use pre-shared key (PSK) mode in place of the authentication server.
WPA-PSK
1.
Choose a key format by selecting either Hexadecimal Digits or ASCII Characters in the Key Format field. Hexadecimal digits
are numbers 0-9 and/or letters A-F. ASCII characters can be any key on the keyboard.
2.
Enter your pre-shared key in the WPA Pre-Shared Key field. This key must match the key that is used by each wireless client
computer associated to your Access Point