Concept Guide

Dell Networking W-Series Instant 6.4.3.1-4.2.0.0 | User Guide Wireless Network Profiles | 97
Chapter 9
Wireless Network Profiles
This chapter provides the following information:
l Configuring Wireless Network Profiles on page 97
l Configuring Fast Roaming for Wireless Clients on page 113
l Editing Status of a WLAN SSID Profile on page 117
l Editing a WLAN SSID Profile on page 117
l Deleting a WLAN SSID Profile on page 118
Configuring Wireless Network Profiles
During start up, a wireless client searches for radio signals or beacon frames that originate from the nearest W-
IAP. After locating the W-IAP, the following transactions take place between the client and the W-IAP:
1. Authentication—The W-IAP communicates with a RADIUS server to validate or authenticate the client.
2. Connection—After successful authentication, the client establishes a connection with the W-IAP.
Network Types
Instant wireless networks are categorized as:
l Employee network—An Employee network is a classic Wi-Fi network. This network type is used by the
employees in an organization and it supports passphrase-based or 802.1X based authentication methods.
Employees can access the protected data of an enterprise through the employee network after successful
authentication. The employee network is selected by default during a network profile configuration.
l Voice network —This Voice network type allows you to configure a network profile for devices that
provide only voice services such as handsets or applications that require voice traffic prioritization.
l Guest network —The Guest wireless network is created for guests, visitors, contractors, and any non-
employee users who use the enterprise Wi-Fi network. The Virtual Controller assigns the IP address for the
guest clients. Captive portal or passphrase based authentication methods can be set for this wireless
network. Typically, a guest network is an un-encrypted network. However, you can specify the encryption
settings when configuring a guest network.
When a client is associated to the Voice network, all data traffic is marked and placed into the high priority
queue in QoS (Quality of Service).
To configure a new wireless network profile, complete the following procedures:
1. Configuring WLAN Settings
2. Configuring VLAN Settings
3. Configuring Security Settings
4. Configuring Access Rules for a Network