User's Guide

PEAP
Protected Extensible Authentication Protocol (PEAP) is an Internet
Engineering Task Force (IETF) draft protocol sponsored by
Microsoft, Cisco, and RSA Security. PEAP creates an encrypted
tunnel similar to the tunnel used in secure web pages (SSL).
Inside the encrypted tunnel, a number of other EAP authentication
methods can be used to perform client authentication. PEAP
requires a TLS certificate on the RADIUS server, but unlike EAP-
TLS there is no requirement to have a certificate on the client.
PEAP has not been ratified by the IETF. The IETF is currently
comparing PEAP and TTLS (Tunneled TLS) to determine an
authentication standard for 802.1X authentication in 802.11
wireless systems. PEAP is an authentication type designed to take
advantage of server-side EAP-Transport Layer Security (EAP-TLS)
and to support various authentication methods, including user
passwords and one-time passwords, and Generic Token Cards.
Peer-to-Peer
mode
A wireless network structure that allows wireless clients to communicate
directly with each other without using an access point.
Power save
mode
The state in which the radio is periodically powered down to conserve
power. When the portable computer is in Power Save mode, receive
packets are stored in the access point until the wireless adapter wakes up.
Preferred
network
One of the networks that has been configured. Such networks are listed
under Preferred networks on the Wireless Networks tab of the Wireless
Network Connection Properties (Windows XP* environment).
RADIUS
(Remote
Authentication
Dial-In User
Service)
RADIUS is an authentication and accounting system that verifies
user's credentials and grants access to requested resources.
RF (Radio
Frequency)
The international unit for measuring frequency is Hertz (Hz), which is
equivalent to the older unit of cycles per second. One MegaHertz (MHz) is
one million Hertz. One GigaHertz (GHz) is one billion Hertz. For reference:
the standard US electrical power frequency is 60 Hz, the AM broadcast
radio frequency band is 0.55 -1.6 MHz, the FM broadcast radio frequency
band is 88-108 MHz, and microwave ovens typically operate at 2.45 GHz.
Roaming Movement of a wireless node between two micro cells. Roaming usually
occurs in infrastructure networks built around multiple access points.
Current wireless network roaming is only supported in the same subnet of
a network.
RTS threshold The number of frames in the data packet at or above which an RTS/CTS
(request to send/clear to send) handshake is turned on before the packet
is sent. The default value is 2347.
Shared key An encryption key known only to the receiver and sender of data. This is
also referred to as a pre-shared key.