User's Manual

6
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.