User Manual
Table Of Contents
- Contents
- 1. Hardware Overview
- 2. Install the Access Point in Your Network and Access It for Initial Configuration
- Position your access point
- Set up and connect the access point to your network
- Connect to the access point for initial configuration
- Connect over WiFi using the NETGEAR Insight App
- Connect over the Internet using the NETGEAR Insight Cloud portal
- Connect over WiFi using a WiFi-enabled computer or mobile device
- Connect over Ethernet using a computer connected to the same network
- Connect over Ethernet using a directly connected computer
- Log in to the access point after initial setup
- Dismiss a browser security warning
- 3. Install the Access Point in an Insight Instant Mesh WiFi Network
- What are a root access point and an extender access point?
- What is an Insight Instant Mesh WiFi network?
- Requirements for placing an extender access point in a mesh WiFi network
- Install the NETGEAR Insight app
- Connect the access point as an extender to a root access point
- Connect over the Internet using the NETGEAR Insight Cloud portal
- 4. Manage the Basic WiFi and Radio Features
- Set up and manage WiFi networks
- Set up an open or secure WiFi network
- View or change the settings of a WiFi network
- Disable or enable a WiFi network or set up a WiFi activity schedule
- Remove a WiFi network
- Enable or disable client isolation for a WiFi network
- Hide or broadcast the SSID for a WiFi network
- Enable or disable band steering with 802.11k RRM and 802.11v WiFi network management
- Change the VLAN ID for a WiFi network
- Enable or disable PMF for a WiFi network
- Enable or disable URL tracking for a WiFi network
- Change the format of the DHCP offer messages in a WiFi network
- Select a MAC ACL for a WiFi network
- Set bandwidth rate limits for a WiFi network
- Set up and manage captive portals for WiFi networks
- Manage the basic radio features
- Set up and manage WiFi networks
- 5. Manage the Advanced WiFi and Radio Features
- Configure advanced rate selection for a WiFi network
- Manage the advanced radio features
- Manage the advanced WiFi settings for the radios
- Manage the maximum number of clients for a radio
- Manage the broadcast and multicast settings for a radio
- Manage sticky clients
- Manage load balancing for the radios
- Manage Airtime Fairness for the radios
- Manage the ARP proxy
- Manage the amount of broadcast traffic
- Set a data volume limit for the access point
- Enable the WiFi Traffic Analyzer
- Set up a WiFi bridge between access points
- 6. Manage Access and Security
- 7. Manage the Local Area Network and IP Settings
- Disable the DHCP client and specify a fixed IP address
- Enable the DHCP client
- Set the 802.1Q VLAN and management VLAN
- Specify an existing domain name
- Manage port VLANs
- Enable or disable Spanning Tree Protocol
- Enable or disable the network integrity check function
- Enable or disable IGMP snooping
- Enable or disable Ethernet LLDP
- Enable or disable UPnP
- Enable link aggregation for the LAN 2 port
- Disable link aggregation for the LAN 2 port
- 8. Manage and Maintain the Access Point
- Change the management mode to NETGEAR Insight or Web-browser
- Change the country or region of operation
- Change the admin user account password
- Change the system name
- Specify a custom NTP server
- Set the time zone
- Manage the syslog settings
- Manage the firmware of the access point
- Manage the configuration file of the access point
- Reboot the access point from the local browser interface
- Schedule the access point to reboot
- Return the access point to its factory default settings
- Enable SNMP and manage the SNMP settings
- Manage the LEDs
- 9. Monitor the Access Point and the Network
- View the access point Internet, IP, and system settings
- View the WiFi radio settings
- View unknown and known neighbor access points
- View client distribution, connected clients, and client trends
- View WiFi and Ethernet traffic, traffic and ARP statistics, and channel utilization
- View or download tracked URLs
- View, save, download, or clear the logs
- View a WiFi bridge connection
- View the data volume consumption
- View Air Time Fairness client distribution
- View the traffic analysis results
- View alarms and notifications
- 10. Diagnostics and Troubleshooting
- Capture WiFi and Ethernet packets
- Perform a ping test
- Check the Internet speed
- Quick tips for troubleshooting
- Troubleshoot with the LEDs
- Power/Cloud LED is off
- Power/Cloud LED remains solid amber
- Power/Cloud LED is blinking amber slowly, continuously
- The access point functions as a PoE PD and the Power/Cloud LED remains solid amber
- Power/Cloud LED does not light blue in the NETGEAR Insight management mode
- The Power/Cloud LED does not stop blinking red, green, and blue
- 2.4, 5H, or 5L WLAN LED Is Off
- A LAN LED is off while a switch or LAN device is connected
- The extender access point and root access point cannot connect
- Troubleshoot the WiFi connectivity
- Troubleshoot Internet browsing
- You cannot log in to the access point over a LAN connection
- Changes are not saved
- You enter the wrong password and can no longer log in to the access point
- Troubleshoot your network using the ping utility
- A. Factory Default Settings and Technical Specifications
Revision History
CommentsPublish DatePublication
Part Number
We added the following sections:
Dismiss a browser security warning on page 43
Configure advanced rate selection for a WiFi network on page 103
We made major changes to the following sections:
About NETGEAR Insight on page 12
Connect to the access point for initial configuration on page 24 (see the subsections).
We added Enhanced Open, WPA3 Personal, and WPA3/WPA2 Personal WiFi security
as authentication options on the Day Zero Easy Setup page.
Set up an open or secure WiFi network on page 53. We added Enhanced Open,
WPA2 Enterprise, WPA3 Personal, WPA3/WPA2 Personal, and WPA3 Enterprise
WiFi security as authentication options.
Enable or disable client isolation for a WiFi network on page 64. We added an
option to specify network devices that are exempt from WiFi client isolation.
Manage the firmware of the access point on page 183. We added recommendations
for firmware update methods.
We made minor changes and improvements to other sections.
We removed the “Enable or disable Secure Shell” section.
July 2021202-11795-05
We added the following sections:
Change the format of the DHCP offer messages in a WiFi network on page 72
Manage sticky clients on page 113
Manage the ARP proxy on page 118
Manage the amount of broadcast traffic on page 119
We made major changes to the following sections:
Requirements for placing an extender access point in a mesh WiFi network on page
46
Set up an open or secure WiFi network on page 53
Enable or disable client isolation for a WiFi network on page 64
Enable or disable PMF for a WiFi network on page 70
Manage the basic settings for the radios on page 88
Manage the advanced WiFi settings for the radios on page 107
Manage the broadcast and multicast settings for a radio on page 111
Manage load balancing for the radios on page 114
View WiFi and Ethernet traffic, traffic and ARP statistics, and channel utilization on
page 213
We made minor changes to other sections.
We removed the “Change the MCS index and data rate for a radio” section.
August 2020202-11795-04
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Insight Managed Smart Cloud Wireless Access Point AC3000 WAC540 User Manual