802.11n Wireless PCI Express Adapter WNL-9500 User’s Manual Version: 1.
Copyright Copyright © 2007 by PLANET Technology Corp. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, transcribed, stored in a retrieval system, or translated into any language or computer language, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, magnetic, optical, chemical, manual or otherwise, without the prior written permission of PLANET.
equipment. This device complies with Part 15 of the FCC Rules. Operation is subject to the Following two conditions: ( 1 ) This device may not cause harmful interference, and ( 2 ) this Device must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause undesired operation. Federal Communication Commission (FCC) Radiation Exposure Statement This equipment complies with FCC radiation exposure set forth for an uncontrolled environment.
municipal waste and have to collect such WEEE separately. Revision User’s Manual for PLANET 802.11n Wireless PCI Express Adapter Model: WNL-9500 Rev: 1.0 (November 2007) Part No.
CATALOG Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................ 6 1-1 Features.........................................................................................................6 1-2 Safety Information ........................................................................................7 1-3 Specification ..................................................................................................8 1-4 Package Contents ..........................
Chapter 1: Introduction For higher wireless transfer performance, we are glad to introduce the PLANET 802.11n wireless PCI Express adapter – WNL-9500. It is a PCI Express wireless adapter that can operate in either Ad-Hoc mode (Point to Point/Point to Multipoint without an Access Point) or Infrastructure mode (Point to Point/Point to Multipoint with an Access Point) 2.4GHz frequency band; it’s backward compatible with 802.11b and 802.
z z z QoS function: Control the bandwidth required for different applications Support of most popular operating systems including Windows 2000 / XP / 2003 server and Vista Smart Antenna Technology with 2 transmit and 3 receive antennas 1-2 Safety Information In order to keep the safety of users and your properties, please follow the safety instructions: 1. This wireless network card is designed for indoor use only. DO NOT expose this network card to direct sun light, rain, or snow. 2.
1-3 Specification Interface PCI Express 1.0a – x1 PCI Express Standards Conformance Compliant with 802.11b / 802.11g / 802.11n (draft 2.0) IEEE 802.11b: 11/5.5/2/1M IEEE 802.11g: 54/48/36/24/18/12/9/6 IEEE 802.11n: 300/270/243/240/216/180/162/120/108Mbps in 40Mhz mode 145/130/117/104/ 78Mbps in 20Mhz mode Infrastructure Mode, Ad-Hoc Mode WEP 64/128bit, WPA, WPA2,WPA-PSK,WPA2-PSK 802.11b: DSSS, CCK, QPSK, BPSK 802.11g: OFDM 802.
1-5 Hardware Intro 2 1 3 4/5 1. PCI Express Interface 2. WPS Button 3. Antenna Connectors (3x) 4. ‘Link’ LED 5.
Chapter 2: Installation 2-1 Hardware Installation 1. SWITCH THE COMPUTER OFF, remove the cover and insert the wireless network card into an empty PCIe slot of your computer. Tip: It’s recommended to touch some metal material before installing the network card, or the static on your body may damage the components on network card and computer. 2. Fasten the antennas to the antenna connectors on the network card by clockwise direction. 3.
4. To improve radio reception, please adjust antennas to the position shown in the picture.
Side view 2-2 Utility Installation Note 1: If you had ever installed the other Wireless Cards before, please uninstall the existed drivers and utilities first. Note 2: The installation below is performed in Windows XP system. The installations in Windows 2000 and Vista are silimar. 1. Power on the computer. The system will find the new hardware and display the below message. Click “Cancel” to skip. 2. Insert the bundled CD into the CD-ROM drive to launch the auto run program.
4. Read the License Agreement carefully. Click “Yes” to accept it and continue. 5. It is suggested to use “PLANET Configuration Tool”, which provides fully access to all functions, to manage the WNL-9500. Click “Next” to continue. 6. There are two wireless performance mode you can select here: Optimize for WiFi mode or Optimize for performance mode If you want to enhance wireless performance, please select ‘Optimize for performance mode’. However, wireless compatibility is not guaranteed in this mode.
devices. If you want to keep compatibility and communicate with older wireless devices, please select ‘Optimize for WiFi Mode’. After you finish the selection, please click ‘Next’ to continue. If you see ‘Found New Hardware’ message again, please ignore it and wait. 7. Click “Install” to begin the installation. 8. Please click “Finish” to finish the installation.
Chapter 3: General Configuration The Configuration Utility appears as an icon on the system tray of Windows while the card is running. You can open the utility by double-click on the icon. Right click the icon; there are some items for you to operate the configuration utility. Lauch Config Utilities: open the Configuration Utility tool. Use Zero Configuration as Configuration Utility: use Windows XP built-in wireless configuration utility (Windows Zero Configuration) to configure the card.
Parameter Description Profiles List The profiles list display all the profiles and the relative settings of the profiles including Profile Name, SSID, Channel, etc. This sign indicates the activated profile is been connecting. This sign indicates the activated profile is not been connecting. Add/Delete/Edit Button Click these buttons to add/delete/edit the selected profiles. Activate Button Click “Activate” to connect to the selected profile.
And you can set the parameter for this profile here:
Parameter Description Profile Name Define a recognizable profile name for you to identify the different networks. SSID The SSID (up to 32 printable ASCII characters) is the unique name identified in a WLAN. The ID prevents the unintentional merging of two co-located WLANs. You may specify a SSID for the card and then only the device with the same SSID can interconnect to the card.
station in the Wireless LAN network without through an Access Point or Router. Preamble The preamble defines the length of the CRC block for communication among wireless devices. This option is only active in the Ad Hoc network. There are two modes including Auto and Long Preamble. If “Auto“mode is selected, the card will auto switch the preamble mode depending on the wireless devices the card is connecting to. RTS Threshold Minimum packet size required for an RTS (Request To Send).
Authentication Type This setting has to be consistent with the wireless networks that the card intends to connect. Open – No authentication is needed among the wireless network. Shared – Only wireless devices using a shared key (WEP Key identified) are allowed to connecting each other. LEAP – LEAP is a pre-EAP, Cisco-proprietary protocol, with many of the features of EAP protocols.
their access point or gateway, as well as in each wireless station in the network. WPA-PSK takes over automatically from that point, keeping unauthorized users that don't have the matching password from joining the network, while encrypting the data traveling between authorized devices. WPA2 – Like WPA, WPA2 supports IEEE 802.1 x/EAP authentications or PSK technology. It also includes a new advanced encryption mechanism using the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES).
Fill the text box by following the rules below. 64-bit – Input 10-digit Hex values (in the “A-F”, “a-f” and “0-9” range) or 5-digit ASCII characters (including “a-z” and “0-9”) as the encryption keys. For example: “0123456aef“ or “test1”. 128-bit – Input 26-digit Hex values (in the “A-F”, “a-f” and “0-9” range) or 13-digit ASCII characters (including “a-z” and “0-9”) as the encryption keys. For example: “01234567890123456789abcdef“ or “administrator”.
check ( ) before its name. If the wireless access point is not reachable, a red check ( ) will be displayed before its name. If you want to change the connection parameters of a specific profile, just select it and click ‘Edit’ button, you’ll be prompted to input the connection parameters, just like you’re creating a new profile. If you no longer need a profile, select the profile then click ‘Delete’. 3-1-2 Using 802.1x – Certification After you click ‘802.
TLS/Smart Card –TLS is the most secure of the EAP protocols but not easy to use. It requires that digital certificates be exchanged in the authentication phase. The server presents a certificate to the client. After validating the server’s certificate, the client presents a client certificate to the server for validation. MD5-Challenge – MD5-Challenge is the easiest EAP Type. It requires the wireless station to enter a set of user name and password as the identity to RADIUS Server.
3-1-3 Using 802.1x - CA Server If you want to use CA server, please click ‘CA Server’ tab. And the following message will be displayed: Parameter Description Use Certificate Chain When the EAP authentication type such as TLS, TTLS or PEAP is selected and required a certification to tell the client what server credentials to accept from the authentication server in order to verify the server, you have to enable this function. Certificate Issuer Choose the server from the list to issue the certificate.
Server name must match exactly When selected, the server name must match exactly the server name found on the certificate. Domain name must end in specified name When selected, the server name field identifies a domain. The certificate must use a server name belonging to this domain or to one of its sub-domains (e.g. zeelans.com, where the server is blueberry.zeelans.com) but it may be any name used in the certificate name field.
Authentication and Network Type. If you want to connect to any networks on the list, double-click the item on the list, and the card will automatically connect to the selected network. Rescan Button Click “Rescan” button to collect the new information of all the wireless networks nearby. Connect Button Click “Connect” to connect to the selected network. Add to Profile Button Add the selected network to Profiles list. 1.
If the access point you selected does not enable encryption and does not require authentication, please skip this step. 5. You’ll see ‘Connected <-> SSID’ (‘SSID’ is the SSID of the AP you connected to) message displayed at lower-left corner of configuration utility.
3-3 View Network Link Status and Statistics The configuration utility provides information about network statistics and link status.
Parameter Description Status Display the SSID and MAC ID of the network the card is connecting to. Extra Info Display the link status. Channel Display the number of the radio channel and the frequency used for the networking. Link Speed (Mbps) Display the transmission and reception rate of the network. Throughput (Kbits/sec) Display the speed of data transmitted and received. Link Quality This bar indicates the quality of the link. The higher the percentage, the better the quality.
Signal Strength This bar shows the signal strength level. The higher percentage shown in the bar, the more radio signal been received by the card. This indicator helps to find the proper position of the wireless device for quality network operation. Noise Level Display the noise level in the wireless environment. 3-3-2 Statistics All connection-related statistics is displayed here. You can click ‘Reset Counter’ to reset the statistics of all items back to 0.
3-4 Advanced Settings Parameter Description Wireless Mode 802.11 B/G/N mix – If you have a mix of 802.11b, 802.11g, and 802.11n wireless stations in your network, It is to maximize wireless compatibility with wireless access points and other wireless devices. it is recommended to setting the card to this mode. This mode is also the default setting. 802.11 B/G mix – If you have a mix of 802.11b and 802.11g wireless stations in your network, it is recommended to setting the card to this mode. 802.
Wireless Protection If you have a mix of 802.11b and 802.11g wireless stations in the network, it is recommended to enable the protection mechanism. This mechanism can decrease the rate of data collision between 802.11b and 802.11g wireless stations. When the protection mode is enabled, the throughput of the card will be a little lower due to many of frame traffic should be transmitted. Auto – Based on the status of the network and automatically disable/enable protection mode.
Turn on CCKM During normal operation, LEAP-enabled client devices mutually authenticate with a new access point by performing a complete LEAP authentication, including communication with the main RADIUS server. When you configure your wireless LAN for fast re-association, however, LEAP-enabled client devices roam from one access point to another without involving the main server.
3-5 QoS Setting This wireless network card provides QoS (Quality of Service) function, which can improve the performance of certain network applications, like audio / video streaming, network telephony (VoIP), and others. When you enable WMM (Wi-Fi MultiMedia) function of this network card, you can define the priority of different kinds of data, to give higher priority to applications which require instant responding. Therefore you can improve the performance of such network applications.
Setting... Click this button to select the WMM data type which will suppress the function of power saving. When this kind of data is transferring, power saving function will be disabled. Available data types are AC_BK (Background / Low Priority), AC_BE (Best Effort), AC_VI (Video First), and AC_VO (Voice First). Direct Link Setup Enable Enable or disable direct link setup (DLS) function. This function will greatly improve the data transfer rate between WMM-enabled wireless devices.
3-6-1 WPS Setup - PBC (Push-Button Configuration) 1.Set ‘Config Mode’ to ‘Enrollee’, and then push the ‘WPS’ button on your wireless access point (the button used to activate WPS standby mode may have another name), or use other way to start WPS standby mode as the instruction given by your wireless access point’s user manual.
2. Before you start to establish the wireless connection by using WPS, you can click ‘Rescan’ button to search for WPS-enabled access points near you, to make sure the WPS function of your access point is activated.
3.All access points found will be displayed. Please make sure the access point you wish to connect is displayed. If not, please click ‘Rescan’ few more times. You can also click ‘Information’ button to see the detailed information about selected access point. 4.Click ‘PBC’ button now to start to establish wireless connection by WPS, and please be patient (This may require several seconds to one minute to complete).
Sometime WPS may fail, and you can click ‘PBC’ button few more times to try again. When an access point is connected, you can click ‘Disconnect’ to disconnect your wireless network card from a connected access point, or select another WPS-enabled wireless access point, then click ‘Connect’ to establish connection to selected access point, if there are more than one WPS-enabled access point found. You can also click ‘Rotate’ button, and next access point on the list will be selected to establish connection.
If you want to delete a found access point from the list, select it and click ‘Delete’ button. 3-6-2 WPS Setup - PIN The PIN number of your WNL-9500 is an eight-digit number located at the upper-right position of configuration utility. Remember it, and input the number to your wireless access point as the WPS PIN code (Please refer to the user manual of your wireless access point for instructions about how to do this).
Click ‘PIN’ button now, and wait for few seconds to one minute.
You may have to click ‘PIN’ for few more times to try again. If you still can not connect to access point by this way, please make sure the PIN code you provided to access point is correct.
3-7 About By choosing this option, you can click the hyperlink to connect the PLANET website. You can also obtain basic information about the WNL-9500 such as the Driver, Utility and EEPROM Version. The MAC Address of the card is displayed in the screen as well. Please click ‘OK’ to close configuration utility.
Chapter 4: Soft-AP Function Except becoming a wireless client of other wireless access points, the WNL-9500 can act as a wireless service provider also! You can switch the WNL-9500’s operating mode to ‘AP’ mode to simulate the function of a real wireless access point by software, and all other computers and wireless devices can connect to your computer wirelessly, even share the internet connection you have! 4-1 Switch to AP Mode and Basic Configuration The operating mode of the wireless card is ‘Station M
If your computer has another network card which is connected to Internet, please select it from ‘Name’ dropdown menu, and click ‘Enable ICS’; if your computer does not have another network card with Internet connection, please click ‘Not enable ICS’.
Parameter Description SSID Please input the SSID (the name used to identify this wireless access point) here. Up to 32 numerical characters can be accepted here, excepting space. Channel Please select the wireless channel you wish to use. The number of channels available here will vary depends on the setting of ‘Country Region Code’. Wireless Mode Please select the wireless operating mode. You can limit the type of wireless client to 802.11b or 802.11g only, or allow 802.11b/g, and 802.
Use MAC Address Click this button to use the MAC address of the wireless card as SSID. A prefix of ‘AP’ will be added. Security Setting Set the security options (wireless data encryption).
Default Click this button to restore all settings in this page back to default value. Apply Click this button to activate current settings. To exit, click ‘X’ button at the upper-right corner of configuration window. 4-2 Security Settings This wireless card supports wireless encryption in AP mode, which will encrypt the data being transferred over the air to enhance data security level.
Encryption Type Please select an encryption mode. The available options in this setting item will vary depending on the authentication type you select. If you select ‘Not Use’, data will not be encrypted and people with some networking knowledge will be able to read the data you transfer with proper tool. NOTE: WPA encryption is safer than WEP, however, some older wireless clients don’t support WPA encryption. WPA Pre-shared-key Please input the WPA pre-shared key here.
Click ‘Access Control’ tab, and the following messages will appear: Parameter Description Access Policy Select the policy type of your access rule: Disable: Allow any wireless client with proper authentication settings to connect to this access point. Allow All: Only allow wireless clients with MAC address listed here to connect to this access point. Reject All: Reject wireless clients with MAC address listed here to be connected to this access point.
Add Add the MAC address you inputted in ‘MAC address’ field to the list. Delete Please select a MAC address from the list, then click ‘Delete’ button to remove it. Remove all Delete all MAC addresses in the list. Apply Save and apply changes you made.
Parameter Description MAC address Displays the MAC address of this wireless client AID The serial number of this wireless connection. Power Saving Mode Displays the capability of power-saving function of this wireless client. Status Displays additional information of this wireless Connection, like current wireless operating mode and data transfer rate.
4-5 Event Log This software access point will log all wireless-related activities as a log. You can follow the following instructions to view the content of the event log: Click ‘Event Log’ tab, and the event log will be displayed: You can click ‘Clear’ to remove all entries in the log.
4-6 Statistics If you want to know detailed information about how your software access point works, you can follow the following instructions to view the statistics of the access point: Click ‘Statistics’ tab, and the event log will be displayed: You can click ‘RESET COUNTERS’ button to reset all counters to zero.
CHAPTER 5: APPENDIX 5-1 Troubleshooting This chapter provides solutions to problems usually encountered during the installation and operation of the adapter. Q. The PLANET WNL-9500 does not work properly. A. 1. Right click on My Computer and select Properties. Select the device manager and click on the Network Adapter. You will find the Adapter if it is installed successfully. If you see the yellow exclamation mark, the resources are conflicting. You will see the status of the Adapter.
might be necessary to set up one client to establish a BSS (Basic Service Set) and wait briefly before setting up other clients. This prevents several clients from trying to establish a BSS at the same time, which can result in multiple singular BSSs being established, rather than a single BSS with multiple clients associated to it. 5. Check that the Network Connection for the wireless client is configured properly.
then present this value to the owner of access point so he / she can add the MAC address of your network card to his / her access point’s list. Q. The network is slow / having problem when transferring large files A. 1. Move closer to the place where access point is located. 2. Enable ‘Wireless Protection’ in ‘Advanced’ tab. 3. Try a lower TX Rate in ‘Advanced’ tab. 4. Disable ‘Tx Burst’ in ‘Advanced’ tab. 5. Enable ‘WMM’ in ‘QoS’ tab if you need to use multimedia / telephony related applications. 6.
copies of data by multiple antenna, to improve data transfer performance. By using multiple antennas, not only data transfer rate is improved, but also the wireless stability.
