1Mbps Wireless Access Point w/Bridge WAP-1963A User’s Manual
Copyright Copyright 2004 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.
Federal Communication Commission (FCC) Radiation Exposure Statement This equipment complies with FCC radiation exposure set forth for an uncontrolled environment. In order to avoid the possibility of exceeding the FCC radio frequency exposure limits, human proximity to the antenna shall not be less than 20 cm (8 inches) during normal operation.
TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Package Contents 1 1.2 System Requirements 1 1.3 Features 2 1.4 Specification 2 Chapter 2 Hardware Installation 2.1 3 Hardware Connection 3 Chapter 3 Configuration 4 3.1 Home 5 3.2 Wireless Setting 6 3.2.1 AP mode 3.2.2 Station-Ad Hoc mode 3.2.3 Station-Infrastructure mode 3.2.4 AP Bridge – Point to Point Mode 3.2.5 AP Bridge – Point to Multi-Point Mode 3.2.6 AP Bridge – WDS Mode 6 8 10 11 12 13 3.
4.1 Enterprise or Campus Users 33 4.2 Wireless ISP 33 4.
Chapter 1 Introduction Thank you for purchasing WAP-1963A. The WAP-1963A is an access point for IEEE 802.11b 2.4GHz wireless network. You can use this access point to build up a wireless LAN, any wireless LAN station can join the wireless network. It has support the most security functions such as WPA, 802.
1.3 Features l Compliant with the IEEE 802.11b (DSSS) 2.4GHz specification l High data rate 11, 5.5, 2 and 1Mbps network speed, Auto rate fallback l Seamlessly integrate wireless and wired Ethernet LAN networks l 64/128-bit WEP Encryption and MAC Filter to protect the wireless data transmissions l Supports Wireless AP / Bridge / Station mode l WPA, 802.
Chapter 2 Hardware Installation Before you proceed with the installation, it is necessary that you have enough information about the WAP-1963A. 2.1 Hardware Connection 12V DC + RESET ANT LAN 1. Locate an optimum location for the WAP-1963A. The best place for your WAP-1963A is usually at the center of your wireless network, with line of sight to all of your mobile stations. 2. Assemble the antennas to WAP-1963A. Try to place them to a position that can best cover your wireless network.
Chapter 3 Configuration Web configuration provides a user-friendly graphical user interface (web pages) to manage your WAP-1963A. An AP with an assigned IP address (e.g. http://192.168.0.1) will allow you via web browser (e.g., MS Internet Explorer or Netscape) to monitor and configure. 1. Open your web browser. 2. Enter WAP-1963A IP address (default IP address is http://192.168.0.1) into the address field of the web browser. Please also make sure your PC’s IP address is in the same IP range of WAP-1963A.
3.1 Home On this screen, you can see the general information of the Access Point including Alias Name, Firmware Version, SSID, Channel Number, Security, Number of Associated Clients, IP Address, MAC Address, etc.
3.2 Wireless Setting In this option, you can set the Mode, Alias Name, ESSID and Work Channel to this Access Point. There are six operating modes available in WAP-1963A: AP, Station-Ad hoc, Station-Infrastructure, AP Bridge-Point to Point, AP Bridge-Point to Multi-Point, and AP Bridge-WDS. When configuration finished, please click “Apply” to save. 3.2.1 AP mode This mode is set to WAP-1963A by default. It served as a transparent Media Access Control (MAC) bridge between wired and wireless network.
same. The default ESSID is “default”. Channel Number Select the appropriate channel from the list provided to correspond with your network settings. Channels differ from country to country. Channel 1-11 (North America) Channel 1-14 (Japan) Channel 1-13 (Europe) Associated Clients Click “Show Active Clients” button, then a “Active Wireless Client Table” will pop up as below. You can see the status of all active wireless stations that are connecting to the access point.
Refresh Refresh the “Active Wireless Client Table”. Close Close “Active Wireless Client Table” window. 3.2.2 Station-Ad Hoc mode Served as a wireless station (Ad-hoc). Connected to a PC or a small LAN, this station along with other wireless stations can establish a small wireless network without Access Points. Parameters Description Alias Name The alias name of this access point. ESSID The ESSID (up to 31 printable ASCII characters) is the unique name identified in a WLAN.
appear as below. You can select the AP you want to connect and press “Connect” button to connect. If you don’t have find the AP you want to connect, please press “Refresh” to rescan.
3.2.3 Station-Infrastructure mode Served as a wireless station (infrastructure). Connected to a PC or a small LAN, it allows the PC or small LAN able to access the wireless network via Access Point. Parameters Description Alias Name The alias name of this access point. ESSID The ESSID (up to 31 printable ASCII characters) is the unique name identified in a WLAN. Please set it as the AP’s ESSID that you want to connect to. In default, the ESSID is “default”.
3.2.4 AP Bridge – Point to Point Mode This mode can use to connect to another Bridge Mode WAP-1963A that the MAC Address is entered in the setting. It can work as a bridge to connect two LANs in distant place. Parameters Description Channel Number Select the appropriate channel from the list provided to correspond with your network settings. MAC Address Please enter the MAC Address of the WAP-1963A that you want to connect to. Set Security Set a WEP Key to protect your wireless connection.
3.2.5 AP Bridge – Point to Multi-Point Mode This mode can use to connect to other Bridge Mode WAP-1963A that the MAC Address is entered in the setting. It can work as a bridge to connect max 7 LANs in distant place. Parameters Description Channel Number Select the appropriate channel from the list provided to correspond with your network settings. MAC Address 1~6 Please enter the MAC Address of the other WAP-1963A that you want to connect to.
3.2.6 AP Bridge – WDS Mode In this mode, WAP-1963A will be a repeater between two AP mode WAP-1963A, that can extend the connect distance. When it works in this mode, it will also be an access point. Parameters Description Alias Name The alias name of this access point. ESSID The ESSID (up to 31 printable ASCII characters) is the unique name identified in a WLAN. The ID prevents the unintentional merging of two co-located WLANs.
MAC Address 1~6 Please enter the MAC Address of the other WAP-1963A that you want to connect to. Set Security Set a WEP Key to protect your wireless connection. It has support 64/128bit Key to the WEP function. If you want to change WAP-1963A to other operate mode, please disable this function before change operating mode. Please make sure the devices that connect to this WAP-1963A have work with the same WEP Key.
3.3 Wireless Advance Settings You can set advanced parameters of this WAP-1963A. The parameters include Authentication Type, Fragment Threshold, RTS Threshold, Beacon Interval, Data Rate, Preamble Type, and Broadcast ESSID. You should not change these parameters unless you know what effect the changes will have on WAP-1963A. When configuration finished, please click “Apply” to save the settings.
Fragment Threshold “Fragment Threshold” specifies the maximum size of packet during the fragmentation of data to be transmitted. If you set this value too low, it will result in bad performance. RTS Threshold When the packet size is smaller the RTS threshold, the access point will not use the RTS/CTS mechanism to send this packet. Beacon Interval The interval of time that this access point broadcast a beacon. Beacon is used to synchronize the wireless network.
3.4 Security In this option, you can select one of the security methods to protect your network. WAP-1963A has provide WEP, 802.1x, 802.1x WEP static key, WPA pre-shared key and WPA RADIUS functions for your network security. Please choose one of them and refer to the below sections for the detail settings. 3.4.1 WEP WEP is an authentication algorithm, which protects authorized Wireless LAN users against eavesdropping.
ASCII Characters: guest Hexadecimal Digits: 12345abcde Default Tx Key Select one of the four keys to encrypt your data. Only the key you select it in the “Default key” will take effect. Key 1 - Key 4 The WEP keys are used to encrypt data transmitted in the wireless network. Fill the text box by following the rules below. 64-bit WEP: input 10-digit Hex values (in the “A-F”, “a-f” and “0-9” range) or 5-digit ASCII character as the encryption keys.
Use Internal MD5 RADIUS WAP-1963A has built-in RADIUS Server. If you have a RADIUS Server server in your network already, you can disable this option and enter the settings below. RADIUS Server IP address Enter RADIUS Serer IP address. RADIUS Server Pot Leave the default port setting or assign a new port number for this option. RADUIS Server Password Please enter the password that is assigned in RADIUS Server.
3.4.3 802.1x WEP static key IEEE 802.1x is an authentication protocol. Every user must use a valid account to login to this Access Point before accessing the wireless LAN. The authentication is processed by a RADIUS server. You can use an external RADIUS server or use the RADIUS server built-in with the Access Point. This mode also uses WEP to encrypt the data during communication. Parameters Description Key Length You may enable or disable the WEP function from the setting item.
64-bit WEP: input 10-digit Hex values (in the “A-F”, “a-f” and “0-9” range) or 5-digit ASCII character as the encryption keys. 128-bit WEP: input 26-digit Hex values (in the “A-F”, “a-f” and “0-9” range) or 10-digit ASCII characters as the encryption keys. Use Internal MD5 WAP-1963A has built-in RADIUS Server. If you have a RADIUS server in your RAIUS Server network already, you can disable this option and enter the settings below.
3.4.4 WPA pre-shared key Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) is an advanced security standard. You can use a pre-shared key to authenticate wireless stations and encrypt data during communication. It uses TKIP to change the encryption key frequently. This can improve security much more. Note: This Access Point does not provide AES encryption method. Parameters Description TKIP TKIP can change the encryption key frequently to enhance the wireless LAN security.
3.4.5 WPA RADIUS Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) is an advanced security standard. You can use an external RADIUS server to authenticate wireless stations and provide the session key to encrypt data during communication. It uses TKIP to change the encryption key frequently. This can improve security very much. Note: This Access Point does not provide AES encryption method. WPA can not use the internal RADIUS server for authentication.
3.5 RADIUS Server This Access Point provides an internal RADIUS server to authenticate wireless station users. You have to add user accounts to the RADIUS server. The wireless station user has to use one of these accounts to login to the Access Point before access the wireless LAN. You also have to add secret key to the RADIUS server. RADIUS server client has to use one of these secret keys to login the RADIUS server before asking the RADIUS server to authenticate the uses for it.
Add an user account Fill in the “Username”, “Password” and “Re-Type Password” of the new account to be added and then click “Add”. Then this new account will be added into the account table below. If you find any typo before adding it and want to retype again. Just click “Reset” and “Username”, “Password” and “Re-Type Password” fields will be cleared.
3.6 MAC Filtering This Access Point provides MAC Address Filtering, which prevents the unauthorized MAC Addresses from accessing your wireless network. Parameters Description MAC Address This table records the MAC addresses of wireless stations you want to allow to Filtering Table access your network. The “Comment” field is the description of the wireless station associated with the “MAC Address” and is helpful for you to recognize the wireless station.
Selected”. If you want remove all MAC addresses from the table, just click “Delete table All” button. Click “Reset” will clear your current selections. Reset 3.7 System Utility From here, you can define the Access Point’s IP Address and Login Password and enable the Access Point to be a DHCP Server. After configure, please press “Apply” button to save the settings.
Point. The default password for the Access Point is admin. Note that the password is case-sensitive. New Password Enter the password (up to 15-digit alphanumeric string) you want to login to the Access Point. Note that the password is case-sensitive. Re-Enter Password Reconfirm the password (up to 15-digit alphanumeric string) you want to login to the Access Point. Note that the password is case-sensitive. Management IP IP Address Designate the Access Point’s IP Address.
3.8 Configuration Tool The Configuration Tool screen allows you to backup, restore and reset WAP-1963A configuration settings. Saving the configuration settings provides an added protection and convenience should problems occur with the WAP-1963A and you have to reset to factory default. When you save the configuration setting (Backup) you can re-load the saved configuration into the Access Point through the Restore selection.
Default 30
3.9 Upgrade This page allows you to upgrade WAP-1963A with when the new firmware released. Parameter Description Firmware Upgrade You can use the “Browse…” button to find the firmware location on your PC, and then press “Apply” button to upgrade your Access Point. Please power off and on the Access Point when the upgrade process is complete. That can let the new firmware work properly on WAP-1963A.
3.10 Reset You can reset the Access Point’s system should any problem exist. The reset function essentially Re-boots your Access Point’s system. Parameter Description Reset In the event that the system stops responding correctly or in some way stops functioning, you can perform a reset. Your settings will not be changed. To perform the reset, click on the “Apply” button. You will be asked to confirm your decision. Once the reset process is complete you may start using the Access Point again.
Chapter 4 Application This chapter describe the Application of your WAP-1963A. The working modes of WAP-1963A are Access Point, Station Modes, Wireless Bridge modes. In different work mode, you can use WAP-1963A to fit to each environment. 4.1 Enterprise or Campus Users In an enterprise or campus area, some mobile users may need a continuous network connection. By installing 11Mbps access points in the area, mobile users can be always on the network by installing a wireless card in their notebook or PDA.
4.3 LAN to LAN or LAN to Multi-LAN Wiring inside your own building may be an easy job, but it is hard if network cabling needs to route through some public areas or difficult wiring environments. PLANET’s 11Mbps Wireless access point, the WAP-1963A, can work in bridge or repeater mode to provide a robust solution for connecting two or more buildings wired Ethernets together.
Chapter 5 Troubleshooting This chapter gives tips on how to configure the communication software. This chapter provides solutions to problems usually encountered during the installation and operation of the Wireless Network Access Point. Read the description below to solve your problems. Q. Can I run an application from a remote computer over the wireless network? A. This will depend on whether or not the application is designed to be used over a network.
Q. What is Roaming? A. Roaming is the ability of a portable computer user to communicate continuously while moving freely throughout an area greater than that covered by a single Wireless Network Access Point. Before using the roaming function, the workstation must make sure that it is the same channel number with the Wireless Network Access Point of dedicated coverage area.