User's Manual

RLX2 Industrial Hotspot Series
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Page106of208 ProSoftTechnology,Inc.
 February5,2015
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Thefollowingtopicsdescribeeachsecuritysettinginmoredetail.
EncryptionType
ThepreferredencryptiontypeisWPAorWPA2(WiFiProtectedAccess)using AES.You
shouldonlyselectTKIPforusewithanolderclientradiothatdoesnotsupportAESor
WEP(wiredequivalencyprotocol).Forcompatibilitywithclientsthatdonotsupport
WPA,youcanselectTKIP+WEP128astheencryptiontyp
e.Thenolderclientscan
connecttotheRLX2usingtheWEPsetting,butallotherlinkswill usethemoresecure
WPAencryption.
Important:IftheRLX2modelsupports802.11nratesandtheyareenabled,thenall
‘TKIPonly’andTKIP/WEPoptionsaredisabled.IfaclientradioonlysupportsTK
IP,then
usetheAES&TKIPoption.IftheclientradioonlysupportsWEP,thenswitchthe802.11
Modecontrolto‘802.11a/gandthenselecttheappropriateWEBsettinginthiscontrol.
Important:IfTKIP+WEP128isselected,someclients usingWPAmightnotbeableto
connectunlessyouuseaWE
Pkeyotherthannumber1,duetolimitationsinthese
clients.Insuchcases,youshouldsetaWEPkeyotherthankey1andsetthissamekey
forallclientsthatareusingWEP.SeeWEPkey.
WhentheWEPSecuritymodeisselected,youca
nthenselectWEP128orWEP64asthe
encryptiontypebutnoneofthesesettingsarerecommended.
WEPistheoriginalsecurityprotocolusedby802.11networksbutshouldonlybeusedif
interoperabilitywithalegacydeviceisessential.Toolsareavailablethatallowan
attackertobreaktheWE
PkeyssimplybysniffinganactiveWEPnetworkforafew
minutes.WPAoffersvastlybetterprotectionagainstattacks,forseveralreasons.WPA
distancestheencryptionkeyfromtheactualdatabyperformingseveralalgorithmsto
createa‘Session’keybeforeencryptinganydata,anditperformsdynamickey
managementbychang
ingkeysfrequently.
Note:IfanRLC2issettouseTKIP+WEP128,itwillconnecttootherradiossettoWPA
onlyorWPA+WEP,butitwillnotcommunicatewithradiossettoWEPonly.Likewise,an
RLX2inclientmodewithTKIP+WEP128selectedwillnotconnecttoanacc
esspointwith
WEPonlyselected.
WPAPhrase
TouseWPAencryptiononpacketssentbetweentheradios,enteraWPApassphraseof
betweeneightand63normalkeyboardcharacters.Thisphraseautomaticallygenerates
anencryptionkeyof128hexadecimalcharacters.Thisfieldisonlyavailableifyouselect
oneofthe‘Personal’securitymodes.ThedefaultWPA‐AESPhras
eis'passphrase'.