User's Manual

hwc_intro.fm
Overview of the Controller, Access Points and Convergence Software solution
Controller, Access Points and Convergence Software and your network
A31003-W1050-U100-2-7619,
March 2008
HiPath Wireless Controller, Access Points and Convergence Software V5 R1 , C20/C2400 User Guide 25
Each wireless device sends IP packets in the 802.11 standard to the Wireless AP.
The Wireless AP uses a UDP (User Datagram Protocol) based tunnelling protocol
to encapsulate the packets and forward them to the HiPath Wireless Controller.
In a typical configuration, access points can be configured to locally bridge traffic
(to a configured VLAN) directly at their network point of attachment. The HiPath
Wireless Controller decapsulates the packets and routes these to destinations on
the network.
The HiPath Wireless Controller functions like a standard router, except that it is
configured to route only network traffic associated with wireless connected users.
The HiPath Wireless Controller can also be configured to simply forward traffic to
a default or static route if dynamic routing is not preferred.
2.3.2 Network security
The Controller, Access Points and Convergence Software system provides
features and functionality to control network access. These are based on
standard wireless network security practices.
Current wireless network security methods provide protection. These methods
include:
• Shared Key authentication that relies on Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP)
keys
• Open System that relies on Service Set Identifiers (SSIDs)
• 802.1x that is compliant with Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA)
• Captive Portal based on Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol
The Controller, Access Points and Convergence Software system provides the
centralized mechanism by which the corresponding security parameters are
configured for a group of APs.
• Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) is a security protocol for wireless local area
networks defined in the 802.11b standard
• Wi-Fi Protected Access version 1 (WPA1™) with Temporal Key Integrity
Protocol (TKIP)
• Wi-Fi Protected Access version 2 (WPA2™) with Advanced Encryption
Standard (AES) and Counter Mode with Cipher Block Chaining Message
Authentication Code (CCMP)
HiPath HiGuard
The HiPath HiGuard solution provides network security, including:
• Monitoring – 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, all channels association activity