User guide

The Controller, Access Points and Convergence Software solution
A31003-W1010-A100-1-7619, July 2005
18 HiPath Wireless Controller, Access Points and Convergence Software V3.0: User Guide
HWC_Intro.fm
Controller, Access Points and Convergence Software and your network
2.2.2 Network traffic flow
Figure 2-3 Traffic Flow diagram
The diagram above shows a simple configuration with a single HiPath Wireless Controller and
two Wireless APs, each supporting a wireless device. A RADIUS server on the network
provides authentication, and a DHCP server is used by the Wireless APs to discover the
location of the HiPath Wireless Controller during the initial registration process. Also present in
the network are routers and ethernet switches.
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.
The HiPath Wireless Controller decapsulates the packets, and routes these to destinations on
the network, after authentication by the RADIUS server.
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.