Wireless
Networks
Cisco Small Business WAP371 Wireless Access Point Administration Guide
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CAUTION
After new settings are saved, the corresponding processes may be stopped and restarted. When
this happens, the WAP device may lose connectivity. We recommend that you change WAP
device settings when a loss of connectivity will least affect your wireless clients.
NOTE
To delete a VAP, select the VAP and click Delete. To save your deletion permanently, click Save
when complete.
Configuring Security Settings
These sections describe the security settings that you configure, depending on your selection
in the Security list on the Networks page.
None (Plain-text)
If you select None as your security mode, no additional security settings are configurable on
the AP. This mode means that any data transferred to and from the AP is not encrypted. This
security mode can be useful during initial network configuration or for problem solving, but it
is not recommended for regular use on the internal network because it is not secure.
Static WEP
Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) is a data encryption protocol for 802.11 wireless networks.
All wireless stations and access points on the network are configured with a static 64-bit (40-
bit secret key + 24-bit initialization vector (IV)) or 128-bit (104-bit secret key + 24-bit IV)
Shared Key for data encryption.
Static WEP is not the most secure mode available, but it offers more protection than setting the
security mode to None (Plain-text), as it does prevent an outsider from easily sniffing out
unencrypted wireless traffic.
WEP encrypts data moving across the wireless network based on a static key. (The encryption
algorithm is a stream cipher called RC4.)
These parameters configure Static WEP:
•
Transfer Key Index—A key index list. Key indexes 1 through 4 are available. The
default is 1.
The Transfer Key Index indicates which WEP key the WAP device uses to encrypt the
data it transmits.
•
Key Length—The length of the key. Select one:
-
64 bits
