Compaq WL110 User Manual Download Page 81

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Optimizing Performance

6-21

Figure 6-9 Medium Distance between APs

Figure 6-10 Small Distance between APs

Summary of Contents for WL110

Page 1: ...__1 5 Wireless Configurations Introduction ______________________________________________2 1 Peer to Peer Workgroup_____________________________________2 1 Basic Infrastructure _______________________...

Page 2: ...frastructure Networks ________________________________ 4 1 Configuring Infrastructure Networks ___________________________ 4 2 Basic Configuration____________________________________ 4 2 Monitoring yo...

Page 3: ...imizing Wireless Connections __________________________6 6 Link Integrity ________________________________________6 17 Designing High Capacity Networks ____________________________6 18 About the CSMA...

Page 4: ..._________ 8 15 Unique Parameters ___________________________________ 8 15 Managing Configuration Consistency______________________ 8 15 Modifying the Configuration_________________________________ 8 1...

Page 5: ...________________ C 2 Step 2 Set to Forced Reload Mode _____________________ C 3 Step 3 Configuring and Uploading Files ___________________ C 4 Creating a Back up File ________________________________...

Page 6: ...vivi 11Mbps Wireless LAN User s Guide...

Page 7: ...wireless network interface is not much different from the interface for wired LANs The operating system will not even notice the difference The wireless network interface supports all protocols that a...

Page 8: ...standard for wireless LANs does not identify standards for diagnostic or management tools i e each vendor may have designed a customized tool to configure and or manage the IEEE 802 11 wireless netwo...

Page 9: ...work Interface of the WL410 Wireless SMB Access Point is called interface A in this guide A 10Base T Ethernet Interface that can be used to connect Wireless Stations to an Ethernet network WL510 Wirel...

Page 10: ...describes how to enhance security and minimize unauthorized use of your 11Mbps Wireless LAN network This document does not describe every possible option supported by the 11Mbps Wireless LAN software...

Page 11: ...ucts Additional Files on your CD ROM The CD ROM that is shipped with your 11Mbps Wireless LAN products include a file called readme txt This file contains information about the version of the software...

Page 12: ...1 6 Introduction...

Page 13: ...reless device Subject to the size and requirements of your LAN a wireless system can be identified by either one of the following type of configurations Independent network Basic infrastructure Stand...

Page 14: ...frastructure Stand Alone Configuration In a stand alone configuration Figure 2 2 the Access Point will function as a relay base station that will forward the data communication from one computer to an...

Page 15: ...ucture creating a larger coverage area Figure 2 3 Wireless to Ethernet Access Configuration All wireless stations within this coverage area that wish to connect to the network must be configured with...

Page 16: ...ion 1 and station 2 share the same medium Station 1 might need to defer communication with the Access Point when it senses that station 2 is already communicating with the Access Point in the neighbor...

Page 17: ...to configure and monitor your network The following programs are included within the 11Mbps Wireless LAN software suite Client Manager AP Manager In this chapter we describe how to set up the LAN adm...

Page 18: ...Infrastructure Networks In an infrastructure network you will primarily use the LAN administrator station that has the AP Manager installed to configure your Access Points and monitor the radio traff...

Page 19: ...ator stations allowing for a combination of wired and wireless stations and allowing you the freedom to choose the most appropriate tool for the situation Wired Stations A wired LAN administrator stat...

Page 20: ...ormation Remote link test Remote statistics For more information on monitoring your network refer to chapter 5 Monitoring your 11Mbps Wireless LAN Network Installing 11Mbps Wireless LAN Software Clien...

Page 21: ...directory AP Manager The AP Manager can be installed on both wireless and wired stations To install the program you will need to select a station that is configured with Network Interface Card NIC to...

Page 22: ...rotocol Settings The AP Manager program requires a TCP IP networking protocol to communicate with the Access Point When setting up the Access Points for the first time you will need to verify the TCP...

Page 23: ...erent values to each station f In the Subnet Mask field enter the value 255 255 255 0 g Click the OK button to confirm and follow the instructions as displayed on your screen 8 When prompted to restar...

Page 24: ...ing at Figure 3 2 the LAN administrator station has access to both Access Points A and B via the wired backbone When these Access Points are still using the out of the box configuration the Access Poi...

Page 25: ...cess Points Directly by means of a wireless point to point connection as pictured in Figure 3 3 or Indirectly by means of a wireless point to point connection with another Access Point that provides a...

Page 26: ...hin range of the target Access Point In both scenarios the Access Points are identified by means of their unique IP address Uninstalling 11Mbps Wireless LAN Software If you wish to remove the 11Mbps W...

Page 27: ...t up a Peer to Peer workgroup operating with the standard protocols do the following Set all stations to connect to a Peer to Peer workgroup Set all stations to use the same Network Name Set all stati...

Page 28: ...your network Furthermore your management station must also have an IP address The TCP IP connection of your station should either Be connected to the same subnet as the Access Points as described in B...

Page 29: ...h of the Access Points that you wish to install Step 1 Installing the Access Point For installation instructions of the Access Point hardware please refer to the Getting Started Guide that was shipped...

Page 30: ...the same IP subnet as your management station see also Modifying the Configuration on page 8 18 To gain access to Access Points on a different subnet or via a dial up connection enter a specific IP a...

Page 31: ...gs Step 3 Set Network Name and Save Configuration When installing the 11Mbps Wireless LAN network you are advised to modify the default settings of the wireless network interfaces Although the Access...

Page 32: ...tically This will complete the basic configuration of your Access Point This basic configuration will work efficiently in most networking situations You are advised to make a back up file of this conf...

Page 33: ...lename and the location where the Access Point will be installed on the Access Point Configuration Record in Start up Configuration page A 1 To install and configure other Access Points refer back to...

Page 34: ...4 8 Basic Network Configuration...

Page 35: ...LAN Tools The 11Mbps Wireless LAN software suite offers two tools that enable you to monitor your network Client Manager AP Manager Client Manager The Client Manager has been designed to monitor the...

Page 36: ...s Wireless LAN products have been designed for interoperability with all other wireless LAN products that use the direct sequence radio technology as identified in the IEEE 802 11 standard for wireles...

Page 37: ...measurement data options are only available when the Client Manager is installed in Advanced mode see Client Manager on pag e1 2 for more information To start the Client Manager tool 1 The Client Mana...

Page 38: ...could not establish a network connection this screen will display either No wireless network card driver present your station was unable to detect the 11Mbps Wireless LAN driver Check to make sure tha...

Page 39: ...e link test partner may change dynamically whenever another Access Point provides better communications quality The station when your Client Manager station is connected to a Peer to Peer workgroup se...

Page 40: ...level of SNR is lower than expected the signal level and noise level indicators may help you investigate the cause A low signal level indicates that the strength of the radio signal is fairly low i e...

Page 41: ...lost either as a result of a frame collision or because the test partner was out of range If a message transmission fails your station will retransmit the lost frame If a retransmission fails repeated...

Page 42: ...e time window to display the information of the last minute last hour or last 24 hours For example if you have an Access Point that shows mysterious performance problems at regular intervals you can r...

Page 43: ...u to enable disable or configure the site monitor logging options see Logging Measurement Data on page 5 14 AP names tab allows you to create user defined Access Point names for easy identification of...

Page 44: ...m Name field of the Access Point s configuration see SNMP Parameters on pag e8 11 A user defined Access Point Name List that you can create using the Client Manager tool see AP Names Tab on pag e5 13...

Page 45: ...L110 PC Cards and you wish to distinguish the cards inserted into the Access Point specifically Selection Tab The Selection tab enables you to select another network in situations where you wish to Ve...

Page 46: ...observed infrastructure network s The different radio channels used by the Access Points 2 Optional Click the Scan Now button to refresh the list of observed networks 3 Click the network of your choic...

Page 47: ...log file and use this log file to more fully analyze the overall wireless coverage of your network The measurement data can be logged automatically at regular intervals or manually upon user command F...

Page 48: ...This file APlist txt is stored in C Program Files Compaq Wireless LAN Client Manager or Edit the names later on using an ASCII editor such as the MS Windows Notepad Logging Measurement Data Both link...

Page 49: ...ay be useful if you wish to monitor recurring events or variation in values over a long period of time When you choose the automatic mode you need to set the measurement interval to a specific number...

Page 50: ...the data is recorded to the log file For automatic logging click the Start Log button Click the Stop Log button to stop the logging function Diagnose Card If you suspect that your wireless client ada...

Page 51: ...election tab to see other networks as described on Selection Tab on page 5 11 For more information on open and closed infrastructure networks please consult chapter 7 Security Using the AP Manager You...

Page 52: ...target Access Point 1 Start the AP Manager program 2 Select the target Access Point from the local list or enter the IP address of the Access Point that you wish to monitor Alternatively you can selec...

Page 53: ...responding fields of the SNMP tab in de edit mode when the Access Point was configured If you would like to change these names please consult the section about configuring SNMP parameters as described...

Page 54: ...umber of the Access Point The last string of characters of the format VX xx identify the version of the Access Point hardware in its processor module When reporting a problem to yourTechnical support...

Page 55: ...devices connected to the initiator station The following fields are visible The fields Station Name and Address these wireless devices are identified by their station name and MAC address respectivel...

Page 56: ...e SNR indicator the link quality indicator and the remote levels indicators relate to the following levels of communications quality If the level of SNR is lower than expected the signal and noise lev...

Page 57: ...icking the Help button or pressing the function key on your keyboard Remote Statistics Tab The remote statistics option allows you to monitor a set of SNMP variables for each of the Access Point inter...

Page 58: ...ackets Ratio Errors to Bridge Packets Conclusion 0 1 or less Status Performance is Good Impact None Action None 0 1 and 1 Status Performance is acceptable Impact Network performance is OK but your net...

Page 59: ...ngs Analysis polling interval used for remote link test SNMP polling interval used for SNMP statistics Adjusting Analysis Polling Interval Subject to the type of connection you can adjust the refresh...

Page 60: ...es at regular intervals that can vary between 1 second and 5 minutes Adjust the refresh rate by changing the SNMP polling interval Use a short interval 1 second when you want to monitor remote statist...

Page 61: ...ccess Point before you start changing the configuration s Doing so will enable you to restore the initial setup of your network in case corrective actions did not result in the desired effect Eliminat...

Page 62: ...t the transmission of unnecessary data saving more bandwidth for the communication of true data in your network Do You Need Protocol Filtering To diagnose whether or not the protocol broadcasts degrad...

Page 63: ...ices and for the wireless stations 3 Start the A PManager program 4 Select the Access Point of your choice and click the Edit button 5 Select the Bridge tab to show the protocol filtering information...

Page 64: ...ance of your network may become very slow Checking the Cable System The occurrence of a problem in the cabling system can be diagnosed with the remote statistics found on Remote tab in the monitor mod...

Page 65: ...ents that have been stretched over too large distances In these situations frequent collisions might occur because stations can no longer detect the carriers transmitted by distant stations Collided f...

Page 66: ...ency as the true data has to share the wireless bandwidth with the re transmitted frames The retransmissions will also degrade the performance as perceived by the end user of a wireless stations e g s...

Page 67: ...on page 5 20 Important indicators to monitor on the Remote Link Test window are Signal to noise ratio SNR for an overview of the radio link quality Signal level to determine whether a poor SNR is rela...

Page 68: ...ber of In errors is 1 or more of the Bridge in pack ets this may indicate that the wireless medium is very busy 2 To verify this assumption also compare the number of packets Out errors with the numbe...

Page 69: ...If these options do not resolve your problem consider one of the following options Protocol Filtering page 6 2 Optimizing Wired Connections page 6 4 Designing High Capacity Networks page 6 18 RTS CTS...

Page 70: ...s Point it might not notice that station A is already using the wireless medium When station A and station B send messages at the same time they might collide when arriving simultaneously at the Acces...

Page 71: ...equest to Send Clear to Send protocol RTS CTS The station will send an RTS to the Access Point that will include information about the length of the frame that the station would like to transmit see F...

Page 72: ...providing a remedy If you insist on enabling RTS CTS medium reservation on the Access Point you will notice that the configuration of this option for Access Points is slightly different from that of...

Page 73: ...ll determine when the Access Point will issue a Request to Send RTS For example if the value you select is 500 The Access Point will send use the RTS CTS protocol for each message that exceeds the len...

Page 74: ...recommended for optimal operation Station 1 would use channel A to communicate with its Access Point without bothering station 2 to defer its transmissions to the neighboring Access Point When either...

Page 75: ...location X to location Y would automatically switch its radio consecutively from channel A B to C to remain connected to the network When your network includes WL510 Access Point devices you can use...

Page 76: ...Wireless Client Adapters Table 6 1 Recommended Sub Channel Configurations For wireless networks where wireless cells only have a slight overlap you may also experiment with multiple channel configurat...

Page 77: ...etwork provides duplicate ethernet connections If the wireless connection however is still intact the wireless station would not roam to another Access Point since its radio might still interpret its...

Page 78: ...g environments The user of a wireless computing device will hardly notice the deferral behavior of the wireless radio In network environments with many wireless users in the vicinity of one another an...

Page 79: ...the Distance between APs parameter from Large to Medium or Small you can virtually reduce the receiver sensitivity of the wireless radios that will show the following behavior The stations will show...

Page 80: ...radio is still the same the Distance between APs setting has virtually reduced the range of the wireless cell by applying different levels of receiver sensitivity The absolute range of the radio signa...

Page 81: ...Optimizing Performance 6 21 Figure 6 9 Medium Distance between APs Figure 6 10 Small Distance between APs...

Page 82: ...6 22 Optimizing Performance...

Page 83: ...1Mbps Wireless LAN products allow you to apply additional security measures to restrict access to your wireless medium and or network resources Subject to the level of security required in your networ...

Page 84: ...configuration is the standard IEEE 802 11 mode that will allow access to the Access Point for all stations with the correct network name all stations with the network name set to ANY The Closed config...

Page 85: ...peat steps 1 through 9 for all other Access Points Access Control Another method to restrict wireless access to the Access Points is to use the access control table feature and or the RADIUS Server Ac...

Page 86: ...the access control table file into all Access Points in your network as part of a new configuration see Importing an Access Control Table on page7 5 for more information Creating Editing an Access Con...

Page 87: ...tab 9 Click OK again to save the new configuration to the Access Point and to return to the main AP Manager window 10 Optional Save the configuration to a local back up file cnf as described in Step 4...

Page 88: ...The MAC address window will read All will be permitted 4 Click OK to return to the Access Control tab 5 Click OK again to save the new configuration to the Access Point and to return to the main AP M...

Page 89: ...as used by the selected server To restrict access to your network using MAC address control via a RADIUS server 1 Start the A PManager and select the Access Point 2 Click the Edit button 3 Select the...

Page 90: ...to ensure that All wireless devices will be configured with matching encryption key values You are advised to use the Access Point configuration log to write down the proposed WEP key values and stor...

Page 91: ...he range of a z and 0 9 Example SECU1 A 10 digit hexadecimal value preceded by the characters 0x zero x Example 0xABCD1234FE For the 128 bit encryption based on the RC4 encryption algorithm are either...

Page 92: ...network you are advised always to leave the Deny non encrypted data option enabled default CAUTION Only when you would have good reasons to decide otherwise you could clear this check box to allow th...

Page 93: ...If the addressed station does not use WEP encryption the Access Point will send the message in non encrypted format If the data message is a multicast or broadcast message typically addressed to all s...

Page 94: ...At that point in time you could enter 3 new WEP key values for the first three WEP key entries prior to the expiration period of the fourth key value Once all stations and Access Points have been set...

Page 95: ...st In addition to the read and read write passwords you can restrict access to the Access Point configuration to a limited number of authorized stations To authorize the 11Mbps Wireless LAN management...

Page 96: ...ccess Point 2 Click the Edit button to connect to the Access Point 3 Select the SNMP tab to display the SNMP parameters 4 In the field Trap Host IP Address enter Any valid IP address To this IP addres...

Page 97: ...thernet link is broken a Trap message link down is sent As a result of this message the WL510 Access Point disables it s wireless interface to allow client stations to disconnect from the WL510 Access...

Page 98: ...zation of end user exposure to key values The key roll over possibilities built in the 802 11 standard and offered by 11Mbps Wireless LAN allow for a number of scenarios each with different values for...

Page 99: ...e of the successive keys the scheme has to be changed as shown inTabl e7 2 Table 7 2 Single Key Transition Period Period AP Configuration Out ward STA Configuration s In ward Description Keys 1 2 3 4...

Page 100: ...visaged which have main life periods in which two or more keys are active An example is given in Table7 3 Table 7 3 Alternative Schemes Table 7 3 gives a scheme where at each period two keys are in us...

Page 101: ...meters such as RTS CTS Medium Reservation Distance between Access Points and for the WL510 Access Point multiple frequency channel configurations Bridge parameters that enable you to filter specific n...

Page 102: ...r cell Wireless stations equipped with Wireless Client Adapters can dynamically change the operating channel when roaming between Access Points that operate at different sub channels RTS CTS Medium Re...

Page 103: ...also provide an efficient and cost effective solution for most networks that include multiple wireless cells CAUTION The setting for distance between Access Points must be the same for all 11Mbps Wir...

Page 104: ...ormance over greater coverage for your wireless radio signal For more information about multicast rate refer to the help file of the AP Manager program Bridge Parameters One of the ways to optimize th...

Page 105: ...Mode To set the Bridge parameters connect to the Access Point and select the Bridge tab to display the bridge parameters as pictured in Figur e8 1 Protocol Filtering The filtered protocols are listed...

Page 106: ...dded manually will be listed in the Protocols to Filter field 6 You can now select one of the other Bridge parameter options change other parameters or click OK to save your changes and return to the...

Page 107: ...r more information about static MAC address filtering please refer to chapter 6 Optimizing Performance Spanning Tree The Spanning Tree button allows you to set parameters that are used in determining...

Page 108: ...storm threshold protection is disabled all values are set to zero 1 If you need storm threshold protection and are unsure of the proper broadcast and multicast values to input click the Preset button...

Page 109: ...parameters are explained in the next paragraphs 3 When finished proceed with configuring other parameters or click OK to save the configuration and return to the main A PManager window Figure 8 5 Set...

Page 110: ...be the same for ALL network devices within your IP subnet You can use either the default value 255 255 0 0 or change the subnet mask to a value that applies in your network If Obtain an IP address fr...

Page 111: ...to the right Access Point and select the SNMP tab to display the SNMP parameters pictured in Figur e8 6 Figure 8 6 Setup SNMP parameters 2 Verify and or modify the parameters of your choice The recomm...

Page 112: ...Administrators to configure and or monitor the Access Points System Contact Use the field System Contact to enter a generic name for the network supervisor or department e g Your LAN Administrator as...

Page 113: ...tation s and The Access Point network interface through which they will access the Access Point To indicate the interface use either 1 for ethernet 2 for the wireless network interface in socket A or...

Page 114: ...t may become quite cumbersome to copy the common parameters to each of the Access Points in the network in order to provide consistency throughout the entire network As the number of Access Points inc...

Page 115: ...sted in Table 8 2 Table 8 2 Unique Access Point Parameters Managing Configuration Consistency The most convenient way to manage the configuration of a large number of Access Points is to configure the...

Page 116: ...nt Configuration Record as printed in appendix A Start up Configuration of this document Make a list of IP addresses available in your network you will need one IP address for each Access Point Use th...

Page 117: ...3 3 When asked navigate to the disk and or folder where you stored the template file 4 Select the template configuration file e g common cnf and click the Open button WARNING The IP address that was d...

Page 118: ...your Access Point Configuration Record in a safe place Modifying the Configuration You can modify the Access Point configuration parameters using the Edit button from the main AP Manager window Keep...

Page 119: ...d off and on again To change the parameters again simply repeat the procedure as described in this section to reconfigure your Access Points Dual WL110 Wireless PC Card Configuration Note Only the WL5...

Page 120: ...a static IP address or a dynamic IP address that is assigned by a BOOTP or DHCP server When assigning IP addresses to LAN administrator stations and Access Points make sure that Each device has a uniq...

Page 121: ...e Access Point IP tab An IP address that is assigned by a BOOTP server is stored in the configuration file of the BOOTP server This configuration file has a one to one static fixed mapping from MAC ad...

Page 122: ...8 22 Advanced Network Configurations...

Page 123: ...Reboot or Forced Reload described later in this book the unit will NOT return to the factory set configuration To connect to the Access Point the network parameters of each wireless station should be...

Page 124: ...Name xx xx xx xx xx xx 1 1 Ethernet MAC address of the device printed on a small label on the processor module Trap Host IP address 0 0 0 0 2 2 No SNMP traps are sent with this IP address Trap Host P...

Page 125: ...art up Configuration Interface Wireless Interface Network Name WaveLAN Network RF Channel 2 462 MHz Closed wireless system Disabled Encryption Disabled Medium reservation Disabled Microwave oven robus...

Page 126: ...A 4 Start up Configuration...

Page 127: ...onent failure check the LED activity of the Access Point You can use the LED Error Table on page B 2 to determine if a problem has a hardware related cause component failure This table may also provid...

Page 128: ...overload The ethernet connection sends more traffic to wireless stations than the Access Point Bridge can forward to the interface2 Run the AP Manager Remote Statistics to investigate network performa...

Page 129: ...tation that is performing the forced reload Proceed with the forced reload procedure as described in appendix C Forced Reload Procedure of this user s guide Off Flicker Green Off Off Flicker Green Red...

Page 130: ...your Access Point for assistance if needed 2 Locate the two small holes on the bottom of the processor module marked Reset A and Reload B as pictured in Figure B 1 Off Off Amber Off Only for the WL510...

Page 131: ...oint from a remote location 1 Start the A PManager program 2 Select the target Access Point from the list or enter the IP address for a specific Access Point 3 Open the Access Point menu 4 Select Rebo...

Page 132: ...B 6 Troubleshooting...

Page 133: ...not be accessed via the wired network interface b Do not perform a Forced Reload procedure for more than one Access Point simultaneously You might risk unexpected administrative problems due to config...

Page 134: ...e been created upon initial installation using the Download Config File option of the A PManager program If you have access to the Compaq 11Mbps Wireless LAN website you can download the latest softwa...

Page 135: ...that your LAN administrator station matches the settings of the Access Point that you will use to establish the connection to in forced reload mode Make sure the LAN administrator station is within r...

Page 136: ...iguring and Uploading Files The complete configuration and upload procedure of the forced reload procedure is pictured in Figure C 2 Figure C 2 Configuration an upload in forced reload mode To configu...

Page 137: ...enu to start the configuration and upload procedure If you click the Edit or Monitor button before uploading the software you will be prompted to upload the software first 3 In the Open window move to...

Page 138: ...ontain an OK button but an Upload button to upload the configuration settings to the Access Point This means that you are editing a local configuration file and that you are not yet connected to the A...

Page 139: ...e Access Point will reboot and start bridging operation in approximately 60 seconds Creating a Back up File You are advised to save the configuration parameters of the Access Point to a back up file c...

Page 140: ...C 8 Forced Reload Procedure...

Page 141: ...tory where you installed the AP Manager program For the latest version of the Access Point software versions you are advised to consult the Compaq 11Mbps Wireless LAN website Upload Software When uplo...

Page 142: ...ned will be overwritten 2 Next use the saved file to upload the target Access Point When the Access Point software file is saved to disk the Configuration Parameter Area of the software file is update...

Page 143: ...he AP Manager program to open and save a remote config file What actually happens in the procedure to upload Access Point software is that the AP Manager program will merge the configuration parameter...

Page 144: ...D 4 Upgrading Access Point Software...

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