Nokia A032, User Manual

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98 Nokia A032 Advanced User Guide
NID names
Because the MAC address is unique, it can be
used to identify a particular user to the system.
However, the MAC address by itself is not very
informative, so the Nokia A032 allows a system
manager to assign a text string, or name, to
each MAC address in the network.
The combination of the MAC address and the
name string is called a
NID name (NID stands
for N etwork ID entifier).
How are NID names useful?
Once you have assigned NID names, you’ll be
able to see active stations listed by these names
rather than by MAC address in all the Nokia
A032 management screens. See
LAN station
status on page 23 or show on page 94.
NID names can also be used as a security
measure, as described on page 101.
NID name table
The Nokia A032 can store a list of up to 200
NID names in its flash memory, in the
NID
name table .
Initially, the NID name table is empty. To
assign a NID name to a MAC address, you need
to update the NID name table. You can do one
of the following:
• Use the CLM to add or remove NID name
entries one at a time (see page 99)
• Use TFTP to upload and download the
whole NID name table (this is useful for
altering many entries in one go – see
nids.txt on page 112.
Note : nids.txt is also
used to store WEP key
information if you are
using WEP security
functions (see Data
encryption and
security on page 127)
A032-Adv.book Page 98 Monday, November 13, 2000 10:47 AM