ZyXEL Communications N220 - User Manual Download

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N220

Wireless N-lite USB Adapter

Version 1.0

Edition 1, 07/2010

Summary of Contents for N220 -

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Page 3: ...ump directly to that page Type CTRL F to open the Adobe Reader search utility and enter a word or phrase This can help you quickly pinpoint the information you require You can also enter text directly...

Page 4: ...nnot be solved by using this manual please contact your vendor for customer service Please have the following information ready when you contact the vendor Product model and serial number Date that yo...

Page 5: ...ke is denoted by square brackets and uppercase text for example ENTER means the enter or return key on your keyboard Enter means for you to type one or more characters and then press the ENTER key Sel...

Page 6: ...ventions N220 User s Guide 6 Icons Used in Figures Figures in this User s Guide may use the following generic icons Wireless Access Point Computer Notebook computer Server Modem Telephone Internet Wir...

Page 7: ...y properly using an anti static wrist strap for example whenever working with the device s hardware or connections ONLY qualified service personnel should service or disassemble this device Antenna Wa...

Page 8: ...Safety Warnings N220 User s Guide 8...

Page 9: ...er s Guide 9 Contents Overview Introduction and Configuration 17 Getting Started 19 Wireless LANs 27 ZyXEL Utility 39 Troubleshooting and Specifications 53 Troubleshooting 55 Product Specifications 59...

Page 10: ...Contents Overview N220 User s Guide 10...

Page 11: ...5 1 4 1 Minimum System Requirements 15 1 4 2 Installing the ZyXEL Utility 16 1 5 Device Applications 19 Chapter 2 Wireless LANs 21 2 1 Overview 21 2 1 1 What You Can Do in This Section 21 2 1 2 What Y...

Page 12: ...tus Screen 40 3 7 The Site Survey Screen 41 3 8 The Statistics Screen 43 3 9 The Advanced Screen 45 3 10 The WPS Screen 46 3 10 1 The Information Screen 48 3 10 2 The Profile Details Screen 49 3 11 Th...

Page 13: ...Guide Access Point An Access Point AP is a network device that acts as a bridge between a wired and a wireless network Outside of the home or office APs can most often be found in coffee shops booksto...

Page 14: ...e following table describes the N220 The following table describes the operation of the N220 s LEDs Table 1 N220 External View LABEL DESCRIPTION A LED and also a WPS button B USB connector Table 2 N22...

Page 15: ...rly inserted Note Never bend twist or force the N220 into the port If there is not enough space to attach the N220 use the included USB cable 1 4 Software Installation This section shows you how to in...

Page 16: ...Utility 1 Make sure the N220 is disconnected from your computer before you begin the installation process 2 Open the ZyXEL_USB dmg file on the included disc 3 Inside the ZyXEL_USB dmg open the folder...

Page 17: ...6 Once your computer restarts you can find the ZyXEL Utility in your Applications folder under the name USBWirelessUtility Note A second application called the AwakeZyXELUI app is placed in your Appl...

Page 18: ...l components of the application are properly removed especially the device driver To uninstall the ZyXEL Utility 1 Open the ZyXEL_USB dmg file on the included disc 2 Open the folder that corresponds t...

Page 19: ...network type to Infrastructure and connect to an AP or use Ad Hoc mode and connect to a peer computer another wireless device in Ad Hoc mode Infrastructure To connect to a network via an access point...

Page 20: ...mall independent wireless workgroup without an AP use Ad Hoc Ad Hoc does not require an AP or a wired network Two or more wireless clients communicate directly with each other Note Wi Fi Protected Set...

Page 21: ...the other devices is known as the server A RADIUS Remote Authentication Dial In User Service is a kind of server that manages logins and logout among other things for the network to which it is conne...

Page 22: ...iew The following figure provides an example of a wireless network with an AP See Figure 3 on page 20 for an Ad Hoc network example Figure 4 Example of a Wireless Network The wireless network is the p...

Page 23: ...Note You can use only WEP encryption if you set the N220 to Ad hoc mode See the appendices for more detailed information about wireless security 2 3 1 User Authentication and Encryption You can make e...

Page 24: ...ted data that is not encrypted Shared mode involves a shared secret key to authenticate the wireless station to the AP or peer computer This requires you to enable the wireless LAN security and use sa...

Page 25: ...encryption than TKIP If both an AP and the wireless clients support WPA2 and you have an external RADIUS server use WPA2 for stronger data encryption If you don t have an external RADIUS server you s...

Page 26: ...e within wireless range of one another 2 Look for a WPS button on each device If the device does not have one log into its configuration utility and locate the button 3 Press the button on one of the...

Page 27: ...e See the device s User s Guide for how to do this 3 Look for the client s WPS PIN it will be displayed either on the device or in the WPS section of the client s configuration interface 4 Enter the c...

Page 28: ...lies network and security settings and the other device acts as the Enrollee the device that receives network and security settings The registrar creates a secure EAP Extensible Authentication Protoco...

Page 29: ...and the new device Note that the access point AP is not always the registrar and the wireless client is not always the enrollee All WPS certified APs can be a registrar and so can some WPS enabled wir...

Page 30: ...domly generates the security information to set up the network since it is unconfigured and has no existing information Figure 7 WPS Example Network Step 1 In step 2 you add another wireless client to...

Page 31: ...works in Infrastructure networks only where an AP and a wireless client communicate It does not work in Ad Hoc networks where there is no AP When you use WPS it works between two devices only You cann...

Page 32: ...on the other device when any WPS enabled device could join the network This is because the registrar has no way of identifying the correct enrollee and cannot differentiate between your enrollee and a...

Page 33: ...k in range The Statistics screen Section 3 8 on page 43 lets you view network traffic statistics between the N220 and the AP or peer to which it is connected The Advanced screen Section 3 9 on page 45...

Page 34: ...the Mac OS X version of the ZyXEL utility is already installed on your computer See Section 1 4 on page 15 for more information After installation make sure you repair permissions on your installatio...

Page 35: ...re wireless security if activated on the selected network connect to a wireless network Statistics Use this screen to view advanced information on wireless network traffic Advanced Use this screen to...

Page 36: ...used by the profile Open Shared WPA PSK or WPA2 PSK Encryption This field displays the encryption protocol used by the profile When WEP security is used WEP displays When WPA PSK or WPA2 PSK security...

Page 37: ...elect this to have the N220 never go into sleep mode Power Saving Mode Select this to have the N220 go into sleep mode when it is not transmitting data Network Type Select Infrastructure to connect to...

Page 38: ...shold Select the packet size above which the N220 transmits an RTS Request To Send message Fragment Threshold Select the packet size above which the N220 fragments breaks up the packet into smaller pi...

Page 39: ...lect WEP to use Wired Equivalent Privacy security Shared for data encryption When you select Shared in the Authentication Type field this displays WEP and the N220 uses Wired Equivalent Privacy securi...

Page 40: ...nection as well as the radio frequency of the channel in megahertz Link Speed Mbps This displays the maximum possible data transmission Tx and reception Rx speeds of the current connection in megabits...

Page 41: ...put power and the distance between your N220 and the AP or peer computer Noise Level This indicates the relative interfence from other nearby wireless devices as a percentage The higher the percentage...

Page 42: ...ved radio signal strength of the network The higher the value the better the connection Channel This displays the wireless channel on which the network is operating Authentication This displays whethe...

Page 43: ...his screen Table 9 ZyXEL Utility Statistics LABEL DESCRIPTION Transmit Statistics This section displays statistics about the data frames sent by the N220 Frames Transmitted Successfully This displays...

Page 44: ...device Receive Statistics This section displays statistics about the data frames received by the N220 Frames Received Successfully This displays the number of frames received by the N220 without erro...

Page 45: ...sent by the N220 over the wireless network Auto indicates that the network speed is chosen automatically by the N220 based on its current connection Enable TX Burst Select this to turn burst transmis...

Page 46: ...s field indicates the AP s Basic Service Set Identification BSSID Channel This field indicates the channel on which the AP is broadcasting Authenticati on This field indicates the type of authenticati...

Page 47: ...he Profile screen By default we suggest that you keep the device in Enrollee mode Profile Detail Select a profile from the WPS Profile List then click this button to view detailed information about it...

Page 48: ...selected at all times to ensure a stable connection Automatically select the AP Select this option to have the N220 automatically scan for and then select a WPS compatible AP while making a WPS connec...

Page 49: ...t of the AP if it is operating as an Enrollee Selected Register This field indicates the AP s selected register RF Bands This field indicates which RF band s the AP is using Table 12 Mac OS X WPS Info...

Page 50: ...ey index value to use for creating secure connections For WPS connections it is always 1 Key Material This is the random string of letters and numbers used as the encryption key seed An encryption key...

Page 51: ...splays the version number and release date of the N220 s wireless utility application NIC Driver This section displays the version number and release date of the N220 s device driver MAC Address This...

Page 52: ...Chapter 3 ZyXEL Utility Mac OS X N220 User s Guide 52...

Page 53: ...s Communicating with Other Computers 4 2 Power Hardware Connections and LEDs The N220 does not turn on None of the LEDs turn on 1 Make sure the N220 is correctly installed 2 Restart the computer to wh...

Page 54: ...ould contact your vendor 4 4 Link Quality The link quality and or signal strength is poor 1 Scan for and connect to another AP with a better link quality using the Site Survey screen 2 Move your compu...

Page 55: ...nother radio channel if interference is high Make sure that the computer and the AP share the same security option and key Verify the settings in the Profile Authentication Security screen If you are...

Page 56: ...Chapter 4 Troubleshooting N220 User s Guide 56...

Page 57: ...EEE 802 11g IEEE 802 11n Operating Frequency 2 4GHZ Antenna Type Chip Operating Temperature 0 50 degrees Celsius Storage Temperature 30 70 degrees Celsius Operating Humidity 20 90 non condensing Stora...

Page 58: ...Dynamically shifts between 11 5 5 2 and 1 Mbps network speed Operation Frequency 2 412GHz 2 472GHz Operation Channels N America Taiwan 2 412GHz 2 462GHz 1 11 Euro ETSI 2 412GHz 2 472GHz 1 13 IEEE 802...

Page 59: ...ck EMS European Union CE EN55024 RF United States FCC Part 15C Canada RSS 210 European Union CE EN 300 328 Taiwan NCC LP0002 Wi Fi Certification 11 b g n WPA WPA2 WPS Microsoft Certification WHQL Wind...

Page 60: ...de 60 Wireless QoS Wi Fi Multi Media WMM Wi Fi Protected Setup WPS Push button configuration Use device s PIN Use AP or Router s PIN Other WMM power saving support Compatible with Windows Zero Configu...

Page 61: ...ects a set of computers with wireless adapters A B C Any time two or more wireless adapters are within range of each other they can set up an independent network which is commonly referred to as an ad...

Page 62: ...twork client go through one access point AP Intra BSS traffic is traffic between wireless clients in the BSS When Intra BSS is enabled wireless client A and B can access the wired network and communic...

Page 63: ...ch ESS All access points and their associated wireless clients within the same ESS must have the same ESSID in order to communicate Figure 24 Infrastructure WLAN Channel A channel is the radio frequen...

Page 64: ...ame time resulting in a loss of messages for both stations RTS CTS is designed to prevent collisions due to hidden nodes An RTS CTS defines the biggest size data frame you can send before an RTS Reque...

Page 65: ...than the RTS CTS value see previously you set then the RTS Request To Send CTS Clear to Send handshake will never occur as data frames will be fragmented before they reach RTS CTS size Preamble Type P...

Page 66: ...Wireless security methods available on the N220 are data encryption wireless client authentication restricting access by device MAC address and hiding the N220 identity The following figure shows the...

Page 67: ...ocol RFC 2486 that allows additional authentication methods to be deployed with no changes to the access point or the wireless clients RADIUS RADIUS is based on a client server model that supports aut...

Page 68: ...y password information exchanged is also encrypted to protect the network from unauthorized access Types of EAP Authentication This section discusses some popular authentication types EAP MD5 EAP TLS...

Page 69: ...g the identity of the server the client sends a different certificate to the server The exchange of certificates is done in the open before a secured tunnel is created This makes user identity vulnera...

Page 70: ...EAP use dynamic keys for data encryption They are often deployed in corporate environments but for public deployment a simple user name and password pair is more practical The following table is a com...

Page 71: ...ced Encryption Standard is a block cipher that uses a 256 bit mathematical algorithm called Rijndael They both include a per packet key mixing function a Message Integrity Check MIC named Michael an e...

Page 72: ...wireless devices Key caching allows a wireless client to store the PMK it derived through a successful authentication with an AP The wireless client uses the PMK when it tries to connect to the same A...

Page 73: ...crypt every data packet that is wirelessly communicated between the AP and the wireless clients Figure 26 WPA 2 with RADIUS Application Example WPA 2 PSK Application Example A WPA 2 PSK application lo...

Page 74: ...authentication method or key management protocol type MAC address filters are not dependent on how you configure these security features Table 19 Wireless Security Relational Matrix AUTHENTICATION MET...

Page 75: ...coverage area Antenna Gain Antenna gain measured in dB decibel is the increase in coverage within the RF beam width Higher antenna gain improves the range of the signal for better communications For...

Page 76: ...ery directional to 120 degrees less directional Directional antennas are ideal for hallways and outdoor point to point applications Positioning Antennas In general antennas should be mounted as high a...

Page 77: ...of the application or use of any products or software described herein Neither does it convey any license under its patent rights nor the patent rights of others ZyXEL further reserves the right to ma...

Page 78: ...erent from that to which the receiver is connected 4 Consult the dealer or an experienced radio TV technician for help FCC Radiation Exposure Statement This device has been tested to the FCC exposure...

Page 79: ...The required antenna impedance is 50 ohms To reduce potential radio interference to other users the antenna type and its gain should be so chosen that the EIRP is not more than required for successfu...

Page 80: ...interference and 2 this device must accept any interference including interference that may cause undesired operation of the device Cet appareil num rique de la classe B est conforme la norme NMB 003...

Page 81: ...Set See BSS 62 BSS 62 C CA 25 69 CCMP 25 Certificate Authority See CA certifications 77 notices 79 viewing 80 channel 23 63 interference 63 copyright 77 CTS Clear to Send 64 D digital ID 25 dimension...

Page 82: ...1 73 passphrase 24 password 24 peer computer 19 physical specifications 57 preamble mode 65 product specifications 57 PSK 72 R radio interference 54 radio specifications 57 58 RADIUS 24 25 67 message...

Page 83: ...WLAN 21 wireless network 22 wireless security 66 wireless standard 57 WLAN interference 63 security parameters 74 WPA 25 70 key caching 72 pre authentication 72 user authentication 72 vs WPA PSK 72 w...

Page 84: ...Index N220 User s Guide 84...

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