Chapter 1 Introduction
NWA1000 Series User’s Guide
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• regular AP
• root AP
• wireless repeater
The root AP or wireless repeaters establish wireless links with other APs in a Wireless Distribution System
(WDS). A WDS is a wireless connection between two or more APs.
Your NWA1000 Series’s business-class reliability, SMB features, and centralized wireless management
make it ideally suited for advanced service delivery in mission-critical networks. It uses Multiple BSSID and
VLAN to provide simultaneous independent virtual APs. Additionally, innovations in roaming technology
and QoS features eliminate voice call disruptions.
The NWA1000 Series controls network access with Media Access Control (MAC) address filtering, and
rogue Access Point (AP) detection. It also provides a high level of network traffic security, supporting IEEE
802.1x, Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 and Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) data encryption.
Your NWA1000 Series is easy to install, configure and use. The embedded Web-based configurator
enables simple, straightforward management and maintenance. See the Quick Start Guide for making
hardware connections.
1.2 Applications
This section shows some examples of using the NWA1000 Series in various network environments.
1.2.1 MBSSID
A Basic Service Set (BSS) is the set of devices forming a single wireless network (usually an access point
and one or more wireless clients). The Service Set IDentifier (SSID) is the name of a BSS. In Multiple BSS
(MBSSID) mode, the NWA1000 Series provides multiple virtual APs, each forming its own BSS and using its
own individual SSID profile.
You can configure multiple SSID profiles, and have all of them active at any one time.
You can assign different wireless and security settings to each SSID profile. This allows you to
compartmentalize groups of users, set varying access privileges, and prioritize network traffic to and
from certain BSSs.
To the wireless clients in the network, each SSID appears to be a different access point. As in any wireless
network, clients can associate only with the SSIDs for which they have the correct security settings.
For example, you might want to set up a wireless network in your office where Internet telephony (VoIP)
users have priority. You also want a regular wireless network for standard users, as well as a ‘guest’
wireless network for visitors. In the following figure,
VoIP_SSID
users have QoS priority,
SSID01
is the wireless
network for standard users, and
Guest_SSID
is the wireless network for guest users. In this example, the
guest user is forbidden access to the wired Land Area Network (LAN) behind the AP and can access
only the Internet.