C H A P T E R
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Cisco Aironet 1200 Series Access Point Hardware Installation Guide
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Overview
The Cisco Aironet Cisco Aironet 1200 Series Access Point is available in autonomous and lightweight
configurations. The autonomous access points can support standalone network configurations with all
configuration settings maintained within the access points. The lightweight access points operate in
conjunction with a Cisco wireless LAN controller with all configuration information maintained within
the controller.
Product Terminology
The following terms refer to the autonomous and lightweight products:
•
The term
access point
describes both autonomous and lightweight products.
•
The term
autonomous access point
describes only the autonomous product.
•
The term
lightweight access point
describs only the lightweight product.
•
The term
access point
describes a product operating as an access point.
•
The term
bridge
describes a product operating as a bridge.
Autonomous Access Points
Cisco Aironet 1200 Series Access Points (models: AIR-AP1200, AIR-AP1210, AIR-AP1220B,
AIR-AP1230B, AIR-AP1220A, AIR-AP-1230A, AIR-AP1231G, and AIR-AP1232AG) provide a
secure, affordable, and easy-to-use wireless LAN solution that combines mobility and flexibility with
the enterprise-class features required by networking professionals. With a management system based on
Cisco IOS software, the 1200 series access point is a Wi-Fi certified, wireless LAN transceiver.
The 1200 series access point can contain two radios: a 2.4-GHz radio (IEEE 802.11b or IEEE 802.11g)
in an internal mini-PCI slot and a 5-GHz radio module (IEEE 802.11a) in an external, modified cardbus
slot. The access point supports one radio of each type, but it does not support two 2.4-GHz or two 5-GHz
radios. You can configure the radios separately, using different settings on each radio.
The access point serves as the connection point between wireless and wired networks or as the center
point of a stand-alone wireless network. In large installations, wireless users within radio range of an
access point can roam throughout a facility while maintaining seamless, uninterrupted access to the
network.
You can configure and monitor the access point using the command-line interface (CLI), the
browser-based management system, or Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP).