Wireless
Client Connection Control
Cisco AP541N Dual-band Single-radio Access Point Quick Start Guide
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Client Connection Control
A Media Access Control (MAC) address is a hardware address that uniquely
identifies each node of a network. All IEEE 802 network devices share a common
48-bit MAC address format, usually displayed as a string of 12 hexadecimal digits
separated by colons, for example
00:DC:BA:09:87:65
. Each wireless network
interface card (NIC) used by a wireless client has a unique MAC address.
You can use the
Access Point Configuration Utility
on the access point or use an
external RADIUS server to control access to the network through the access point
based on the MAC address of the wireless client. This feature is called MAC
Authentication or MAC Filtering. To control access, you configure a global list of
MAC addresses locally on the access point or on an external RADIUS server. Then,
you set a filter to specify whether the clients with those MAC addresses are
allowed or denied access to the network. When a wireless client attempts to
associate with an access point, the access point looks up the MAC address of the
client in the local Stations List or on the RADIUS server. If it is found, the global
allow or deny setting is applied. If it is not found, the opposite is applied.
On the Virtual Access Point Settings page, the MAC Auth Type setting controls
whether the access point uses the station list configured locally on the Client
Connection Control page or the external RADIUS server. The Allow/Block filter
setting on the Client Connection Control page determines whether the clients in
the station list (local or RADIUS) can access the network through the access point.
For more information about setting the MAC authentication type, see
Configuring
the Wireless Distribution System, page 85
.
Configuring a MAC Filter and Station List on the Access Point
The Client Connection Control
page allows you to control access to access point
based on MAC addresses. Based on how you set the filter, you can
allow
only
client stations with a listed MAC address or
deny
access to the stations listed.
When you enable MAC Authentication and specify a list of approved MAC
addresses, only clients with a listed MAC address can access the network. If you
specify MAC addresses to deny, all clients can access the network except for the
clients on the
deny
list.
To enable filtering by MAC address, click the Client Connection Control
tab.
