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Chapter 5: Configuring the Wireless-G ADSL Home Gateway
The Wireless Tab
Wireless-G ADSL Home Gateway
WPA Pre-Shared Key
WPA Pre-Shared Key is also known as WPA PSK or WPA Personal. Enter a WPA Pre-Shared Key of 8-32
characters. Then enter a Group Key Renewal period, which instructs the Gateway how often it should
generate new encryption keys.
WPA RADIUS
This option, also known as WPA Enterprise, requires that a RADIUS server be connected to the network. Enter
the RADIUS server’s IP address. If the server is not using the usual RADIUS port number (1812), enter the port
number it is using. Then enter the shared key used by the RADIUS server. If you wish, you can change the Key
Renewal Timeout setting (default 3600 seconds, or one hour), which instructs the Gateway how often it
should generate new encryption keys.
WEP
WEP is a basic encryption method that is not as secure as WPA. WEP lets you use from one to four 64-bit
encryption keys or a single 128-bit encryption key (64-bit WEP is sometimes referred to as 40-bit WEP). All
devices on the wireless network must use exactly the same key or keys. Select the desired key length from
the WEP Encryption drop-down list box.
When you use multiple keys, they must be ordered identically (that is, placed in the same numbered “slots”)
on each device. The Gateway can decrypt transmissions encrypted with any one of the keys. Use the Default
Transmit Key control to indicate which key the Gateway should use to encrypt its own transmissions.
When you use a single key, it must be entered or generated in the Key 1 box, and the Default Transmit Key
control must be set to Key 1.
Keys must be set using “hex” (hexadecimal, that is, base 16) numeric notation. The hex digits are the
numerals 0 through 9 and the letters A through F. Settings in hex notation are not case-sensitive.
If you need to set the Gateway to communicate with devices using WEP keys set in so-called ASCII (plain-text)
format, consult a hexadecimal ASCII chart to find the hex values of the characters. To give an example of such
a conversion, a key consisting of the string GHIJK in ASCII format would be 4748494a4b in hex format. (Two
hex digits are required for every character of a key in ASCII format.)
You can generate keys by typing an alphanumeric passphrase up to 32 characters long and clicking the
Generate button. The passphrase setting is case-sensitive, although the resulting key settings are not. The
same passphrase will generate the same keys on all Linksys products, but not on non-Linksys products with
a Passphrase function. Copy generated keys manually to use them on such products.
Figure 5-20: WEP
Figure 5-19: WPA RADIUS
