Belkin F5D9000 user manual WPA Wi-Fi Protected Access

Using the Belkin Wireless Networking Utility

WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access)

WPA WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) is a new Wi-Fi standard that improves upon the security features of WEP. To use WPA security, the drivers and software of your wireless equipment must be upgraded to support it. These updates will be found on your wireless vendor’s website. There are three types of WPA security: WPA-PSK (no server), WPA (with radius server),

and WPA2

WPA-PSK (no server) uses what is known as a pre-shared key as the network key. A network key is a password that is between eight and 63 characters long. It can be a combination of letters, numbers, or characters. Each client uses the same network key to access the network. Typically, this is the mode that will be used in a home environment.

WPA (with radius server) works best in a business environment, in which a radius server automatically distributes the network key to clients.

WPA2 requires Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) for encryption of data, which offers much greater security than WPA. WPA uses both Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) and (AES) for encryption.

Most Wi-Fi products ship with security turned off. So once you have your network working, you need to activate WEP or WPA and make sure all your wireless devices are sharing the same network key.

Setting up your Belkin Wireless Router (or Access Point) to use Security

To start using security, you need to first enable WEP or WPA for your wireless router (or access point). For Belkin Wireless Routers (or Access Points), these security features can be configured by using the web-based interface. See your wireless router’s (or access point’s) manual for directions on how to access the management interface.

IMPORTANT: You must now set all wireless network cards/adapters to match these settings.

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