ProSafe Wireless-N 8-Port Gigabit VPN Firewall FVS318N

Each wireless profile provides the following features:

Capability to turn off the wireless profile during scheduled vacations and office shutdowns, on evenings, or on weekends. This a green feature that allows you to save energy.

WLAN partitioning to prevent associated wireless clients (using the same wireless profile) from communicating with each other. This feature is useful for hotspots and other public access situations.

MAC address access control list that lets you add another level of security.

Capability to monitor the clients that are connected to the SSID of the wireless profile.

To set up a wireless profile, specify a name for the profile and the SSID, specify the type of security with authentication and data encryption, and specify whether the SSID is broadcast.

Network authentication

The wireless VPN firewall is set by default as an open system with no authentication. When you configure network authentication, bear in mind that older wireless adapters might not support WPA or WPA2. Windows XP, Windows 2000 with Service Pack 3, Windows Vista, and Windows 7 do include the client software that supports WPA. However, client software is required on the client. Consult the product documentation for your wireless adapter and WPA or WPA2 client software for instructions on configuring WPA2 settings.

For information about the types of network authentication that the wireless VPN firewall supports, see Configure and Enable Wireless Profiles on page 115.

Data encryption

Select the data encryption that you want to use. The available options depend on the network authentication setting described earlier (otherwise, the default is None). The data encryption settings are explained in Configure and Enable Wireless Profiles on page 115.

Some concepts and guidelines regarding the SSID are:

A basic service set (BSS) is a group of wireless devices and a single wireless access point, all using the same wireless profile or service set identifier (BSSID). The actual identifier in the BSSID is the MAC address of the wireless radio. (A wireless radio can have multiple MAC addresses, one for each wireless profile.)

An extended service set (ESS) is a group of wireless devices, all using the same identifier (ESSID).

Different devices within an ESS can use different channels. To reduce interference, adjacent devices should use different channels.

Roaming is the ability of wireless devices to connect wirelessly when they physically move from one BSS to another one within the same ESS. The wireless device automatically changes to the wireless access point with the least interference or best performance.

Wireless Configuration and Security

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NETGEAR FVS318N manual Network authentication, Data encryption, 113