NETGEAR WFS709TP-100NAS manual Determine the Authentication Method, Authentication Methods

WFS709TP ProSafe Smart Wireless Switch Software Administration Manual

Determine the Authentication Method

A user must authenticate to the system in order to access WLAN resources. Table 5-1describes the types of authentication that you can configure for a WLAN.

Table 5-1. Authentication Methods

Method	Description
None (also called open	This is the default authentication protocol. The client’s identity, in the form of the
system authentication)	media access control (MAC) address of the wireless adapter in the wireless
	client, is passed to the WFS709TP. Essentially, any client requesting access to
	the WLAN is authenticated.
IEEE 802.1x	The IEEE 802.1x authentication standard allows for the use of keys that are
	dynamically generated on a per-user basic (as opposed to a static key that is the
	same on all devices in the network).
	The 802.1x standard requires the use of a RADIUS authentication server. Most
	Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) servers do not support 802.1x.
Wi-Fi Protected Access	WPA implements most of the IEEE 802.11i standard. It is designed for use with
(WPA)	an 802.1x authentication server (the Wi-Fi Alliance refers to this mode as WPA-
	Enterprise). WPA uses the Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) to dynamically
	change keys and RC4 stream cipher to encrypt data.
WPA in pre-shared key	With WPA-PSK, all clients use the same key (the Wi-Fi Alliance refers to this
(PSK) mode (WPA-PSK)	mode as WPA-Personal).
	In PSK mode, users must enter a passphrase from 8-63 characters to access
	the network. PSK is intended for home and small office networks where
	operating an 802.1x authentication server is not practical.
WPA2	WPA2 implements the full IEEE 802.11i standard. In addition to WPA features,
	WPA2 provides Counter Mode with Cipher Blocking Chaining Message
	Authentication Code Protocol (CCMP) for encryption that uses the Advanced
	Encryption Standard (AES) algorithm. (The Wi-Fi Alliance refers to this mode as
	WPA2-Enterprise.)
WPA2-PSK	WPA2-PSK is WPA2 used in PSK mode, where all clients use the same key.
	(The Wi-Fi Alliance refers to this mode as WPA2-Personal.)
Captive Portal	Captive Portal allows users to authenticate using a web-based portal. Captive
	Portal users can be authenticated to an external authentication server or to the
	internal database on the WFS709TP. Captive Portal authentication does not
	provide any type of data encryption beyond the SSL encryption used during the
	authentication. You can configure WEP encryption or WPA-PSK, or WPA2-PSK
	authentication in conjunction with Captive Portal.
MAC	Allows the media access control (MAC) address of a device to be authenticated
	to an external authentication server or to the internal database on the
	WFS709TP. You can configure MAC authentication in conjunction with WPA-
	PSK or WPA2-PSK authentication.
5-2	Configuring WLANS

v1.0, June 2007