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Nortel WLAN—Security Switch 2300 Series Configuration Guide

Configuring user encryption

WLAN Security Switch 2300 Series (WSS Software) encrypts wireless user traffic for all users who are successfully
authenticated to join an encrypted SSID and who are then authorized to join a VLAN. WSS Software supports the
following types of encryption for wireless user traffic:
• 802.11i
Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA)
Non-WPA dynamic Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP)
Non-WPA static WEP
WEP is described in the IEEE 802.11 standard and WPA is described in the 802.11i standard.
WPA and 802.11i provide stronger security than WEP. (802.11i uses Robust Security Network (RSN), and is sometimes
called WPA2.)
To use WPA or RSN, a client must support it. For non-WPA clients, WSS Software supports WEP. If your network
contains a combination of WPA, RSN, clients and non-WPA clients, you can configure WSS Software to provide
encryption for both types of clients.
To configure encryption parameters for an SSID, create or edit a service profile, map the service profile to a radio
profile, and add radios to the radio profile. The SSID name, advertisement setting (beaconing), and encryption settings
are configured in the service profile.
You can configure an SSID to support any combination of WPA, RSN, and non-WPA clients. For example, a radio can
simultaneously use Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) encryption for WPA clients and WEP encryption for
non-WPA clients.
The SSID type must be crypto (encrypted) for encryption to be used. If the SSID type is clear, wireless traffic is not
encrypted, regardless of the encryption settings.
Table 18 lists the encryption types supported by WSS Software and their default states.
Configuring WPA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364
Configuring WEP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379
Encryption configuration scenarios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382
Note. WSS Software does not encrypt traffic in the wired part of the network. WSS
Software does not encrypt wireless or wired traffic for users who associate with an
unencrypted (clear) SSID.