Configuring user encryption 369

Nortel WLAN—Security Switch 2300 Series Configuration Guide

WPA authentication methods

You can configure an SSID to support one or both of the following authentication methods for WPA clients:
802.1X—The AP and client use an Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) method to authenticate one another,
then use the resulting key in a handshake to derive a unique key for the session. The 802.1X authentication method
requires user information to be configured on AAA servers or in the WSS’s local database. This is the default WPA
authentication method.
Preshared key (PSK)—An AP radio and a client authenticate one another based on a key that is statically
configured on both devices. The devices then use the key in a handshake to derive a unique key for the session. For
a given service profile, you can globally configure a PSK for use with all clients. You can configure the key by
entering an ASCII passphrase or by entering the key itself in raw (hexadecimal) form.
WSS Software sets the timeout for the key exchanges between WPA (or RSN) clients and the AP to the same value as
the last setting of the retransmission timeout. The retransmission timeout is set to the lower of the 802.1X supplicant
timeout or the RADIUS session-timeout attribute. See “Setting EAP retransmission attempts” on page 655 for more
information.
Note. For a MAC client that authenticates using a PSK, the RADIUS servers or
local database still must contain an authentication rule for the client, to assign the
client to a VLAN.