604 Configuring AAA for network users
NN47250-500 (Version 03.01)

Assigning encryption types to wireless users

When a user turns on a wireless laptop or PDA, the device attempts to find an access point and form an associ-
ation with it. Because APs support the encryption of wireless traffic, clients can choose an encryption type to
use. You can configure APs to use the encryption algorithms supported by the Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA)
security enhancement to the IEEE 802.11 wireless standard. (For details, see “Configuring user encryption” on
page 361.)
If you have configured APs to use specific encryption algorithms, you can enforce the type of encryption a
user or group must have to access the network. When you assign the Encryption-Type attribute to a user or
group, the encryption type or types are entered as an authorization attribute into the user or group record in the
local WSS database or on the RADIUS server. Encryption-Type is a Nortel vendor-specific attribute (VSA).
Clients who attempt to use an unauthorized encryption method are rejected.

Assigning and clearing encryption types locally

To restrict wireless uses or groups with user profiles in the local WSS database to particular encryption algo-
rithms for accessing the network, use one of the following commands:
set user username attr encryption-type value
set usergroup groupname attr encryption-type value
set mac-user username attr encryption-type value
set mac-usergroup groupname attr encryption-type value
WSS Software supports the following values for Encryption-Type, listed from most secure to least secure.
(For user encryption details, see “Configuring user encryption” on page 361.)
For example, the following command restricts the MAC user group mac-fans to access the network by using
only TKIP:
WSS# set mac-usergroup mac-fans attr encryption-type 4
Encryption-type value Encryption algorithm assigned
1Advanced Encryption Standard using Counter with Cipher
Block Chaining Message Authentication Code
(CBC-MAC)—or AES_CCM.
2Reserved.
4Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP).
8Wired-Equivalent Privacy protocol using 104 bits of key
strength (WEP_104). This is the default.
16 Wired-Equivalent Privacy protocol using 40 bits of key
strength (WEP_40).
32 No encryption.
64 Static WEP