NETWORK CONFIGURATION AND PLANNING
Infrastructure Wireless LAN for Roaming Wireless PCs
The Basic Service Set (BSS) is the communications domain for each wireless access point. For wireless PCs that do not need to support roaming, set the domain identifier (SSID) of the wireless card to the SSID of the access point to which you want to connect. Check with your administrator for the SSID of the access point to which he wants you to connect.
A wireless infrastructure can also support roaming for mobile workers. More than one access point can be configured to create an Extended Service Set (ESS). By placing the access points so that a continuous coverage area is created, wireless users within this ESS can roam freely. All wireless network cards, adapters, and the wireless access point within a specific ESS must be configured with the same SSID.
Note: If Access Point 2 is replaced by an SMC2870W set to Repeater mode then the SMC2870W will not establish its own BSS, but will repeat data messages between Access Point 1 and end users, thus extending the coverage area of Access Point 1.
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