24
C
HAPTER
4: M
ANAGING THE
W
IRELESS
LAN
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If Manually set the data rate is selected, the 5.5Mbps and 11Mpbs
options become active. You may not alter the settings for the 1Mbps and
2Mbps rates since these rates must always be available to transmit certain
types of wireless traffic.
The data rates may either be Required or Optional. When the data rate is set to
Optional, the AP determines if it is appropriate to use that data rate or if the
signal strength requires a lower data rate to be used. If the data rate is set to
Required, the AP does not have the option to modulate to a lower data rate,
and may lose connection with signals that cannot support the higher data rate.
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Beacon PeriodThe beacon period sets the amount of time between
beacons sent out from the AP.
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Radio AntennaThese settings determine whether the radio will use one or
two antennas. If the user attaches an external antenna, this parameter should
be set to Diversity Off. Generally, if the radio is using the built-in antennas, this
parameter should be set to Diversity On to maximize the transmission and
reception qualities of using both antennas.
Transmit PowerYou can adjust the transmit power between High, Medium,
and Low. These settings may need to be adjusted for compatibility with
different types of external antennas that have different gains. These
adjustments may be required to be legally compliant with the communications
regulations in certain countries. For example, if you are using a high-gain
antenna such as the optional flat-panel directional antenna (model 3CWE498)
in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Taiwan, Malaysia, New
Zealand, Colombia, India, and Peru, no transmit power restrictions apply. If you
are using it in any other country, however, you must manually select Low or
Medium power.
Security
In addition to providing wireless encryption, access point security can be
integrated with upper layer authentication provided by a RADIUS server on the
wired LAN using IEEE 802.1X support. (For a description of security settings, see
the chapter on Access Point Security.) The Security screens let you manage these
features for each access point.
AP Encryption
The Security Setup page lets you select the type of security to be used on the
access point. The access point can be configured to support one type of security at
a time. You can change the settings by entering values in the fields and clicking
the radio buttons. If you use shared keys, you must enter all the keys, then click a
radio button to specify which key to use.
