Cisco WPC54G, User Manual

Page 1: ...A Division of Cisco Systems Inc Model No Notebook Adapter Wireless G WPC54G User Guide WIRELESS GHz 2 4802 11g V4 ...

Page 2: ... this guide In addition to these symbols there are definitions for technical terms that are presented like this Also each figure diagram screenshot or other image is provided with a figure number and description like this Figure numbers and descriptions can also be found in the List of Figures section in the Table of Contents This exclamation point means there is a caution or warning and is someth...

Page 3: ...ardware Installation 11 Connecting the Adapter 11 Chapter 6 Using the WLAN Monitor 12 Accessing the WLAN Monitor 12 Link Information 12 Site Survey 15 Profiles 16 Creating a New Profile 17 Appendix A Troubleshooting 29 Common Problems and Solutions 29 Frequently Asked Questions 30 Appendix B Wireless Security 33 Security Precautions 33 Security Threats Facing Wireless Networks 33 Appendix C Window...

Page 4: ... More Information Network Settings 13 Figure 6 4 More Information Network Statistics 14 Figure 6 5 Site Survey 15 Figure 6 6 Profiles 16 Figure 6 7 Importing a Profile 16 Figure 6 8 Exporting a Profile 17 Figure 6 9 Creating a New Profile 17 Figure 6 10 Enter Profile Name 17 Figure 6 11 Choose a network type 18 Figure 6 12 Wireless Settings for New Profile 18 Figure 6 13 Network Setting for New Pr...

Page 5: ...e 6 25 RADIUS Settings 25 Figure 6 26 EAP TLS Authentication 25 Figure 6 27 EAP TTLS Authentication 26 Figure 6 28 EAP MD5 Authentication 26 Figure 6 29 EAP PEAP Authentication 27 Figure 6 30 LEAP Authentication 27 Figure 6 31 Confirm New Settings for New Profile 28 Figure 6 32 Congratulations for New Profile 28 ...

Page 6: ... touch with your e mail access the Internet and share files and other resources such as printers and network storage with other computers on the network At home you can surf the web or use instant messaging to chat with friends while sitting out on the patio Your wireless connection is protected by the new industrial strength security of Wireless Protected Access WPA You ll also be able to connect...

Page 7: ...pter shows you how to connect the Adapter to your PC Chapter 6 Using the WLAN Monitor This chapter show you how to use the Adapter s WLAN Monitor Appendix A Troubleshooting This appendix describes some problems and solutions as well as frequently asked questions regarding installation and use of the Adapter Appendix B Wireless Security This appendix discusses security issues regarding wireless net...

Page 8: ...ess G Notebook Adapter Appendix G Regulatory Information This appendix supplies the Adapter s regulatory information Appendix H Contact Information This appendix provides contact information for a variety of Linksys resources including Technical Support ...

Page 9: ...ffective wireless transmission range for two wireless adapter PCs Since an access point is able to forward data within a network the effective transmission range in an infrastructure network can be doubled Roaming Infrastructure mode also supports roaming capabilities for mobile users Roaming means that you can move your wireless PC within your network and the access points will pick up the wirele...

Page 10: ...outers are compatible with 802 11a 802 11b and 802 11g adapters such at the PC Cards for your laptop computers PCI Card for your desktop PC and USB Adapters for when you want to enjoy USB connectivity Wireless products will also communicate with the wireless PrintServer When you wish to connect your wired network with your wireless network network ports on access points and wireless routers can be...

Page 11: ...apter 3 Getting to Know the Wireless G Notebook Adapter The LED Indicators The Network Adapter s LEDs display information about network activity Power Green The Power LED lights up when the Adapter is powered on Link Green The Link LED lights up when the Adapter has an active connection Figure 3 1 Front Panel ...

Page 12: ...d should run automatically and the Welcome screen should appear If it does not click the Start button and choose Run In the field that appears enter D setup exe if D is the letter of your CD ROM drive On the Welcome screen you have the following choices Install Click the Install button to begin the software installation process User Guide Click the User Guide button to open the PDF file of this Us...

Page 13: ...radio button if you want your wireless computers to network with computers on your wired network using a wireless access point Click the Ad Hoc Mode radio button if you want multiple wireless computers to network directly with each other In the SSID field enter the SSID of your wireless network The SSID must be identical for all devices in the network The default setting is linksys all lowercase C...

Page 14: ...annel to use select the default channel Channel 6 Network Mode Select Mixed Mode and both Wireless G and Wireless B computers will be allowed on the network but the speed will be reduced Select G Only Mode for maximum speed but no Wireless B users will be allowed on the network 5 The Setup Wizard will ask you to review your settings before it starts to copy files Click the Next button to save thes...

Page 15: ...nstallation Procedure Wireless G Notebook Adapter 6 After the software has been successfully installed the Congratulations screen will appear Click the Exit button Proceed to Chapter 5 Hardware Installation Figure 4 6 The Setup Wizard s Congratulations Screen ...

Page 16: ...be informed that a digital signature has not been found this is normal and it has been verified that the Adapter does work with Windows 2000 Click Yes to continue 6 Windows will begin copying the driver files to your computer If Windows asks you for the original Windows CD ROM insert the CD ROM and direct Windows to its correct location e g D The installation of the Wireless G Notebook Adapter is ...

Page 17: ...te Survey tab To perform configuration changes click the Profiles tab Link Information The Link Information screen displays network mode signal strength and link quality information about the current connection It also provides a button to click for additional status information Ad Hoc Mode or Infrastructure Mode The screen indicates whether the Adapter is currently working in ad hoc or infrastruc...

Page 18: ... currently in use IP Address The IP Address of the Adapter Subnet Mask The Subnet Mask of the Adapter Default Gateway The Default Gateway address of the Adapter DNS The DNS address of the Adapter MAC The MAC address of the wireless network s access point Click the Statistics button to go to the Network Statistics screen Click the Back button to return to the initial Link Information screen Click t...

Page 19: ...ived Authentication The current security authentication mode Network Mode The mode of the wireless network currently in use Transmit Total The total number of packets being transmitted Receive Total The total number of packets being received Signal to Noise This tells you the quality of your signal The lower the number the better your signal Click the Settings button to go to the Settings screen C...

Page 20: ...selected the following settings are listed Network Type The wireless mode currently in use Channel The channel to which the wireless network devices are set Encryption The status of the encryption security feature MAC The MAC address of the wireless network s access point Surveyed at The time when the wireless network was scanned Refresh Click the Refresh button to perform a new search for wireles...

Page 21: ... the wireless network devices are set Encryption The status of the encryption security feature Connect To connect to a wireless network using a specific profile select the profile and click the Connect button Edit Select a profile and click the Edit button to change an existing profile New Click the New button to create a new profile See the next section Creating a New Profile for detailed instruc...

Page 22: ...ate a new profile 2 Enter a name for the new profile and click the OK button Click the Cancel button to return to the Profiles screen without entering a name NOTE If you want to export more than one profile you have to export them one at a time Figure 6 8 Exporting a Profile Figure 6 9 Creating a New Profile Figure 6 10 Enter Profile Name ...

Page 23: ...all the devices in your wireless network It is case sensitive It should be a unique name to help prevent others from entering your network 4 The Wireless Settings screen will appear If you chose Infrastructure Mode go to Step 5 now If you chose Ad Hoc Mode select the correct operating channel for your network from the Channel drop down menu Then select the Network Mode from the drop down menu Clic...

Page 24: ...od WEP stands for Wired Equivalent Privacy WPA PSK stands for Wi Fi Protected Access Pre Shared Key which is a security standard stronger than WEP encryption and RADIUS stands for Remote Authentication Dial In User Service If you don t want to use encryption select Disabled Then click the Next button to continue or the Back button to return to the previous screen WEP WEP To use WEP encryption sele...

Page 25: ... If you are using 64 bit WEP encryption then the key must consist of exactly 10 hexadecimal characters If you are using 128 bit WEP encryption then the key must consist of exactly 26 hexadecimal characters Valid hexadecimal characters are 0 to 9 and A to F WPA PSK WPA PSK Wi Fi Protected Access Pre Shared Key offers two encryption methods TKIP and AES with dynamic encryption keys Click the Next bu...

Page 26: ...e WLAN Monitor Creating a New Profile Wireless G Notebook Adapter Select the type of algorithm TKIP or AES for the Encryption Type Enter a WPA Shared Key of 8 63 characters in the Passphrase field Figure 6 17 TKIP Settings ...

Page 27: ... methods TKIP and AES with dynamic encryption keys It offers five authentication methods EAP TLS EAP TTLS EAP MD5 EAP PEAP and LEAP Click the Next button to continue and the screen in Figure 6 19 appears Click the Back button to return to the previous screen Select the type of algorithm TKIP or AES for the Encryption Type Click the Next button to continue Click the Back button to return to the pre...

Page 28: ...ct Validate server cerificate to make sure that the certificate for the server is valid Click the Next button to continue Click the Back button to return to the previous screen EAP TTLS Enter the Login name of your wireless network in the Login Name field Enter the password of your wireless network in the Password field Select Validate server cerificate to make sure that the certificate for the se...

Page 29: ...of your wireless network in the Password field Select Validate server cerificate to make sure that the certificate for the server is valid Then select the Peap Inner EAP from the drop down menu Click the Next button to continue Click the Back button to return to the previous screen LEAP Enter the Login name of your wireless network in the Login Name field Enter the password of your wireless networ...

Page 30: ...to return to the previous screen The screen in Figure 6 26 appears next Select the Authentication Method from the drop down menu The options are described below EAP TLS Enter the Login name of your wireless network in the Login Name field From the Certificate drop down menu select the certificate you have installed to authenticate you on your wireless network Select Validate server cerificate to m...

Page 31: ...t the certificate for the server is valid Select the TTLS Protocol from the drop down menu Click the Next button to continue Click the Back button to return to the previous screen EAP MD5 Enter the Login name of your wireless network in the Login Name field Enter the password of your wireless network in the Password field Click the Next button to continue Click the Back button to return to the pre...

Page 32: ...t the certificate for the server is valid Then select the Peap Inner EAP from the drop down menu Click the Next button to continue Click the Back button to return to the previous screen LEAP Enter the Login name of your wireless network in the Login Name field Enter the password of your wireless network in the Password field Click the Next button to continue Click the Back button to return to the ...

Page 33: ...lations screen will appear next Click Activate new settings now to implement the new settings immediately and return to the Link Information screen Click Activate new settings later to keep the current settings active and return to the Profiles screen You have successfully created a connection profile Click the X Close button in the upper right corner to exit the WLAN Monitor Figure 6 31 Confirm N...

Page 34: ... Adapter does not work properly Reinsert the Wireless G Notebook Adapter into the notebook or desktop s USB port For Windows 98SE or Me right click on My Computer and select Properties Select the Device Manager tab and click on the Network Adapter You will find the Wireless G Notebook Adapter if it is installed successfully If you see a yellow exclamation mark the resources may be conflicting and ...

Page 35: ...i Channel Roaming Automatic Rate Selection RTS CTS feature Fragmentation Power Management What is ad hoc mode When a wireless network is set to ad hoc mode the wireless equipped computers are configured to communicate directly with each other The ad hoc wireless network will not communicate with any wired network What is infrastructure mode When a wireless network is set to infrastructure mode the...

Page 36: ...ped by the military for use in reliable secure mission critical communications systems It is designed to trade off bandwidth efficiency for reliability integrity and security In other words more bandwidth is consumed than in the case of narrowband transmission but the trade off produces a signal that is in effect louder and thus easier to detect provided that the receiver knows the parameters of t...

Page 37: ...ion in security On the hardware side as with Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum technology it has the inherent security feature of scrambling On the software side WLAN offers the encryption function WEP to enhance security and access control What is WEP WEP is Wired Equivalent Privacy a data privacy mechanism based on a shared key algorithm as described in the IEEE 802 11 standard ...

Page 38: ...nge the WEP encryption keys periodically Security Threats Facing Wireless Networks Wireless networks are easy to find Hackers know that in order to join a wireless network wireless networking products first listen for beacon messages These messages can be easily decrypted and contain much of the network s information such as the network s SSID Service Set Identifier Here are the steps you can take...

Page 39: ... network with a random MAC Address WEP Encryption Wired Equivalent Privacy WEP is often looked upon as a cure all for wireless security concerns This is overstating WEP s ability Again this can only provide enough security to make a hacker s job more difficult There are several ways that WEP can be maximized 1 Use the highest level of encryption possible 2 Use Shared Key authentication 3 Change yo...

Page 40: ...he Router or other device WPA Radius offers two encryption methods TKIP and AES with dynamic encryption keys RADIUS WEP used in coordination with a RADIUS server This should only be used when a RADIUS server is connected to the Router or other device Implementing encryption may have a negative impact on your network s performance but if you are transmitting sensitive data over your network encrypt...

Page 41: ...tions or protocol all PCs follow to communicate over a network This is true for wireless networks as well Your PCs will not be able to utilize wireless networking without having TCP IP enabled Windows Help provides complete instructions on enabling TCP IP Shared Resources If you wish to share printers folder or files over your network Windows Help provides complete instructions on utilizing shared...

Page 42: ...ple Access Collision Avoidance A method of data transfer that is used to prevent data collisions Default Gateway A device that forwards Internet traffic from your local area network DHCP Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol A networking protocol that allows administrators to assign temporary IP addresses to network computers by leasing an IP address to a user for a limited amount of time instead of...

Page 43: ...make up your local network MAC Media Access Control Address The unique address that a manufacturer assigns to each networking device Mbps MegaBits Per Second One million bits per second a unit of measurement for data transmission Network A series of computers or devices connected for the purpose of data sharing storage and or transmission between users Node A network junction or connection point t...

Page 44: ...ters allowing a large number of devices to share a limited number of ports 2 A device for making breaking or changing the connections in an electrical circuit TCP Transmission Control Protocol A network protocol for transmitting data that requires acknowledgement from the recipient of data sent TCP IP Transmission Control Protocol Internet Protocol A set of instructions PCs use to communicate over...

Page 45: ...PSK 2 Mbps DBPSK 1 Mbps 802 11g OFDM Network Protocols TCP IP IPX SPX NetBEUI Security Features WEP AES TKIP 802 1x WEP Key Bits 64 128 Bit Dimensions 4 53 x 2 13 x 0 30 115 mm x 54 mm x 7 5 mm Unit Weight 1 66 oz 0 047 kg Certifications FCC IC 03 CE Wi Fi 802 11b 802 11g WPA WHQL 2000 and XP Operating Temp 32ºF to 131ºF 0ºC to 55ºC Storage Temp 13ºF to 158ºF 25ºC to 70ºC Operating Humidity 5 to 9...

Page 46: ...NS AND WARRANTIES INCLUDING ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OF NON INFRINGEMENT ARE DISCLAIMED Some jurisdictions do not allow limitations on how long an implied warranty lasts so the above limitation may not apply to You This warranty gives You specific legal rights and You may also have other rights which vary by jurisdiction This warranty does not apply if the Product a has been altered except by Linksys ...

Page 47: ... the equipment off and on the user is encouraged to try to correct the interference by one of the following measures Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the receiver is connected Consult the dealer or an experienced radio TV technician for help This devic...

Page 48: ...t aux dispositions relatives à la directive 1999 5 EC Belgique Dans le cas d une utilisation privée à l extérieur d un bâtiment au dessus d un espace public aucun enregistrement n est nécessaire pour une distance de moins de 300m Pour une distance supérieure à 300m un enregistrement auprès de l IBPT est requise Pour une utilisation publique à l extérieur de bâtiments une licence de l IBPT est requ...

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