linkPro WLB-230BXLE, User Manual

Page 1: ...IEEE 802 11g Wireless Dual Radio Bridge AP User s Guide Version 1 0 Last Updated 05 07 2004 ...

Page 2: ...he equipment and receiver Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the receiver is con nected Consult the dealer or an experienced radio TV technician for help FCC Caution To assure continued compliance example use only shielded interface cables when connecting to computer or peripheral devices Any changes or modifications not expressly approved by the party r...

Page 3: ...er special attention must be paid to the dangers of electric shock and static electricity when work ing with electrical equipment All guidelines of this and of the computer manufacture must therefore be allowed at all times to ensure the safe use of the equipment EU Countries Intended for Use The ETSI version of this device is intended for home and office use in Austria Belgium Denmark Finland Fra...

Page 4: ...sh Commands 18 3 2 Viewing Status 18 3 2 1 Associated Wireless Clients 18 3 2 2 Current DHCP Mappings 19 3 2 3 System Log 19 3 3 General Operations 20 3 3 1 Specifying Operational Mode 20 3 3 2 Changing Password 21 3 3 3 Managing Firmware 22 3 3 3 1 Upgrading Firmware by HTTP 22 3 3 3 2 Backing up and Restoring Configuration Settings by HTTP 22 3 3 3 3 Upgrading Firmware by TFTP 23 3 3 3 4 Backing...

Page 5: ...rotocol Filters 37 3 6 1 3 TCP UDP Port Filters 38 3 6 2 Management 38 3 6 2 1 UPnP 38 3 6 2 2 System Log 39 3 6 2 3 SNMP 39 Appendix A Default Settings 41 Appendix B Troubleshooting 42 Appendix C Additional Information 44 C 1 Firmware Upgrade Using Xmodem Upgrade 44 iv ...

Page 6: ...et his or her specific needs In addition to using Web based management user interface to configure a DRBAP the Windows based Wireless Network Manager can also be used to configure and monitor deployed DRBAPs See the on line help of Wireless Network Manager for more information 1 2 Features IEEE 802 11g Dual interfaces Each of the two IEEE 802 11g interfaces can be configured according to the opera...

Page 7: ...s and traffic load can be shared among the APs This func tion is available when the AP is in AP Bridge mode Link integrity If the Ethernet LAN interface is detected to be disconnected from the wired network all currently associated wireless clients are disassociated by the AP and no wireless client can associate with it Association control When the AP is in AP Bridge mode it can be configured to d...

Page 8: ...d in the following methods Xmodem based Upgrading firmware over RS232 TFTP based Upgrading firmware by TFTP Trivial File Transfer Protocol HTTP based Upgrading firmware by HTTP HeperText Transfer Protocol Configuration backup The configuration settings of the DRBAP can be backed up to a file via TFTP or HTTP for later restoring Configuration reset Resetting the configuration settings to factory de...

Page 9: ... facilitates large scale wireless LAN deployment Hardware Watchdog Timer If the firmware gets stuck in an invalid state the hardware watchdog timer will detect this situation and restart the DRBAP This way the DRBAP can pro vide continuous services 1 3 LED Definitions There are several LED indicators on the housing of the DRBAP They are defined as follows ALV Alive Blinks when the DRBAP is working...

Page 10: ... and output rated 5V DC 1 A minimum or equivalent statement To power the DRBAP by POE 1 Plug one connector of an Ethernet cable to an available port of an active Ethernet switch that can supply power over Ethernet 2 Plug the other connector of the Ethernet cable to the LAN Config port of the DRBAP 2 2 Mounting the DRBAP on a Wall The DRBAP is wall mountable 1 Stick the supplied sticker for wall mo...

Page 11: ...owser Opera to configure a DRBAP click the menu item File click Preferences click File types and edit the MIME type text html to add a file extension sht so that Opera can work properly with the Web management pages of the DRBAP Since the configuration management protocol is HTTP based we have to make sure that the IP ad dress of the managing computer and the IP address of the managed DRBAP are in...

Page 12: ... 0 NOTE For some versions of Windows the computer needs to be restarted for the changes of TCP IP settings to take effect TIP After you have connected the managing computer and the DRBAP via Ethernet you can install Wireless Network Manager on the managing computer and use it to configure the DRBAP without being concerned about the TCP IP settings of the managing computer Refer to the on line help...

Page 13: ...OTE It is strongly recommended that the password be changed to other value for security reasons On the start page click the General Password link to change the value of the password see Section 3 3 1 for more information TIP Since the start page shows the current settings and status of the DRBAP it can be saved or printed within the Web browser for future reference Fig 4 The Start page 8 ...

Page 14: ...e repeaters between two LAN to LAN bridges if the distance is very long LAN Segment 2 LAN Segment 1 Wireless Bridge Bridge Repeater Wireless Bridge WDS Link Fig 6 Bridge Repeater mode AP Repeater In this mode one WLAN interface is configured as an AP interface and the other is configured as a LAN to LAN bridge interface The AP repeater is suitable for situations in which Ethernet wiring between th...

Page 15: ...N to LAN Bridge Dual AP AP AP 2 4 3 Step 2 Configuring TCP IP Settings Fig 9 TCP IP settings Go to the TCP IP Addressing section to configure IP address settings The IP address can be manu ally set or automatically assigned by a DHCP server on the LAN If you are manually setting the IP Address Subnet Mask and Default Gateway settings set them appropriately so that they comply with your LAN environ...

Page 16: ...municate with each other they must be set to identical SSID Service Set IDentifier Fig 10 Basic IEEE 802 11g communication settings For a LAN to LAN bridge interface also set the MAC address of each peer bridge according to your planned network topology Specify an MAC address and then select its corresponding checkbox Fig 11 Bridge links settings When you are finished click Save at the bottom of t...

Page 17: ... bridges Ethernet switches Ethernet links and WDS links contains loops If any loops exist packets will circle around the loops and network performance will be seriously degraded Fig 13 Network topology containing a loop TIP You can check whether the WDS links of the DRBAP are functioning by using Wireless Net work Manager 12 ...

Page 18: ...the Link Status col umn of the WDS links table 2 4 5 Step 4 Reviewing and Applying Settings Fig 15 Settings changes are highlighted in red On the start page you can review all the settings you have made Changes are highlighted in red If they are OK click Restart to restart the DRBAP for the new settings to take effect NOTE About 7 seconds are needed for the DRBAP to complete its restart process 13...

Page 19: ...me information obtained from PINGing run PING exe the fixed side computer 5 Fine tune the alignment of the antenna until you get a best response time 6 Increase the data rate of each bridge simultaneously until a maximal workable data rate is reached You may not be able to use the highest data rate 54Mbps because of the distance and the gain of the antennas Fig 16 illustrates the idea DRBAP as Bri...

Page 20: ... Manager on Computer 1 and go to the Antenna Alignment tab Click Start to begin monitoring the WDS link quality Adjust the alignment of the antenna of DRBAP as Bridge 1 until the Link quality indicator shows a relatively maximal value Finally click Stop to stop monitoring WDS link quality 15 ...

Page 21: ... start page contains a menu for you to carry out commands Here is a brief descrip tion of the hyperlinks in the menu Home For going back to the start page Status Status information Wireless Clients The status of the wireless clients currently associated with the DRBAP DHCP Mappings Current IP MAC address mappings of the built in DHCP server System Log System events log General Global operations 16...

Page 22: ...r an AP interface Advanced Advanced settings of the DRBAP Packet Filters Ethernet Type Filters IP Protocol Filters and TCP UDP Port Filters set tings Management UPnP System Log and SNMP settings 3 1 2 Save Save Restart and Cancel Commands Fig 19 Save Save Restart and Cancel At the bottom of each page that contains settings you can configure there are up to three but tons Save Save Restart and Canc...

Page 23: ...the start page Clicking Refresh updates the shown status information 3 2 Viewing Status 3 2 1 Associated Wireless Clients Fig 22 Status of associated wireless clients On this page the status information of each associated client including its MAC address IP address user name if the client has been IEEE 802 1x authenticated number of bytes it has send number of bytes it has received and the time of...

Page 24: ...HCP server You can set static DHCP mappings in the Static DHCP Mappings section of the DHCP Server configuration page see Section 3 4 2 A dynamic mapping indicates that the DHCP server chooses an IP address from the IP address pool specified by the First allocateable IP address and Allocateable IP address count settings on the DHCP Server configuration page 3 2 3 System Log Fig 24 System log Syste...

Page 25: ... LAN to LAN bridges It s possible to use multiple bridge repeaters between two LAN to LAN bridges if the distance is very long LAN Segment 2 LAN Segment 1 Wireless Bridge Bridge Repeater Wireless Bridge WDS Link Fig 26 Bridge Repeater mode AP Repeater In this mode one WLAN interface is configured as an AP interface and the other is configured as a LAN to LAN bridge interface The AP repeater is sui...

Page 26: ...s clients than a normal AP It can be treated as two APs in a box LAN Dual AP Notebook Computer IEEE 802 11b Channel 1 IEEE 802 11b Channel 6 Fig 28 Dual AP mode TIP After you have selected the operational mode of the DRBAP go to the IEEE 802 11g Ad dressing section of the management UI see Section 3 4 2 to configure the IEEE 802 11g settings of the WLAN interfaces 3 3 2 Changing Password Fig 29 Pa...

Page 27: ...form HTTP based firmware management operations with your Web browser try the TFTP based way TIP You can use Upgrade Wizard of Wireless Network Manager to upgrade firmware See the on line help of Wireless Network Manager for more information 3 3 3 1 Upgrading Firmware by HTTP Fig 31 Firmware upgrade by HTTP To upgrade firmware of the DRBAP by HTTP 1 Click Browse and then select a correct firmware b...

Page 28: ...tings for the DRBAP s TFTP client to communicate with a TFTP server If the TFTP client does not get a response from the TFTP server within a period specified by the Timeout setting it will resend the previous request The Max number of retries setting specifies the maximal number of resend before the TFTP client stops communicating with the TFTP server Within the folder Utilities on the companion C...

Page 29: ...loaded firmware files reside NOTE Make sure the Accept read requests check box of TFTP Server is selected NOTE The LAN IP address of the DRBAP and the IP address of the TFTP server must be in the same IP subnet for TFTP to work NOTE Due to the unreliable nature of wireless media it s highly recommended that the TFTP server and the to be upgraded wireless DRBAP be connected by Ethernet and on the s...

Page 30: ...dress of the computer open a Com mand Prompt and type IpConfig then press the Enter key 8 Trigger the backup process by clicking Back Up The DRBAP s configuration settings will be saved as AaBbCcDdEeFf hex by the TFTP server where AaBbCcDdEeFf is the DRBAP s MAC address For example if the DRBAP s MAC address is 00 01 02 33 44 55 the configura tion backup file will be 000102334455 hex NOTE Remember...

Page 31: ...etries settings of TFTP Server for remote TFTP configuration backup restore to suc ceed 3 3 3 5 Resetting Configuration to Factory Defaults Fig 38 Configuration reset Clicking the Reset button resets the device configuration to factory defaults WARNING Think twice before clicking the Reset button You ll lose all your current configuration settings 3 4 Configuring TCP IP Related Settings 3 4 1 Addr...

Page 32: ...e only one DHCP server on the LAN otherwise DHCP would not work prop erly If there is already a DHCP server on the LAN disable the DHCP server functionality of the DRBAP NOTE By default the DHCP server function is disabled 3 4 2 2 Static DHCP Mappings Fig 41 Static DHCP mappings IP addresses of servers are often static so that clients could always locate the servers by the static IP addresses By S...

Page 33: ... Policy of the WLAN interface can be configured to work in IEEE 802 11b only b Only IEEE 802 11g only g Only or mixed mode Mixed 802 11g and 802 11b simultaneously The number of available RF channels depends on local regulations therefore you have to choose an appropriate regulatory domain to comply with local regulations For two wireless devices to com municate with each other they must be set to...

Page 34: ...0 02 65 01 62 C6 set the peer MAC address of port 1 to 00 02 65 01 C5 TIP Plan your wireless network and draw a diagram so that you know how a DRBAP is connected to other peer bridges and can therefore set the bridge links settings correctly WARNING Don t let your network topology consisting of wireless DRBAPs wireless bridges Ethernet switches Ethernet links and WDS links contains loops If any lo...

Page 35: ...are disassociated by the AP interface s of the DRBAP and no wireless client can associate with the AP interface s The detection mechanism is based on pinging the IP ad dress specified in Reference host 3 5 1 4 Association Control Fig 47 Association control settings If the number of currently associated wireless clients exceeds the value specified in the Max number of clients setting no more wirele...

Page 36: ...t to be in Dual AP mode the two AP interfaces share the same IEEE 802 11g security settings For security reasons it s highly recommended that the security mode be set to options other than Open System When the security mode is set to Open System no authentication and data encryption will be performed Additionally you can disable the SSID broadcasts functionality so that a wireless client computer ...

Page 37: ...WCI All APs in This Subnet WCI All APs in This Subnet Fig 51 Behavior of the All APs on This Subnet wireless client isolation option As illustrated in Fig 50 when AP 1 and AP 2 are using the This AP Only option wireless traffic between STA 1 and STA 2 is blocked by AP 1 while wireless traffic between STA 2 and STA 3 which are associated with different APs is still allowed If the All APs in This Su...

Page 38: ...P and IEEE 802 1x dynamic key exchange mechanisms are enabled The AP is highly se cured in this mode In the above security modes a back end RADIUS Remote Authentication Dial In User Service server is needed if IEEE 802 1x functionality is enabled See Section 3 5 3 for more information about IEEE 802 1x and RADIUS When WEP is enabled by a security mode the Key length can be specified to be 64 Bits ...

Page 39: ... Repeat Steps 3 for other wireless clients To delete an entry in access control table Click Delete next to the entry NOTE The size of the access control table is 64 Fig 53 MAC ACL download settings Instead of manually entering MAC addresses to the access control table one by one you can prepare a text file that contains all the MAC addresses and put it on a TFTP server and then command the AP to d...

Page 40: ...amic encryption key distribution With IEEE 802 1x and the help of a RADIUS Remote Authentication Dial In User Ser vice server and a user account database an enterprise or ISP Internet Service Provider can manage its mobile users access to its wireless LANs Before granted access to a wireless LAN supporting IEEE 802 1x a user has to issue his or her user name and password or digital certificate to ...

Page 41: ... can specify the length of timeout and the number of retries before communicating with the secondary RADIUS server after failing to communicate with the primary RADIUS server An IEEE 802 1x capable wireless access point and its RADIUS server s share a secret key so that they can authenticate each other In addition to its IP address a wireless access point can identify it self by an NAS Network Acc...

Page 42: ...capability is enabled or disabled Policy for matched packets how a matched packet is processed discard or pass To enable a filtering rule select the check box to the left of the rule 3 6 1 1 Ethernet Type Filters Fig 58 Ethernet type filters settings The Ethernet type filed of the MAC Media Access Control header of a packet incoming from the WLAN or Ethernet interface is inspected for filtering In...

Page 43: ...address range is 192 168 0 0 to 192 168 0 255 3 6 1 3 TCP UDP Port Filters Fig 60 TCP UDP port filters settings The destination port field the TCP or UDP header of a packet incoming from the WLAN or Ethernet interface is inspected for filtering In a rule specify the decimal Destination Port Protocol type TCP UDP and the name of the higher level protocol Application Name 3 6 2 Management 3 6 2 1 UP...

Page 44: ...atus changes MIB II traps Cold Start Warm Start Link Up Link Down and SNMP Authentication Failure RADIUS user authentication RADIUS user authentication status changes NOTE The SNMP Authentication Failure trap is issued when using an incorrect community string to manage the DRBAP via SNMP and the SNMP MIB II OID snmpEnableAuthenTraps is enabled disabled by default 3 6 2 3 SNMP Fig 63 SNMP settings ...

Page 45: ...1 Type the IP address of the target host 2 Type the Community for the host 3 Select the corresponding check box next to the IP address text box 40 ...

Page 46: ... WLAN 2 wireless2 Transmission Rate for WLAN 1 Auto Transmission Rate for WLAN 2 11Mbps MAC Address of WLAN 1 and of WLAN 2 See the label on the housing of the DRBAP WDS Links None Security Mode Open System Selected WEP Key Key 1 WEP Key 1 00 00 00 00 00 WEP Key 2 00 00 00 00 00 WEP Key 3 00 00 00 00 00 WEP Key 4 00 00 00 00 00 LAN Interface Method of obtaining an IP Address Set manually IP Addres...

Page 47: ...less Router AP Browser WLBrwsr exe in the Utilities folder on the companion CD ROM disc This utility can discover nearby DRBAPs and show their MAC addresses and IP addresses In addition it can launch the default Web browser on your computer Fig 64 Wireless Router AP Browser The DRBAP stops working and does not respond to Web management requests The firmware of the DRBAP may be stuck in an incorrec...

Page 48: ...Contact our technical support representatives for repair 43 ...

Page 49: ...232 Null Modem cable 3 Select the serial port COM1 or COM2 you use for connecting the device from the Serial port drop down list and click Connect 4 Chose the folder in which the firmware files reside by click Browse 5 Power on the DRBAP and you ll see bootup information 6 Click Start to begin upgrade the firmware of the DRBAP 7 You will be prompted when the upgrade process completes Click Erase C...