Performing Advanced Configuration
SYSTIMAX® AirSPEED™ AP542
User Guide
92
Typical User VLAN Configurations
VLANs segment network traffic into workgroups, which enable you to limit broadcast and multicast traffic. Workgroups
enable clients from different VLANs to access different resources using the same network infrastructure. Clients using
the same physical network are limited to those resources available to their workgroup.
The AP can segment users into a maximum of 16 different workgroups per radio (the AirSPEED AP542, with its two
radios, can segment into 32 workgroups) based on an SSID/VLAN pair (also referred as a VLAN Workgroup or a
Sub-network).
The three primary scenarios for using VLAN workgroups are as follows:
1. VLAN disabled: Your network does not use VLANs, and you cannot configure the AP to use multiple SSIDs.
2. VLAN enabled, each VLAN workgroup uses a different VLAN ID Tag
3. VLAN enabled, a mixture of Tagged and Untagged workgroups
4. VLAN enabled, all VLANs untagged: VLAN is enabled in order to use SSID. (Note that typical use of SSID
assumes actual use of VLANs.)
Enabling or Disabling VLAN Protocol
Control Access to the AP
Management access to the AP can easily be secured by making management stations or hosts and the AP itself
members of a common VLAN. Simply configure a non-zero management VLAN ID and enable VLAN to restrict
management of the AP to members of the same VLAN.
CAUTION
!
If a non-zero management VLAN ID is configured then management access to the AP is restricted to wired or
wireless hosts that are members of the same VLAN. Ensure your management platform or host is a member
of the same VLAN before attempting to manage the AP.
1. Click
Configure
>
SSID/VLAN/Security
>
Mgmt VLAN
.
2. Set the
VLAN Management ID
to a value between -1 and 4094 (a value of 0 disables VLAN management).
3. Place a check mark in the
Enable VLAN Protocol
box.
Provide Access to a Wireless Host in the Same Workgroup
The VLAN feature can allow wireless clients to manage the AP. If the VLAN Management ID matches a VLAN User ID,
then those wireless clients who are members of that VLAN will have AP management access.
CAUTION
!
Once a VLAN Management ID is configured and is equivalent to one of the VLAN User IDs on the AP, all
members of that User VLAN will have management access to the AP. Be careful to restrict VLAN membership
to those with legitimate access to the AP.
1. Click
Configure
>
SSID/VLAN/Security
>
Mgmt VLAN
.
2. Set the
VLAN Management ID
to use the same VLAN ID as one of the configured SSID/VLAN pairs.
3. Place a check mark in the
Enable VLAN Protocol
box.
Disable VLAN Management
1. Click
Configure
>
SSID/VLAN/Security
>
Mgmt VLAN
.
2. Remove the check mark from the
Enable VLAN Protocol
box (to disable all VLAN functionality) or set the
VLAN
Management ID
to -1 (to disable VLAN Management only).
NOTE
If you disable VLAN Protocol, you will be unable to configure security per SSID.