Wifi Security Profile Concepts; Small Wlan Networks - NETGEAR ProSAFE WC7500 User Manual

WiFi Security Profile Concepts

Profiles are sets of configurations that you can apply to an access point. The configuration
includes radio parameters, load-balancing parameters, and rate-limit parameters. Each WiFi
radio on an access point can support 8 profiles. For example, the dual-band WNDAP660
access point can support a total of 16 profiles. Therefore, in one profile group on the wireless
controller, you can configure up to 8 profiles for each radio, that is, up to 8 profiles for the 2.4
GHz radio and up to 8 profiles for the 5 GHz radio.
Setting up profiles allows you to configure the WLAN network offline. Then, when the WLAN
network is operating, you can push the configuration onto managed access points. You can
configure profiles and profile groups without taking the state of the access points into
consideration. When the access points connect to the wireless controller, the profile
configurations are pushed onto the access points.
An access point can be a member of one profile group only. If you move an access point from
one profile group to another, the access point stops serving the SSIDs in the old profile group
and starts serving the SSIDs in the new profile group.
Note: If an access point is removed from its building (someone takes it
home or it is stolen), the access point does not retain the configuration
that it received from the wireless controller. The configuration is not
stored in memory on the access point.
Depending on your network needs, you can either use the basic profile group (that is, the
basic configuration) or the advanced profile groups (that is, the advanced configuration). The
basic profile group works well for small-scale WLAN networks; advanced profile groups are
useful for larger deployments.
Note: For more information about basic and advanced profile groups, see
Basic and Advanced Setting Concepts

Small WLAN Networks

For small WLAN networks, you can use the basic configuration with the basic profile group.
All access points belong to the same group and use the same WiFi, security, and QoS
configurations.
The basic profile group can contain up to 16 profiles for a dual-band access point, or
8 profiles for a single-band access point. Each profile provides its own SSID and can provide
its own VLAN to allow the profile to establish its own tunnel. Profiles can also share the same
VLAN.
For example, in an enterprise network in which all access points that are managed by the
wireless controller serve the same WiFi networks and support the same settings, you can
use the basic configuration.
ProSAFE Wireless Controller
Manage Security Profiles and Profile Groups
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on page 33.