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National Datacomm InstantWave NWH650 User Manual

High rate 11mbps wireless networking access point
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11Mbps Wireless Networking
NWH650
National Datacomm Corporation
4F, No. 24-2, Industry East 4
Hsin-Chu, Taiwan, R.O.C.
Technical Support
E-mail:
techsupt@ndc.com.tw
NDC World Wide Web
www.ndc.com.tw

Access Point

User's Guide
th
Road, Science Park
High Rate
December 2001
Rev. A1

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Summary of Contents for National Datacomm InstantWave NWH650

  • Page 1: Access Point

    11Mbps Wireless Networking Access Point User’s Guide NWH650 National Datacomm Corporation 4F, No. 24-2, Industry East 4 Road, Science Park Hsin-Chu, Taiwan, R.O.C. Technical Support E-mail: techsupt@ndc.com.tw NDC World Wide Web www.ndc.com.tw High Rate Rev. A1 December 2001...

  • Page 2: Fcc Warning

    TRADEMARKS NDC and InstantWave are trademarks of National Datacomm Corporation. All other names mentioned in this document are trademarks/registered trademarks of their respective owners. NDC provides this document “as is”, without warranty of any kind, neither expressed nor implied, including, but not limited to, the particular purpose. NDC may make improvements and/or changes in this manual or in the product(s) and/or the program(s) described in this manual at any time.

  • Page 3: Packing List

    Packing List The package should contain the following items: One NWH650 InstantWave High Rate Access Point One RS-232 Cable One RJ-45 Cable One Power Adapter One CD ROM (Contains drivers, Station utilities, Access Point management tools, Network Profile Manager, User’s Guides, links to...

  • Page 4: Table Of Contents

    INTRODUCTION ...1 NSTANT AMILY ...1 YSTEM EQUIREMENTS ...1 ABLING HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE ...2 PLANNING YOUR NETWORK ...3 NFRASTRUCTURE ETWORK YPES LANNING AN NFRASTRUCTURE Single AP Installation ...5 Multiple AP Installation...5 ...6 OAMING CCESS OINT LACEMENT UIDELINES Placing For Performance ...7 Placement Tools...7 GETTING STARTED...8 CCESS...
  • Page 5 Config ...27 AP Settings...28 IEWING NSTANT View ...40 Saving the AP’s Configuration to a File...42 Loading the AP’s Configuration from a File ...43 Password ...44 TROUBLESHOOTING ...45 TECHNICAL SUPPORT...47 NDC LIMITED WARRANTY ...48 SPECIFICATIONS ...50 APPENDIX...52 INDEX ...54 NFORMATION AND TATISTICS InstantWave High Rate 11Mbps Access Point...
  • Page 6 1. S IGURE IMPLE IRELESS NFRASTRUCTURE 2. S AP N ...4 IGURE INGLE ETWORK 3. M AP N IGURE ULTIPLE ETWORK 4. A ...8 IGURE CCESS OINT 5. A ...8 IGURE CCESS OINT 6. LED F ...9 IGURE UNCTIONS 7. AP COMF IGURE ONNECT 8.

  • Page 7: Introduction

    LAN, and vice versa. The Access Point Management System (APMS) performs wireless network configuration management and diagnostic functions. InstantWave High Rate Family The InstantWave NWH650 High Rate Access Point is part of a family of easy to use high performance wireless communication products. The family products include:...

  • Page 8: How To Use This Guide

    InstantWave High Rate is extremely versatile in providing varying levels of network management. For Small Office/Home Office users, setup and configuration is a quick, four-step process. The Access Point Hardware Installation section, on page 8, provides simple instructions to get your network up and running within minutes.

  • Page 9: Planning Your Network

    Infrastructure Network Types An Infrastructure network is formed by several stations and one or more Access Points (APs), with the stations within a set distance from the AP. Figure 1 depicts a typical Infrastructure network topology. There are three infrastructure network setups that are commonly used. It is a good idea to understand the possible network setups and configuration requirements before planning your wireless network.

  • Page 10: Figure 2. Single Ap Network

    Wired Computers Access Point Figure 2. Single AP Network Type 3. The third type of network is composed of multiple APs and multiple Stations (Figure 3). “Sales” Domain Wireless Cell A Wireless Cell B AP-1 Station -1 Figure 3. Multiple AP Network The reasons for having multiple APs installed are: To increase bandwidth in order to boost overall network performance To extend the coverage range...

  • Page 11: Planning An Infrastructure Network

    Planning an Infrastructure Network This section explains some of the things you need to consider in planning an Infrastructure network. Setting up is a two step process. Install and configure the InstantWave High Rate products Decide the best physical location of the InstantWave High Rate products so as to optimize performance The following sections give quick guidelines for these two steps.

  • Page 12: Roaming

    Roaming InstantWave High Rate products are equipped with seamless roaming capabilities. Roaming is necessary to prevent mobile Stations from being disconnected from the network as they move around. InstantWave High Rate is designed to allow wireless Stations to roam freely within an infrastructure domain composed of multiple APs with overlapping signal coverage (as in the Type-3 network configuration described in the previous section).

  • Page 13: Access Point Placement Guidelines

    Access Point Placement Guidelines A characteristic of radio communication is the interference problem. Radio is receptive to interference. Therefore, the more interference you can avoid, the better performance you will get from wireless products. The following section describes how the InstantWave High Rate AP should be placed to reduce possible interference.

  • Page 14: Getting Started

    Access Point Hardware Installation Access Point Hardware Setup explains how to quickly setup the Access Point for use via a wired Ethernet connection, and using the factory default settings. For installation in networks using other than the default settings, i.e. into existing networks, complete the Hardware Setup and refer to Using the AP COMFig Tool, page 11.

  • Page 15: Figure 6. Led Functions

    General Color Function Unlit: Power OFF Green Blinking: Diagnostic test (Power/Status) On: Healthy condition On: Abnormal Condition E/N (Ethernet) Color Function TX/RX Orange Blinks to indicate Ethernet transmission/reception activity LINK Green Indicates an Ethernet link. If the radio fails, this LED will not light Color Function TX/RX...

  • Page 16: Hardware Pre-Configuration

    Before adding an AP into an existing Ethernet network, you may need to set basic configurations, e.g. domain name (SSID), security setting (WEP), AP name, channel number, or IP address in order to make it compatible with the existing network. Follow the steps below to connect the AP to a PC for configuration: step1.

  • Page 17: Using The Ap Comfig Tool

    The AP COMFig Tool is a Windows based utility used to configure the AP via a COM port connection between the AP and a PC. It provides the following functions: Sets AP parameters (e.g., IP address, Domain name (SSID), Security, etc.) Diagnoses the AP hardware and shows the diagnostic results Upgrades the AP firmware Resets the AP Configuration...

  • Page 18: Ap Comfig/Service

    Figure 8. AP COMFig Tool/Password AP COMFig/Service After connecting with the AP, click on the Service tab to open the Service card (Figure 9). The Service card provides access to the management features. Figure 9. AP COMFig Tool/Service Click the View and Modify AP Configuration button. The Configuration screen will open (Figure 10).

  • Page 19: General

    General: The General card (Figure 10) is the first card in the Configuration section. Figure 10. Configuration/General InstantWave High Rate 11Mbps Access Point...
  • Page 20 On this card, you can set and view general AP settings: AP Alias Name Assigns the AP a unique human friendly name that allows the AP to be easily identified Domain Name This is commonly called the Domain Name (SSID) but is defined in the IEEE 802.11b Wireless Standard as SSID.

  • Page 21: Encryption

    Identifies the country where the AP is used. Regulatory Domain Each country has defined its available channel numbers and transmission power (see Appendix, page 52) BSSID This is the MAC ID of the AP Firmware Version The current AP firmware version Important: In a multiple cell network topology, overlapping and/or adjacent cells using different channels can operate simultaneously without interference if the frequency...

  • Page 22: Figure 11. Configuration/Encryption

    Figure 11. Configuration/Encryption The dropdown Method box lists three options: Disabled (default) - Disable data encryption 40-bit WEP - Enable use of 40-bit WEP 128-bit WEP - Enable use of 128-bit WEP Key Generation - There are two ways to generate a security key. The first is by entering any text in the Passphrase field.
  • Page 23 Note: These SNMP related settings are only useful for network management and remote configuration (APMS). For proper wireless connections, these settings don’t have to be changed. From the IP card (Figure 12) you may view or modify the Access Point’s TCP/IP address, configure its subnet mask, or add a default gateway (see the note below).

  • Page 24: Figure 12. Configuration/Ip

    Figure 12. Configuration/IP After making any changes, click the Apply button to make the changes effective immediately, without closing the dialog box, or click OK to accept the changes and close the box. Note: Click Add to APMS Host Table to add the configured AP to the APMS Host Table.

  • Page 25: Filter

    Filter: The next tab on the dialog box is Filter (Figure 13). This is a one-way protocol filtering mechanism that prevents the AP from transmitting specified protocols from a wired Ethernet LAN into the wireless LAN. If you do not require particular protocols on the wireless part of your network, you can save bandwidth by enabling the protocol filter.

  • Page 26: Snmp Access Control

    SNMP Access Control: SNMP Access Control is the next tab on the box (Figure 14). Figure 14. Configuration/SNMP Access Control The AP’s access control is managed by a control table on the AP. The first time this box is opened, the table will be empty. This means that there are no restrictions on who can access and reconfigure the AP and any user may modify the AP’s operation.

  • Page 27: Perform Ap Self Diagnostic Test

    Figure 15. New Entry Two levels of access are available. Read Read-only rights. The user may read everything except the Access Control settings, but cannot alter anything Read/Write The user may read and alter all settings Enter your IP address and then set your own access rights to Read/Write (see the following note).

  • Page 28: Upgrade Ap Firmware

    Figure 16. Hardware Diagnosis Click Start and the tests will commence. As each item is tested, a yellow arrow will appear alongside it. If the test is successful, the arrow will change to a green tick. If a failure occurs, an “X” will appear. You can click Cancel at any time to stop the tests.

  • Page 29: Reset Ap Configuration

    Figure 17. Upgrade AP Firmware Use the Browse button to choose the file to be uploaded to the AP, or type the file location and name in the File Name field. The Upload button will then become enabled. Click Upload. The new firmware will be loaded into the AP’s flash memory area.
  • Page 30 Figure 19. APMS Table-1 From here you can view/delete all the APs added to this host table. This table can be saved and retrieved from the APMS utility so that you don’t need to create such a table again in the APMS utility. Select an AP in the table and click the Details button to view and edit it’s SNMP access control settings (Figure 20).

  • Page 31: Using The Access Point Management System (Advanced Configuration And Management)

    System (Advanced Configuration and Management) Once the AP is connected to an Ethernet network, a network administrator can connect to it from any PC on the same network via the Access Point Management System (APMS) utility. The APMS utility is a Windows-based SNMP management tool, allowing network administrators to remotely configure and monitor APs through an Ethernet or wireless connection.

  • Page 32: Figure 22. Network Management System-2

    Figure 22. Network Management System-2 Click the AP main menu item to open its sub-menu and then click Create New AP (Figure 23). Figure 23. Network Management System-3 Input the AP’s IP address and its community string (this string will be used for SNMP access control).

  • Page 33: Managing Configurations

    Figure 24. AP Properties Here you may modify the IP address and Community string. Changes made here will be immediately effective. If the connection attempt was unsuccessful, a message box will appear informing you that the request had no response. Click OK to close the message box and return to the main screen.

  • Page 34: Ap Settings

    The menu offers configuration options that enable you to tailor your network to suit your needs. AP Settings - sets the AP’s IP related parameters, sets filters, sets wireless related parameters, sets AP Access Control list Trap Management Load Factory Configuration Upgrade AP Firmware Reset AP AP Settings...

  • Page 35: Figure 27. Filter (Apms)

    LAN, then the SNMP respond packet needs to go through a router-gateway. The default gateway is the path to that router. If you set the correct default gateway, then you can use a PC running APMS located on a different subnet to manage this AP.
  • Page 36 From the Filter card, some, all, or none of the protocols listed may be selected for filtering out: IP protocol IPX protocol NetBEUI protocol AppleTalk protocol Other protocols Internet Multicast Frames Selecting a protocol to be filtered will activate the AP’s protocol filtering immediately on clicking OK.
  • Page 37 Private Transfer: TFTP currently has no provisions for user authentication. We suggest you keep the ‘Private Transfer’ option checked in order to prevent anyone other than the network administrator using the APMS program to upgrade the AP firmware. If you want to use a third party TFTP tool to upgrade the AP firmware, this option should be disabled.
  • Page 38 Note: Do not set all the stations in the Access Control table to Read. Once this is set and enabled, it will be difficult to modify the AP. Should this situation occur, use the AP COMFig utility to re-set the configuration. Two levels of access are available.
  • Page 39 Access Options MAC Address List: Status Disables or enables an individual entry Address The MAC address of a wireless station A brief description of the wireless station Comment Access Options: Stops MAC access control, all wireless stations Disabled are allowed to associate with this access point Accepted List The station will be rejected if its MAC address IS NOT in the list...
  • Page 40 Wireless: Clicking on the Wireless tab opens the wireless card (Figure 31). Figure 31. AP Setting/Wireless 34 InstantWave High Rate 11Mbps Access Point...
  • Page 41 The Wireless card groups all the user configurable wireless Access Point (AP) functions. Here you may make settings as follows: AP Alias Assigns the AP a unique name Name Domain This is more commonly called the Domain Name but is Name (SSID) defined in the IEEE 802.11 Wireless Standard as SSID.
  • Page 42 Encryption: Note: Most wireless connection problems arise from improper WEP settings so make sure all APs and wireless stations use the same settings. Sets the data encryption parameters for the wireless LAN. Click the arrow to the right of the Method box. The dropdown list has three options: Figure 32.

  • Page 43: Figure 33. Trap Management

    The first is by entering any text in the Passphrase field. Click the Generate button. For 40-bit WEP, it will generate four keys, Key 1, Key 2, Key 3, and Key 4. Select a key number from the dropdown list of the Default Key box. If you do not select a key, key 1 is selected, as it is the default key.
  • Page 44 Figure 34. AP Trap Server Program When the AP is powered on, or an Ethernet port becomes active, an event log will be generated indicating the time, the MAC ID of the reporting AP, and the activity. You may save, open, and delete log files from the File menu. In the Program menu, select Auto Startup After Reboot to activate the Trap Server when the system is rebooted, or Pause Program to pause the Trap Server.

  • Page 45: Figure 35. Upgrade Ap Firmware

    Figure 35. Upgrade AP Firmware The Upload button will then become enabled. Click Upload to start uploading the file to the Access Point. The APMS and the AP’s built-in Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) command will upload the new executable into the AP’s flash memory area.

  • Page 46: Viewing Instantwave High Rate Information And Statistics

    Viewing InstantWave High Rate Information and Statistics View The menu items under View provide read-only information and statistics. To customize the screen view, right-click in the main screen to open a context sensitive menu. Select your preferred view, i.e. Icons, List, Details, etc. Figure 36.

  • Page 47: F Igure 37. Ap I Nformation

    Figure 37. AP Information When finished viewing AP information, click OK to close the window. Wireless Stations The Connected Wireless Stations window lists all the currently associated wireless station’s Media Access Control (MAC) addresses. When finished viewing, click OK to close the window. Statistics Clicking statistics opens a sub-menu with two options: Wireless Port and Ethernet Port.

  • Page 48: Saving The Ap's Configuration To A File

    Figure 38. Wireless Port Statistics Figure 39. Ethernet Port Statistics These statistics will be lost when the Access Point (AP) reboots or is reset. To poll for new statistics click on the Polling Timer button. Set the time period (in seconds) and click OK to close the box.

  • Page 49: Loading The Ap's Configuration From A File

    Figure 40. Save AP Configuration Loading the AP’s Configuration from a File To load a configuration file (.WLN) to the Access Point, on the File menu, click Load AP Configuration. Select a configuration file and open it. The following dialog box will open and display the detailed settings. Figure 41.

  • Page 50: Password

    attributes of security keys are externally write-only and cannot be saved into the configuration file. Click Encryption to setup the security keys manually. Password Clicking Password opens a Change Password configuration box. Enter your new password and then enter it again to confirm. Click OK to close the box. Once a password is set you will be asked for it each time the APMS program is opened.

  • Page 51: Troubleshooting

    This section provides you with some troubleshooting info should you encounter installation or operation problems on InstantWave High Rate products. If the problems still cannot be remedied after going through the Troubleshooting section, check the FAQs at http://www.ndc.com.tw/support/tech/iw_faq.htm If you still have a problem, contact NDC technical support for assistance (see Technical Support, page 47).

  • Page 52: Ap Comf Ig

    A wireless PC cannot Make sure your wireless PC is using a WiFi compliant associate with the AP, adapter and has the same SSID and security settings as even though the link the AP. quality is perfect and the taskbar indicator is 1.

  • Page 53: Technical Support

    Support from Your Network Supplier If assistance is required, call your supplier for help. Have the following information ready before you make the call. LED status A list of the product hardware (including revision levels), and a brief description of the network structure Details of recent configuration changes, if applicable Support from NDC If you have any problems that you cannot resolve with the information in...

  • Page 54: Ndc Limited Warranty

    Hardware NDC warrants its products to be free of defects in workmanship and materials, under normal use and service, for a period of 12 months from the date of purchase from NDC or its Authorized Reseller, and for the period of time specified in the documentation supplied with each product.

  • Page 55: Limitation Of Liability

    Charges: Usually RMA (Returned Material Authorization) items will be returned to the purchaser via airmail, prepaid by NDC. If returned by another carrier, the purchaser will pay the difference. A return freight and handling fee will be charged to the purchaser if NDC determines that there was “No Problem Found”...

  • Page 56: Specifications

    General FCC Part 15 Class B. (US) Regulatory Compliance Wireless LAN: IEEE 802.11b, Wi-Fi Compliant Standards Ethernet: IEEE 802.3 11Mbps/5.5Mbps/2 Mbps/1Mbps auto fallback Data Rate Half-Duplex Communication Method 40-bit/128-bit WEP Data Encryption Security Power, Ethernet Activity, Ethernet Link, Wireless Activity, LED Indicators Wireless Link 10Base-T: RJ-45...
  • Page 57 Software Configuration via COM port SNMP Functions Configuration and management via SNMP in a Windows environment through Ethernet. MIB II (RFC 1213), Bridge MIB (RFC 1493) Enterprise Trap Filter Data encryption Security Access control Password assignment and rights Access Point firmware upgrade via COM port, Ethernet, Firmware Upgrade wireless, or PPP connection from remote site Environment...

  • Page 58: Appendix

    This appendix lists the channels supported by the world’s regulatory domains. The channel numbers, channel center frequencies, and regulatory domains are shown in the table. Channel Center FCC/ Number Frequency Canada (MHz) 2412 2417 2422 2427 2432 2437 2442 2447 2452 2457 2462...
  • Page 59 For the following equipment Product Name : InstantWave Wireless Access Point Model Number : NWH650 is hereby confirmed to comply with the requirements set out in the Council Directive on the Approximation of the Laws of the Member States relating to R&TTE Directive(99/ 5/ EC).

  • Page 60: Index

    Accepted List ... 33 Access Control... 20, 31 Access Options ... 33 Access Rights ... 20, 31 Alias Name ... 14, 35 AP COMFig Password ... 11 Service ... 12 AP COMFig Tool Using... 11 AP Configuration Load ... 43 Save ...
  • Page 61 Polling Timer ... 42 Properties ... 26 Protocol Filtering ... 19, 29 Regulatory Domains ... 15, 35 Reset AP Configuration ... 23 Resetting the AP ... 39 Save AP Configuration ... 42 Secure SSID... 14, 35 Self Diagnostic Test... 21 Service Set ID ...

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