Adding A Wireless Interface - Fortinet FortiGate Series Administration Manual

System Wireless

Adding a wireless interface

FortiGate Version 4.0 MR1 Administration Guide
01-410-89802-20090903
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Operation Mode Select Change to switch operation modes.
Access Point — The FortiWiFi unit acts as an access point for wireless users
to connect to send and receive information over a wireless network. It enables
multiple wireless network users access to the network without the need to
connect to it physically. The FortiWiFi unit can connect to the internal network
and act as a firewall to the Internet.
Client — The FortiWiFi unit is set to receive transmissions from another
access point. This enables you to connect remote users to an existing network
using wireless protocols.
Monitoring — Scan for other access points. These are listed in the Rogue AP
list. See
Note: You cannot switch to Client mode or Monitoring mode if you have added
virtual wireless interfaces. For these modes, there must be only one wireless
interface, wlan.
Radio settings — Access Point mode only
Band Select the wireless frequency band. Be aware what wireless cards or devices
your users have as it may limit their use of the wireless network. For example,
if you configure the FortiWiFi unit for 802.11g and users have 802.11b devices,
they may not be able to use the wireless network.
Geography Select your country or region. This determines which channels are available.
See "Channel assignments" on page 216
Channel Select a channel for your wireless network or select Auto. The channels that
you can select depend on the Geography setting. See
on page 216
Tx Power Set the transmitter power level. The higher the number, the larger the area the
FortiWiFi will broadcast. If you want to keep the wireless signal to a small area,
enter a smaller number.
Beacon Interval Set the interval between beacon packets. Access Points broadcast Beacons
or Traffic Indication Messages (TIM) to synchronize wireless networks.
A higher value decreases the number of beacons sent, however it may delay
some wireless clients from connecting if it misses a beacon packet.
Decreasing the value will increase the number of beacons sent, while this will
make it quicker to find and connect to the wireless network, it requires more
overhead, slowing throughput.
Background Perform the Monitoring mode scanning function while the unit is in Access
Point mode. Scanning occurs while the access point is idle. The scan covers
Rogue AP Scan
all wireless channels. Background scanning can reduce performance if the
access point is busy. See
Wireless interface list — Access Point and Client modes
Interface The name of the wireless interface. To modify wireless interface settings,
select the interface name. To add more wireless interfaces in Access Point
mode, see
MAC Address The MAC address of the Wireless interface.
SSID The wireless service set identifier (SSID) or network name for the wireless
interface. To communicate, an Access Point and its clients must use the same
SSID.
SSID Broadcast Green checkmark icon indicates that the wireless interface broadcasts its
SSID. Broadcasting the SSID makes it possible for clients to connect to your
wireless network without first knowing the SSID.
This column is visible only in Access Point mode.
Security Mode The wireless interface security mode: WEP64, WEP128, WPA, WPA2,
WPA2 Auto or None.
You can add up to three virtual wireless interfaces to your access point. These additional
interfaces share the same wireless parameters configured for the WLAN interface for
Band, Geography, Channel, Tx Power, and Beacon Interval. Ensure each wireless
interface has a unique SSID.
"Rogue AP detection" on page
for channel information.
"Rogue AP detection" on page
"Adding a wireless interface" on page
Wireless settings
224.
for channel information.
"Channel assignments"
224.
219.
219