Controller, Access Points, And Wm Software And Your Network - Extreme Networks Summit WM User Manual

Controller, Access Points, and WM software and your
network
This section is a summary of the components of the Controller, Access Points, and WM software
solution on your enterprise network. The following are described in detail in this guide, unless
otherwise stated:
Summit WM Controller - A rack-mountable network device that provides centralized control over
all access points (both Wireless APs and third-party access points) and manages the network
assignment of wireless device clients associating through access points.
Wireless AP - A wireless LAN fit access point (IEEE 802.11) that communicates only with a Summit
WM Controller.
RADIUS Server (Remote Access Dial-In User Service) (RFC2865), or other authentication server - An
authentication server that assigns and manages ID and Password protection throughout the network.
Used for authentication of the wireless users in either 802.1X or Captive Portal security modes. The
RADIUS Server system can be set up for certain standard attributes, such as filter ID, and for the
Vendor Specific Attributes (VSAs). In addition, Radius Disconnect (RFC3576) which permits dynamic
adjustment of user policy (user disconnect) is supported.
DHCP Server (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) (RFC2131) - A server that assigns IP
addresses, gateways, and subnet masks dynamically. IP address assignment for clients can be done
by the DHCP server internal to the Summit WM Controller, or by existing servers using DHCP relay.
It is also used by the Wireless APs to discover the location of the Summit WM Controller during the
initial registration process. For SLP, DHCP should have Option 78 enabled. Option 78 specifies the
location of one or more SLP Directory Agents.
Service Location Protocol (SLP) (SLP RFC2608) - Client applications are User Agents and services
that are advertised by a Service Agent. In larger installations, a Directory Agent collects information
from Service Agents and creates a central repository. The Extreme Networks solution relies on
registering "extreme" as an SLP Service Agent.
NOTE
The WM is discovered by identifying it as an SLP Directory Agent.
Domain Name Server (DNS) - A server used as an alternate mechanism (if present on the enterprise
network) for the automatic discovery process. Controller, Access Points, and WM software relies on
the DNS for Layer 3 deployments and for static configuration of Wireless APs. The controller can be
registered in DNS, to provide DNS assisted AP discovery.
Web Authentication Server - A server that can be used for external Captive Portal and external
authentication. The Summit WM Controller has an internal Captive portal presentation page, which
allows Web authentication (Web redirection) to take place without the need for an external Captive
Portal server.
RADIUS Accounting Server (Remote Access Dial-In User Service) (RFC2866) - A server that is
required if RADIUS Accounting is enabled.
Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) - A Manager Server that is required if forwarding
SNMP messages is enabled.
Check Point Server (Check Point Event Logging API) - A server for security event logging that is
required if a firewall application is enabled. Checkpoint ELA certification for OPSEC is provided.
Network infrastructure - The Ethernet switches and routers must be configured to allow routing
between the various services noted above. Routing must also be enabled between multiple Summit
WM Controllers for the following features to operate successfully:
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