Network Security - Extreme Networks Summit WM User Manual

Figure 3: Traffic Flow diagram
Packet transmission
Control and Routing
WM authenticates
wireless user
WM forwards IP packet to
wired network
Tunnelling
AP sends data traffic to
WM through UDP tunnel
called CTP
WM controls Altitude AP
through CTP tunnel
Using WASSP tunnels,
WM allows wireless
clients to roam to
Altitude APs on different
WMs
802.11 packet transmission
802.11 beacon and probe,
wireless device associates
with an Altitude AP by its
SSID
Each wireless device sends IP packets in the 802.11 standard to the Wireless AP. The Wireless AP uses a
UDP (User Datagram Protocol) based tunnelling protocol to encapsulate the packets and forward them
to the Summit WM Controller. The Summit WM Controller decapsulates the packets and routes these to
destinations on the network.
The Summit WM Controller functions like a standard router, except that it is configured to route only
network traffic associated with wireless connected users. The Summit WM Controller can also be
configured to simply forward traffic to a default or static route if dynamic routing is not preferred.

Network security

The Controller, Access Points, and WM software system provides features and functionality to control
network access. These are based on standard wireless network security practices.
Current wireless network security methods provide protection. These methods include:
Shared Key authentication that relies on Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) keys
Open System that relies on Service Set Identifiers (SSIDs)
Summit WM User Guide, Software Version 5.3
RADIUS
Authentication
DHCP
Server
Server
Summit WM
Controller
External Web
Authentication
External CP
Server
Server
Router
Wireless
APs
Wireless Devices
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