ZyXEL Communications NWD271N 802.11n USB Dongle User Manual NWD271N

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Date Submitted	2008-06-25 00:00:00
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Document Title	NWD271N
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Document Author:	Chris Jones

NWD217N
WLAN 802.11n USB Adapter
User’s Guide
Version 1.0
05/2008
Edition 1
www.zyxel.com
About This User's Guide
About This User's Guide
Intended Audience
This manual is intended for people who want to configure the NWD271N using the ZyXEL
utility. You should have at least a basic knowledge of TCP/IP networking concepts and
topology.
Related Documentation
• Quick Start Guide
The Quick Start Guide is designed to help you get up and running right away. It contains
information on setting up your network and configuring for Internet access.
• Online Help
Embedded web help for descriptions of individual screens and supplementary
information.
• Supporting Disc
Refer to the included CD for support documents.
• ZyXEL Web Site
Please refer to www.zyxel.com for additional support documentation and product
certifications.
User’s Guide Feedback
Help us help you. Send all User’s Guide-related comments, questions or suggestions for
improvement to the following address, or use e-mail instead. Thank you!
The Technical Writing Team,
ZyXEL Communications Corp.,
6 Innovation Road II,
Science-Based Industrial Park,
Hsinchu, 300, Taiwan.
E-mail: techwriters@zyxel.com.tw
NWD271N User’s Guide
Document Conventions
Document Conventions
Warnings and Notes
These are how warnings and notes are shown in this User’s Guide.
Warnings tell you about things that could harm you or your NWD271N.
Notes tell you other important information (for example, other things you may
need to configure or helpful tips) or recommendations.
Syntax Conventions
• The NWD271N may be referred to as the “NWD271N”, the “device”, the “system” or the
“product” in this User’s Guide.
• Product labels, screen names, field labels and field choices are all in bold font.
• A key stroke is denoted by square brackets and uppercase text, for example, [ENTER]
means the “enter” or “return” key on your keyboard.
• “Enter” means for you to type one or more characters and then press the [ENTER] key.
“Select” or “choose” means for you to use one of the predefined choices.
• A right angle bracket ( > ) within a screen name denotes a mouse click. For example,
Maintenance > Log > Log Setting means you first click Maintenance in the navigation
panel, then the Log sub menu and finally the Log Setting tab to get to that screen.
• Units of measurement may denote the “metric” value or the “scientific” value. For
example, “k” for kilo may denote “1000” or “1024”, “M” for mega may denote “1000000”
or “1048576” and so on.
• “e.g.,” is a shorthand for “for instance”, and “i.e.,” means “that is” or “in other words”.
NWD271N User’s Guide
Document Conventions
Icons Used in Figures
Figures in this User’s Guide may use the following generic icons.
Wireless Access Point
Computer
Notebook computer
Server
Modem
Telephone
Internet
Wireless Signal
NWD271N User’s Guide
Safety Warnings
Safety Warnings
For your safety, be sure to read and follow all warning notices and instructions.
• Do NOT use this product near water, for example, in a wet basement or near a swimming
pool.
• Do NOT expose your device to dampness, dust or corrosive liquids.
• Do NOT store things on the device.
• Do NOT install, use, or service this device during a thunderstorm. There is a remote risk
of electric shock from lightning.
• Connect ONLY suitable accessories to the device.
• Ground yourself (by properly using an anti-static wrist strap, for example) whenever
working with the device’s hardware or connections.
• ONLY qualified service personnel should service or disassemble this device.
• Antenna Warning! This device meets ETSI and FCC certification requirements when
using the included antenna(s). Only use the included antenna(s).
This product is recyclable. Dispose of it properly.
NWD271N User’s Guide
Contents Overview
Contents Overview
Introduction and Configuration ............................................................................................ 19
Getting Started ........................................................................................................................... 21
Tutorial ....................................................................................................................................... 27
Wireless LANs ........................................................................................................................... 37
ZyXEL Utility - Windows ............................................................................................................ 49
Maintenance .............................................................................................................................. 71
Troubleshooting and Specifications .................................................................................... 75
Troubleshooting ......................................................................................................................... 77
Product Specifications ............................................................................................................... 81
Appendices and Index ........................................................................................................... 85
NWD271N User’s Guide
Contents Overview
NWD271N User’s Guide
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
About This User's Guide .......................................................................................................... 3
Document Conventions............................................................................................................ 4
Safety Warnings........................................................................................................................ 6
Contents Overview ................................................................................................................... 7
Table of Contents...................................................................................................................... 9
List of Figures ......................................................................................................................... 13
List of Tables........................................................................................................................... 17
Part I: Introduction and Configuration................................................. 19
Chapter 1
Getting Started ........................................................................................................................ 21
1.1 Overview .............................................................................................................................. 21
1.1.1 What You Need to Know ............................................................................................ 21
1.1.2 Before You Begin ....................................................................................................... 21
1.2 About Your NWD271N ....................................................................................................... 22
1.2.1 Hardware .................................................................................................................... 22
1.3 Application Overview ........................................................................................................... 23
1.3.1 Infrastructure .............................................................................................................. 23
1.3.2 Ad-Hoc ....................................................................................................................... 23
1.4 Hardware and Utility Installation .......................................................................................... 24
1.4.1 ZyXEL Utility Icon ....................................................................................................... 24
1.5 Configuration Methods ....................................................................................................... 25
1.5.1 Enabling Windows Wireless Configuration ................................................................ 25
1.5.2 Accessing the ZyXEL Utility ...................................................................................... 26
Chapter 2
Tutorial ..................................................................................................................................... 27
2.1 Overview .............................................................................................................................. 27
2.1.1 What You Can Do in This Tutorial .............................................................................. 27
2.1.2 What You Need to Know ............................................................................................ 27
2.1.3 Before You Begin ....................................................................................................... 27
2.2 Connecting to an AP using Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) .................................................. 28
NWD271N User’s Guide
Table of Contents
2.2.1 Push Button Configuration (PBC) .............................................................................. 28
2.2.2 PIN Configuration ....................................................................................................... 29
2.3 Connecting to an AP Without Using WPS ........................................................................... 31
2.3.1 Manually Connecting to a Wireless LAN ................................................................... 31
2.3.2 Creating and Using a Profile ...................................................................................... 33
Chapter 3
Wireless LANs......................................................................................................................... 37
3.1 Overview .............................................................................................................................. 37
3.1.1 What You Can Do in This Section .............................................................................. 37
3.1.2 What You Need to Know ............................................................................................ 37
3.1.3 Before You Begin ....................................................................................................... 38
3.2 Wireless LAN Overview ...................................................................................................... 38
3.3 Wireless LAN Security ........................................................................................................ 39
3.3.1 User Authentication and Encryption ........................................................................... 39
3.4 WiFi Protected Setup ........................................................................................................... 41
3.4.1 Push Button Configuration ......................................................................................... 41
3.4.2 PIN Configuration ....................................................................................................... 41
3.4.3 How WPS Works ........................................................................................................ 43
3.4.4 Limitations of WPS ..................................................................................................... 46
Chapter 4
ZyXEL Utility - Windows......................................................................................................... 49
4.1 Overview .............................................................................................................................. 49
4.1.1 What You Can Do in This Section .............................................................................. 49
4.1.2 What You Need to Know ............................................................................................ 49
4.1.3 Before You Begin ....................................................................................................... 50
4.2 ZyXEL Utility Screen Summary ........................................................................................... 50
4.3 The Link Info Screen ........................................................................................................... 51
4.3.1 Trend Chart ................................................................................................................ 52
4.4 The Site Survey Screen ...................................................................................................... 53
4.4.1 Security Settings ....................................................................................................... 54
4.4.2 Summary Screen ....................................................................................................... 59
4.5 The Profile Screen ............................................................................................................... 59
4.5.1 Adding a New Profile .................................................................................................. 61
4.6 The Adapter Screen ............................................................................................................ 64
4.6.1 WPS: PBC (Push Button Configuration) .................................................................... 65
4.6.2 WPS: PIN - Use this Device’s PIN ............................................................................. 66
4.6.3 WPS: PIN - Use the PIN from the AP or Wireless Router .......................................... 67
4.7 Security Settings in Windows Vista ..................................................................................... 67
4.7.1 Using PEAP in Vista ................................................................................................... 68
4.7.2 Using TLS in Vista ..................................................................................................... 69
10
NWD271N User’s Guide
Table of Contents
Chapter 5
Maintenance ............................................................................................................................ 71
5.1 Overview .............................................................................................................................. 71
5.1.1 What You Can Do in This Section .............................................................................. 71
5.1.2 What You Need to Know ............................................................................................ 71
5.1.3 Before You Begin ....................................................................................................... 71
5.2 The About Screen ............................................................................................................... 71
5.3 Uninstalling the ZyXEL Utility .............................................................................................. 72
5.4 Upgrading the ZyXEL Utility ................................................................................................ 73
Part II: Troubleshooting and Specifications ........................................ 75
Chapter 6
Troubleshooting...................................................................................................................... 77
6.1 Power, Hardware Connections, and LEDs .......................................................................... 77
6.2 Accessing the ZyXEL Utility ................................................................................................. 78
6.3 Link Quality .......................................................................................................................... 78
6.4 Problems Communicating with Other Computers ............................................................... 78
Chapter 7
Product Specifications ........................................................................................................... 81
Part III: Appendices and Index.............................................................. 85
Appendix A Setting Up Your Computer’s IP Address ............................................................. 87
Appendix B Wireless LANs .................................................................................................... 99
Appendix C Windows Wireless Management ...................................................................... 113
Appendix D Legal Information .............................................................................................. 135
Appendix E Customer Support............................................................................................. 139
Index....................................................................................................................................... 145
NWD271N User’s Guide
11
Table of Contents
12
NWD271N User’s Guide
List of Figures
List of Figures
Figure 1 The NWD271N ......................................................................................................................... 22
Figure 2 Application: Infrastructure ........................................................................................................ 23
Figure 3 Application: Ad-Hoc ................................................................................................................. 24
Figure 4 ZyXEL Utility: System Tray Icon .............................................................................................. 24
Figure 5 Enable WZC ............................................................................................................................. 25
Figure 6 Infrastructure Network .............................................................................................................. 27
Figure 7 Example WPS Process: PBC Method ...................................................................................... 29
Figure 8 Example WPS Process: PIN Method ....................................................................................... 30
Figure 9 ZyXEL Utility: Site Survey ........................................................................................................ 31
Figure 10 ZyXEL Utility: Security Settings ............................................................................................. 32
Figure 11 ZyXEL Utility: Summary .......................................................................................................... 32
Figure 12 ZyXEL Utility: Link Info .......................................................................................................... 32
Figure 13 ZyXEL Utility: Profile ............................................................................................................... 33
Figure 14 ZyXEL Utility: Add New Profile ............................................................................................... 33
Figure 15 ZyXEL Utility: Profile Security ................................................................................................. 34
Figure 16 ZyXEL Utility: Profile Encryption ............................................................................................. 34
Figure 17 ZyXEL Utility: Profile Summary .............................................................................................. 34
Figure 18 ZyXEL Utility: Profile Activate ................................................................................................. 35
Figure 19 Example of a Wireless Network ............................................................................................. 38
Figure 20 Example WPS Process: PIN Method ..................................................................................... 43
Figure 21 How WPS works ..................................................................................................................... 44
Figure 22 WPS: Example Network Step 1 .............................................................................................. 45
Figure 23 WPS: Example Network Step 2 .............................................................................................. 45
Figure 24 WPS: Example Network Step 3 .............................................................................................. 46
Figure 25 ZyXEL Utility Menu Summary ............................................................................................... 50
Figure 26 Link Info ................................................................................................................................. 51
Figure 27 Link Info: Trend Chart ............................................................................................................ 52
Figure 28 Site Survey ............................................................................................................................ 53
Figure 29 Security Setting: WEP .......................................................................................................... 54
Figure 30 Security Setting: WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK ................................................................................. 55
Figure 31 Security Settings: WPA/WPA2 ................................................................................................ 56
Figure 32 Security Setting: 802.1x ........................................................................................................ 57
Figure 33 Summary Screen ................................................................................................................... 59
Figure 34 Profile
................................................................................................................................... 60
Figure 35 Profile: Add a New Profile ..................................................................................................... 61
Figure 36 Profile: Wireless Settings ...................................................................................................... 62
Figure 37 Profile: Wireless Settings ...................................................................................................... 63
Figure 38 Profile: Security Settings ....................................................................................................... 63
NWD271N User’s Guide
13
List of Figures
Figure 39 Profile: Confirm New Settings ............................................................................................... 63
Figure 40 Profile: Activate the Profile .................................................................................................... 64
Figure 41 Adapter .................................................................................................................................. 64
Figure 42 WPS: PBC (Push Button Configuration) ................................................................................ 65
Figure 43 WPS: PIN - Use this Device’s PIN ......................................................................................... 66
Figure 44 WPS: PIN - Use the PIN from the AP or Wireless Router ...................................................... 67
Figure 45 Vista Security: Additional Information Required ..................................................................... 68
Figure 46 Vista Security: Enter Credentials ............................................................................................ 68
Figure 47 Vista Security: Additional Information Required ..................................................................... 69
Figure 48 Vista Security: Select Certificate ............................................................................................ 69
Figure 49 About ..................................................................................................................................... 72
Figure 50 Uninstall: Confirm ................................................................................................................. 72
Figure 51 Uninstall: Finish ..................................................................................................................... 73
Figure 52 Windows XP: Start Menu ........................................................................................................ 88
Figure 53 Windows XP: Control Panel ................................................................................................... 88
Figure 54 Windows XP: Control Panel > Network Connections > Properties ........................................ 89
Figure 55 Windows XP: Local Area Connection Properties ................................................................... 89
Figure 56 Windows XP: Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) Properties .............................................................. 90
Figure 57 Windows XP: Advanced TCP/IP Properties ........................................................................... 91
Figure 58 Windows XP: Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) Properties .............................................................. 92
Figure 59 Windows Vista: Start Menu ..................................................................................................... 93
Figure 60 Windows Vista: Control Panel ................................................................................................ 93
Figure 61 Windows Vista: Network And Internet .................................................................................... 93
Figure 62 Windows Vista: Network and Sharing Center ......................................................................... 94
Figure 63 Windows Vista: Network and Sharing Center ......................................................................... 94
Figure 64 Windows Vista: Local Area Connection Properties ................................................................ 95
Figure 65 Windows Vista: Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) Properties ....................................... 96
Figure 66 Windows Vista: Advanced TCP/IP Properties ........................................................................ 97
Figure 67 Windows Vista: Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) Properties ....................................... 98
Figure 68 Peer-to-Peer Communication in an Ad-hoc Network ............................................................. 99
Figure 69 Basic Service Set ................................................................................................................. 100
Figure 70 Infrastructure WLAN ............................................................................................................. 101
Figure 71 RTS/CTS ............................................................................................................................. 102
Figure 72 WPA(2) with RADIUS Application Example ......................................................................... 109
Figure 73 WPA(2)-PSK Authentication ..................................................................................................110
Figure 74 Vista: Start Menu ...................................................................................................................113
Figure 75 Vista: The Connect To Window .............................................................................................114
Figure 76 Vista: Additional Information ..................................................................................................114
Figure 77 Vista: Enter Security Key .......................................................................................................115
Figure 78 Vista: Connecting ..................................................................................................................115
Figure 79 Vista: Successful Connection ................................................................................................116
Figure 80 Vista: Choose a Connection Option ......................................................................................117
Figure 81 Vista: Connect Manually ........................................................................................................117
14
NWD271N User’s Guide
List of Figures
Figure 82 Vista: Successfully Added Network .......................................................................................118
Figure 83 Vista: Set Up An Ad-hoc Network ..........................................................................................119
Figure 84 Vista: Ad-hoc Options ...........................................................................................................119
Figure 85 Vista: Ad-hoc Network Ready .............................................................................................. 120
Figure 86 Windows XP SP1: Wireless Network Connection Status ..................................................... 121
Figure 87 Windows XP SP2: Wireless Network Connection Status ..................................................... 121
Figure 88 Windows XP SP1: Wireless Network Connection Properties ............................................... 122
Figure 89 Windows XP SP2: Wireless Network Connection Properties ............................................... 122
Figure 90 Windows XP SP2: WZC Not Available ................................................................................. 123
Figure 91 Windows XP SP2: System Tray Icon ................................................................................... 123
Figure 92 Windows XP SP2: Wireless Network Connection Status ..................................................... 124
Figure 93 Windows XP SP1: Wireless Network Connection Status ..................................................... 124
Figure 94 Windows XP SP2: Wireless Network Connection ................................................................ 125
Figure 95 Windows XP SP1: Wireless Network Connection Properties ............................................... 126
Figure 96 Windows XP SP2: Wireless Network Connection: WEP or WPA-PSK ................................ 126
Figure 97 Windows XP SP2: Wireless Network Connection: No Security .......................................... 127
Figure 98 Windows XP: Wireless (network) properties: Association .................................................... 127
Figure 99 Windows XP: Wireless (network) properties: Authentication ............................................... 129
Figure 100 Windows XP: Protected EAP Properties ............................................................................ 130
Figure 101 Windows XP: Smart Card or other Certificate Properties ................................................... 131
Figure 102 Windows XP SP2: Wireless Networks: Preferred Networks .............................................. 132
Figure 103 Windows XP SP1: Wireless Networks: Preferred Networks .............................................. 132
NWD271N User’s Guide
15
List of Figures
16
NWD271N User’s Guide
List of Tables
List of Tables
Table 1 NWD271N External View .......................................................................................................... 22
Table 2 NWD271N LEDs ....................................................................................................................... 22
Table 3 ZyXEL Utility: System Tray Icon ................................................................................................ 25
Table 4 ZyXEL Utility Menu Summary ................................................................................................... 50
Table 5 Link Info .................................................................................................................................... 51
Table 6 Link Info: Trend Chart ............................................................................................................... 52
Table 7 Site Survey ................................................................................................................................ 53
Table 8 Security Setting: WEP ............................................................................................................... 54
Table 9 Security Setting: WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK ................................................................................... 56
Table 10 Security Setting: WPA/WPA2 .................................................................................................. 56
Table 11 Security Settings: IEEE 802.1x ............................................................................................... 58
Table 12 Summary Screen .................................................................................................................... 59
Table 13 Profile ...................................................................................................................................... 60
Table 14 Profile: Add a New Profile ....................................................................................................... 61
Table 15 Profile: Wireless Settings ........................................................................................................ 62
Table 16 Adapter ................................................................................................................................... 64
Table 17 WPS: PIN - Use this Device’s PIN .......................................................................................... 66
Table 18 WPS: PIN - Use the PIN from the AP or Wireless Router ...................................................... 67
Table 19 About ....................................................................................................................................... 72
Table 20 Product Specifications ............................................................................................................. 81
Table 21 IEEE 802.11g ........................................................................................................................ 103
Table 22 Wireless Security Levels ....................................................................................................... 104
Table 23 Comparison of EAP Authentication Types ............................................................................ 107
Table 24 Wireless Security Relational Matrix .......................................................................................110
Table 25 Vista: Connect Manually ........................................................................................................117
Table 26 Windows XP SP2: System Tray Icon .................................................................................... 123
Table 27 Windows XP SP2: Wireless Network Connection ................................................................. 125
Table 28 Windows XP: Wireless Networks .......................................................................................... 127
Table 29 Windows XP: Wireless (network) properties: Association .................................................... 128
Table 30 Windows XP: Wireless (network) properties: Authentication ................................................ 129
Table 31 Windows XP: Protected EAP Properties ............................................................................... 130
Table 32 Windows XP: Smart Card or other Certificate Properties ..................................................... 131
NWD271N User’s Guide
17
List of Tables
18
NWD271N User’s Guide
P ART I
Introduction and
Configuration
Getting Started (21)
Tutorial (27)
Wireless LANs (37)
ZyXEL Utility - Windows (49)
Maintenance (71)
19
20
CHAPTER
Getting Started
1.1 Overview
The ZyXEL NWD271N USB adapter brings you a better Internet experience over existing
802.11g networks. With data rates of up to 300 Mbps, you can enjoy a breathtaking high-speed
connection at home or in the office. It is an excellent solution for daily activities such as file
transfers, music downloading, video streaming and online gaming.
This section includes:
•
•
•
•
About Your NWD271N on page 22
Application Overview on page 23
Hardware and Utility Installation on page 24
Configuration Methods on page 25
1.1.1 What You Need to Know
The following terms and concepts may help as you read through this section, and subsequently
as you read through the rest of the User’s Guide.
Access Point
An Access Point (AP) is a network device that acts as a bridge between a wired and a wireless
network. Outside of the home or office, APs can most often be found in coffee shops,
bookstores and other businesses that offer wireless Internet connectivity to their customers.
Infrastructure
An infrastructure network is one that seamlessly combines both wireless and wired
components. One or more APs often serve as the bridge between wireless and wired LANs.
Ad-Hoc
An Ad-Hoc wireless LAN is a self-contained group of computers connected wirelessly and
which is independent of any other networks and Access Points.
1.1.2 Before You Begin
• Read the Quick Start Guide for information on making hardware connections and using
the ZyXEL utility to connect your NWD271N to a network.
NWD271N User’s Guide
21
Chapter 1 Getting Started
1.2 About Your NWD271N
Your NWD271N is an IEEE 802.11n draft 2.0 compliant wireless LAN adapter. It can also
connect to IEEE 802.11b/g wireless networks. The NWD271N is WPS (Wi-Fi Protected
Setup) compliant. WPS allows you to easily connect to another WPS-enabled device.
The NWD271N is a USB adapter which connects to an empty USB port on your computer.
See your NWD271N’s Quick Start Guide for installation instructions, and see the section on
product specifications in this User’s Guide for detailed information.
1.2.1 Hardware
This section describes the NWD271N’s physical appearance.
Figure 1 The NWD271N
The following table describes the NWD271N.
Table 1 NWD271N External View
LABEL
DESCRIPTION
WPS button
LED
USB connector
USB connector cap
The following table describes the operation of the NWD271N’s LEDs.
Table 2 NWD271N LEDs
LED
22
COLOR
STATUS
DESCRIPTION
Green
On
The NWD271N is turned on, connected to an AP, and is not
transmitting or receiving data.
Blinking
The NWD271N is turned on, connected to an AP, and is
transmitting or receiving data. It also blinks when the WPS
feature is being used or a WPS connection is being initiated.
Off
The NWD271N is turned off.
NWD271N User’s Guide
Chapter 1 Getting Started
1.3 Application Overview
This section describes some network applications for the NWD271N. You can either set the
network type to Infrastructure and connect to an AP or use Ad-Hoc mode and connect to a
peer computer (another wireless device in Ad-Hoc mode).
1.3.1 Infrastructure
To connect to a network via an access point (AP), set the NWD271N network type to
Infrastructure (see Chapter 4 on page 59). Through the AP, you can access the Internet or the
wired network behind the AP.
Figure 2 Application: Infrastructure
1.3.2 Ad-Hoc
To set up a small independent wireless workgroup without an AP, use Ad-Hoc (see Chapter 4
on page 59).
Ad-Hoc does not require an AP or a wired network. Two or more wireless clients
communicate directly with each other.
Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) is not available in ad-hoc mode.
NWD271N User’s Guide
23
Chapter 1 Getting Started
Figure 3 Application: Ad-Hoc
1.4 Hardware and Utility Installation
Follow the instructions in the Quick Start Guide to install the ZyXEL utility and make
hardware connections.
1.4.1 ZyXEL Utility Icon
After you install and start the ZyXEL utility, an icon for the ZyXEL utility appears in the
system tray.
The ZyXEL utility system tray icon displays only when the NWD271N is
installed properly.
When you use the ZyXEL utility, it automatically disables Wireless Zero
Configuration (WZC) in Windows XP.
Figure 4 ZyXEL Utility: System Tray Icon
24
NWD271N User’s Guide
Chapter 1 Getting Started
The color of the ZyXEL utility system tray icon indicates the status of the NWD271N. Refer
to the following table for details.
Table 3 ZyXEL Utility: System Tray Icon
COLOR
DESCRIPTION
Red
The NWD271N is not connected to a wireless network.
Green
The NWD271N is connected to a wireless network.
1.5 Configuration Methods
To configure your NWD271N, use one of the following applications:
• Wireless Zero Configuration (WZC, the Windows XP wireless configuration tool) or
WLAN AutoConfig (the Windows Vista wireless configuration tool).
• The ZyXEL utility.
Do NOT use Windows XP’s Wireless Zero Configuration tool at the same time
you use the ZyXEL utility.
1.5.1 Enabling Windows Wireless Configuration
When you use the ZyXEL utility, it automatically disables Windows XP’s
wireless configuration tool.
If you want to use the Windows XP wireless configuration tool to configure the NWD271N,
you need to disable the ZyXEL utility. Right-click the utility icon (
) in the system tray and
select Exit.
Figure 5 Enable WZC
Refer to the appendices for information on how to use the Windows wireless configuration
tool to manage the NWD271N.
To reactivate the ZyXEL utility, double-click the (
) icon on your desktop or click Start >
(All) Programs > ZyXEL Wireless N USB Adapter Utility > ZyXEL Wireless N USB
Adapter Utility.
NWD271N User’s Guide
25
Chapter 1 Getting Started
1.5.2 Accessing the ZyXEL Utility
Double-click on the ZyXEL wireless LAN utility icon in the system tray to open the ZyXEL
utility.
The ZyXEL utility screens are similar in all Microsoft Windows versions. Screens for
Windows XP are shown in this User’s Guide.
26
Click the
window.
icon (located in the top right corner) to display the online help
NWD271N User’s Guide
CHAPTER
Tutorial
2.1 Overview
This tutorial shows you how to join a wireless infrastructure network using the ZyXEL utility.
The wireless client is labeled C and the Access Point is labeled AP.
Figure 6 Infrastructure Network
2.1.1 What You Can Do in This Tutorial
• Connect securely either to an infrastructure AP using the WPS protocol. See Section 2.2
on page 28 for details.
• Connect securely to an infrastructure AP using many of the strongest and most common
encryption protocols. See Section 2.3 on page 31 for details.
• Save a your settings so that you can later connect again to an infrastructure AP with a
single click. See Section 2.3.2 on page 33 for details.
2.1.2 What You Need to Know
The following term may help as you read through this section.
WPS
Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) is a security protocol that lets two or more devices connect
securely to one another with a minimum amount of hassle on your part. It most cases,
establishing a secure connection with another WPS device is as easy as pushing a button.
2.1.3 Before You Begin
• Make sure that you have already familiarized yourself with the NWD271N’s features and
hardware, as described in Chapter 1 on page 21.
• You should have valid login information for an existing network Access Point, otherwise
you may not be able to make a network connection right away.
NWD271N User’s Guide
27
Chapter 2 Tutorial
2.2 Connecting to an AP using Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS)
This section gives you an example of how to set up your wireless network using WPS. This
example uses the NWD271N as the wireless client, and ZyXEL’s NBG334W as the Access
Point (AP).
The Access Point must be a WPS-aware device.
There are two WPS methods for creating a secure connection. This tutorial shows you both.
• Push Button Configuration (PBC) - create a secure wireless network simply by pressing
a button. See Section 2.2.1 on page 28.This is the easier method.
• PIN Configuration - create a secure wireless network simply by entering a wireless
client's PIN (Personal Identification Number) in the NWD271N’s interface. See Section
2.2.2 on page 29. This is the more secure method, since one device can authenticate the
other.
2.2.1 Push Button Configuration (PBC)
1 Make sure that your access point is turned on and that it is within range of the computer
with the NWD271N installed.
2 Make sure that you have installed the NWD271N’s driver and utility on your computer.
3 In the NWD271N’s utility, click the Adapter tab, enable WPS and select PBC (Push
Button Configuration). In the screen that appears, click Start.
4 Log into the AP’s web configurator and locate its WPS settings section. On the
NBG334W, press the Push Button button in the Network > Wireless Client > WPS
Station screen.
It doesn’t matter which button is pressed first. You must press the second
button within two minutes of pressing the first one.
The AP sends the proper configuration settings to the NWD271N. This may take up to two
minutes. Then the NWD271N is able to communicate with the AP securely.
The following figure shows you an example to set up wireless network and security by
pressing a button on both the AP (the NBG334W in this example) and the NWD271N.
28
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Chapter 2 Tutorial
Figure 7 Example WPS Process: PBC Method
You
AP
WITHIN 2 MINUTES
SECURITY INFO
COMMUNICATION
2.2.2 PIN Configuration
When you use the PIN configuration method, you need to use both the NWD271N’s utility
and the AP’s configuration interface.
1 In the NWD271N’s Adaptor tab, select WPS and PIN - Use this Device’s PIN. Note
down the PIN in the screen that appears.
2 Enter the PIN number in the AP’s configuration interface. In the NBG334W, use the
PIN field in the Network > Wireless LAN > WPS Station screen.
3 Click the Start buttons on both the NWD271N utility screen and the AP’s configuration
utility (the WPS Station screen on the NBG334W) within two minutes.
The NWD271N authenticates the wireless client and sends the proper configuration settings to
the wireless client. This may take up to two minutes. Then the wireless client is able to
communicate with the NWD271N securely.
The following figure shows you the example of configuring the wireless network and security
on the NWD271N and the AP (ZyXEL’s NBG334W in this example) by using the PIN
method.
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Figure 8 Example WPS Process: PIN Method
You
AP
WITHIN 2 MINUTES
Authentication by PIN
SECURITY INFO
COMMUNICATION
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2.3 Connecting to an AP Without Using WPS
There are three ways to connect the wireless client (the NWD271N) to a network without
using WPS.
• Configure nothing and leave the wireless client to automatically scan for and connect to
any available network that has no wireless security configured.
• Manually connect to a network (see Section 2.3.1 on page 31).
• Configure a profile to have the wireless client automatically connect to a specific network
or peer computer (see Section 2.3.2 on page 33).
2.3.1 Manually Connecting to a Wireless LAN
This example illustrates how to manually connect your wireless client to an access point (AP)
configured for WPA-PSK security and connected to the Internet. Before you connect to the
access point, you must know its Service Set IDentity (SSID) and WPA-PSK pre-shared key. In
this example, the AP’s SSID is “SSID_Example3” and its pre-shared key is “ThisismyWPAPSKpre-sharedkey”.
After you install the ZyXEL utility and then insert the wireless client, follow the steps below
to connect to a network using the Site Survey screen.
1 Open the ZyXEL utility and click the Site Survey tab to open the screen shown next.
Figure 9 ZyXEL Utility: Site Survey
2 The wireless client automatically searches for available wireless networks. Click Scan if
you want to search again. If no entry displays in the Available Network List, that means
there is no wireless network available within range. Make sure the AP or peer computer
is turned on, or move the wireless client closer to the AP or peer computer. See Table 4.4
on page 53 for detailed field descriptions.
3 To connect to an AP or peer computer, either click an entry in the list and then click
Connect or double-click an entry (SSID_Example3 in this example).
4 When you try to connect to an AP with security configured, a window will pop up
prompting you to specify the security settings. Enter the pre-shared key and leave the
encryption type at the default setting.
Use the Next button to move on to the next screen. You can use the Back button at any
time to return to the previous screen, or the Exit button to return to the Site Survey
screen.
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Figure 10 ZyXEL Utility: Security Settings
5 The Summary window appears. Check your settings and click Save to continue.
Figure 11 ZyXEL Utility: Summary
6 The ZyXEL utility returns to the Link Info screen while it connects to the wireless
network using your settings. When the wireless link is established, the ZyXEL utility
icon in the system tray turns green and the Link Info screen displays details of the active
connection. Check the network information in the Link Info screen to verify that you
have successfully connected to the selected network. If the wireless client is not
connected to a network, the fields in this screen remain blank. See Table 4.3 on page 51
for detailed field descriptions.
Figure 12 ZyXEL Utility: Link Info
7 Open your Internet browser and enter http://www.zyxel.com or the URL of any other
web site in the address bar. If you are able to access the web site, your wireless
connection is successfully configured. If you cannot access the web site, check the
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Troubleshooting section of this User's Guide or contact your network administrator if
necessary.
2.3.2 Creating and Using a Profile
A profile lets you automatically connect to the same wireless network every time you use the
ZyXEL utility. You can also configure different profiles for different networks, for example if
you connect a notebook computer to wireless networks at home and at work.
This example illustrates how to set up a profile and connect the wireless client to an access
point configured for WPA-PSK security. In this example, the AP’s SSID is “SSID_Example3”
and its pre-shared key is “ThisismyWPA-PSKpre-sharedkey”. You have chosen the profile
name “PN_Example3”.
1 Open the ZyXEL utility and click the Profile tab to open the screen as shown. Click Add
to configure a new profile.
Figure 13 ZyXEL Utility: Profile
2 The Add New Profile screen appears. The wireless client automatically searches for
available wireless networks, which are displayed in the Scan Info box. You can also
configure your profile for a wireless network that is not in the list.
Figure 14 ZyXEL Utility: Add New Profile
3 Give the profile a descriptive name (of up to 32 printable ASCII characters). Select
Infrastructure and either manually enter or select the AP's SSID in the Scan Info table
and click Select.
4 Choose the same encryption method as the AP to which you want to connect (In this
example, WPA-PSK).
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Figure 15 ZyXEL Utility: Profile Security
5 This screen varies depending on the encryption method you selected in the previous
screen. In this example, enter the pre-shared key and leave the encryption type at the
default setting.
Figure 16 ZyXEL Utility: Profile Encryption
6 Verify the profile settings in the ready-only screen. Click Save to save and go to the next
screen.
Figure 17 ZyXEL Utility: Profile Summary
7 Click Activate Now to use the new profile immediately. Otherwise, click the Activate
Later button to go back to the Profile List screen.
If you clicked Activate Later you can select the profile from the list in the Profile
screen and click Connect to activate it.
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Only one profile can be activated and used at any given time.
Figure 18 ZyXEL Utility: Profile Activate
8 When you activate the new profile, the ZyXEL utility goes to the Link Info screen while
it connects to the AP using your settings. When the wireless link is established, the
ZyXEL utility icon in the system tray turns green and the Link Info screen displays
details of the active connection.
9 Make sure the selected AP in the active profile is on and connected to the Internet. Open
your Internet browser, enter http://www.zyxel.com or the URL of any other web site in
the address bar and press ENTER. If you are able to access the web site, your new profile
is successfully configured.
10 If you cannot access the Internet, go back to the Profile screen. Select the profile you are
using and click Edit. Check the details you entered previously. Also, refer to the
Troubleshooting section of this User's Guide or contact your network administrator if
necessary.
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CHAPTER
Wireless LANs
3.1 Overview
This section provides background information on wireless Local Area Networks.
3.1.1 What You Can Do in This Section
• Connect securely to an AP using many of the strongest and most common encryption
protocols. See Section 3.3 on page 39 for details.
• Connect securely either to an AP or computer-to-computer using WPS. See Section 3.4 on
page 41 for details.
3.1.2 What You Need to Know
The following terms and concepts may help as you read through this section.
Server
When two or more devices are connected digitally to form a network, the one that distributes
data to the other devices is known as the “server”. A RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial-In
User Service) is a kind of server that manages logins and logout, among other things, for the
network to which it is connected.
Client
When two or more devices are connected digitally to form a network, the one that contacts and
obtains data from a server is known as the “client”. Each client is designed to work with one or
more specific kinds of servers, and each server requires a specific kind of client. Wireless
adapters are clients that connect to a network server through an AP.
Authentication
Authentication is the process of confirming a client’s or user’s digital identity when they
connect to a network. Turning off authentication means disabling all security protocols and
opening your network to anyone with the means to connect to it.
Encryption
The process of taking data and encoding it, usually using a mathematical formula, so that it
becomes unreadable unless decrypted with the proper code or pass phrase.
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3.1.3 Before You Begin
• You should have valid login information for an existing network Access Point, otherwise
you may not be able to make a network connection right away.
3.2 Wireless LAN Overview
The following figure provides an example of a wireless network with an AP. See Figure 3 on
page 24 for an Ad Hoc network example.
Figure 19 Example of a Wireless Network
The wireless network is the part in the blue circle. In this wireless network, devices A and B
are called wireless clients. The wireless clients use the access point (AP) to interact with other
devices (such as the printer) or with the Internet
Every wireless network must follow these basic guidelines.
• Every device in the same wireless network must use the same SSID.
The SSID is the name of the wireless network. It stands for Service Set IDentity.
• If two wireless networks overlap, they should use a different channel.
Like radio stations or television channels, each wireless network uses a specific channel,
or frequency, to send and receive information.
• Every device in the same wireless network must use security compatible with the AP or
peer computer.
Security stops unauthorized devices from using the wireless network. It can also protect
the information that is sent in the wireless network.
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3.3 Wireless LAN Security
Wireless LAN security is vital to your network to protect wireless communications.
If you do not enable any wireless security on your NWD271N, the NWD271N’s wireless
communications are accessible to any wireless networking device that is in the coverage area.
You can use only WEP encryption if you set the NWD271N to Ad-hoc mode.
See the appendices for more detailed information about wireless security.
3.3.1 User Authentication and Encryption
You can make every user log in to the wireless network before they can use it. This is called
user authentication. However, every wireless client in the wireless network has to support
IEEE 802.1x to do this.
Wireless networks can use encryption to protect the information that is sent in the wireless
network. Encryption is like a secret code. If you do not know the secret code, you cannot
understand the message.
3.3.1.1 WEP
3.3.1.1.1 Data Encryption
WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) encryption scrambles all data packets transmitted between
the NWD271N and the AP or other wireless stations to keep network communications private.
Both the wireless stations and the access points must use the same WEP key for data
encryption and decryption.
There are two ways to create WEP keys in your NWD271N.
• Automatic WEP key generation based on a “password phrase” called a passphrase. The
passphrase is case sensitive. You must use the same passphrase for all WLAN adapters
with this feature in the same WLAN.
For WLAN adapters without the passphrase feature, you can still take advantage of this
feature by writing down the four automatically generated WEP keys from the Security
Settings screen of the ZyXEL utility and entering them manually as the WEP keys in the
other WLAN adapter(s).
• Enter the WEP keys manually.
Your NWD271N allows you to configure up to four 64-bit, 128-bit or 152-bit WEP keys.
Only one key is used as the default key at any one time.
3.3.1.1.2 Authentication Type
The IEEE 802.11b/g standard describes a simple authentication method between the wireless
stations and AP. Three authentication types are defined: Auto, Open and Shared.
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• Open mode is implemented for ease-of-use and when security is not an issue. The
wireless station and the AP or peer computer do not share a secret key. Thus the wireless
stations can associate with any AP or peer computer and listen to any transmitted data that
is not encrypted.
• Shared mode involves a shared secret key to authenticate the wireless station to the AP or
peer computer. This requires you to enable the wireless LAN security and use same
settings on both the wireless station and the AP or peer computer.
• Auto authentication mode allows the NWD271N to switch between the open system and
shared key modes automatically. Use the auto mode if you do not know the authentication
mode of the other wireless stations.
3.3.1.2 IEEE 802.1x
The IEEE 802.1x standard outlines enhanced security methods for both the authentication of
wireless stations and encryption key management. Authentication can be done using an
external RADIUS server.
3.3.1.2.1 EAP Authentication
EAP (Extensible Authentication Protocol) is an authentication protocol that runs on top of the
IEEE 802.1x transport mechanism in order to support multiple types of user authentication. By
using EAP to interact with an EAP-compatible RADIUS server, an access point helps a
wireless station and a RADIUS server perform authentication.
The type of authentication you use depends on the RADIUS server and an intermediary AP(s)
that supports IEEE 802.1x. The NWD271N supports EAP-TLS, EAP-TTLS (at the time of
writing, TTLS is not available in Windows Vista) and EAP-PEAP. Refer to Appendix B on
page 99 for descriptions.
For EAP-TLS authentication type, you must first have a wired connection to the network and
obtain the certificate(s) from a certificate authority (CA). Certificates (also called digital IDs)
can be used to authenticate users and a CA issues certificates and guarantees the identity of
each certificate owner.
3.3.1.3 WPA and WPA2
Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) is a subset of the IEEE 802.11i standard. WPA2 (IEEE
802.11i) is a wireless security standard that defines stronger encryption, authentication and
key management than WPA.
Key differences between WPA(2) and WEP are improved data encryption and user
authentication.
Both WPA and WPA2 improve data encryption by using Temporal Key Integrity Protocol
(TKIP), Message Integrity Check (MIC) and IEEE 802.1x. WPA and WPA2 use Advanced
Encryption Standard (AES) in the Counter mode with Cipher block chaining Message
authentication code Protocol (CCMP) to offer stronger encryption than TKIP.
If both an AP and the wireless clients support WPA2 and you have an external RADIUS
server, use WPA2 for stronger data encryption. If you don't have an external RADIUS server,
you should use WPA2-PSK (WPA2-Pre-Shared Key) that only requires a single (identical)
password entered into each access point, wireless gateway and wireless client. As long as the
passwords match, a wireless client will be granted access to a WLAN.
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If the AP or the wireless clients do not support WPA2, just use WPA or WPA-PSK depending
on whether you have an external RADIUS server or not.
Select WEP only when the AP and/or wireless clients do not support WPA or WPA2. WEP is
less secure than WPA or WPA2.
3.4 WiFi Protected Setup
Your NWD271N supports WiFi Protected Setup (WPS), which is an easy way to set up a
secure wireless network. WPS is an industry standard specification, defined by the WiFi
Alliance.
WPS allows you to quickly set up a wireless network with strong security, without having to
configure security settings manually. Each WPS connection works between two devices. Both
devices must support WPS (check each device’s documentation to make sure).
Depending on the devices you have, you can either press a button (on the device itself, or in its
configuration utility) or enter a PIN (a unique Personal Identification Number that allows one
device to authenticate the other) in each of the two devices. When WPS is activated on a
device, it has two minutes to find another device that also has WPS activated. Then, the two
devices connect and set up a secure network by themselves.
3.4.1 Push Button Configuration
WPS Push Button Configuration (PBC) is initiated by pressing a button on each WPS-enabled
device, and allowing them to connect automatically. You do not need to enter any information.
Not every WPS-enabled device has a physical WPS button. Some may have a WPS PBC
button in their configuration utilities instead of or in addition to the physical button.
Take the following steps to set up WPS using the button.
1 Ensure that the two devices you want to set up are within wireless range of one another.
2 Look for a WPS button on each device. If the device does not have one, log into its
configuration utility and locate the button (see the device’s User’s Guide for how to do
this - for the NWD271N, see Section 4.6.1 on page 65).
3 Press the button on one of the devices (it doesn’t matter which).
4 Within two minutes, press the button on the other device. The registrar sends the
network name (SSID) and security key through an secure connection to the enrollee.
If you need to make sure that WPS worked, check the list of associated wireless clients in the
AP’s configuration utility. If you see the wireless client in the list, WPS was successful.
3.4.2 PIN Configuration
Each WPS-enabled device has its own PIN (Personal Identification Number). This may either
be static (it cannot be changed) or dynamic (in some devices you can generate a new PIN by
clicking on a button in the configuration interface).
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Use the PIN method instead of the push-button configuration (PBC) method if you want to
ensure that the connection is established between the devices you specify, not just the first two
devices to activate WPS in range of each other. However, you need to log into the
configuration interfaces of both devices to use the PIN method.
When you use the PIN method, you must enter the PIN from one device (usually the wireless
client) into the second device (usually the Access Point or wireless router). Then, when WPS
is activated on the first device, it presents its PIN to the second device. If the PIN matches, one
device sends the network and security information to the other, allowing it to join the network.
Take the following steps to set up a WPS connection between an access point or wireless
router (referred to here as the AP) and a client device using the PIN method.
1 Ensure WPS is enabled on both devices.
2 Access the WPS section of the AP’s configuration interface. See the device’s User’s
Guide for how to do this.
3 Look for the client’s WPS PIN; it will be displayed either on the device, or in the WPS
section of the client’s configuration interface (see the device’s User’s Guide for how to
find the WPS PIN - for the NWD271N, see Section 4.6 on page 64).
4 Enter the client’s PIN in the AP’s configuration interface.
If the client device’s configuration interface has an area for entering another
device’s PIN, you can either enter the client’s PIN in the AP, or enter the AP’s
PIN in the client - it does not matter which.
5 Start WPS on both devices within two minutes.
Use the configuration utility to activate WPS, not the push-button on the device
itself.
6 On a computer connected to the wireless client, try to connect to the Internet. If you can
connect, WPS was successful.
If you cannot connect, check the list of associated wireless clients in the AP’s
configuration utility. If you see the wireless client in the list, WPS was successful.
The following figure shows a WPS-enabled wireless client (installed in a notebook computer)
connecting to the WPS-enabled AP via the PIN method.
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Figure 20 Example WPS Process: PIN Method
ENROLLEE
REGISTRAR
WPS
This device’s
WPS PIN: 123456
WPS
Enter WPS PIN
from other device:
WPS
START
WPS
START
WITHIN 2 MINUTES
SECURE EAP TUNNEL
SSID
WPA(2)-PSK
COMMUNICATION
3.4.3 How WPS Works
When two WPS-enabled devices connect, each device must assume a specific role. One device
acts as the registrar (the device that supplies network and security settings) and the other
device acts as the enrollee (the device that receives network and security settings. The registrar
creates a secure EAP (Extensible Authentication Protocol) tunnel and sends the network name
(SSID) and the WPA-PSK or WPA2-PSK pre-shared key to the enrollee. Whether WPA-PSK
or WPA2-PSK is used depends on the standards supported by the devices. If the registrar is
already part of a network, it sends the existing information. If not, it generates the SSID and
WPA(2)-PSK randomly.
The following figure shows a WPS-enabled client (installed in a notebook computer)
connecting to a WPS-enabled access point.
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Figure 21 How WPS works
ACTIVATE
WPS
ACTIVATE
WPS
WITHIN 2 MINUTES
WPS HANDSHAKE
ENROLLEE
REGISTRAR
SECURE TUNNEL
SECURITY INFO
COMMUNICATION
The roles of registrar and enrollee last only as long as the WPS setup process is active (two
minutes). The next time you use WPS, a different device can be the registrar if necessary.
The WPS connection process is like a handshake; only two devices participate in each WPS
transaction. If you want to add more devices you should repeat the process with one of the
existing networked devices and the new device.
Note that the access point (AP) is not always the registrar, and the wireless client is not always
the enrollee. All WPS-certified APs can be a registrar, and so can some WPS-enabled wireless
clients.
By default, a WPS devices is “unconfigured”. This means that it is not part of an existing
network and can act as either enrollee or registrar (if it supports both functions). If the registrar
is unconfigured, the security settings it transmits to the enrollee are randomly-generated. Once
a WPS-enabled device has connected to another device using WPS, it becomes “configured”.
A configured wireless client can still act as enrollee or registrar in subsequent WPS
connections, but a configured access point can no longer act as enrollee. It will be the registrar
in all subsequent WPS connections in which it is involved. If you want a configured AP to act
as an enrollee, you must reset it to its factory defaults.
3.4.3.1 Example WPS Network Setup
This section shows how security settings are distributed in an example WPS setup.
The following figure shows an example network. In step 1, both AP1 and Client 1 are
unconfigured. When WPS is activated on both, they perform the handshake. In this example,
AP1 is the registrar, and Client 1 is the enrollee. The registrar randomly generates the security
information to set up the network, since it is unconfigured and has no existing information.
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Figure 22 WPS: Example Network Step 1
ENROLLEE
REGISTRAR
SECURITY INFO
AP1
CLIENT 1
In step 2, you add another wireless client to the network. You know that Client 1 supports
registrar mode, but it is better to use AP1 for the WPS handshake with the new client since
you must connect to the access point anyway in order to use the network. In this case, AP1
must be the registrar, since it is configured (it already has security information for the
network). AP1 supplies the existing security information to Client 2.
Figure 23 WPS: Example Network Step 2
REGISTRAR
EXISTING CONNECTION
AP1
CLIENT 1
ENROLLEE
RIT
CU
INF
CLIENT 2
In step 3, you add another access point (AP2) to your network. AP2 is out of range of AP1, so
you cannot use AP1 for the WPS handshake with the new access point. However, you know
that Client 2 supports the registrar function, so you use it to perform the WPS handshake
instead.
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Figure 24 WPS: Example Network Step 3
EXISTING CONNECTION
CLIENT 1
ION
CT
NN
CO
TIN
XIS
AP1
REGISTRAR
CLIENT 2
SE
CU
RIT
ENROLLEE
INF
AP1
3.4.4 Limitations of WPS
WPS has some limitations of which you should be aware.
• WPS works in Infrastructure networks only (where an AP and a wireless client
communicate). It does not work in Ad-Hoc networks (where there is no AP).
• When you use WPS, it works between two devices only. You cannot enroll multiple
devices simultaneously, you must enroll one after the other.
For instance, if you have two enrollees and one registrar you must set up the first enrollee
(by pressing the WPS button on the registrar and the first enrollee, for example), then
check that it successfully enrolled, then set up the second device in the same way.
• WPS works only with other WPS-enabled devices. However, you can still add non-WPS
devices to a network you already set up using WPS.
WPS works by automatically issuing a randomly-generated WPA-PSK or WPA2-PSK
pre-shared key from the registrar device to the enrollee devices (see Section 4.4.1.2 on
page 55 for information on pre-shared keys). Whether the network uses WPA-PSK or
WPA2-PSK depends on the device. You can check the configuration interface of the
registrar device to discover the key the network is using (if the device supports this
feature). Then, you can enter the key into the non-WPS device and join the network as
normal (the non-WPS device must also support WPA-PSK or WPA2-PSK).
• When you use the PBC method, there is a short period (from the moment you press the
button on one device to the moment you press the button on the other device) when any
WPS-enabled device could join the network. This is because the registrar has no way of
identifying the “correct” enrollee, and cannot differentiate between your enrollee and a
rogue device. This is a possible way for a hacker to gain access to a network.
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You can easily check to see if this has happened. WPS works between only two devices
simultaneously, so if another device has enrolled your device will be unable to enroll, and
will not have access to the network. If this happens, open the access point’s configuration
interface and look at the list of associated clients (usually displayed by MAC address). It
does not matter if the access point is the WPS registrar, the enrollee, or was not involved
in the WPS handshake; a rogue device must still associate with the access point to gain
access to the network. Check the MAC addresses of your wireless clients (usually printed
on a label on the bottom of the device). If there is an unknown MAC address you can
remove it or reset the AP.
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CHAPTER
ZyXEL Utility - Windows
4.1 Overview
This section shows you how to configure your NWD271N using the ZyXEL utility in
Windows.
Some features available in Windows XP or Windows 2000 are not available in
Windows Vista.
4.1.1 What You Can Do in This Section
• On the Link Info screen, you can see your current connection details, monitor signal
strength and quality, and more. See Section 4.3 on page 51 for details.
• On the Site Survey screen, you can connect to any available unsecured wireless network
in range of the NWD271N, or open the security settings screen for any secured wireless
network in range. See Section 4.4 on page 53 for details.\
• On the Profile screen, you can create, delete and manage your wireless network profiles.
See Section 4.5 on page 59 for details.
• On the Adapter screen, you can configure the NWD271N hardware, such as activating
WPS mode or its power saving feature. See Section 4.6 on page 64 for details.
4.1.2 What You Need to Know
The following terms and concepts may help as you read through this section.
Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP)
WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) encrypts data transmitted between wired and wireless
networks to keep the transmission private. Although one of the original wireless encryption
protocols, WEP is also the weakest. Many people use it strictly to deter unintentional usage of
their wireless network by outsiders.
Wi-fi Protected Access (WPA)
Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) is a subset of the IEEE 802.11i standard. It improves data
encryption by using Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP), Message Integrity Check (MIC)
and IEEE 802.1x. WPA uses Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) in the Counter mode with
Cipher block chaining Message authentication code Protocol (CCMP) to offer stronger
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Chapter 4 ZyXEL Utility - Windows
encryption than TKIP. WPA applies IEEE 802.1x and Extensible Authentication Protocol
(EAP) to authenticate wireless clients using an external RADIUS database. The WPA protocol
affords users with vastly stronger security than the WEP protocol. It comes in two different
varieties: WPA and WPA2. Always try to use WPA2 as it implements the full version of the
security standard while WPA does not.
Pre-Shared Key (PSK)
A pre-shared key is a password shared between the server and the client that unlocks the
algorithm used to encrypt the data traffic between them. Without the proper password, the
client and the server cannot communicate.
Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP)
An enhanced security framework designed to improve an existing security protocol, such as
WPA-PSK or WPA2-PSK.
4.1.3 Before You Begin
• Make sure the ZyXEL utility is already installed. See the Quick Start Guide for more.
4.2 ZyXEL Utility Screen Summary
This section describes the ZyXEL utility screens.
Figure 25 ZyXEL Utility Menu Summary
The following table describes the menus.
Table 4 ZyXEL Utility Menu Summary
50
TAB
DESCRIPTION
Link Info
Use this screen to see your current connection status, configuration and data rate
statistics.
Site Survey
Use this screen to:
• scan for a wireless network.
• configure wireless security (if activated on the selected network).
• connect to a wireless network.
Profile
Use this screen to add, delete, edit or activate a profile with a set of wireless and
security settings.
Adapter
Use this screen to configure preamble type, enable power saving and use WiFi
Protected Setup (WPS).
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4.3 The Link Info Screen
When the ZyXEL utility starts, the Link Info screen displays, showing the current
configuration and connection status of your NWD271N.
Figure 26 Link Info
The following table describes the labels in this screen.
Table 5 Link Info
LABEL
DESCRIPTION
Wireless Network
Status
Profile Name
This is the name of the profile you are currently using.
Network
Name (SSID)
The SSID identifies the wireless network to which a wireless station is associated.
This field displays the name of the wireless device to which the NWD271N is
associated.
AP MAC
Address
This field displays the MAC address of the AP or peer computer to which the
NWD271N is associated.
Network Type
This field displays the network type (Infrastructure or Ad-Hoc) of the wireless
network.
Transmission
Rate
This field displays the current transmission rate of the NWD271N in megabits per
second (Mbps).
Security
This field displays whether data encryption is activated (WEP / 802.1x / WPA /
WPA-PSK / WPA2 / WPA2-PSK) or inactive (DISABLE).
Channel
This field displays the radio channel the NWD271N is currently using.
Statistics
Transmit Rate
This field displays the current data transmission rate in kilobits per second (Kbps).
Receive Rate
This field displays the current data receiving rate in kilobits per second (Kbps).
Authentication
This field displays the authentication method of the NWD271N.
Network Mode
This field displays the wireless standard used by the selected wireless device. It
shows B for 802.11b, G for 802.11g or N for 802.11n.
Total Transmit
This field displays the total number of data frames transmitted.
Total Receive
This field displays the total number of data frames received.
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Table 5 Link Info (continued)
LABEL
DESCRIPTION
Link Quality
This field displays the signal strength of the NWD271N.
Trend Chart
Click this button to display the real-time statistics of the data rate in kilobits per
second (Kbps).
Signal Strength
The status bar shows the strength of the signal. The signal strength mainly
depends on the antenna output power and the distance between your NWD271N
and the AP or peer computer.
Link Quality
The status bar shows the quality of wireless connection. This refers to the
percentage of packets transmitted successfully. If there are too many wireless
stations in a wireless network, collisions may occur which could result in a loss of
messages even though you have high signal strength.
4.3.1 Trend Chart
Click Trend Chart in the Link Info screen to display a screen as shown below. Use this
screen to view real-time data traffic statistics.
Figure 27 Link Info: Trend Chart
The following table describes the labels in this screen.
Table 6 Link Info: Trend Chart
52
LABEL
DESCRIPTION
Transmit
This field displays the current data transmission rate in kilobits per second (Kbps).
Receive
This field displays the current data reception rate in kilobits per second (Kbps).
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4.4 The Site Survey Screen
Use the Site Survey screen to scan for and connect to a wireless network automatically.
Figure 28 Site Survey
The following table describes the labels in this screen.
Table 7 Site Survey
LABEL
DESCRIPTION
Available Network
List
Click a column heading to sort the entries.
or
denotes that the wireless device is in infrastructure mode and the wireless
security is activated.
denotes that the wireless device is in infrastructure mode but the wireless
security is deactivated.
denotes that the wireless device is in Ad-Hoc mode and the wireless
security is activated.
denotes that the wireless device is in Ad-Hoc mode but the wireless
security is deactivated.
SSID
This field displays the SSID (Service Set IDentifier) of each wireless device.
Channel
This field displays the channel number used by each wireless device.
Signal
This field displays the signal strength of each wireless device.
Scan
Click Scan to search for available wireless devices within transmission range.
Connect
Click Connect to associate to the selected wireless device.
Site Information
Click an entry in the Available Network List table to display the information of the
selected wireless device.
Network Type
This field displays the network type (Infrastructure or Ad Hoc) of the wireless
device.
Network Mode
This field displays the wireless standard used by the selected wireless device. It
shows B for 802.11b, G for 802.11g or N for 802.11n.
Channel
This field displays the channel number used by each wireless device.
Security
This field shows whether data encryption is activated (WEP, WPA, WPA-PSK,
WPA2, WPA2-PSK or 802.1x) or inactive (DISABLE).
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Table 7 Site Survey (continued)
LABEL
DESCRIPTION
MAC address
This field displays the MAC address of the wireless device.
Surveyed at
This field displays the time when the wireless device was scanned.
4.4.1 Security Settings
When you configure the NWD271N to connect to a network with wireless security activated
and the security settings are disabled on the NWD271N, the screen varies according to the
encryption method used by the selected network.
4.4.1.1 WEP Encryption
Configure WEP security in this screen.
Figure 29 Security Setting: WEP
The following table describes the labels in this screen.
Table 8 Security Setting: WEP
LABEL
DESCRIPTION
Security Settings
54
WEP
Select 64 Bits or 128 Bits to activate WEP encryption and then fill in the related
fields.
Authentication
Type
Select an authentication method. Choices are Open and Shared.
Refer to Section 3.3.1.1.2 on page 39 for more information.
Pass Phrase
Enter a passphrase of up to 32 case-sensitive printable characters. As you enter
the passphrase, the NWD271N automatically generates four different WEP keys
and displays the first in the key field below. Refer to Section 3.3.1.1.1 on page 39
for more information.
Transmit Key
Select a default WEP key to use for data encryption. The key displays in the
adjacent field.
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Table 8 Security Setting: WEP (continued)
LABEL
DESCRIPTION
Key x (where x is
a number
between 1 and 4)
Select this option if you want to manually enter the WEP keys. Enter the WEP key
in the field provided.
If you select 64 Bits in the WEP field.
Enter either 10 hexadecimal digits in the range of “A-F”, “a-f” and “0-9” (for
example, 11AA22BB33) for HEX key type.
or
Enter 5 ASCII characters (case sensitive) ranging from “a-z”, “A-Z” and “0-9”
(for example, MyKey) for ASCII key type.
If you select 128 Bits in the WEP field,
Enter either 26 hexadecimal digits in the range of “A-F”, “a-f” and “0-9” (for
example, 00112233445566778899AABBCC) for HEX key type
or
Enter 13 ASCII characters (case sensitive) ranging from “a-z”, “A-Z” and “0-9”
(for example, MyKey12345678) for ASCII key type.
Note: The values for the WEP keys must be set up exactly the
same on all wireless devices in the same wireless LAN.
ASCII WEP keys are case sensitive.
Back
Click Back to go to the Site Survey screen to select and connect to another
network.
Next
Click Next to confirm your selections and advance to the Summary screen. Refer
to Section 4.4.2 on page 59.
Exit
Click Exit to return to the Site Survey screen without saving.
4.4.1.2 WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK
Configure WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK security in this screen.
The procedure to configure WPA or WPA2 is different in Windows Vista. See
Section 4.7 on page 67 for information on setting up your NWD271N to use
WPA or WPA2 in Vista.
Figure 30 Security Setting: WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK
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The following table describes the labels in this screen.
Table 9 Security Setting: WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK
LABEL
DESCRIPTION
Encryption Type
The encryption mechanisms used for WPA/WPA2 and WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK are
the same. The only difference between the two is that WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK uses
a simple common password, instead of user-specific credentials.
Select the encryption type (TKIP or AES) for data encryption.
Refer to Section 3.3.1.3 on page 40 for more information.
Pre-Shared Key
Type a pre-shared key (same as the AP or peer device) of between 8 and 63
case-sensitive ASCII characters (including spaces and symbols) or 64
hexadecimal characters.
Back
Click Back to go to the Site Survey screen to select and connect to another
network.
Next
Click Next to confirm your selections and advance to the Summary screen. Refer
to Section 4.4.2 on page 59.
Exit
Click Exit to return to the Site Survey screen without saving.
4.4.1.3 WPA/WPA2
The screen that displays when you select WPA or WPA2 differs, depending on the EAP Type
you select (TLS, PEAP or TTLS).
Figure 31 Security Settings: WPA/WPA2
The following table describes the labels in this screen.
Table 10 Security Setting: WPA/WPA2
56
LABEL
DESCRIPTION
Encryption Type
The encryption mechanisms used for WPA/WPA2 and WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK are
the same. The only difference between the two is that WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK uses
a simple common password, instead of user-specific credentials.
Select the encryption type (TKIP or AES) for data encryption.
Refer to Section 3.3.1.3 on page 40 for more information.
EAP Type
The type of authentication you use depends on the RADIUS server or AP.
Select an authentication method from the drop down list. Options are TLS, PEAP
and TTLS (at the time of writing, TTLS is not available in Windows Vista).
Login Name
Enter a user name.
This is the user name that you or an administrator set up on a RADIUS server.
Password
This field is not available when you select TLS in the EAP Type field.
Enter the password associated with the user name above.
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Table 10 Security Setting: WPA/WPA2
LABEL
DESCRIPTION
Certificate
This field is only available when you select TLS in the EAP Type field.
Click Browse to select a certificate.
Note: You must first have a wired connection to a network and
obtain the certificate(s) from a certificate authority (CA).
Consult your network administrator for more information.
PEAP Inner EAP
This field is only available when you select PEAP in the EAP Type field.
The PEAP method used by the RADIUS server or AP for client authentication is
MS CHAP v2.
TTLS Protocol
This field is available only when you select TTLS in the EAP Type field.
Select a TTLS protocol that the RADIUS server uses. Options are CHAP, MSCHAP, MS-CHAP-V2 and PAP.
Note: This feature is not available on Windows Vista.
Back
Click Back to go to the Site Survey screen to select and connect to another
network.
Next
Click Next to confirm your selections and advance to the Summary screen (refer
to Section 4.4.2 on page 59.)
Exit
Click Exit to return to the Site Survey screen without saving.
4.4.1.4 IEEE 802.1x
Configure IEEE 802.1x security with various authentication methods in this screen.
The procedure to configure 802.1x is different in Windows Vista. See Section
4.7 on page 67 for information on setting up your NWD271N to use 802.1x in
Vista.
Figure 32 Security Setting: 802.1x
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The following table describes the labels in this screen.
Table 11 Security Settings: IEEE 802.1x
LABEL
DESCRIPTION
Encryption Type
Select WEP if the access point is configured to use 802.1x with WEP encryption.
A dynamic WEP key is generated automatically.
Otherwise, select Disable (at the time of writing, this is not available in Windows
Vista).
EAP Type
The type of authentication you use depends on the RADIUS server or AP.
Select an authentication method from the drop down list. Options are TLS, PEAP
and TTLS (at the time of writing, TTLS is not available in Windows Vista).
Login Name
Enter a user name.
This is the user name that you or an administrator set up on a RADIUS server.
Password
This field is not available when you select TLS in the EAP Type field.
Enter the password associated with the user name above.
Certificate
This field is only available when you select TLS in the EAP Type field.
Click Browse to select a certificate.
Note: You must first have a wired connection to a network and
obtain the certificate(s) from a certificate authority (CA).
Consult your network administrator for more information.
TTLS Protocol
This field is available only when you select TTLS in the EAP Type field.
Select a TTLS protocol that the RADIUS server uses. Options are CHAP, MSCHAP, MS-CHAP-V2 and PAP.
Note: This feature is not available on Windows Vista.
58
PEAP Inner EAP
This field is only available when you select PEAP in the EAP Type field.
The PEAP method used by the RADIUS server or AP for client authentication is
MS CHAP v2.
Back
Click Back to go to the Site Survey screen to select and connect to another
network.
Next
Click Next to confirm your selections and advance to the Summary screen (refer
to Section 4.4.2 on page 59.)
Exit
Click Exit to return to the Site Survey screen without saving.
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4.4.2 Summary Screen
Use this screen to confirm and save the security settings.
Figure 33 Summary Screen
The following table describes the labels in this screen.
Table 12 Summary Screen
LABEL
DESCRIPTION
Network Name
(SSID)
This field displays the SSID previously entered.
Network Type
This field displays the network type (Infrastructure or Ad-Hoc) of the wireless
device.
Channel
This field displays the channel number used by the profile.
Security
This field shows whether data encryption is activated (WEP, WPA, WPA-PSK,
WPA2, WPA2-PSK, 802.1x) or inactive (DISABLE).
Back
Click Back to return to the previous screen.
Save
Click Save to save the changes back to the NWD271N and display the Link Info
screen.
Exit
Click Exit to discard changes and return to the Site Survey screen.
4.5 The Profile Screen
A profile is a set of wireless parameters that you need to connect to a wireless network. With a
profile activated, each time you start the NWD271N, it automatically scans for the specific
SSID and joins that network with the pre-defined wireless security settings. If the specified
network is not available, the NWD271N cannot connect to a network.
If you do not configure and activate a profile, each time you start the NWD271N, the
NWD271N uses the default profile to connect to any available network that has no security
enabled.
The default profile is a profile that allows you to connect to any SSID that has no security
enabled.
Click the Profile tab in the ZyXEL utility program to display the Profile screen as shown next.
The profile function allows you to save the wireless network settings in this screen, or use one
of the pre-configured network profiles.
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Figure 34 Profile
The following table describes the labels in this screen.
Table 13 Profile
LABEL
DESCRIPTION
Profile List
Click a column heading to sort the entries.
or
60
denotes that the wireless device is in infrastructure mode and the wireless
security is activated.
denotes that the wireless device is in infrastructure mode but the wireless
security is deactivated.
denotes that the wireless device is in Ad-Hoc mode and the wireless
security is activated.
denotes that the wireless device is in Ad-Hoc mode but the wireless
security is deactivated.
Profile Name
This is the name of the pre-configured profile.
SSID
This is the SSID of the wireless network to which the selected profile associate.
Connect
To use and activate a previously saved network profile, select a pre-configured
profile name in the table and click Connect.
Add
To add a new profile into the table, click Add.
Delete
To delete an existing wireless network configuration, select a profile in the table
and click Delete.
Edit
To edit an existing wireless network configuration, select a profile in the table and
click Edit.
Profile Info
The following fields display detailed information of the selected profile in the
Profile List table.
Network Type
This field displays the network type (Infrastructure or Ad-Hoc) of the profile.
SSID
This field displays the network’s Service Set IDentity (the name of the network).
Channel
This field displays the channel number used by the profile.
Security
This field shows whether data encryption is activated (WEP, WPA, WPA-PSK,
WPA2, WPA2-PSK or 802.1x) or inactive (DISABLE).
Transfer Rate
This field displays the transmission speed of the selected profile in megabits per
second (Mbps).
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4.5.1 Adding a New Profile
Follow the steps below to add a new profile.
1 Click Add in the Profile screen. An Add New Profile screen displays as shown next.
Figure 35 Profile: Add a New Profile
The following table describes the labels in this screen.
Table 14 Profile: Add a New Profile
LABEL
DESCRIPTION
Add New Profile
Profile Name
Enter a descriptive name in this field.
SSID
Select an available wireless device in the Scan Info table and click Select, or
enter the SSID of the wireless device to which you want to associate in this field
manually. Otherwise, enter Any to have the NWD271N associate to any AP or
roam between any infrastructure wireless networks.
Network Type
Select Infrastructure to associate to an AP. Select Ad-Hoc to associate to a peer
computer.
Next
Click Next to go to the next screen.
Exit
Click Exit to go back to the previous screen without saving.
Scan Info
This table displays the information of the available wireless networks within the
transmission range.
or
SSID
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denotes that the wireless device is in infrastructure mode and the wireless
security is activated.
denotes that the wireless device is in infrastructure mode but the wireless
security is deactivated.
denotes that the wireless device is in Ad-Hoc mode and the wireless
security is activated.
denotes that the wireless device is in Ad-Hoc mode but the wireless
security is deactivated.
This field displays the SSID (Service Set IDentifier) of each AP or peer device.
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Table 14 Profile: Add a New Profile (continued)
LABEL
DESCRIPTION
Scan
Click Scan to search for available wireless devices within transmission range.
Select
Select an available wireless device in the table and click Select to add it to this
profile.
Whenever you activate this profile, the NWD271N associates to the selected
wireless network only.
2 If you select the Infrastructure network type in the previous screen, skip to step 3. If
you select the Ad-Hoc network type in the previous screen, a screen displays as follows.
Select a Channel number and Wireless Mode and click Next to continue.
To associate to an ad-hoc network, you must use the same channel as the
peer computer.
Figure 36 Profile: Wireless Settings
The following table describes the labels in this screen.
Table 15 Profile: Wireless Settings
LABEL
DESCRIPTION
Wireless Settings
Channel
Select a channel number from the drop-down list box. To associate to an ad-hoc
network, you must use the same channel as the peer computer.
Wireless Mode
This is the wireless standard the NWD271N uses. In Ad-Hoc mode, you can use
only 802.11b or 802.11g.
3 If you selected Infrastructure network type in the first screen, select WEP, WPA,
WPA2, WPA-PSK, WPA2-PSK or 802.1x from the drop-down list box to enable data
encryption. If you selected Ad-Hoc network type in the first screen, you can use only
WEP encryption method. Otherwise, select DISABLE to allow the NWD271N to
communicate with the access points or other peer wireless computers without any data
encryption, and skip to step 5.
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Figure 37 Profile: Wireless Settings
4 The screen varies depending on the encryption method you select in the previous screen.
The settings must be exactly the same on the AP or other peer wireless computers as they
are on the NWD271N. Refer to Section 4.4.1 on page 54 for detailed information on
wireless security configuration.
Figure 38 Profile: Security Settings
5 This read-only screen shows a summary of the new profile settings. Verify that the
settings are correct. Click Save to save and go to the next screen. Click Back to return to
the previous screen. Otherwise, click Exit to go back to the Profile screen without
saving.
Figure 39 Profile: Confirm New Settings
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6 To use this network profile, click the Activate Now button. Otherwise, click the
Activate Later button. You can activate only one profile at a time.
Once you activate a profile, the ZyXEL utility will use that profile the next time it
is started.
Figure 40 Profile: Activate the Profile
4.6 The Adapter Screen
To set the other advanced features on the NWD271N, click the Adapter tab.
Figure 41 Adapter
The following table describes the labels in this screen.
Table 16 Adapter
LABEL
DESCRIPTION
Adapter Setting
Preamble Type
64
Preamble is used to signal that data is coming to the receiver. Short preamble
increases performance as less time sending preamble means more time for
sending data. All IEEE 802.11b/g compliant wireless adapters support long
preamble, but not all support short preamble.
The NWD271N automatically uses short preamble when the access point
supports it; otherwise the NWD271N uses long preamble.
At the time of writing, this field is not available in Windows Vista.
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Table 16 Adapter (continued)
LABEL
DESCRIPTION
Power Saving
Mode
Select Fast Power Save to save power. This forces the NWD271N to go to sleep
mode when it is not transmitting data.
When you select Continuous Access Mode, the NWD271N will never go to
sleep mode.
At the time of writing, this field is not available in Windows Vista.
WMM QoS
Select this to enable Wi-fi MultiMedia Quality of Service on the NWD271N.
At the time of writing, this field is not available in Windows Vista.
WPS (WiFi
Protected Setup)
Select this to enable Wi-fi Protected Setup on the NWD271N.
PBC (Push Button
Configuration)
Select this to use the PBC (Push-Button Configuration) WPS mode. When you
use the PBC mode you do not use a PIN.
When you select this, the PBC (Push Button Configuration screen appears (see
Section 4.6.1 on page 65).
PIN - Use This
Device’s PIN
Select this to use the PIN (Personal Identification Number) WPS mode. Use this
option when you want to enter the NWD271N’s PIN in another WPS-enabled
device.
When you select this, the PIN - Use this Device’s PIN screen appears (see
Section 4.6.2 on page 66).
PIN - Use the PIN
From the AP or
Wireless Router
Select this to use the PIN (Personal Identification Number) WPS mode. Use this
option when you want to enter the PIN from another WPS-enabled device in the
NWD271N.
When you select this, the PIN - Use the PIN From the AP or Wireless Router
screen appears (see Section 4.6.3 on page 67).
Save
Click Save to save the changes to the NWD271N and return to the Link Info
screen.
4.6.1 WPS: PBC (Push Button Configuration)
This screen allows you to use the WPS Push Button Configuration mode. See Section 3.4.1 on
page 41 for more information. Select WPS and PBC (Push Button Configuration) in the
Adapter screen. The following screen displays.
Figure 42 WPS: PBC (Push Button Configuration)
Press Start when you want to begin the WPS process. You must also press the button on the
other device within two minutes.
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4.6.2 WPS: PIN - Use this Device’s PIN
This screen allows you to use the WPS Personal Identification Number mode, by entering the
NWD271N’s unique PIN in the configuration utility of the other WPS-enabled device. See
Section 3.4.2 on page 41 for more information. Select WPS and PIN - Use this Device’s PIN
in the Adapter screen. The following screen displays.
Figure 43 WPS: PIN - Use this Device’s PIN
The following table describes the labels in this screen.
Table 17 WPS: PIN - Use this Device’s PIN
LABEL
DESCRIPTION
This device’s PIN
This is the NWD271N’s Personal Identification Number (PIN). This
field is read-only. Enter the number that displays in this field into the
configuration interface of the other WPS-enabled device.
Note: Each time this screen displays, the PIN is
different. The PIN is valid for only one WPS
transaction.
Start
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Click this to start WPS. You must start WPS on the other WPSenabled device within two minutes.
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4.6.3 WPS: PIN - Use the PIN from the AP or Wireless Router
This screen allows you to use the WPS Personal Identification Number mode, by entering the
PIN from another WPS-enabled device into the NWD271N’s utility. See Section 3.4.2 on page
41 for more information. Select WPS and PIN - Use the PIN from the AP or Wireless
Router in the Adapter screen. The following screen displays.
Figure 44 WPS: PIN - Use the PIN from the AP or Wireless Router
The following table describes the labels in this screen.
Table 18 WPS: PIN - Use the PIN from the AP or Wireless Router
LABEL
DESCRIPTION
AP or Router’s PIN
Enter the PIN from your AP or wireless router in this field before you
click Start.
Start
Click this to start WPS. You must start WPS on the other WPSenabled device within two minutes.
4.7 Security Settings in Windows Vista
When you use the NWD271N in Windows Vista, the procedure for setting up WPA, WPA2
and 802.1x security settings is different from that of other operating systems (other security
types are not affected).
The procedures for setting up WPA, WPA2 or 802.1x in Vista are the same. However, the
procedure differs depending on whether you use PEAP (Protected Extensible Authentication
Protocol) or TLS (Transport Layer Security) encryption. Consult your network administrator
if you are unsure which type of encryption to use.
See Section 4.7.1 on page 68 to use PEAP, or see Section 4.7.2 on page 69 to use TLS.
TTLS (Tunneled TLS) is not available when using Windows Vista, at the time
of writing.
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4.7.1 Using PEAP in Vista
Take the following steps to set up WPA, WPA2 or 802.1x security using PEAP in Windows
Vista.
1 Either select the AP to which you want to connect in the Site Survey screen (see Section
4.4 on page 53), or configure a profile in the normal way (see Section 4.5 on page 59).
2 In the WPA, WPA2 or 802.1x security screen (see Section 4.4.1.3 on page 56 and
Section 4.4.1.4 on page 57), select PEAP as the EAP Type. Note that the Login Name
and Password fields are greyed-out (not available).
3 Click Next.
4 In the Summary screen that appears, click Save.
5 A message similar to the following appears in the bottom-right of your screen. Click the
message.
Figure 45 Vista Security: Additional Information Required
6 The Enter Credentials screen displays. Enter your User name and Password for the
network to which you want to connect.
Figure 46 Vista Security: Enter Credentials
If you are not sure what to enter, contact your network administrator.
7 Click OK. The Enter Credentials screen disappears and the NWD271N tries to connect
to the network. The ZyXEL utility’s Link Info screen displays, showing the connection
status (see Section 4.3 on page 51). If the Link Info screen displays an active
connection, you have successfully completed the procedure.
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4.7.2 Using TLS in Vista
Take the following steps to set up WPA, WPA2 or 802.1x security using TLS in Windows
Vista.
1 Either select the AP to which you want to connect in the Site Survey screen (see Section
4.4 on page 53), or configure a profile (see Section 4.5 on page 59) in the normal way.
2 In the WPA, WPA2 or 802.1x security screen, select TLS as the EAP Type. Note that
the Login Name, Certificate and Validate Server Certificate fields are greyed-out (not
available).
3 Click Next.
4 In the Summary screen, click Save.
5 A message similar to the following appears in the bottom-right of your screen. Click the
message.
Figure 47 Vista Security: Additional Information Required
6 The Select Certificate screen displays. Select the certificate you want to use in order to
authenticate with the server, and enter your username.
Figure 48 Vista Security: Select Certificate
If you do not have the right certificate, or are not sure which certificate you
should use, contact your network administrator.
7 Click OK. The Select Certificate screen disappears and the NWD271N tries to connect
to the network. The ZyXEL utility’s Link Info screen displays, showing the connection
status (see Section 4.3 on page 51). If the Link Info screen displays an active
connection, you have successfully completed the procedure.
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Chapter 4 ZyXEL Utility - Windows
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CHAPTER
Maintenance
5.1 Overview
This section describes how to uninstall or upgrade the ZyXEL utility.
5.1.1 What You Can Do in This Section
• Learn which version of the ZyXEL utility and device driver you’re currently using. See
Section 5.2 on page 71 for details.
• Remove the ZyXEL utility from your computer. See Section 5.3 on page 72 for details.
• Upgrade the ZyXEL utility. See Section 5.4 on page 73 for details.
5.1.2 What You Need to Know
The following term may help as you read through this section.
Device driver
A system file that lets other programs interact with a piece of hardware, or “device.” You
should never try to locate and install or uninstall device drivers yourself since they are
modifications to an operating system at the core (or “kernel”) level. Doing so could irreparably
damage your installation.
5.1.3 Before You Begin
• Disconnect the NWD271N if you are going to uninstall or upgrade the ZyXEL utility,
save your work in any other open programs, and then close them.
5.2 The About Screen
The About screen displays driver and utility version numbers of the NWD271N. To display
the screen as shown below, click the about (
) button.
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Chapter 5 Maintenance
Figure 49 About
The following table describes the read-only fields in this screen.
Table 19 About
LABEL
DESCRIPTION
Driver Version
This field displays the version number of the NWD271N driver.
Utility Version
This field displays the version number of the ZyXEL utility.
5.3 Uninstalling the ZyXEL Utility
Follow the steps below to remove (or uninstall) the ZyXEL utility from your computer.
Before you uninstall the ZyXEL utility, take note of your current wireless
configurations.
1 Click Start > (All) Programs > ZyXEL Wireless N USB Utility > Uninstall ZyXEL
Wireless N USB Adapter Utility.
2 When prompted, click OK or Yes to remove the driver and the utility software.
Figure 50 Uninstall: Confirm
3 Click Finish to complete uninstalling the software and restart the computer when
prompted.
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Figure 51 Uninstall: Finish
5.4 Upgrading the ZyXEL Utility
Before you uninstall the ZyXEL utility, take note of your current wireless
configurations.
To perform the upgrade, follow the steps below.
1 Download the latest version of the utility from the ZyXEL web site and save the file on
your computer.
2 Follow the steps in Section 5.3 on page 72 to remove the current ZyXEL utility from
your computer.
3 Restart your computer when prompted.
4 Disconnect the NWD271N from your computer.
5 Double-click on the setup program for the new utility to start the ZyXEL utility
installation.
6 Insert the NWD271N and check the version numbers in the About screen to make sure
the new utility is installed properly.
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P ART II
Troubleshooting
and Specifications
Troubleshooting (77)
Product Specifications (81)
75
76
CHAPTER
Troubleshooting
This chapter offers some suggestions to solve problems you might encounter. The potential
problems are divided into the following categories.
•
•
•
•
Power, Hardware Connections, and LEDs
Accessing the ZyXEL Utility
Link Quality
Problems Communicating with Other Computers
6.1 Power, Hardware Connections, and LEDs
The NWD271N does not turn on. None of the LEDs turn on.
1 Make sure the NWD271N is correctly installed (refer to your Quick Start Guide).
2 Restart the computer to which the NWD271N is attached.
3 If the problem continues, contact the vendor.
One of the LEDs does not behave as expected.
Make sure you understand the normal behavior of the LED. See Section 1.2 on page 22.
Check the hardware connection. See the Quick Start Guide and Section 1.2 on page 22.
Restart the computer to which the NWD271N is attached.
If the problem continues, contact the vendor.
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Chapter 6 Troubleshooting
6.2 Accessing the ZyXEL Utility
I cannot access the ZyXEL Utility
1 Make sure the NWD271N is properly inserted and the LEDs are on. Refer to the Quick
Start Guide for information on how to properly connect the NWD271N.
2 Use the Device Manager to check for possible hardware conflicts. Click Start >
Settings > Control Panel > System > Hardware > Device Manager. Verify the status
of the NWD271N under Network Adapter (steps may vary depending on the version of
Windows).
3 Install the NWD271N on another computer.
4 If the error persists, you may have a hardware problem. In this case, you should contact
your vendor.
6.3 Link Quality
The link quality and/or signal strength is poor.
1 Scan for and connect to another AP with a better link quality using the Site Survey
screen.
2 Move your computer closer to the AP or the peer computer(s) within the transmission
range.
3 There may be too much radio interference (for example from a microwave oven, or
another AP using the same channel) around your wireless network. Lower the output
power of each AP.
4 Make sure there are not too many wireless stations connected to a wireless network.
6.4 Problems Communicating with Other Computers
The computer with the NWD271N installed cannot communicate with the other
computer(s).
In Infrastructure Mode
• Make sure that the AP and the associated computers are turned on and working properly.
• Make sure the NWD271N computer and the associated AP use the same SSID.
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• Change the AP and the associated wireless clients to use another radio channel if
interference is high.
• Make sure that the computer and the AP share the same security option and key. Verify
the settings in the Profile Security Setting screen.
• If you are using WPA(2) or WPA(2)-PSK security, try changing your encryption type
from TKIP to AES or vice versa.
In Ad-Hoc Mode
• Verify that the peer computer(s) is turned on.
• Make sure the NWD271N computer and the peer computer(s) are using the same SSID
and channel.
• Make sure that the computer and the peer computer(s) share the same security settings.
• Change the wireless clients to use another radio channel if interference is high.
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CHAPTER
Product Specifications
Table 20 Product Specifications
PHYSICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL
Product Name
NWD271N WLAN 802.11n USB Adapter
Interface
USB 2.0
Standards
IEEE 802.11b
IEEE 802.11g
IEEE 802.11n (Draft 2.0)
Antenna
2.4GHz and 5 GHz
Operating Temperature
0 - 40 degrees Celsius
Storage Temperature
-30 - 70 degrees Celsius
Operating Humidity
20 - 90% (non-condensing)
Storage Humidity
5 - 90% (non-condensing)
Operation Voltage
5V
Power Saving Mode
Yes
Current Consumption
Transmit: <500 mA
Receive: <350 mA
Voltage
5V
Weight
21g / 0.74oz
Dimensions
81 (W) × 28 (D) × 12 (H) mm / 3.19 (W) x 1.10 (D) x 0.47 (H) inches
RADIO SPECIFICATIONS
Media Access Protocol
IEEE 802.11
Transmit Power
802.11b: At 11Mbps: 17dBm
802.11g: At 54Mbps: 14.5dBm
802.11n (Draft 2.0):
At HT20 MSC7:12.5dBm
At HT40 MSC7: 12.5dBm
Tolerance (±) 2 dB
Receiver Sensitivity
802.11b: At 11Mbps: -82dBm
802.11g: At 54Mbps: -71dBm
802.11n (Draft 2.0):
At HT20 MSC7: -66dBM
At HT40: -63dBM
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Table 20 Product Specifications (continued)
WIRELESS STANDARDS
IEEE 802.11b
Dynamically shifts between 11, 5.5, 2, and 1 Mbps network speed.
Operation Frequency
2.412GHz~2.472GHz
Operation Channels
N. America &Taiwan
2.412GHz~ 2.462GHz 1-11
Euro ETSI
2.412GHz~ 2.472GHz 1-13
IEEE 802.11g
Dynamically shifts between 54, 48, 36, 24, 18, 12, 9 and 6 Mbps
network speed.
Operation Frequency
2.412GHz~2.472GHz
Operation Channels
N. America &Taiwan
2.412GHz~ 2.462GHz 1-11
Euro ETSI
2.412GHz~ 2.472GHz 1-13
IEEE 802.11n (draft 2.0)
Downstream data rate
300 Mbps
Upstream data rate
150 Mbps
Operation Frequency
2.412GHz~ 2.472GHz
Operation Channels
N. America & Taiwan HT20
2.412GHz~ 2.462GHz 1-11
N. America & Taiwan HT40
2.422GHz~ 2.452GHz 3-9
Euro ETSI HT20
2.412GHz~ 2.472GHz 1-13
Euro ETSI HT40
2.422GHz~ 2.462GHz 3-11
Networking Mode
Infrastructure, Ad-Hoc
Approvals
Safety
European Union: EN60950 (CE-LVD)
EMI
United States: FCC Part 15B Class B
Canada: ICES-003
European Union: CE EN 55022 Class B
Australia: C-Tick
EMS
European Union: CE EN55024
RF
United States: FCC Part 15C
Canada: RSS-210
European Union: CE EN 300 328
Taiwan: NCC LP0002
Wi-Fi Certification
WPA/WPA2/WMM/WMM-PS
Microsoft Certification
WHQL: Windows Vista (32- and 64-bit), Windows XP (32- and
64-bit), Windows 2000
SOFTWARE SPECIFICATIONS
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Table 20 Product Specifications (continued)
Device Drivers
Windows Vista (32- and 64-bit)
Windows XP (32- and 64-bit)
Windows 2000
WIRELESS FEATURES
Wireless Security
WEP 64bit, 128bit, WPA, WPA-PSK, WPA2, WPA2-PSK 802.1x
(EAP-TLS, EAP-TTLS, EAP-PEAP), WPS.
Note: EAP-TTLS is not supported in Windows Vista
Wireless QoS
WMM
Note: Not supported in Windows Vista.
WPS (Wi-Fi Protected Setup)
NWD271N User’s Guide
Push button configuration
Use device's PIN
Use AP or Router's PIN
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Chapter 7 Product Specifications
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P ART III
Appendices and
Index
The appendices provide general information. Some details may not apply to
your NWD271N.
Setting Up Your Computer’s IP Address (87)
Wireless LANs (99)
Windows Wireless Management (113)
Legal Information (135)
Customer Support (139)
Index (145)
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86
APPENDIX
Setting Up Your Computer’s IP
Address
This appendix shows you how to configure the TCP/IP settings on your computer in order for
it to be able to communicate with the other devices on your network. Windows Vista/XP/2000
include the software components you need to use TCP/IP on your computer.
If you manually assign IP information instead of using a dynamic IP, make sure that your
network’s computers have IP addresses that place them in the same subnet.
In this chapter, you can set up an IP address for:
• Windows XP/2000/NT on page 88
• Windows Vista Professional on page 93
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Appendix A Setting Up Your Computer’s IP Address
Windows XP/2000/NT
The following example uses the default Windows XP display theme but can also apply to
Windows 2000 and Windows NT.
1 Click Start > Control Panel.
Figure 52 Windows XP: Start Menu
2 In the Control Panel, click the Network Connections icon.
Figure 53 Windows XP: Control Panel
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3 Right-click Local Area Connection and then select Properties.
Figure 54 Windows XP: Control Panel > Network Connections > Properties
4 On the General tab, select Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and then click Properties.
Figure 55 Windows XP: Local Area Connection Properties
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Appendix A Setting Up Your Computer’s IP Address
5 The Internet Protocol TCP/IP Properties window opens.
Figure 56 Windows XP: Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) Properties
6 If you have a dynamic IP address, select Obtain an IP address automatically.
7 If you have a static IP address, select Use the following IP Address and fill in the IP
address, Subnet mask, and Default gateway fields.
8 Click Advanced.
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9 The Advanced TCP/IP Settings window opens.
Figure 57 Windows XP: Advanced TCP/IP Properties
10 If you do not know your gateway's IP address, remove any previously installed gateways
in the IP Settings tab and click OK.
Do one or more of the following if you want to configure additional IP addresses:
11 On the IP Settings tab, click Add in the IP addresses category.
12 In the TCP/IP Address field, type an IP address in IP address and a subnet mask in
Subnet mask, and then click Add.
13 Repeat the above two steps for each IP address you want to add.
14 Configure additional default gateways in the IP Settings tab by clicking Add in Default
gateways.
15 In the TCP/IP Gateway Address field, type the IP address of the default gateway in
Gateway. To manually configure a default metric (the number of transmission hops),
clear the Automatic metric check box and type a metric in Metric.
16 Click Add.
17 Repeat the previous three steps for each default gateway you want to add.
18 Click OK when finished.
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19 The Internet Protocol TCP/IP Properties comes back into focus:
Figure 58 Windows XP: Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) Properties
20 Select Obtain DNS server address automatically if you do not know your DNS server
IP address(es).
21 If you know your DNS server IP address(es), select Use the following DNS server
addresses, and type them in the Preferred DNS server and Alternate DNS server
fields.
22 If you have previously configured DNS servers, click Advanced and then the DNS tab
to order them.
23 Click OK to close the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) Properties window.
24 Click Close to close the Local Area Connection Properties window.
25 Close the Network Connections window.
Verifying Settings
1 Click Start > All Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt.
2 In the Command Prompt window, type "ipconfig" and then press [ENTER]. You can
also go to Start > Control Panel > Network Connections, right-click a network
connection, click Status and then click the Support tab.
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Windows Vista
This section shows screens from Windows Vista Professional.
1 Click Start > Control Panel.
Figure 59 Windows Vista: Start Menu
2 In the Control Panel, click the Network and Internet icon.
Figure 60 Windows Vista: Control Panel
3 Click the Network and Sharing Center icon.
Figure 61 Windows Vista: Network And Internet
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Appendix A Setting Up Your Computer’s IP Address
4 Click Manage network connections.
Figure 62 Windows Vista: Network and Sharing Center
5 Right-click Local Area Connection and then select Properties.
Figure 63 Windows Vista: Network and Sharing Center
94
During this procedure, click Continue whenever Windows displays a screen
saying that it needs your permission to continue.
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Appendix A Setting Up Your Computer’s IP Address
6 Select Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) and then select Properties.
Figure 64 Windows Vista: Local Area Connection Properties
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7 The Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) Properties window opens.
Figure 65 Windows Vista: Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) Properties
8 If you have a dynamic IP address, select Obtain an IP address automatically.
9 If you have a static IP address, select Use the following IP address and fill in the IP
address, Subnet mask, and Default gateway fields.
10 Click Advanced.
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11 The Advanced TCP/IP Settings window opens.
Figure 66 Windows Vista: Advanced TCP/IP Properties
12 If you do not know your gateway's IP address, remove any previously installed gateways
in the IP Settings tab and click OK.
Do one or more of the following if you want to configure additional IP addresses:
13 On the IP Settings tab, click Add in the IP addresses category.
14 In the TCP/IP Address field, type an IP address in IP address and a subnet mask in
Subnet mask, and then click Add.
15 Repeat the above two steps for each IP address you want to add.
16 Configure additional default gateways in the IP Settings tab by clicking Add in Default
gateways.
17 In the TCP/IP Gateway Address field, type the IP address of the default gateway in
Gateway. To manually configure a default metric (the number of transmission hops),
clear the Automatic metric check box and type a metric in Metric.
18 Click Add.
19 Repeat the previous three steps for each default gateway you want to add.
20 Click OK when finished.
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21 In the Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) Properties comes back into focus.
Figure 67 Windows Vista: Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) Properties
22 Select Obtain DNS server address automatically if you do not know your DNS server
IP address(es).
23 If you know your DNS server IP address(es), select Use the following DNS server
addresses, and type them in the Preferred DNS server and Alternate DNS server
fields.
24 If you have previously configured DNS servers, click Advanced and then the DNS tab
to order them.
25 Click OK to close the Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) Properties window.
26 Click Close to close the Local Area Connection Properties window.
27 Close the Network Connections window.
Verifying Settings
1 Click Start > All Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt.
2 In the Command Prompt window, type "ipconfig" and then press [ENTER]. You can
go to Start > Control Panel > Network Connections, right-click a network connection,
click Status and then click the Support tab.
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APPENDIX
Wireless LANs
Wireless LAN Topologies
This section discusses ad-hoc and infrastructure wireless LAN topologies.
Ad-hoc Wireless LAN Configuration
The simplest WLAN configuration is an independent (Ad-hoc) WLAN that connects a set of
computers with wireless adapters (A, B, C). Any time two or more wireless adapters are within
range of each other, they can set up an independent network, which is commonly referred to as
an ad-hoc network or Independent Basic Service Set (IBSS). The following diagram shows an
example of notebook computers using wireless adapters to form an ad-hoc wireless LAN.
Figure 68 Peer-to-Peer Communication in an Ad-hoc Network
BSS
A Basic Service Set (BSS) exists when all communications between wireless clients or
between a wireless client and a wired network client go through one access point (AP).
Intra-BSS traffic is traffic between wireless clients in the BSS. When Intra-BSS is enabled,
wireless client A and B can access the wired network and communicate with each other. When
Intra-BSS is disabled, wireless client A and B can still access the wired network but cannot
communicate with each other.
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Appendix B Wireless LANs
Figure 69 Basic Service Set
ESS
An Extended Service Set (ESS) consists of a series of overlapping BSSs, each containing an
access point, with each access point connected together by a wired network. This wired
connection between APs is called a Distribution System (DS).
This type of wireless LAN topology is called an Infrastructure WLAN. The Access Points not
only provide communication with the wired network but also mediate wireless network traffic
in the immediate neighborhood.
An ESSID (ESS IDentification) uniquely identifies each ESS. All access points and their
associated wireless clients within the same ESS must have the same ESSID in order to
communicate.
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Figure 70 Infrastructure WLAN
Channel
A channel is the radio frequency(ies) used by wireless devices to transmit and receive data.
Channels available depend on your geographical area. You may have a choice of channels (for
your region) so you should use a channel different from an adjacent AP (access point) to
reduce interference. Interference occurs when radio signals from different access points
overlap causing interference and degrading performance.
Adjacent channels partially overlap however. To avoid interference due to overlap, your AP
should be on a channel at least five channels away from a channel that an adjacent AP is using.
For example, if your region has 11 channels and an adjacent AP is using channel 1, then you
need to select a channel between 6 or 11.
RTS/CTS
A hidden node occurs when two stations are within range of the same access point, but are not
within range of each other. The following figure illustrates a hidden node. Both stations (STA)
are within range of the access point (AP) or wireless gateway, but out-of-range of each other,
so they cannot "hear" each other, that is they do not know if the channel is currently being
used. Therefore, they are considered hidden from each other.
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Appendix B Wireless LANs
Figure 71
RTS/CTS
When station A sends data to the AP, it might not know that the station B is already using the
channel. If these two stations send data at the same time, collisions may occur when both sets
of data arrive at the AP at the same time, resulting in a loss of messages for both stations.
RTS/CTS is designed to prevent collisions due to hidden nodes. An RTS/CTS defines the
biggest size data frame you can send before an RTS (Request To Send)/CTS (Clear to Send)
handshake is invoked.
When a data frame exceeds the RTS/CTS value you set (between 0 to 2432 bytes), the station
that wants to transmit this frame must first send an RTS (Request To Send) message to the AP
for permission to send it. The AP then responds with a CTS (Clear to Send) message to all
other stations within its range to notify them to defer their transmission. It also reserves and
confirms with the requesting station the time frame for the requested transmission.
Stations can send frames smaller than the specified RTS/CTS directly to the AP without the
RTS (Request To Send)/CTS (Clear to Send) handshake.
You should only configure RTS/CTS if the possibility of hidden nodes exists on your network
and the "cost" of resending large frames is more than the extra network overhead involved in
the RTS (Request To Send)/CTS (Clear to Send) handshake.
If the RTS/CTS value is greater than the Fragmentation Threshold value (see next), then the
RTS (Request To Send)/CTS (Clear to Send) handshake will never occur as data frames will
be fragmented before they reach RTS/CTS size.
Enabling the RTS Threshold causes redundant network overhead that could
negatively affect the throughput performance instead of providing a remedy.
Fragmentation Threshold
A Fragmentation Threshold is the maximum data fragment size (between 256 and 2432
bytes) that can be sent in the wireless network before the AP will fragment the packet into
smaller data frames.
A large Fragmentation Threshold is recommended for networks not prone to interference
while you should set a smaller threshold for busy networks or networks that are prone to
interference.
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If the Fragmentation Threshold value is smaller than the RTS/CTS value (see previously)
you set then the RTS (Request To Send)/CTS (Clear to Send) handshake will never occur as
data frames will be fragmented before they reach RTS/CTS size.
Preamble Type
Preamble is used to signal that data is coming to the receiver. Short and long refer to the length
of the synchronization field in a packet.
Short preamble increases performance as less time sending preamble means more time for
sending data. All IEEE 802.11 compliant wireless adapters support long preamble, but not all
support short preamble.
Use long preamble if you are unsure what preamble mode other wireless devices on the
network support, and to provide more reliable communications in busy wireless networks.
Use short preamble if you are sure all wireless devices on the network support it, and to
provide more efficient communications.
Use the dynamic setting to automatically use short preamble when all wireless devices on the
network support it, otherwise the NWD271N uses long preamble.
The wireless devices MUST use the same preamble mode in order to
communicate.
IEEE 802.11g Wireless LAN
IEEE 802.11g is fully compatible with the IEEE 802.11b standard. This means an IEEE
802.11b adapter can interface directly with an IEEE 802.11g access point (and vice versa) at
11 Mbps or lower depending on range. IEEE 802.11g has several intermediate rate steps
between the maximum and minimum data rates. The IEEE 802.11g data rate and modulation
are as follows:
Table 21 IEEE 802.11g
DATA RATE (MBPS)
MODULATION
DBPSK (Differential Binary Phase Shift Keyed)
DQPSK (Differential Quadrature Phase Shift Keying)
5.5 / 11
CCK (Complementary Code Keying)
6/9/12/18/24/36/48/54
OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing)
Wireless Security Overview
Wireless security is vital to your network to protect wireless communication between wireless
clients, access points and the wired network.
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Appendix B Wireless LANs
Wireless security methods available on the NWD271N are data encryption, wireless client
authentication, restricting access by device MAC address and hiding the NWD271N identity.
The following figure shows the relative effectiveness of these wireless security methods
available on your NWD271N.
Table 22 Wireless Security Levels
SECURITY
LEVEL
SECURITY TYPE
Least
Secure
Unique SSID (Default)
Unique SSID with Hide SSID Enabled
MAC Address Filtering
WEP Encryption
IEEE802.1x EAP with RADIUS Server Authentication
Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA)
Most Secure
WPA2
You must enable the same wireless security settings on the NWD271N and on
all wireless clients that you want to associate with it.
IEEE 802.1x
In June 2001, the IEEE 802.1x standard was designed to extend the features of IEEE 802.11 to
support extended authentication as well as providing additional accounting and control
features. It is supported by Windows XP and a number of network devices. Some advantages
of IEEE 802.1x are:
• User based identification that allows for roaming.
• Support for RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial In User Service, RFC 2138, 2139) for
centralized user profile and accounting management on a network RADIUS server.
• Support for EAP (Extensible Authentication Protocol, RFC 2486) that allows additional
authentication methods to be deployed with no changes to the access point or the wireless
clients.
RADIUS
RADIUS is based on a client-server model that supports authentication, authorization and
accounting. The access point is the client and the server is the RADIUS server. The RADIUS
server handles the following tasks:
• Authentication
Determines the identity of the users.
• Authorization
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Determines the network services available to authenticated users once they are connected
to the network.
• Accounting
Keeps track of the client’s network activity.
RADIUS is a simple package exchange in which your AP acts as a message relay between the
wireless client and the network RADIUS server.
Types of RADIUS Messages
The following types of RADIUS messages are exchanged between the access point and the
RADIUS server for user authentication:
• Access-Request
Sent by an access point requesting authentication.
• Access-Reject
Sent by a RADIUS server rejecting access.
• Access-Accept
Sent by a RADIUS server allowing access.
• Access-Challenge
Sent by a RADIUS server requesting more information in order to allow access. The
access point sends a proper response from the user and then sends another Access-Request
message.
The following types of RADIUS messages are exchanged between the access point and the
RADIUS server for user accounting:
• Accounting-Request
Sent by the access point requesting accounting.
• Accounting-Response
Sent by the RADIUS server to indicate that it has started or stopped accounting.
In order to ensure network security, the access point and the RADIUS server use a shared
secret key, which is a password, they both know. The key is not sent over the network. In
addition to the shared key, password information exchanged is also encrypted to protect the
network from unauthorized access.
Types of EAP Authentication
This section discusses some popular authentication types: EAP-MD5, EAP-TLS, EAP-TTLS,
PEAP and LEAP. Your wireless LAN device may not support all authentication types.
EAP (Extensible Authentication Protocol) is an authentication protocol that runs on top of the
IEEE 802.1x transport mechanism in order to support multiple types of user authentication. By
using EAP to interact with an EAP-compatible RADIUS server, an access point helps a
wireless station and a RADIUS server perform authentication.
The type of authentication you use depends on the RADIUS server and an intermediary AP(s)
that supports IEEE 802.1x. .
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Appendix B Wireless LANs
For EAP-TLS authentication type, you must first have a wired connection to the network and
obtain the certificate(s) from a certificate authority (CA). A certificate (also called digital IDs)
can be used to authenticate users and a CA issues certificates and guarantees the identity of
each certificate owner.
EAP-MD5 (Message-Digest Algorithm 5)
MD5 authentication is the simplest one-way authentication method. The authentication server
sends a challenge to the wireless client. The wireless client ‘proves’ that it knows the password
by encrypting the password with the challenge and sends back the information. Password is
not sent in plain text.
However, MD5 authentication has some weaknesses. Since the authentication server needs to
get the plaintext passwords, the passwords must be stored. Thus someone other than the
authentication server may access the password file. In addition, it is possible to impersonate an
authentication server as MD5 authentication method does not perform mutual authentication.
Finally, MD5 authentication method does not support data encryption with dynamic session
key. You must configure WEP encryption keys for data encryption.
EAP-TLS (Transport Layer Security)
With EAP-TLS, digital certifications are needed by both the server and the wireless clients for
mutual authentication. The server presents a certificate to the client. After validating the
identity of the server, the client sends a different certificate to the server. The exchange of
certificates is done in the open before a secured tunnel is created. This makes user identity
vulnerable to passive attacks. A digital certificate is an electronic ID card that authenticates the
sender’s identity. However, to implement EAP-TLS, you need a Certificate Authority (CA) to
handle certificates, which imposes a management overhead.
EAP-TTLS (Tunneled Transport Layer Service)
EAP-TTLS is an extension of the EAP-TLS authentication that uses certificates for only the
server-side authentications to establish a secure connection. Client authentication is then done
by sending username and password through the secure connection, thus client identity is
protected. For client authentication, EAP-TTLS supports EAP methods and legacy
authentication methods such as PAP, CHAP, MS-CHAP and MS-CHAP v2.
PEAP (Protected EAP)
Like EAP-TTLS, server-side certificate authentication is used to establish a secure connection,
then use simple username and password methods through the secured connection to
authenticate the clients, thus hiding client identity. However, PEAP only supports EAP
methods, such as EAP-MD5, EAP-MSCHAPv2 and EAP-GTC (EAP-Generic Token Card),
for client authentication. EAP-GTC is implemented only by Cisco.
LEAP
LEAP (Lightweight Extensible Authentication Protocol) is a Cisco implementation of IEEE
802.1x.
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Dynamic WEP Key Exchange
The AP maps a unique key that is generated with the RADIUS server. This key expires when
the wireless connection times out, disconnects or reauthentication times out. A new WEP key
is generated each time reauthentication is performed.
If this feature is enabled, it is not necessary to configure a default encryption key in the
wireless security configuration screen. You may still configure and store keys, but they will
not be used while dynamic WEP is enabled.
EAP-MD5 cannot be used with Dynamic WEP Key Exchange
For added security, certificate-based authentications (EAP-TLS, EAP-TTLS and PEAP) use
dynamic keys for data encryption. They are often deployed in corporate environments, but for
public deployment, a simple user name and password pair is more practical. The following
table is a comparison of the features of authentication types.
Table 23 Comparison of EAP Authentication Types
EAP-MD5
EAP-TLS
EAP-TTLS
PEAP
LEAP
Mutual Authentication
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Certificate – Client
No
Yes
Optional
Optional
No
Certificate – Server
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Dynamic Key Exchange
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Credential Integrity
None
Strong
Strong
Strong
Moderate
Deployment Difficulty
Easy
Hard
Moderate
Moderate
Moderate
Client Identity Protection
No
No
Yes
Yes
No
WPA and WPA2
Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) is a subset of the IEEE 802.11i standard. WPA2 (IEEE
802.11i) is a wireless security standard that defines stronger encryption, authentication and
key management than WPA.
Key differences between WPA or WPA2 and WEP are improved data encryption and user
authentication.
If both an AP and the wireless clients support WPA2 and you have an external RADIUS
server, use WPA2 for stronger data encryption. If you don't have an external RADIUS server,
you should use WPA2-PSK (WPA2-Pre-Shared Key) that only requires a single (identical)
password entered into each access point, wireless gateway and wireless client. As long as the
passwords match, a wireless client will be granted access to a WLAN.
If the AP or the wireless clients do not support WPA2, just use WPA or WPA-PSK depending
on whether you have an external RADIUS server or not.
Select WEP only when the AP and/or wireless clients do not support WPA or WPA2. WEP is
less secure than WPA or WPA2.
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Encryption
Both WPA and WPA2 improve data encryption by using Temporal Key Integrity Protocol
(TKIP), Message Integrity Check (MIC) and IEEE 802.1x. WPA and WPA2 use Advanced
Encryption Standard (AES) in the Counter mode with Cipher block chaining Message
authentication code Protocol (CCMP) to offer stronger encryption than TKIP.
TKIP uses 128-bit keys that are dynamically generated and distributed by the authentication
server. AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) is a block cipher that uses a 256-bit
mathematical algorithm called Rijndael. They both include a per-packet key mixing function,
a Message Integrity Check (MIC) named Michael, an extended initialization vector (IV) with
sequencing rules, and a re-keying mechanism.
WPA and WPA2 regularly change and rotate the encryption keys so that the same encryption
key is never used twice.
The RADIUS server distributes a Pairwise Master Key (PMK) key to the AP that then sets up
a key hierarchy and management system, using the PMK to dynamically generate unique data
encryption keys to encrypt every data packet that is wirelessly communicated between the AP
and the wireless clients. This all happens in the background automatically.
The Message Integrity Check (MIC) is designed to prevent an attacker from capturing data
packets, altering them and resending them. The MIC provides a strong mathematical function
in which the receiver and the transmitter each compute and then compare the MIC. If they do
not match, it is assumed that the data has been tampered with and the packet is dropped.
By generating unique data encryption keys for every data packet and by creating an integrity
checking mechanism (MIC), with TKIP and AES it is more difficult to decrypt data on a Wi-Fi
network than WEP and difficult for an intruder to break into the network.
The encryption mechanisms used for WPA(2) and WPA(2)-PSK are the same. The only
difference between the two is that WPA(2)-PSK uses a simple common password, instead of
user-specific credentials. The common-password approach makes WPA(2)-PSK susceptible to
brute-force password-guessing attacks but it’s still an improvement over WEP as it employs a
consistent, single, alphanumeric password to derive a PMK which is used to generate unique
temporal encryption keys. This prevent all wireless devices sharing the same encryption keys.
(a weakness of WEP)
User Authentication
WPA and WPA2 apply IEEE 802.1x and Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) to
authenticate wireless clients using an external RADIUS database. WPA2 reduces the number
of key exchange messages from six to four (CCMP 4-way handshake) and shortens the time
required to connect to a network. Other WPA2 authentication features that are different from
WPA include key caching and pre-authentication. These two features are optional and may not
be supported in all wireless devices.
Key caching allows a wireless client to store the PMK it derived through a successful
authentication with an AP. The wireless client uses the PMK when it tries to connect to the
same AP and does not need to go with the authentication process again.
Pre-authentication enables fast roaming by allowing the wireless client (already connecting to
an AP) to perform IEEE 802.1x authentication with another AP before connecting to it.
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Wireless Client WPA Supplicants
A wireless client supplicant is the software that runs on an operating system instructing the
wireless client how to use WPA. At the time of writing, the most widely available supplicant is
the WPA patch for Windows XP, Funk Software's Odyssey client.
The Windows XP patch is a free download that adds WPA capability to Windows XP's builtin "Zero Configuration" wireless client. However, you must run Windows XP to use it.
WPA(2) with RADIUS Application Example
To set up WPA(2), you need the IP address of the RADIUS server, its port number (default is
1812), and the RADIUS shared secret. A WPA(2) application example with an external
RADIUS server looks as follows. "A" is the RADIUS server. "DS" is the distribution system.
1 The AP passes the wireless client's authentication request to the RADIUS server.
2 The RADIUS server then checks the user's identification against its database and grants
or denies network access accordingly.
3 A 256-bit Pairwise Master Key (PMK) is derived from the authentication process by the
RADIUS server and the client.
4 The RADIUS server distributes the PMK to the AP. The AP then sets up a key hierarchy
and management system, using the PMK to dynamically generate unique data encryption
keys. The keys are used to encrypt every data packet that is wirelessly communicated
between the AP and the wireless clients.
Figure 72 WPA(2) with RADIUS Application Example
WPA(2)-PSK Application Example
A WPA(2)-PSK application looks as follows.
1 First enter identical passwords into the AP and all wireless clients. The Pre-Shared Key
(PSK) must consist of between 8 and 63 ASCII characters or 64 hexadecimal characters
(including spaces and symbols).
2 The AP checks each wireless client's password and allows it to join the network only if
the password matches.
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3 The AP and wireless clients generate a common PMK (Pairwise Master Key). The key
itself is not sent over the network, but is derived from the PSK and the SSID.
4 The AP and wireless clients use the TKIP or AES encryption process, the PMK and
information exchanged in a handshake to create temporal encryption keys. They use
these keys to encrypt data exchanged between them.
Figure 73 WPA(2)-PSK Authentication
Security Parameters Summary
Refer to this table to see what other security parameters you should configure for each
authentication method or key management protocol type. MAC address filters are not
dependent on how you configure these security features.
Table 24 Wireless Security Relational Matrix
AUTHENTICATION
ENCRYPTIO
METHOD/ KEY
MANAGEMENT PROTOCOL N METHOD
ENTER
MANUAL KEY
IEEE 802.1X
Open
No
Disable
None
Enable without Dynamic WEP Key
Open
Shared
110
WEP
WEP
No
Enable with Dynamic WEP Key
Yes
Enable without Dynamic WEP Key
Yes
Disable
No
Enable with Dynamic WEP Key
Yes
Enable without Dynamic WEP Key
Yes
Disable
WPA
TKIP/AES
No
Enable
WPA-PSK
TKIP/AES
Yes
Disable
WPA2
TKIP/AES
No
Enable
WPA2-PSK
TKIP/AES
Yes
Disable
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Appendix B Wireless LANs
Antenna Overview
An antenna couples RF signals onto air. A transmitter within a wireless device sends an RF
signal to the antenna, which propagates the signal through the air. The antenna also operates in
reverse by capturing RF signals from the air.
Positioning the antennas properly increases the range and coverage area of a wireless LAN.
Antenna Characteristics
Frequency
An antenna in the frequency of 2.4GHz (IEEE 802.11b and IEEE 802.11g) or 5GHz (IEEE
802.11a) is needed to communicate efficiently in a wireless LAN
Radiation Pattern
A radiation pattern is a diagram that allows you to visualize the shape of the antenna’s
coverage area.
Antenna Gain
Antenna gain, measured in dB (decibel), is the increase in coverage within the RF beam width.
Higher antenna gain improves the range of the signal for better communications.
For an indoor site, each 1 dB increase in antenna gain results in a range increase of
approximately 2.5%. For an unobstructed outdoor site, each 1dB increase in gain results in a
range increase of approximately 5%. Actual results may vary depending on the network
environment.
Antenna gain is sometimes specified in dBi, which is how much the antenna increases the
signal power compared to using an isotropic antenna. An isotropic antenna is a theoretical
perfect antenna that sends out radio signals equally well in all directions. dBi represents the
true gain that the antenna provides.
Types of Antennas for WLAN
There are two types of antennas used for wireless LAN applications.
• Omni-directional antennas send the RF signal out in all directions on a horizontal plane.
The coverage area is torus-shaped (like a donut) which makes these antennas ideal for a
room environment. With a wide coverage area, it is possible to make circular overlapping
coverage areas with multiple access points.
• Directional antennas concentrate the RF signal in a beam, like a flashlight does with the
light from its bulb. The angle of the beam determines the width of the coverage pattern.
Angles typically range from 20 degrees (very directional) to 120 degrees (less directional).
Directional antennas are ideal for hallways and outdoor point-to-point applications.
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Positioning Antennas
In general, antennas should be mounted as high as practically possible and free of
obstructions. In point-to–point application, position both antennas at the same height and in a
direct line of sight to each other to attain the best performance.
For omni-directional antennas mounted on a table, desk, and so on, point the antenna up. For
omni-directional antennas mounted on a wall or ceiling, point the antenna down. For a single
AP application, place omni-directional antennas as close to the center of the coverage area as
possible.
For directional antennas, point the antenna in the direction of the desired coverage area.
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APPENDIX
Windows Wireless Management
This appendix shows you how to manage your NWD271N using the Windows Vista and
Windows XP wireless configuration tools.
Windows Vista
Take the following steps to connect to a wireless network using the Windows Vista wireless
configuration tool (WLAN AutoConfig).
Connecting to a Wireless Network
1 Click Start (
) > Connect To.
Figure 74 Vista: Start Menu
The Connect To window displays, showing all available networks.
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Figure 75 Vista: The Connect To Window
The security status of each wireless network displays, as well as an indication of its
signal strength. If you use the mouse pointer to hover over a network’s entry, additional
information about the network displays.
Figure 76 Vista: Additional Information
2 Double-click the network’s name to join the network, or select a network and click
Connect.
If the network to which you want to connect does not display, see the section
on setting up a connection manually on page 116.
3 If security is enabled, you may be prompted to enter your security key.
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Figure 77 Vista: Enter Security Key
Your computer tries to connect to the wireless network.
Figure 78 Vista: Connecting
If your computer has connected to the wireless network successfully, the following
screen displays.
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Figure 79 Vista: Successful Connection
4 If you will use this network again, ensure that Save this network is selected. If you save
the network, you do not have to configure its settings again.
5 Select Start this connection automatically if you want Windows to always try to use
this network when you start up your computer. If you do not select this (but select Save
this network) you can connect manually each time by clicking Start > Connect to and
selecting the network’s name from the list.
Connecting to a Network Manually
If the wireless network to which you want to connect does not appear in the Connect to
window (if your network’s SSID is hidden, for example), take the following steps to configure
your network connection manually
1 Click Set up a connection or network at the bottom of the Connect to screen. The
following screen displays.
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Figure 80 Vista: Choose a Connection Option
2 Click Manually connect to a wireless network. The following screen displays.
Figure 81 Vista: Connect Manually
The following table describes the labels in this screen.
Table 25 Vista: Connect Manually
LABEL
DESCRIPTION
Network name
Enter your network’s SSID (Service Set IDentifier).
Security type
Select the type of security used by the network to which you want to
connect. The types of available security shown depend on your computer’s
wireless client.
In this field, WPA(2)-Personal is the same as WPA(2)-PSK, and WPA(2)Enterprise is the same as WPA(2)
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Table 25 Vista: Connect Manually
LABEL
DESCRIPTION
Encryption type
Select the type of encryption used by the network.
When you use WEP or 802.1x, WEP displays.
When you use a WPA mode (WPA(2)-Personal or WPA(2)-Enterprise)
you can choose AES or TKIP (if supported by your computer’s wireless
client).
Security Key /
Passphrase
If your network uses WEP or WPA(2)-Personal security, enter the key
here.
Display Characters
Select this if you do not want the security key characters to be hidden.
Start this connection
automatically
Select this box if you always want to try to connect to this network at
startup. If you leave this box unchecked, you will need to connect manually
each time.
Connect even if the
network is not
broadcasting
Select this box if you always want to try to connect to this network at
startup, even if the network is not broadcasting its SSID. The warning in
this field refers to the fact that if you do this, your computer sends out probe
request packets, which contain the network’s SSID and could be used by
an attacker to access the network.
Next
Click this to save your settings and move on to the next page.
Cancel
Click this to stop setting up your network.
3 When you have finished filling in the fields, click Next. the following screen displays.
Figure 82 Vista: Successfully Added Network
4 If you want to make any changes to the settings you just configured, click Change
connection settings. Otherwise, click Connect to.... In the window that displays,
double-click the new network’s name to connect to the network.
Setting Up An Ad-Hoc Network
Take the following steps to set up a wireless connection between two computers in Windows
Vista.
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Appendix C Windows Wireless Management
1 Click Start (
) > Connect To. In the Connect to screen, click Set up a connection
or network. The following screen displays.
Figure 83 Vista: Set Up An Ad-hoc Network
2 Select Set up a wireless ad hoc (computer-to-computer) network and click Next. The
following screen displays.
Figure 84 Vista: Ad-hoc Options
3 Enter the Network name (SSID) you want to use for your network. Select a Security
type. If you are not sure what kind of security you want to use, click the Help me choose
link.
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Make sure all the wireless clients on your ad-hoc network can support the type
of security you select.
4 Enter the Security key/Passphrase. Everybody on the network must enter this key in
their computer’s wireless client in order to access the network. If you want to see the
characters you entered, select the Display characters box. Otherwise, leave it empty
(dots display instead of the characters).
5 If you will use this ad-hoc network again, select the Save this network box. If you do
this, the next time you click Start > Connect to, you can select the network from the list.
6 Click Next. The following screen displays.
Figure 85 Vista: Ad-hoc Network Ready
7 If you want to share files with other computers on the ad-hoc network, or let other
computers use your Internet connection, click the Network and Sharing Center link.
Otherwise, click Close.
Windows XP
Be sure you have the Windows XP service pack 2 installed on your computer. Otherwise, you
should at least have the Windows XP service pack 1 already on your computer and download
the support patch for WPA from the Microsoft web site.
Windows XP SP2 screen shots are shown unless otherwise specified. Click the help icon (
in most screens, move the cursor to the item that you want the information about and click to
view the help.
Activating Wireless Zero Configuration
1 Click Start > Control Panel and double-click Network Connections.
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2 Double-click on the icon for wireless network connection.
3 The status window displays as shown below. Click Properties.
Figure 86 Windows XP SP1: Wireless Network Connection Status
Figure 87 Windows XP SP2: Wireless Network Connection Status
4 The Wireless Network Connection Properties screen displays. Click the Wireless
Networks tab.
Make sure the Use Windows to configure my wireless network settings check box is
selected.
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Figure 88 Windows XP SP1: Wireless Network Connection Properties
Figure 89 Windows XP SP2: Wireless Network Connection Properties
If you see the following screen, refer to article 871122 on the Microsoft web site for
information on starting WZC.
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Figure 90 Windows XP SP2: WZC Not Available
Connecting to a Wireless Network
1 Double-click the network icon for wireless connections in the system tray to open the
Wireless Network Connection Status screen.
Figure 91 Windows XP SP2: System Tray Icon
The type of the wireless network icon in Windows XP SP2 indicates the status of the
NWD271N. Refer to the following table for details.
Table 26 Windows XP SP2: System Tray Icon
ICON
DESCRIPTION
The NWD271N is connected to a wireless network.
The NWD271N is in the process of connecting to a wireless network.
The connection to a wireless network is limited because the network did not assign a
network address to the computer.
The NWD271N is not connected to a wireless network.
2 Windows XP SP2: In the Wireless Network Connection Status screen, click View
Wireless Networks to open the Wireless Network Connection screen.
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Appendix C Windows Wireless Management
Figure 92 Windows XP SP2: Wireless Network Connection Status
Windows XP SP1: In the Wireless Network Connection Status screen, click
Properties and the Wireless Networks tab to open the Wireless Network Connection
Properties screen.
Figure 93 Windows XP SP1: Wireless Network Connection Status
3 Windows XP SP2: Click Refresh network list to reload and search for available
wireless devices within transmission range. Select a wireless network in the list and click
Connect to join the selected wireless network.
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Figure 94 Windows XP SP2: Wireless Network Connection
The following table describes the icons in the wireless network list.
Table 27 Windows XP SP2: Wireless Network Connection
ICON
DESCRIPTION
This denotes that wireless security is activated for the wireless network.
This denotes that this wireless network is your preferred network. Ordering your
preferred networks is important because the NWD271N tries to associate to the
preferred network first in the order that you specify. Refer to the section on ordering the
preferred networks for detailed information.
This denotes the signal strength of the wireless network.
Move your cursor to the icon to see details on the signal strength.
Windows XP SP1: Click Refresh to reload and search for available wireless devices
within transmission range. Select a wireless network in the Available networks list,
click Configure and set the related fields to the same security settings as the associated
AP to add the selected network into the Preferred networks table. Click OK to join the
selected wireless network. Refer to the section on security settings (discussed later) for
more information.
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Figure 95 Windows XP SP1: Wireless Network Connection Properties
4 4.Windows XP SP2: If the wireless security is activated for the selected wireless
network, the Wireless Network Connection screen displays. You must set the related
fields in the Wireless Network Connection screen to the same security settings as the
associated AP and click Connect. Refer to the section about security settings for more
information. Otherwise click Cancel and connect to another wireless network without
data encryption. If there is no security activated for the selected wireless network, a
warning screen appears. Click Connect Anyway if wireless security is not your concern.
Figure 96 Windows XP SP2: Wireless Network Connection: WEP or WPA-PSK
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Figure 97
Windows XP SP2: Wireless Network Connection: No Security
5 Verify that you have successfully connected to the selected network and check the
connection status in the wireless network list or the connection icon in the Preferred
networks or Available networks list.
The following table describes the connection icons.
Table 28 Windows XP: Wireless Networks
ICON
DESCRIPTION
This denotes the wireless network is an available wireless network.
This denotes the NWD271N is associated to the wireless network.
This denotes the wireless network is not available.
Security Settings
When you configure the NWD271N to connect to a secure network but the security settings
are not yet enabled on the NWD271N, you will see different screens according to the
authentication and encryption methods used by the selected network.
Association
Select a network in the Preferred networks list and click Properties to view or configure
security.
Figure 98 Windows XP: Wireless (network) properties: Association
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The following table describes the labels in this screen.
Table 29 Windows XP: Wireless (network) properties: Association
LABEL
DESCRIPTION
Network name
(SSID)
This field displays the SSID (Service Set IDentifier) of each wireless network.
Network
Authentication
This field automatically shows the authentication method (Share, Open, WPA or
WPA-PSK) used by the selected network.
Data Encryption
This field automatically shows the encryption type (TKIP, WEP or Disable) used
by the selected network.
Network Key
Enter the pre-shared key or WEP key.
The values for the keys must be set up exactly the same on all wireless devices in
the same wireless LAN.
Confirm network
key
Enter the key again for confirmation.
Key index
(advanced)
Select a default WEP key to use for data encryption.
This field is available only when the network use WEP encryption method and the
The key is provided for me automatically check box is not selected.
The key is
provided for me
automatically
If this check box is selected, the wireless AP assigns the NWD271N a key.
This is a
computer-tocomputer (ad hoc)
network; wireless
access points are
not used
If this check box is selected, you are connecting to another computer directly.
OK
Click OK to save your changes.
Cancel
Click Cancel to leave this screen without saving any changes you may have
made.
Authentication
Click the Authentication tab in the Wireless (network) properties screen to display the
screen shown next. The fields on this screen are grayed out when the network is in Ad-Hoc
mode or data encryption is disabled.
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Figure 99 Windows XP: Wireless (network) properties: Authentication
The following table describes the labels in this screen.
Table 30 Windows XP: Wireless (network) properties: Authentication
LABEL
DESCRIPTION
Enable IEEE
802.1x
authentication for
this network
This field displays whether the IEEE 802.1x authentication is active.
If the network authentication is set to Open in the previous screen, you can
choose to disable or enable this feature.
EAP Type
Select the type of EAP authentication. Options are Protected EAP (PEAP) and
Smart Card or other Certificate.
Properties
Click this button to open the properties screen and configure certificates. The
screen varies depending on what you select in the EAP type field.
Authenticate as
computer when
computer
information is
available
Select this check box to have the computer send its information to the network for
authentication when a user is not logged on.
Authenticate as
guest when user
or computer
information is
unavailable
Select this check box to have the computer access to the network as a guest when
a user is not logged on or computer information is not available.
OK
Click OK to save your changes.
Cancel
Click Cancel to leave this screen without saving any changes you may have
made.
Authentication Properties
Select an EAP authentication type in the Wireless (network) properties: Authentication
screen and click the Properties button to display the following screen.
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Protected EAP Properties
Figure 100 Windows XP: Protected EAP Properties
The following table describes the labels in this screen.
Table 31 Windows XP: Protected EAP Properties
130
LABEL
DESCRIPTION
Validate server
certificate
Select the check box to verify the certificate of the authentication server.
Connect to these
servers
Select the check box and specify a domain in the field below to have your
computer connect to a server which resides only within this domain.
Trusted Root
Certification
Authorities:
Select a trusted certification authority from the list below.
Do not prompt
user to authorize
new server or
trusted
certification
authorities.
Select this check box to verify a new authentication server or trusted CA without
prompting.
This field is available only if you installed the Windows XP server pack 2.
Select
Authentication
Method:
Select an authentication method from the drop-down list box and click Configure
to do settings.
Enable Fast
Reconnect
Select the check box to automatically reconnect to the network (without reauthentication) if the wireless connection goes down.
OK
Click OK to save your changes.
Cancel
Click Cancel to leave this screen without saving any changes you may have
made.
Note: You must first have a wired connection to a network and
obtain the certificate(s) from a certificate authority (CA).
Consult your network administrator for more information.
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Smart Card or other Certificate Properties
Figure 101 Windows XP: Smart Card or other Certificate Properties
The following table describes the labels in this screen.
Table 32 Windows XP: Smart Card or other Certificate Properties
LABEL
DESCRIPTION
Use my smart
card
Select this check box to use the smart card for authentication.
Use a certificate
on this computer
Select this check box to use a certificate on your computer for authentication.
Validate server
certificate
Select the check box to check the certificate of the authentication server.
Connect to these
servers
Select the check box and specify a domain in the field below to have your
computer connect to a server which resides only within this domain.
Trusted Root
Certification
Authorities:
Select a trusted certification authority from the list below.
View Certificate
Click this button if you want to verify the selected certificate.
Use a different
user name for the
connection:
Select the check box to use a different user name when the user name in the
smart card or certificate is not the same as the user name in the domain that you
are logged on to.
OK
Click OK to save your changes.
Cancel
Click Cancel to leave this screen without saving any changes you may have
made.
Note: You must first have a wired connection to a network and
obtain the certificate(s) from a certificate authority (CA).
Consult your network administrator for more information.
Ordering the Preferred Networks
Follow the steps below to manage your preferred networks.
NWD271N User’s Guide
131
Appendix C Windows Wireless Management
1 Windows XP SP2: Click Change the order of preferred networks in the Wireless
Network Connection screen (see Figure 94 on page 125). The screen displays as shown.
Figure 102 Windows XP SP2: Wireless Networks: Preferred Networks
Windows XP SP1: In the Wireless Network Connection Status screen, click
Properties and the Wireless Networks tab to open the screen as shown.
Figure 103 Windows XP SP1: Wireless Networks: Preferred Networks
2 Whenever the NWD271N tries to connect to a new network, the new network is added in
the Preferred networks table automatically. Select a network and click Move up or
Move down to change it's order, click Remove to delete it or click Properties to view
132
NWD271N User’s Guide
Appendix C Windows Wireless Management
the security, authentication or connection information of the selected network. Click
Add to add a preferred network into the list manually.
NWD271N User’s Guide
133
Appendix C Windows Wireless Management
134
NWD271N User’s Guide
APPENDIX
Legal Information
Copyright
Copyright © 2008 by ZyXEL Communications Corporation.
The contents of this publication may not be reproduced in any part or as a whole, transcribed,
stored in a retrieval system, translated into any language, or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, magnetic, optical, chemical, photocopying, manual, or
otherwise, without the prior written permission of ZyXEL Communications Corporation.
Published by ZyXEL Communications Corporation. All rights reserved.
Disclaimers
ZyXEL does not assume any liability arising out of the application or use of any products, or
software described herein. Neither does it convey any license under its patent rights nor the
patent rights of others. ZyXEL further reserves the right to make changes in any products
described herein without notice. This publication is subject to change without notice.
Trademarks
Trademarks mentioned in this publication are used for identification purposes only and may be
properties of their respective owners.
Certifications
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Interference Statement
The device complies with Part 15 of FCC rules. Operation is subject to the following two
conditions:
• This device may not cause harmful interference.
• This device must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause
undesired operations.
This device has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device
pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable
protection against harmful interference in a residential installation. This device generates,
uses, and can radiate radio frequency energy, and if not installed and used in accordance with
the instructions, may cause harmful interference to radio communications. However, there is
no guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular installation.
NWD271N User’s Guide
135
Appendix D Legal Information
If this device does cause harmful interference to radio/television reception, which can be
determined by turning the device off and on, the user is encouraged to try to correct the
interference by one or more of the following measures:
1 Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna.
2 Increase the separation between the equipment and the receiver.
3 Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the
receiver is connected.
4 Consult the dealer or an experienced radio/TV technician for help.
FCC Radiation Exposure Statement
• This device has been tested to the FCC exposure requirements (Specific Absorption Rate).
• This device complies with the requirements of Health Canada Safety Code 6 for Canada.
• Testing was performed on laptop computers with antennas at 0mm spacing. The
maximum SAR value is: 0.680 W/kg. The device must not be collocated with any other
antennas or transmitters.
• This equipment has been SAR-evaluated for use in laptops (notebooks) with side slot
configuration.
• The device complies with FCC RF radiation exposure limits set forth for an uncontrolled
environment, under 47 CFR 2.1093 paragraph (d)(2). End users must follow the specific
operating instructions for satisfying RF exposure compliance. To maintain compliance
with FCC RF exposure compliance requirements, please follow operation instruction as
documented in this manual.
• This transmitter must not be co-located or operating in conjunction with any other antenna
or transmitter.
• IEEE 802.11b or 802.11g operation of this product in the U.S.A. is firmware-limited to
channels 1 through 11.
注意 !
依據
低功率電波輻射性電機管理辦法
第十二條 經型式認證合格之低功率射頻電機，非經許可，公司、商號或使用
者均不得擅自變更頻率、加大功率或變更原設計之特性及功能。
第十四條 低功率射頻電機之使用不得影響飛航安全及干擾合法通信；經發現
有干擾現象時，應立即停用，並改善至無干擾時方得繼續使用。
前項合法通信，指依電信規定作業之無線電信。低功率射頻電機須忍
受合法通信或工業、科學及醫療用電波輻射性電機設備之干擾。
在 5250MHz~5350MHz 頻帶內操作之無線資訊傳輸設備，限於室內使用。
本機限在不干擾合法電臺與不受被干擾保障條件下於室內使用。
136
NWD271N User’s Guide
Appendix D Legal Information
Notices
Changes or modifications not expressly approved by the party responsible for compliance
could void the user's authority to operate the equipment.
This device has been designed for the WLAN 2.4 GHz network throughout the EC region and
Switzerland, with restrictions in France.
This Class B digital apparatus complies with Canadian ICES-003.
Cet appareil numérique de la classe B est conforme à la norme NMB-003 du Canada.
Viewing Certifications
1 Go to http://www.zyxel.com.
2 Select your product on the ZyXEL home page to go to that product's page.
3 Select the certification you wish to view from this page.
ZyXEL Limited Warranty
ZyXEL warrants to the original end user (purchaser) that this product is free from any defects
in materials or workmanship for a period of up to two years from the date of purchase. During
the warranty period, and upon proof of purchase, should the product have indications of failure
due to faulty workmanship and/or materials, ZyXEL will, at its discretion, repair or replace the
defective products or components without charge for either parts or labor, and to whatever
extent it shall deem necessary to restore the product or components to proper operating
condition. Any replacement will consist of a new or re-manufactured functionally equivalent
product of equal or higher value, and will be solely at the discretion of ZyXEL. This warranty
shall not apply if the product has been modified, misused, tampered with, damaged by an act
of God, or subjected to abnormal working conditions.
Note
Repair or replacement, as provided under this warranty, is the exclusive remedy of the
purchaser. This warranty is in lieu of all other warranties, express or implied, including any
implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular use or purpose. ZyXEL shall in
no event be held liable for indirect or consequential damages of any kind to the purchaser.
To obtain the services of this warranty, contact ZyXEL's Service Center for your Return
Material Authorization number (RMA). Products must be returned Postage Prepaid. It is
recommended that the unit be insured when shipped. Any returned products without proof of
purchase or those with an out-dated warranty will be repaired or replaced (at the discretion of
ZyXEL) and the customer will be billed for parts and labor. All repaired or replaced products
will be shipped by ZyXEL to the corresponding return address, Postage Paid. This warranty
gives you specific legal rights, and you may also have other rights that vary from country to
country.
Registration
Register your product online to receive e-mail notices of firmware upgrades and information
at www.zyxel.com.
NWD271N User’s Guide
137
Appendix D Legal Information
138
NWD271N User’s Guide
APPENDIX
Customer Support
Please have the following information ready when you contact customer support.
Required Information
•
•
•
•
Product model and serial number.
Warranty Information.
Date that you received your device.
Brief description of the problem and the steps you took to solve it.
“+” is the (prefix) number you dial to make an international telephone call.
Corporate Headquarters (Worldwide)
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Support E-mail: support@zyxel.com.tw
Sales E-mail: sales@zyxel.com.tw
Telephone: +886-3-578-3942
Fax: +886-3-578-2439
Web: www.zyxel.com, www.europe.zyxel.com
FTP: ftp.zyxel.com, ftp.europe.zyxel.com
Regular Mail: ZyXEL Communications Corp., 6 Innovation Road II, Science Park,
Hsinchu 300, Taiwan
Costa Rica
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Support E-mail: soporte@zyxel.co.cr
Sales E-mail: sales@zyxel.co.cr
Telephone: +506-2017878
Fax: +506-2015098
Web: www.zyxel.co.cr
FTP: ftp.zyxel.co.cr
Regular Mail: ZyXEL Costa Rica, Plaza Roble Escazú, Etapa El Patio, Tercer Piso, San
José, Costa Rica
Czech Republic
•
•
•
•
E-mail: info@cz.zyxel.com
Telephone: +420-241-091-350
Fax: +420-241-091-359
Web: www.zyxel.cz
NWD271N User’s Guide
139
Appendix E Customer Support
• Regular Mail: ZyXEL Communications, Czech s.r.o., Modranská 621, 143 01 Praha 4 Modrany, Ceská Republika
Denmark
•
•
•
•
•
•
Support E-mail: support@zyxel.dk
Sales E-mail: sales@zyxel.dk
Telephone: +45-39-55-07-00
Fax: +45-39-55-07-07
Web: www.zyxel.dk
Regular Mail: ZyXEL Communications A/S, Columbusvej, 2860 Soeborg, Denmark
Finland
•
•
•
•
•
•
Support E-mail: support@zyxel.fi
Sales E-mail: sales@zyxel.fi
Telephone: +358-9-4780-8411
Fax: +358-9-4780-8448
Web: www.zyxel.fi
Regular Mail: ZyXEL Communications Oy, Malminkaari 10, 00700 Helsinki, Finland
France
•
•
•
•
•
E-mail: info@zyxel.fr
Telephone: +33-4-72-52-97-97
Fax: +33-4-72-52-19-20
Web: www.zyxel.fr
Regular Mail: ZyXEL France, 1 rue des Vergers, Bat. 1 / C, 69760 Limonest, France
Germany
•
•
•
•
•
•
Support E-mail: support@zyxel.de
Sales E-mail: sales@zyxel.de
Telephone: +49-2405-6909-69
Fax: +49-2405-6909-99
Web: www.zyxel.de
Regular Mail: ZyXEL Deutschland GmbH., Adenauerstr. 20/A2 D-52146, Wuerselen,
Germany
Hungary
•
•
•
•
•
•
140
Support E-mail: support@zyxel.hu
Sales E-mail: info@zyxel.hu
Telephone: +36-1-3361649
Fax: +36-1-3259100
Web: www.zyxel.hu
Regular Mail: ZyXEL Hungary, 48, Zoldlomb Str., H-1025, Budapest, Hungary
NWD271N User’s Guide
Appendix E Customer Support
India
•
•
•
•
•
•
Support E-mail: support@zyxel.in
Sales E-mail: sales@zyxel.in
Telephone: +91-11-30888144 to +91-11-30888153
Fax: +91-11-30888149, +91-11-26810715
Web: http://www.zyxel.in
Regular Mail: India - ZyXEL Technology India Pvt Ltd., II-Floor, F2/9 Okhla Phase -1,
New Delhi 110020, India
Japan
•
•
•
•
•
•
Support E-mail: support@zyxel.co.jp
Sales E-mail: zyp@zyxel.co.jp
Telephone: +81-3-6847-3700
Fax: +81-3-6847-3705
Web: www.zyxel.co.jp
Regular Mail: ZyXEL Japan, 3F, Office T&U, 1-10-10 Higashi-Gotanda, Shinagawa-ku,
Tokyo 141-0022, Japan
Kazakhstan
•
•
•
•
•
•
Support: http://zyxel.kz/support
Sales E-mail: sales@zyxel.kz
Telephone: +7-3272-590-698
Fax: +7-3272-590-689
Web: www.zyxel.kz
Regular Mail: ZyXEL Kazakhstan, 43 Dostyk Ave., Office 414, Dostyk Business Centre,
050010 Almaty, Republic of Kazakhstan
Malaysia
•
•
•
•
•
•
Support E-mail: support@zyxel.com.my
Sales E-mail: sales@zyxel.com.my
Telephone: +603-8076-9933
Fax: +603-8076-9833
Web: http://www.zyxel.com.my
Regular Mail: ZyXEL Malaysia Sdn Bhd., 1-02 & 1-03, Jalan Kenari 17F, Bandar
Puchong Jaya, 47100 Puchong, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
North America
•
•
•
•
•
•
Support E-mail: support@zyxel.com
Support Telephone: +1-800-978-7222
Sales E-mail: sales@zyxel.com
Sales Telephone: +1-714-632-0882
Fax: +1-714-632-0858
Web: www.zyxel.com
NWD271N User’s Guide
141
Appendix E Customer Support
• Regular Mail: ZyXEL Communications Inc., 1130 N. Miller St., Anaheim, CA 928062001, U.S.A.
Norway
•
•
•
•
•
•
Support E-mail: support@zyxel.no
Sales E-mail: sales@zyxel.no
Telephone: +47-22-80-61-80
Fax: +47-22-80-61-81
Web: www.zyxel.no
Regular Mail: ZyXEL Communications A/S, Nils Hansens vei 13, 0667 Oslo, Norway
Poland
•
•
•
•
•
E-mail: info@pl.zyxel.com
Telephone: +48-22-333 8250
Fax: +48-22-333 8251
Web: www.pl.zyxel.com
Regular Mail: ZyXEL Communications, ul. Okrzei 1A, 03-715 Warszawa, Poland
Russia
•
•
•
•
•
•
Support: http://zyxel.ru/support
Sales E-mail: sales@zyxel.ru
Telephone: +7-095-542-89-29
Fax: +7-095-542-89-25
Web: www.zyxel.ru
Regular Mail: ZyXEL Russia, Ostrovityanova 37a Str., Moscow 117279, Russia
Singapore
•
•
•
•
•
•
Support E-mail: support@zyxel.com.sg
Sales E-mail: sales@zyxel.com.sg
Telephone: +65-6899-6678
Fax: +65-6899-8887
Web: http://www.zyxel.com.sg
Regular Mail: ZyXEL Singapore Pte Ltd., No. 2 International Business Park, The Strategy
#03-28, Singapore 609930
Spain
•
•
•
•
•
•
142
Support E-mail: support@zyxel.es
Sales E-mail: sales@zyxel.es
Telephone: +34-902-195-420
Fax: +34-913-005-345
Web: www.zyxel.es
Regular Mail: ZyXEL Communications, Arte, 21 5ª planta, 28033 Madrid, Spain
NWD271N User’s Guide
Appendix E Customer Support
Sweden
•
•
•
•
•
•
Support E-mail: support@zyxel.se
Sales E-mail: sales@zyxel.se
Telephone: +46-31-744-7700
Fax: +46-31-744-7701
Web: www.zyxel.se
Regular Mail: ZyXEL Communications A/S, Sjöporten 4, 41764 Göteborg, Sweden
Thailand
•
•
•
•
•
•
Support E-mail: support@zyxel.co.th
Sales E-mail: sales@zyxel.co.th
Telephone: +662-831-5315
Fax: +662-831-5395
Web: http://www.zyxel.co.th
Regular Mail: ZyXEL Thailand Co., Ltd., 1/1 Moo 2, Ratchaphruk Road, Bangrak-Noi,
Muang, Nonthaburi 11000, Thailand.
Ukraine
•
•
•
•
•
•
Support E-mail: support@ua.zyxel.com
Sales E-mail: sales@ua.zyxel.com
Telephone: +380-44-247-69-78
Fax: +380-44-494-49-32
Web: www.ua.zyxel.com
Regular Mail: ZyXEL Ukraine, 13, Pimonenko Str., Kiev 04050, Ukraine
United Kingdom
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Support E-mail: support@zyxel.co.uk
Sales E-mail: sales@zyxel.co.uk
Telephone: +44-1344-303044, 08707-555779 (UK only)
Fax: +44-1344-303034
Web: www.zyxel.co.uk
FTP: ftp.zyxel.co.uk
Regular Mail: ZyXEL Communications UK Ltd., 11 The Courtyard, Eastern Road,
Bracknell, Berkshire RG12 2XB, United Kingdom (UK)
NWD271N User’s Guide
143
Appendix E Customer Support
144
NWD271N User’s Guide
Index
Index
About 71
about your ZyXEL Device 22
Access Point (AP) 38
Access point (AP) 38
Access Point. See also AP.
ACT LED 22
activating a profile 64
adapter 64
Ad-Hoc 23, 62
Advanced Encryption Standard 40
See AES.
advanced settings 64
AES 108
antenna
directional 111
gain 111
omni-directional 111
AP 101
See also access point.
AP MAC address 51
authentication 51
authentication type 39
auto 40
open system 40
shared key 40
auto authentication 40
automatic connection 53
automatic network scan 31, 59
See CA.
certifications 135
notices 137
viewing 137
channel 38, 51, 53, 62, 101
interference 101
configuration method 25
important note 25
Wireless Zero Configuration (WZC) 24, 25
ZyXEL utility 25
configuration status 51
connection status 51
contact information 139
continuous access mode 65
copyright 135
creating a new profile 61
credentials 68
CTS (Clear to Send) 102
current configuration 51
current connection status 51
customer support 139
data encryption 53
digital ID 40
dimensions 81
disclaimer 135
download 73
driver version 71, 72
dynamic WEP key exchange 107
Basic Service Set, See BSS 99
BSS 99
CA 40, 106
CCMP 40
Certificate Authority
NWD271N User’s Guide
EAP (Extensible Authentication Protocol) 40
EAP Authentication 105
EAP authentication 40
EAP type 67
EAP-PEAP 40
EAP-TLS 40
EAP-TTLS 40
145
Index
encryption 108
encryption type 39, 56
environmental specifications 81
ESS 100
Extended Service Set, See ESS 100
link information 51
LINK LED 22
link quality 52
fast power save 65
FCC interference statement 135
fragmentation threshold 102
frequency 38, 82
getting started 21
network mode 51
network name 51
network overlap 38
network scan 59
network type 51, 53
hardware connections 24
help 26
hidden node 101
humidity 81
online help 26
IBSS 99
IEEE 802.11g 103
IEEE 802.1x 40, 57, 67
Independent Basic Service Set
See IBSS 99
infrastructure 23
Initialization Vector (IV) 108
installation 24
interface 81
Internet access 23
LEDs 22
lights 22
146
manual network connection 31
Message Integrity Check (MIC) 40, 108
packet collisions 52
Pairwise Master Key (PMK) 108, 110
passphrase 39, 54
password 39
PEAP 67, 68
peer computer 23, 62
physical specifications 81
power saving 65
power saving mode 65
preamble 64
preamble mode 103
product registration 137
product specifications 81
profile 51, 60
activation 64
add new 61
configure 31, 33
default 59
delete 60
edit 60
NWD271N User’s Guide
Index
information 60
new 60, 61
PSK 108
Quick Start Guide 24, 78
radio interference 78
radio specifications 81, 82
RADIUS 40, 104
message types 105
messages 105
shared secret key 105
real-time data traffic statistics 52
receive rate 51
registration
product 137
related documentation 3
RTS (Request To Send) 102
threshold 101, 102
safety warnings 6
save power 65
scan 53
scan info 62
search 53
security 38, 39, 51, 83
data encryption 39
security settings and Vista 67
sensitivity 81
Service Set Identity (SSID) 31, 38
signal strength 52, 53
site information 53
site survey 53
scan 53
security settings 54
sleep mode 65
SSID 31, 38, 51, 53, 78
statistics 51
syntax conventions 4
system tray 24
NWD271N User’s Guide
temperature 81
Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) 40, 108
The 67
TLS 67, 69
total receive 51
total transmit 51
trademarks 135
transmission rate 51, 60
transmit key 54
transmit rate 51
trend chart 52
TTLS 67
uninstalling the ZyXEL utility 72
upgrading the ZyXEL utility 73
important step 73
user authentication 39
utility installation 24
utility version 71
Vista 67, 69
voltage 81
warranty 137
note 137
weight 81
WEP 39, 54
automatic setup 39
manual setup 39, 55
passphrase 39, 54
WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) 39
WEP Encryption 54
WEP key generation 39
Wi-Fi Protected Access 40, 107
Wi-Fi Protected Setup 50
Windows 67
Windows XP 25
147
Index
wireless client 38
wireless client WPA supplicants 109
wireless LAN
introduction 37
security 39
wireless LAN (WLAN) 37
wireless network 38
wireless security 103
wireless standard 81
wireless station mode
adapter 64
security settings 54
site survey 53
trend chart 52
wireless tutorial 28
WLAN
interference 101
security parameters 110
WPA 40, 56, 67, 107
key caching 108
pre-authentication 108
user authentication 108
vs WPA-PSK 108
wireless client supplicant 109
with RADIUS application example 109
WPA2 40, 56, 67, 107
user authentication 108
vs WPA2-PSK 108
wireless client supplicant 109
with RADIUS application example 109
WPA2-Pre-Shared Key 40, 107
WPA2-PSK 40, 55, 107, 108
application example 109
WPA-PSK 41, 55, 107, 108
application example 109
WPS
see also Wi-Fi Protected Setup 50
WZC
activating 120
network connection 123
not available 122
preferred network 131
security setting 127
system tray icon 123
WZC (Wireless Zero Configuration) 25
driver version number 71
exiting 25
help 26
reactivating 25
status 25
system tray icon 24
upgrading 73
version number 71
ZyXEL Utility
accessing 26
ZyXEL utility 25
accessing 26
148
NWD271N User’s Guide

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