Wireless LAN Utility User's Guide Version 2.0 September 2003 Note to OEMs: ZyXEL provides this document as a sample User’s Guide. This User’s Guide may require customization to reflect your own company name, product name and/or document style.
Wireless LAN Utility Copyright Copyright ©2003 by the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) 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 the OEM. Published by the OEM. All rights reserved.
Wireless LAN Utility Limited Warranty Limited Warranty iii
Wireless LAN Utility Information for Canadian Users The Industry Canada label identifies certified equipment. This certification means that the equipment meets certain telecommunications network protective operation and safety requirements. The Industry Canada does not guarantee that the equipment will operate to a user's satisfaction. Before installing this equipment, users should ensure that it is permissible to be connected to the facilities of the local telecommunications company.
Wireless LAN Utility Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Interference Statement This device complies with Part 15 of FCC rules. Operation is subject to the following two conditions: 1. This device may not cause harmful interference. 2. This device must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause undesired operations. This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a CLASS B digital device pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules.
Wireless LAN Utility The end user should NOT be provided any instructions on how to remove or install the device. End Product Labeling This transmitter module is authorized only for use in devices where the antenna may be installed such that 20 cm may be maintained between the antenna and users (for example access points, routers, wireless ASDL modems, and similar equipment). The final end product must be labeled in a visible area with the following: Contains TX FCC ID: I88B-120 IMPORTANT NOTE 1.
Wireless LAN Utility Customer Support When contacting your Customer Support Representative, please have the following information ready: Product model and serial number. Warranty Information. Date you received your product. Brief description of the problem and the steps you took to solve it.
Wireless LAN Utility Table of Contents Copyright .......................................................................................................................................................ii Limited Warranty ........................................................................................................................................iii Information for Canadian Users.................................................................................................................
Wireless LAN Utility 4.2.1 Authentication Mode ...........................................................................................................4-1 4.2.2 Configuring the WEP Encryption ........................................................................................4-1 Chapter 5 Advanced Configuration .........................................................................................................5-1 5.1 Overview.......................................................................
Wireless LAN Utility List of Figures Figure 1-1 Ad-hoc Application Example .....................................................................................................1-2 Figure 1-2 Infrastructure Application Example............................................................................................1-2 Figure 2-1 Windows XP: System Tray Icon.................................................................................................
Wireless LAN Utility Preface Congratulations on the purchase of your new Wireless LAN Adapter! About This User's Guide A practical and comprehensive tool, this guide provides information about the Wireless LAN Utility operation. This guide is for wireless devices that uses the Wireless LAN Utility program, thus the model name shown in the screens may vary from what you actually purchased. Familiarize yourself with the Syntax Conventions listed for better and faster understanding.
Wireless LAN Utility Chapter 1 Wireless Network Basics This chapter gives you an overview of what a wireless network is, its advantages and applications. 1.1 Introduction A wireless LAN (WLAN) provides a flexible data communication system that you can use to access various services (navigating the Internet, email, printer services, etc.) on the wired network without additional expensive network cabling infrastructure.
Wireless LAN Utility Figure 1-1 Ad-hoc Application Example 1.3.2 Infrastructure When wireless clients wish to access and share resources on the wired network, they should use infrastructure mode. Wireless clients may move from one coverage area to another seamlessly without network interruption. This is called roaming.
Wireless LAN Utility Chapter 2 Disable Windows XP Configuration Tool Windows XP includes a basic configuration tool for wireless devices. DO NOT use the Windows XP configuration tool together with the WLAN Utility. It is recommended you use the WLAN Utility to configure the WLAN Adapter. Follow the steps below to disable the configuration tool in Windows XP after you install the WLAN Utility. Step 1. Double-click on the network icon for wireless connection in the system tray.
Wireless LAN Utility Step 3. Double-click on the icon for wireless network connection to display a status window as shown next. Figure 2-2 Windows XP: Wireless Network Connection Status Step 4. Click Properties and click the Wireless Networks tab. Then go to Step 6. Step 5. When a Connect to Wireless Network window displays, click Advanced….
Wireless LAN Utility Step 6. In the Wireless Network Connection Properties window, make sure the Use Windows to configure my wireless network settings check box is not selected. Click OK.
Wireless LAN Utility Chapter 3 Using the Wireless LAN Utility This chapter shows you basic wireless LAN configuration using the Wireless LAN Utility. Install the WLAN Adapter before you proceed. Refer to the Quick Installation Guide. For Windows XP users: disable the Windows XP wireless configuration tool first before you proceed. Refer to Chapter 2. Screen shots for Windows XP are shown unless otherwise specified. 3.
Wireless LAN Utility Figure 3-2 WLAN Utility: WLAN Status When the WLAN Adapter is turned on for the first time, the WLAN Adapter automatically scans and connects to a network with the best link quality and link strength. Once you connect to a wireless network, the WLAN Adapter will connect to that network each time the WLAN Adapter is turned on. The following table describes the labels in this screen.
Wireless LAN Utility Table 3-2 WLAN Utility: WLAN Status LABEL DESCRIPTION Device Select an available wireless card from the drop-down list menu if you have more than one wireless cards in your computer. Re-Connect Click Re-Connect to re-establish connection to the wireless device whose SSID is shown in the Current Service Set Identifier field. Current Channel This field displays the radio channel the WLAN Adapter is currently using.
Wireless LAN Utility Figure 3-3 WLAN Utility: About The following table describes the read-only labels in this screen. Table 3-4 WLAN Utility: About FIELD DESCRIPTION Driver Version This field displays the version number of the WLAN Adapter’s driver. Utility Version This field displays the version number of the WLAN Utility. Firmware Version This field displays the version of the firmware on which the driver and the utility are based.
Wireless LAN Utility 3.4 Wireless LAN Parameters This section describes each wireless LAN parameter. 3.4.1 SSID The SSID (Service Set IDentity) is a unique name shared among all wireless devices in a wireless network. Wireless devices must have the same SSID to communicate with each other. 3.4.2 Channel A range of radio frequencies used by IEEE 802.11b wireless devices is called a channel. 3.4.3 Tx Rate The WLAN Adapter provides various transmission (data) rate options for you to select.
Wireless LAN Utility Figure 3-4 Ad-hoc Network Example To set up an ad-hoc network, configure all wireless clients in ad-hoc network type and use the same SSID and channel. 3.5.2 Infrastructure When a number of wireless clients are connected using a single AP, you have a Basic Service Set (BSS). Figure 3-5 BSS Example A series of overlapping BSS and a network medium, such as an Ethernet forms an Extended Service Set (ESS) or infrastructure network.
Wireless LAN Utility Figure 3-6 Infrastructure Network Example 3.6 Roaming In an infrastructure network, wireless clients are able to switch from one AP to another as they move between the coverage areas. During this period, the wireless client maintains uninterrupted connection to the network. This is roaming. As the wireless client moves from place to place, it is responsible for choosing the most appropriate AP depending on the signal strength, network utilization or other factors.
Wireless LAN Utility Figure 3-7 Roaming Example 3.7 The Site Survey Screen Use the Site Survey screen to scan for and connect to a wireless network automatically.
Wireless LAN Utility Figure 3-8 WLAN Utility: Site Survey The following table describes the fields in the Available Network table. Table 3-5 WLAN Utility: Site Survey FIELD DESCRIPTION SSID This field displays the SSID (or name) of each wireless network. BSSID This field displays the MAC address of the wireless network. Channel This field displays the channel number used by each wireless network. Signal This field displays the signal strength of each wireless network.
Wireless LAN Utility Table 3-5 WLAN Utility: Site Survey FIELD DESCRIPTION WEP This field shows whether the WEP data encryption is activated (Enable) or inactive (Disable). Search Click Search to scan for available wireless device within transmission range. Connect Click Connect to associate to the selected wireless device. The following table describes the colors used for the entries in the Site Survey screen.
Wireless LAN Utility Step 5. 3.8 To verify that you have successfully connected to the selected network, check the network information in the Link Info screen. Configuring the Wireless Parameters Click Network Configuration in the WLAN Utility program to display the Network Configuration screen as shown next. Figure 3-10 WLAN Utility: Network Configuration Follow the instructions in the table below to configure the wireless LAN related parameters.
Wireless LAN Utility Table 3-7 WLAN Utility: Network Configuration FIELD DESCRIPTION Configuration Operating Mode Select Infrastructure(BSS) or Ad-Hoc(IBSS) from the drop-down list box. Select Infrastructure(BSS) to associate to an AP. Select Ad-Hoc(IBSS) to associate to a peer ad-hoc computer. Refer to the Wireless Network Type section for more information. Service Set Identifier (SSID) Enter the SSID of the AP or the peer ad-hoc computer to which you want to associate in this field.
Wireless LAN Utility 3.9.2 Saving the Current Setting to a Profile To save the current settings in the Configuration screen to a new profile enter a descriptive name in the field provided and click Create. 3.9.3 Using a Pre-configured Profile To use a previously saved network profile select the profile file name from the drop-down list box and click Activate. 3.9.4 Deleting a Profile To delete an existing wireless network configuration select a profile from the drop-down list box and click Remove.
Wireless LAN Utility Chapter 4 Wireless LAN Security This chapter shows you how to set up the wireless LAN security available in the WLAN Adapter. 4.1 Introduction Wireless LAN security is vital to your network to protect wireless communication between wireless clients and the wired network. Configure the wireless LAN security using the Security screen.
Wireless LAN Utility Figure 4-1 WLAN Utility: Security Follow the instructions in the table to configure the WEP encryptions. Table 4-1 WLAN Utility: Security FIELD DESCRIPTION Encryption (WEP) Select either 64 Bits or 128 Bits from the drop-down list box to activate WEP encryption and then fill in the related fields. Select Disable to deactivate the WEP encryption. WEP Key Entry The WEP keys are used to encrypt data before it is transmitted.
Wireless LAN Utility Table 4-1 WLAN Utility: Security FIELD Key 1 … 4 DESCRIPTION Enter the WEP keys in the fields provided. If you select 64 Bits in the Encryption field. Enter either 10 hexadecimal digits in the range of “A-F”, “a-f” and “0-9” (e.g. 11AA22BB33) for HEX key type or Enter 5 printable ASCII characters (case sensitive) ranging from “a-z”, “A-Z” and “0-9” (e.g. MyKey) for ASCII key type.
Wireless LAN Utility Chapter 5 Advanced Configuration This chapter shows you how to configure advanced features of the WLAN Adapter. 5.1 Overview The following sections introduce the advanced features you can configure. 5.1.1 Threshold Control 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 WLAN Adapter will fragment the packet into smaller data frames.
Wireless LAN Utility 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 Threshold is designed to prevent collisions due to hidden nodes.
Wireless LAN Utility Long preamble mode allows more processing time for each transmitted data packet. Short preamble mode allows less processing time for the transmitted data packets. Using short preamble mode may minimize overhead and maximize network throughput. However, short preamble mode is supported by IEEE 802.11b compliant wireless devices, thus wireless stations using short preamble mode cannot communicate with wireless stations using the original IEEE 802.11 standard. 5.
Wireless LAN Utility Table 5-1 WLAN Utility: Advanced FIELD DESCRIPTION Transmit Threshold Control Fragmentation Threshold RTS/CTS Threshold The threshold (number of bytes) for the fragmentation boundary for directed messages. It is the maximum data fragment size that can be sent. Move the slider to set the fragmentation threshold. Data with its frame size larger than this value will perform the RTS/CTS handshake.
Wireless LAN Utility Chapter 6 Removing and Upgrading the WLAN Utility This chapter describes how to uninstall or upgrade the WLAN Utility. 6.1 Removing the WLAN Utility Follow the steps below to remove (or uninstall) the WLAN Utility from your computer. Step 1. Click Start, Programs, IEEE 802.11bWireless LAN Utility, Uninstall IEEE 802.11b Package. Step 2. When prompted, click Yes to remove the driver and the utility software. Step 3. 6.
Wireless LAN Utility Chapter 7 Troubleshooting This chapter covers potential problems and the possible remedies. After each problem description, some instructions are provided to help you to diagnose and to solve the problem. 7.1 Problems Starting the WLAN Utility Program Table 7-1 Troubleshooting Starting WLAN Utility Program Cannot start the WLAN Utility. Make sure the WLAN Adapter is properly inserted and the LED(s) is on. Refer to the Quick Installation Guide for the LED descriptions.
Wireless LAN Utility 7.2 Problems Communicating With Other Computers Table 7-2 Troubleshooting Communication Problems PROBLEM CORRECTIVE ACTION The WLAN Adapter computer cannot communicate with the other computer. A. B. 7.3 Infrastructure Ad-Hoc (IBSS) Make sure that the AP and the associated computers are turned on and working properly. Make sure the WLAN Adapter computer and the associated AP use the same SSID. Make sure that the computer and the AP share the same security option and key.
Wireless LAN Utility Table 7-3 Troubleshooting Link Quality PROBLEM The Survey screen displays all entries in red. Troubleshooting CORRECTIVE ACTION Move your computer closer to the AP or peer computer(s) within the transmission range. There is too much radio interference (for example microwave) around your wireless network. Relocate or reduce the radio interference.
Wireless LAN Utility Index A E Access Point....................................................1-1 Accessing the WLAN Utility ..........................3-1 Additional Information to OEM Integrators ..... vi Advanced Configuration .................................5-1 AP ............................................. See Access Point Applications Ad-hoc ........................................................1-1 Infrastructure...............................................1-2 Authentication Mode............
Wireless LAN Utility O Open authentication mode .......................4-1, 5-2 Operating Mode ......................See Network Type P Power Saving Mode...................................... 3-12 Preamble Mode............................................... 5-2 Long............................................................ 5-3 Short............................................................ 5-3 Preface ............................................................. xii problem description ...............
