SonicWallSonicPointN2GettingStartedGuide
15
Wirelessaccesspoint
placementconsiderations
PhysicalplacementoftheSonicPointN2wirelessaccesspoint
hasameasurableeff ectonwhocanandcannotaccessyour
wirelesssignal.
AccesspointsshouldbekeptclearofRadioFrequency(RF)
interferencesources.RFbarrierscanbecircumventedby
deployingmultipleaccesspoints.
Asitesurveywillhelpfindthe
optimumwirelessaccesspoint
placement,butyoucanfindusablelocationswithoutit.
Considerationsinclude:
•Numberofaccesspointsversususerdensity–Iftoo
manyusersareservicedbyasingleaccesspoint,
maximumtransferratesarereachedandthataccess
pointmaybecomeabottleneckforthewholesystem.
• Bandwidth
–Howmuchdataismovingupstreamand
downstreamforagiventypeofuser?
•Ethernetcabling–Whereareyourunningthepowered
Ethernet(PoE)cabletoandhowareyousecuringthat
cable?IsyourPoEswitch802.3atcompliantandableto
powerallaccesspointswith25watts
each?
Tomaintain25wattsofpowertotheSonicPointN2,the
maximumlengthofCAT5ecablefromthe802.3atPoE
injectortotheSonicPointN2is30meters.
•Hubs/Switches–Yourwirelessdeploymenthastotie
backintoyournetworksecurityapplianceandLAN
resources.Considerwhereyour
keynetworkingdevices
aredeployedandhowtheywillconnectefficientlywith
yourwirelessappliances.Whatspeedisneededfor
yourEthernetconnectiontoaccommodatethenumber
ofaccesspointsyouareinstalling? AGigabitEthernet
interfaceisrecommendedwhenconnectinga
SonicPointN2toyourSonicWallnetworksecurity
appliance.
•Legacyclients–Olderlaptopsandmobiledevicesmay
notsupport802.11n.Althoughclientswith802.11a/g/
bhardwarearesupportedbytheSonicWallSonicPoint
N2,thepresenceoftheselegacyclientswithinrangeof
yourwirelessnetworkcouldaffecttheconnection
speedofyour802.11nclients.
Forexample,an802.11bdeviceauthenticated
tothe
SonicPointN2couldlimitallclientsconnectedtothat
radioto802.11bdatarates.