3com LANplex 6000 User manual

http://www.3com.com/

http://support.3com.com/registration/frontpg.pl/

11 Mbps Wireless LAN

Access Point 6000

User Guide

Full featured wireless local area networking made simple.

Version 2.0

Published May, 2001

Version 2.0.2

3Com Corporation

5400 Bayfront Plaza

Santa Clara, California

95052-8145

reproduced in any form or by any means or used to make any derivative work (such as translation,

transformation, or adaptation) without written permission from 3Com Corporation.

3Com Corporation reserves the right to revise this documentation and to make changes in content from time

to time without obligation on the part of 3Com Corporation to provide notiﬁcation of such revision or change.

3Com Corporation provides this documentation without warranty, term, or condition of any kind, either

implied or expressed, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties, terms or conditions of

merchantability, satisfactory quality, and ﬁtness for a particular purpose. 3Com may make improvements or

changes in the product(s) and/or the program(s) described in this documentation at any time.

If there is any software on removable media described in this documentation, it is furnished under a license

agreement included with the product as a separate document, in the hard copy documentation, or on the

removable media in a directory ﬁle named LICENSE.TXT or !LICENSE.TXT. If you are unable to locate a copy,

please contact 3Com and a copy will be provided to you.

UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT LEGEND

If you are a United States government agency, then this documentation and the software described herein

are provided to you subject to the following:

All technical data and computer software are commercial in nature and developed solely at private expense.

Software is delivered as “Commercial Computer Software” as deﬁned in DFARS 252.227-7014 (June 1995)

or as a “commercial item” as deﬁned in FAR 2.101(a) and as such is provided with only such rights as are

provided in 3Com’s standard commercial license for the Software. Technical data is provided with limited

rights only as provided in DFAR 252.227-7015 (Nov 1995) or FAR 52.227-14 (June 1987), whichever is

applicable. You agree not to remove or deface any portion of any legend provided on any licensed program

or documentation contained in, or delivered to you in conjunction with, this User Guide.

Unless otherwise indicated, 3Com registered trademarks are registered in the United States and may or may

not be registered in other countries.

3Com, AirConnect, and XJACK are registered trademarks and the 3Com logo is a trademark of

3Com Corporation.

Microsoft, Windows, and Windows NT are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.

All other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they

are associated.

EXPORT RESTRICTIONS:

This product or software contains encryption code which may not be exported or

transferred from the US or Canada without an approved US Department of Commerce export license.

C

ONTENTS

1

I

NTRODUCTION

How Does a Wireless LAN Work? 1

Network Association 1

Roaming 1

Security 1

Ad Hoc Networks 1

Setting Up a 3Com Wireless LAN 2

All Wireless Networks 2

Wired/Wireless Networks 2

Product Registration and Support 3

2

I

NSTALLING

THE

A

CCESS

P

OINT

Before You Begin 5

Deciding Where to Place Equipment 5

Placing the Access Point 6

Placing on a Flat Surface 6

Mounting on a Wall 6

Mounting on a Ceiling 7

Connecting Power 7

Connecting to an Ethernet Network 8

Checking the LED Indicators 9

3

M

ANAGING

THE

W

IRELESS

LAN

Overview 11

Viewing Access Point Information 11

Selecting an Access Point for Conﬁguration 12

Changing Access Point Properties 13

Setting Network Properties 14

Setting Data Transmission Properties 15

Changing Encryption Settings 15

Setting up Access Control 16

Changing the Administration Password 16

Using Conﬁguration Templates 16

Creating a Template 16

Loading a Template 17

Saving Access Point Conﬁgurations 17

Backing up an Access Point Conﬁguration 17

Restoring an Access Point Conﬁguration 17

Viewing System Status 18

Upgrading the System 18

Downloading Upgrade Files 18

Installing an Upgrade 18

Installing the Management Tool on a Computer 19

Restoring an Access Point to Factory Defaults 19

Interoperating with Third-Party Equipment 19

4

C

ONDUCTING

A

S

ITE

S

URVEY

Choosing Trial Locations 21

Environmental Requirements 21

Electrical Requirements 22

Summary of the Survey Procedure 22

Using the Site Survey Tool 23

Setting up Equipment 23

Launching the Tool 23

Conﬁguring the Site Survey 23

Running the Tests 24

Interpreting Test Results 24

Site Survey Menus 25

5

I

NSTALLING

THE

W

IRELESS

C

LIENT

Requirements 27

Disk Factory 28

Inserting the PC Card 28

Installing the Software 29

Windows Wizard Installation 30

Install Files 30

Set Up the PC Card 30

Install Utilities 31

Windows NT Installation with Networking Installed 31

Installation Under Service Pack 4 31

Installation Under Service Pack 5 and Above 32

Install Files 32

Install CardWizard 32

Set Up the PC Card 33

Install Utilities 33

Conﬁrming the Installation 34

Custom Installation Options 34

WLAN Service Area 34

Security Settings 34

40-bit Shared Key (Wi-Fi) Encryption 34

128-bit Dynamic Security Link Authentication 35

Installing the Documentation 35

6

U

SING

THE

W

IRELESS

LAN

About the 3Com Icon 38

Interpreting Status Icons 38

Using the 3Com WLAN Conﬁguration Utility 40

Using 3Com Administrator Utilities 41

7

C

ONFIGURING

THE

W

IRELESS

C

LIENT

Changing Network and Security Settings 43

Network Settings 43

Security Settings 44

40-bit Shared Key (Wi-Fi) Encryption Settings 44

128-bit Dynamic Security Link Settings 45

Setting up Auto Network Connect 45

Setting up an Ad Hoc Network 46

Starting an Ad Hoc Network Session 46

Joining an Ad Hoc Network Session 47

Ending an Ad Hoc Network Session 47

Changing Power, Trafﬁc, and Address Settings 47

Changing Your Password 48

Running Diagnostics 49

Viewing Conﬁguration Information 49

8

T

ROUBLESHOOTING

Diagnosing Problems 51

Access Point 51

PC Card 52

Using the Tools Window 54

Uninstalling the Card 54

Uninstalling Software Utilities 55

Upgrading PC Card Firmware 55

A

W

INDOWS

NT I

NSTALLATION

W

ITHOUT

N

ETWORKING

I

NSTALLED

Installation Under Service Pack 4 57

Installation Under Service Pack 5 and Above 57

Install Files and Networking 57

Install CardWizard 59

Set Up the PC Card 59

Install Utilities 60

B

T

ECHNICAL

S

UPPORT

Online Technical Services 61

World Wide Web Site 61

3Com Knowledgebase Web Services 61

3Com FTP Site 61

Support from Your Network Supplier 62

Support from 3Com 62

Returning Products for Repair 64

I

NDEX

R

EGULATORY

C

OMPLIANCE

I

NFORMATION

1

I

NTRODUCTION

3Com wireless technology brings the beneﬁts of a local area network (LAN) to

your ofﬁce without the restraints and expense of network wiring. If your ofﬁce

already has an Ethernet LAN, the 3Com 11 Mbps Wireless LAN can extend the

network without adding more wires.

How Does a Wireless

LAN Work?

In a traditional LAN, computers communicate through wires. Instead of wires, a

wireless LAN uses radio signals to communicate.

Network Association

Computers that are equipped for wireless LAN communication are called wireless

LAN

clients

. The wireless communication is called network

association

. Clients

associate through one or more

access points

, which are wireless base stations that

act as wireless hubs.

An access point can be connected to a wired network device such as an Ethernet

hub, switch, or router to give clients access to the wired network where they can

share ﬁles and printers and gain access to the Internet.

Roaming

If the ofﬁce space is large, you can set up multiple access points on the same

network to increase coverage. When a wireless client begins to lose the signal as it

moves away from an access point, it can reassociate seamlessly with another

access point. This is called

roaming

.

Security

You can set up security to encrypt your wireless transmissions so that your data

cannot be deciphered if it is intercepted, and to prevent access to the network by

unauthorized clients.

Ad Hoc Networks

Wireless clients can associate among themselves at close range without an access

point by using

ad hoc

(temporary) networks. You may wish to set up an ad hoc

network, for example, if a group is working away from the ofﬁce, or if a group in

the ofﬁce needs to share ﬁles apart from the LAN.

2

C

HAPTER

1: I

NTRODUCTION

Setting Up a 3Com

Wireless LAN

The type of network you decide to set up depends on the size of your ofﬁce and

whether or not you require connection to a wired LAN. You can also set up

security for each of the different types of networks. Your setup will probably

resemble one or more of the following examples.

All Wireless Networks

The simplest 3Com wireless LAN consists of several clients associating in an ad hoc

network without an access point.

A simple conﬁguration consists of one access point and several clients. The clients

can associate with the wireless network anywhere within the coverage area of the

access point. The access point is not connected to any other network segments.

For more complex requirements, you can conﬁgure several access points as

separate networks at the same site. The access points use different network

identiﬁers called

wireless LAN service areas

(

WLAN service areas

, also called

Extended Service Set Identities

or

ESSID

). Clients can roam within the coverage

areas of access points that have the same WLAN service areas. They cannot roam

to the coverage areas of access points that are conﬁgured with different WLAN

service areas.

Wired/Wireless

Networks

An access point can be connected to a wired LAN with an Ethernet cable to create

a mixed wired/wireless network. In this conﬁguration, the access point provides

the link between the wired network and wireless clients. Clients can move freely

throughout the service area of the access point and remain associated with the

larger network for services such as printing and Internet access.

P

O

W

E

R

WIR

E

LES

S

ET

H

E

R

NET

Product Registration and Support

3

Multiple access points can be connected to an existing LAN to provide complete

wireless network coverage. Wireless clients can roam seamlessly between different

access points with the same WLAN service areas and remain associated with the

larger network.

Product Registration

and Support

To register your product with 3Com, go to the following Web page:

http://support.3com.com/registration/frontpg.pl

For support information, see “Technical Support” on page 61 or log on to the 3Com

Web site at http://www.3com.com and navigate to the product support page.

POWER

W

I

RE

L

E

SS

E

THER

N

E

T

POWER

WI

REL

E

SS

E

THERNE

T

2

I

NSTALLING

THE

A

CCESS POINT

Before You Begin Make sure that you have the following items, which are included with the

3Com 11 Mbps Wireless LAN access point 6000:

■ Power brick and power cord.

■ 35-foot standard Category 5 unshielded twisted pair (UTP) Ethernet cable for

connecting the access point to the power brick.

■ Female-female Ethernet connector (if you need to add an extra Ethernet cable

to the one supplied).

■ Mounting template and wall mount hardware kit (if you plan to mount the

access point on a wall).

■ Mounting bracket and two number 6 panhead screws (if you plan to mount

the access point to the T-rail grid of an acoustical ceiling).

To connect the access point to a wired network, you need an additional Ethernet

cable (not supplied).

Deciding Where to

Place Equipment

You should place the access point in a dry, clean location that provides a power

source and good reception. If you are connecting the access point to a wired

network, the location must provide an Ethernet connection. The location should

be away from transformers, heavy-duty motors, ﬂuorescent lights, microwave

ovens, refrigerators and other equipment.

An access point provides coverage at distances of up to 300 feet. The antenna

should always be perpendicular to the ﬂoor. Signal loss can occur if metal,

concrete, brick, walls, or ﬂoors block transmission. If your ofﬁce has these kinds of

obstructions, you may need to add additional access points to improve coverage.

Do not install the access point in wet or dusty areas without protection. Make sure

the temperature ranges between –20˚ C to 55˚ C (–4˚ F to 131˚ F).

You should conduct a site survey before you install the access point permanently.

A site survey tool is provided on the 3Com Administrator Utilities CD. To conduct

the survey, you need to set up a wireless client with the administrator utilities.

See “Conducting a Site Survey” on page 21.

6 CHAPTER 2: INSTALLING THE ACCESS POINT

Placing the Access

Point

The access point can be placed on a ﬂat surface such as a table, desktop, or the

top of a cabinet; or it can be mounted on a wall or to the T-rail grid of an

acoustical ceiling.

Placing on a Flat Surface Find a surface that is clear of obstructions and provides good reception. Set the

access point down on its four rubber feet and adjust the antenna so that it stands

straight up.

Mounting on a Wall To mount an access point on a wall, follow the instructions on the mounting

template supplied in the box and refer to the following illustration. It is usually a

good idea to mount the access point near the ceiling above any obstructions that

could block transmission. Position the antenna so that it stands straight up.

1

2

3

4

Connecting Power 7

Mounting on a Ceiling To mount an access point to the T-rail grid of an acoustical ceiling, you must ﬁrst

attach the mounting bracket to the access point as shown in the following illustration.

Align the T-rail grips with the ceiling T-rail, adjust them so that they grip the T-rail

snugly, and tighten the screws on the T-rail grip. Adjust the antenna so that it

points straight down. Refer to the illustration below.

Connecting Power The access point is powered by a standard Category 5 unshielded twisted pair

(UTP) Ethernet cable connected to a power brick, eliminating the need to run

standard power directly to the access point. A 35-foot Ethernet cable is supplied

for connecting the access point to the power brick. A female-female Ethernet

connector is also supplied, which you can use if you need to add extra cable. The

power brick can be located at any point between the access point and the LAN

access port (if you plan to connect to a wired LAN), where a convenient power

RESET

TO PO

W

ER SUPPLY

PO

W

ER

WI

RE

L

E

SS

E

THERN

E

T

R

ESET

TO PO

W

E

R

SUP

PLY

8 CHAPTER 2: INSTALLING THE ACCESS POINT

outlet exists. To connect the power, see the following illustration. Make sure you

connect the cable to the port labeled To Access Point on the power brick. When

the access point receives power, the LEDs light.

Connecting to an

Ethernet Network

Use a standard Ethernet cable (not supplied) to connect the access point to an

Ethernet network, as shown below.

CAUTION: If you supply your own Ethernet cable for connecting power, be sure

that it is standard cable that has not been altered in any way. Use of

nonstandard cable could damage the access point.

R

E

S

E

T

O

P

O

W

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R

S

U

P

L

Y

P

O

WE

R

W

I

R

E

LE

S

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T

H

E

R

N

E

T

O

A

C

E

S

P

O

I

N

T

O

H

U

B

/

S

WI

T

C

H

CAUTION: To avoid damaging other components connected to the network,

make sure that the Ethernet cable connected to the LAN port is plugged into the

To Hub/Switch port on the power brick (not the To Access Point port).

R

E

S

E

T

O

P

O

W

E

R

S

U

P

L

Y

P

O

WE

R

W

I

R

E

LE

S

E

T

H

E

R

N

E

T

O

A

C

E

S

P

O

I

N

T

O

H

U

B

/

S

WI

T

C

H

E

th

e

rn

et

Checking the LED Indicators 9

Checking the LED

Indicators

LED Indicator Description

Power ■ On—Access point is receiving power.

■ Off—Access point is not receiving power.

Wireless ■ Blinking—The access point is operating. The blink speed ranges from

approximately once every 2.5 seconds to approximately 10 times per

second, depending on the signal strength and transmission speed.

■ Off—The access point is not receiving power.

Ethernet ■ Blinking—Wired LAN traffic is detected. Faster blinking indicates

heavier traffic.

■ Off—There is no wired LAN connection or the access point is not

receiving power.

3

MANAGING THE WIRELESS LAN

Overview If your 3Com Wireless LAN has only one access point, a few clients, and no special

security requirements, you can use the 3Com 11 Mbps Wireless LAN access

point 6000 just as it was shipped from the factory. If your network is more

complex, you will want to organize access points so that you can manage the

wireless LAN easily, and you may want to add security.

These tools help you manage the wireless LAN:

■ Discover APs in Range—Lets you view information about access points that

are within radio frequency range. See “Viewing Access Point Information”.

■ AP Management—Lets you view the WLAN Service Areas and access points

in the current subnetwork, select an access point, and launch the Web-based

tool that lets you conﬁgure the selected access point. See “Selecting an Access

Point for Conﬁguration” on page 12.

■ 3Com 11 Mbps Wireless LAN access point 6000 Conﬁguration

Management System—Resides on the access point and lets you conﬁgure

that access point through your Web browser (Internet Explorer version 5 or

later, which is supplied on the 3Com CD). For instructions on accessing this

tool from a wireless client, see “Selecting an Access Point for Conﬁguration”

on page 12. Optionally, you can install this tool on a computer. See “Installing

the Management Tool on a Computer” on page 19.

Viewing Access Point

Information

To view information about access points that are within radio frequency range,

launch the Discover APs in Range tool as follows:

1 In the Windows system tray, click the 3Com icon to display the

3Com WLAN Launcher.

If the 3Com WLAN Launcher is not already running, you can start it from the

Windows Start menu. Select Start/Programs/3Com 11 Mbps Wireless LAN/3Com

WLAN Launcher.

2 In WLAN Launcher, click the Hammer icon.

3 In the Tools tab, double-click the Discover APs in Range icon.

The Known Access Points List window appears and lists the access points that are

in range. The access point with which the client is associated is shown in bold

font. To update the display, click Refresh.

12 CHAPTER 3: MANAGING THE WIRELESS LAN

The following information appears for each access point:

Selecting an Access

Point for

Conﬁguration

The Wireless Network Tree displays the WLAN Service Areas and access points in

the current subnetwork. You can select an access point from the tree and launch

the Conﬁguration Management System in your Web browser to conﬁgure

parameters for the selected access point.

1 In the Windows system tray, click the 3Com icon to display the

3Com WLAN Launcher.

If the 3Com WLAN Launcher is not already running, you can start it from the

Windows Start menu. Select Start/Programs/3Com 11 Mbps Wireless LAN/3Com

WLAN Launcher.

2 In WLAN Launcher, click the Hammer icon.

3 In the Tools tab, double-click the Access Point Management icon.

The Wireless Network Tree appears in the Access Point Management window. The

tree lists all WLAN service areas that are on the same subnet as the client. Each

WLAN service area branch expands to show the access points that are conﬁgured

with that service area. You can refresh this display by clicking Refresh. You should

refresh the display, for example, after you change an access point IP address.

4 In the Wireless Network Tree, select an access point.

You can view the properties of the selected access point by clicking Properties.

5 Click Conﬁgure.

The Conﬁguration Management System main page appears in your Web browser.

The Conﬁguration Management System is a Web-based tool that gives access to

the conﬁguration parameters for the selected access point. When the tool

launches in your Web browser, conﬁguration pages appear on the right frame.

The navigation tree used to access the conﬁguration pages appears in the

left frame.

The ﬁrst time you launch the Conﬁguration Management System on the access

point or after you reset an access point to factory defaults, you are prompted to

set an administrative password. Although a password is not required, 3Com

recommends that you set a password to protect against unauthorized access.

After you set the password, you must enter a user name and password each time

you launch the tool on the access point. Enter a user name of your choice, and the

password that you set.

Item Description

WLAN Service Area Shows the access point Wireless LAN service area. For information on

the WLAN service area, see “Changing Network and Security Settings”

on page 43.

Device Name The default name 3ComAccessPoint_xxxx (where ‘xxxx’ is the last four

hex digits of the MAC address) can be changed. See “Changing Access

Point Properties” on page 13.

AP MAC Address This number is a unique hardware name for the access point.

IP Address This number identifies the access point’s location on the network.

Channel This number identifies the radio frequency channel in use.

Changing Access Point Properties 13

Changing Access Point

Properties

In the Conﬁguration Management System navigation tree under System

Conﬁguration, click Access Point Properties. The Access Point Properties page

displays the properties of the selected access point. You can change properties by

entering values in the ﬁelds and clicking the radio buttons (see the following

table). When you are ﬁnished, click Submit.

The following table describes the properties.

Property Description Default Value

Device Name This name appears in the Known Access Points

List window. You can change the default name

to one of your choice.

3ComAccessPoint_xxxx

(where xxxx is the last

four hex digits of the

MAC address)

Device Location Optionally, you can enter the location of the

access point.

None

WLAN Service Area To enable clients to roam among multiple

access points, the access points must have

identical WLAN service areas. To maintain

wireless association, the WLAN service area on

the client and the access point with which it is

associated must match exactly. Therefore, if

you are associated with the access point that

you are configuring and you change the access

point WLAN service area, make sure to change

the client WLAN service area also.

3Com Wireless Network

Help File Location ■ Web Server: Help files are located on the

network at the specified Help File Path.

■ Local Drive: Help files are located on the

client at the specified Help File Path.

Local Drive

Help File Path The location of the Configuration

Management System help files on the web

server or on the local drive.

D:WLAN?APHELP

14 CHAPTER 3: MANAGING THE WIRELESS LAN

Setting Network

Properties

In the Conﬁguration Management System navigation tree under System

Conﬁguration, click Network Properties. The Network Conﬁguration page

appears, where you can change the settings shown in the table below.

Setting Description

Access Point Network This setting allows you to change the IP address of the access point.

To let the access point get an IP address automatically, click Obtain an

IP address automatically and click Save.

To specify an IP address, click Specify an IP address, enter the IP address

parameters in the spaces provided, and click Save.

If you change the IP address, you cannot continue to configure the

access point using the old IP address. Therefore, if you want to

continue configuring this access point after you save this change, you

must do the following:

1 Close your browser.

2 Return to the Access Point Management tool Wireless Network Tree

and click Refresh.

3 Select the access point and click Configure to start a new

configuration session.

When you specify an IP address, the access point cannot act as a DHCP

server. Make sure that clients are using IP addresses on the

same network.

Wireless DHCP Server If your wired network has a DHCP server, it is recommended that you

use it. However, the access point provides a DHCP server so that

operating systems that do not support automatic IP addressing can

communicate with it.

The access point’s default IP address is 169.254.xxx.1, where xxx is the

last two bytes of the access point’s MAC address. When it is acting as a

DHCP server, the access point can assign up to 253 IP addresses to

currently associated wireless clients. The IP addresses range from

169.254.xxx.2 to 169.254.xxx.254.

If the access point detects that another DHCP server is available, all

wireless clients get IP addresses from that DHCP server.

If your wired LAN DHCP server goes down, the access point assigns IP

addresses after the lease periods on the previous IP addresses expire.

To let the access point act as a DHCP server when there is no other

DHCP server available, click Enable and click Save.

To turn off the access point DHCP server capability regardless of

whether or not another DHCP server is available, click Disable and

click Save.

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3com LANplex 6000 User manual

3com LANplex 6000 User manual

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