Motorola Series Switch WS5100 - Manual (Page 11)

Overview
The switch provides a centralized management solution for wireless networking components across the
wired network infrastructure. The switch connects to legacy access ports through a Layer 2 switch/hub. The
switch connects to non-legacy access ports through a Layer 3 interface.
The switch functions as the center of the wireless network. The access ports function as radio antennas for
data traffic management and routing. All of the system configuration and intelligence for the wireless
network resides in the switch.
The switch uses access ports to bridge data from associated wireless devices to the wireless switch. The
wireless switch applies appropriate policies to the data packets before routing them to their destination.
Data packets destined for devices on the wired network are processed by the switch, where appropriate
policies are applied before they are encapsulated and sent to their destination.
Access port configuration is managed by the switch through the Graphical User Interface (GUI), SNMP or the
Command Line Interface (CLI). The switch streamlines the management of a large wireless system and
allows for Quality of Service (QoS), virtual WLANs and packet forwarding implementations.
1.1 Hardware Overview
The wireless switch is a rack-mountable device that manages all inbound and outbound traffic on the
wireless network. It provides security, network service and system management applications.
Unlike traditional wireless infrastructure devices that reside at the edge of a network, the switch uses
centralized, policy-based management to apply sets of rules or actions to all devices on the wireless
network. It collects management “intelligence” from individual access points and moves the collected
information into the centralized switch. Then, it replaces access points with “dumb” radio antennas called
access ports.
Access ports (APs) are 48V power-over-Ethernet devices connected to the switch by an Ethernet cable. An
access port receives 802.11x data from MUs and forwards the data to the switch which applies the
appropriate policies and routes the packets to their destinations. Depending on the model, an AP can support
as many as 16 WLANs.
Access ports do not have software or firmware upon initial receipt from the factory. When the access port is
first powered on and cleared for the network, the switch initializes the access port and installs a small
firmware file automatically. Therefore, installation and firmware upgrades are automatic and transparent.