H3C Technologies H3C WX3000E Series Wireless Switches - Manual (Page 16)

4
Configuring WLAN services
WLAN service overview
A wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) can provide the following services.
• WLAN client connectivity to conventional 802.3 LANs
• Secured WLAN access with different authentication and encryption methods
• Seamless roaming of WLAN clients in a mobility domain
Terminology
Client
A PC or laptop with a wireless Network Interface Card (NIC), or any WiFi-capable terminal
Access point (AP)
An AP bridges frames between wireless and wired networks.
Access controller (AC)
An AC can control and manage all APs in a WLAN. The AC communicates with an authentication server
for WLAN client authentication.
SSID
Service set identifier. A client scans all networks at first, and then selects a specific SSID to connect to a
specific wireless network.
Wireless medium
A medium used for transmitting frames between wireless clients. Radio frequency is used as the wireless
medium in the WLAN system.
Split MAC
In split MAC mode, APs and ACs manage different services. An AP manages real-time services, such as
beacon generation, power management, fragmentation, defragmentation, scheduling, and queuing. An
AC manages services related to packet distribution, association, dissociation, reassociation, key
management, 802.1X, EAP, and 802.11e.
Wireless client access
A wireless client access process involves three steps: active/passive scanning surrounding wireless
services, authentication, and association, as shown in Figure 1 .