NETGEAR ME103 User Manual

Page 34

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Reference Manual for the ME103 802.11b ProSafe Wireless Access Point

3-13

Basic Installation and Configuration

August 2003

Table 3-1.

Basic Wireless Security Options

Field

Description

Network
Authentication

You can select the following network authentication options:
• Open: the ME103 does not perform any authentication. However, if the 802.1x

option is configured, authentication of connections can be performed by a
RADIUS server.

• Shared: this is for shared key authentication. The SSID and data are encrypted.

Data Encryption

You can select the following data encryption options:
• Disabled
• 64- or 128-bit WEP

With Open Network Authentication and 64- or 128-bit WEP Data Encryption, the
ME103 does perform 64- or 128-bit data encryption but does not perform any
authentication. However, if the 802.1x option is configured, authentication of
connections will be performed by a RADIUS server.

Network Key

If WEP is enabled, you can manually or automatically program the four data
encryption keys. These values must be identical on all PCs and access points in
your network (key 1 must be the same for all, key 2 must be the same for all, etc.)
There are two methods for creating WEP encryption keys:
• Passphrase.

These characters are case sensitive.

Enter a word or group of printable characters in the Passphrase box and click the
Generate button.

Note: Not all wireless adapters support passphrase key generation.

• Manual.

These values are not case sensitive.

64-bit WEP: enter 10 hexadecimal digits (any combination of 0-9, a-f, or A-F).
128-bit WEP: enter 26 hexadecimal digits (any combination of 0-9, a-f, or A-F).

Configure 802.1x

WEP security can be compromised by a determined snoop. If you require the kind
of strong security that is extremely difficult to compromise, use 802.1x RADIUS
authentication as explained in

“Configuring Advanced Security 802.1x Options” on

page 5-1

. For an explanation of 802.1x security, please see

“Understanding 802.1x

Port Based Network Access Control” on page B-9

.

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