The widespread use of wireless APs and wireless routers provides great convenience and flexibility in network access for businesses, universities and other organizations.
Yet in spite of the numerous advantages WLAN infrastructures offer, there are still a number of unsettled issues:
- All APs must be configured and require appropriate monitoring in order to recognize unwelcome WLAN clients, etc. The administration of the APs, especially for larger WLAN infrastructures with the appropriate security mechanisms, requires advanced qualifications and experience on the part of those responsible, and it ties up considerable resources in the IT departments.
- The manual customization of the configurations in the APs when changes are made to the WLAN infrastructure can be time-consuming, with the result that different configurations can be present in the WLAN at the same time.
- Combined utilization of the shared communications medium (air) requires effective coordination of the APs to avoid frequency interference and optimize network performance.
- In public places, APs are a potential security risk because the devices themselves, including the security-related data in them such as passwords, etc., are susceptible to theft. In addition, rogue APs may be able to connect to the LAN unnoticed, bypassing the security policies that are in place.
Centralized WLAN management is the solution to these problems. The configuration of the AP is then no longer carried out in the devices themselves but by a central authority instead, the WLAN controller (WLC). The WLC authenticates the APs and transmits the correct configuration to the approved devices. This allows for convenient configuration of the WLAN from a central point and the changes to the configuration affect all of the APs simultaneously. Optionally the configuration provided by the WLC is not stored in the AP's flash memory but in RAM, so security-related data cannot fall into the hands of unauthorized persons in the event that devices are stolen. Only in "standalone operation" is the configuration optionally saved for a defined period to flash memory (in an area that cannot be read out with LANconfig or other tools).
Here you enter the WLC that this managed AP should preferably contact. In order for the AP to receive its configuration from a WLC, navigate to and set the WLAN operation mode to Managed.
LANconfig:
- WLAN controller address
- The name or IP address of the WLAN controller is specified here. The name of the LANCOM WLAN controller is preset to 'WLC-Address', so in most cases you do not have to change anything here. If DNS address resolution is not possible, enter the IP address of the WLAN controller here.
- Port
- The port used to communicate with the WLC. Default: 1027
- Source address
- Here you have the option to configure a sender address for the device to use in place of the one that would otherwise be used automatically for this target address.
