FCC ID: I88NWD271N 802.11n USB Dongle

NWD217N WLAN 802.11n USB Adapter Users Guide Version 1.0 05/2008 Edition 1 www.zyxel.com About This User's Guide About This User's Guide Intended Audience This manual is intended for people who want to configure the NWD271N using the ZyXEL utility. You should have at least a basic knowledge of TCP/IP networking concepts and topology. Related Documentation Quick Start Guide The Quick Start Guide is designed to help you get up and running right away. It contains information on setting up your network and configuring for Internet access. Online Help Embedded web help for descriptions of individual screens and supplementary information. Supporting Disc Refer to the included CD for support documents. ZyXEL Web Site Please refer to www.zyxel.com for additional support documentation and product certifications. Users Guide Feedback Help us help you. Send all Users Guide-related comments, questions or suggestions for improvement to the following address, or use e-mail instead. Thank you!

The Technical Writing Team, ZyXEL Communications Corp., 6 Innovation Road II, Science-Based Industrial Park, Hsinchu, 300, Taiwan. E-mail: techwriters@zyxel.com.tw NWD271N Users Guide 3 Document Conventions Document Conventions Warnings and Notes These are how warnings and notes are shown in this Users Guide.

Warnings tell you about things that could harm you or your NWD271N.

Notes tell you other important information (for example, other things you may need to configure or helpful tips) or recommendations. Syntax Conventions The NWD271N may be referred to as the NWD271N, the device, the system or the product in this Users Guide. Product labels, screen names, field labels and field choices are all in bold font. A key stroke is denoted by square brackets and uppercase text, for example, [ENTER]

means the enter or return key on your keyboard. Enter means for you to type one or more characters and then press the [ENTER] key. Select or choose means for you to use one of the predefined choices. A right angle bracket ( > ) within a screen name denotes a mouse click. For example, Maintenance > Log > Log Setting means you first click Maintenance in the navigation panel, then the Log sub menu and finally the Log Setting tab to get to that screen. Units of measurement may denote the metric value or the scientific value. For example, k for kilo may denote 1000 or 1024, M for mega may denote 1000000 or 1048576 and so on. e.g., is a shorthand for for instance, and i.e., means that is or in other words. 4 NWD271N Users Guide Document Conventions Icons Used in Figures Figures in this Users Guide may use the following generic icons. Wireless Access Point Computer Notebook computer Server Modem Telephone Internet Wireless Signal NWD271N Users Guide 5 Safety Warnings Safety Warnings

For your safety, be sure to read and follow all warning notices and instructions. Do NOT use this product near water, for example, in a wet basement or near a swimming pool. Do NOT expose your device to dampness, dust or corrosive liquids. Do NOT store things on the device. Do NOT install, use, or service this device during a thunderstorm. There is a remote risk of electric shock from lightning. Connect ONLY suitable accessories to the device. Ground yourself (by properly using an anti-static wrist strap, for example) whenever working with the devices hardware or connections. ONLY qualified service personnel should service or disassemble this device. Antenna Warning! This device meets ETSI and FCC certification requirements when using the included antenna(s). Only use the included antenna(s). This product is recyclable. Dispose of it properly. 6 NWD271N Users Guide Contents Overview Contents Overview Introduction and Configuration ............................................................................................19 Getting Started ........................................................................................................................... 21 Tutorial ....................................................................................................................................... 27 Wireless LANs ........................................................................................................................... 37 ZyXEL Utility - Windows ............................................................................................................ 49 Maintenance .............................................................................................................................. 71 Troubleshooting and Specifications ....................................................................................75 Troubleshooting ......................................................................................................................... 77 Product Specifications ............................................................................................................... 81 Appendices and Index ...........................................................................................................85 NWD271N Users Guide 7 Contents Overview 8 NWD271N Users Guide Table of Contents Table of Contents About This User's Guide ..........................................................................................................3 Document Conventions............................................................................................................4 Safety Warnings........................................................................................................................6 Contents Overview ...................................................................................................................7 Table of Contents......................................................................................................................9 List of Figures .........................................................................................................................13 List of Tables...........................................................................................................................17 Part I: Introduction and Configuration................................................. 19 Chapter 1 Getting Started ........................................................................................................................21 1.1 Overview .............................................................................................................................. 21 1.1.1 What You Need to Know ............................................................................................ 21 1.1.2 Before You Begin ....................................................................................................... 21 1.2 About Your NWD271N ....................................................................................................... 22 1.2.1 Hardware .................................................................................................................... 22 1.3 Application Overview ........................................................................................................... 23 1.3.1 Infrastructure .............................................................................................................. 23 1.3.2 Ad-Hoc ....................................................................................................................... 23 1.4 Hardware and Utility Installation .......................................................................................... 24 1.4.1 ZyXEL Utility Icon ....................................................................................................... 24 1.5 Configuration Methods ....................................................................................................... 25 1.5.1 Enabling Windows Wireless Configuration ................................................................ 25 1.5.2 Accessing the ZyXEL Utility ...................................................................................... 26 Chapter 2 Tutorial.....................................................................................................................................27 2.1 Overview .............................................................................................................................. 27 2.1.1 What You Can Do in This Tutorial .............................................................................. 27 2.1.2 What You Need to Know ............................................................................................ 27 2.1.3 Before You Begin ....................................................................................................... 27 2.2 Connecting to an AP using Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) .................................................. 28 NWD271N Users Guide 9 Table of Contents 2.2.1 Push Button Configuration (PBC) .............................................................................. 28 2.2.2 PIN Configuration ....................................................................................................... 29 2.3 Connecting to an AP Without Using WPS ........................................................................... 31 2.3.1 Manually Connecting to a Wireless LAN ................................................................... 31 2.3.2 Creating and Using a Profile ...................................................................................... 33 Chapter 3 Wireless LANs.........................................................................................................................37 3.1 Overview .............................................................................................................................. 37 3.1.1 What You Can Do in This Section .............................................................................. 37 3.1.2 What You Need to Know ............................................................................................ 37 3.1.3 Before You Begin ....................................................................................................... 38 3.2 Wireless LAN Overview ...................................................................................................... 38 3.3 Wireless LAN Security ........................................................................................................ 39 3.3.1 User Authentication and Encryption ........................................................................... 39 3.4 WiFi Protected Setup ........................................................................................................... 41 3.4.1 Push Button Configuration ......................................................................................... 41 3.4.2 PIN Configuration ....................................................................................................... 41 3.4.3 How WPS Works ........................................................................................................ 43 3.4.4 Limitations of WPS ..................................................................................................... 46 Chapter 4 ZyXEL Utility - Windows.........................................................................................................49 4.1 Overview .............................................................................................................................. 49 4.1.1 What You Can Do in This Section .............................................................................. 49 4.1.2 What You Need to Know ............................................................................................ 49 4.1.3 Before You Begin ....................................................................................................... 50 4.2 ZyXEL Utility Screen Summary ........................................................................................... 50 4.3 The Link Info Screen ........................................................................................................... 51 4.3.1 Trend Chart ................................................................................................................ 52 4.4 The Site Survey Screen ...................................................................................................... 53 4.4.1 Security Settings ....................................................................................................... 54 4.4.2 Summary Screen ....................................................................................................... 59 4.5 The Profile Screen ............................................................................................................... 59 4.5.1 Adding a New Profile .................................................................................................. 61 4.6 The Adapter Screen ............................................................................................................ 64 4.6.1 WPS: PBC (Push Button Configuration) .................................................................... 65 4.6.2 WPS: PIN - Use this Devices PIN ............................................................................. 66 4.6.3 WPS: PIN - Use the PIN from the AP or Wireless Router .......................................... 67 4.7 Security Settings in Windows Vista ..................................................................................... 67 4.7.1 Using PEAP in Vista ................................................................................................... 68 4.7.2 Using TLS in Vista ..................................................................................................... 69 10 NWD271N Users Guide Table of Contents Chapter 5 Maintenance ............................................................................................................................71 5.1 Overview .............................................................................................................................. 71 5.1.1 What You Can Do in This Section .............................................................................. 71 5.1.2 What You Need to Know ............................................................................................ 71 5.1.3 Before You Begin ....................................................................................................... 71 5.2 The About Screen ............................................................................................................... 71 5.3 Uninstalling the ZyXEL Utility .............................................................................................. 72 5.4 Upgrading the ZyXEL Utility ................................................................................................ 73 Part II: Troubleshooting and Specifications........................................ 75 Chapter 6 Troubleshooting......................................................................................................................77 6.1 Power, Hardware Connections, and LEDs .......................................................................... 77 6.2 Accessing the ZyXEL Utility ................................................................................................. 78 6.3 Link Quality .......................................................................................................................... 78 6.4 Problems Communicating with Other Computers ............................................................... 78 Chapter 7 Product Specifications ...........................................................................................................81 Part III: Appendices and Index.............................................................. 85 Appendix A Setting Up Your Computers IP Address.............................................................87 Appendix B Wireless LANs ....................................................................................................99 Appendix C Windows Wireless Management ...................................................................... 113 Appendix D Legal Information ..............................................................................................135 Appendix E Customer Support.............................................................................................139 Index.......................................................................................................................................145 NWD271N Users Guide 11 Table of Contents 12 NWD271N Users Guide List of Figures List of Figures Figure 1 The NWD271N ......................................................................................................................... 22 Figure 2 Application: Infrastructure ........................................................................................................ 23 Figure 3 Application: Ad-Hoc ................................................................................................................. 24 Figure 4 ZyXEL Utility: System Tray Icon .............................................................................................. 24 Figure 5 Enable WZC ............................................................................................................................. 25 Figure 6 Infrastructure Network .............................................................................................................. 27 Figure 7 Example WPS Process: PBC Method ...................................................................................... 29 Figure 8 Example WPS Process: PIN Method ....................................................................................... 30 Figure 9 ZyXEL Utility: Site Survey ........................................................................................................ 31 Figure 10 ZyXEL Utility: Security Settings ............................................................................................. 32 Figure 11 ZyXEL Utility: Summary .......................................................................................................... 32 Figure 12 ZyXEL Utility: Link Info .......................................................................................................... 32 Figure 13 ZyXEL Utility: Profile ............................................................................................................... 33 Figure 14 ZyXEL Utility: Add New Profile ............................................................................................... 33 Figure 15 ZyXEL Utility: Profile Security ................................................................................................. 34 Figure 16 ZyXEL Utility: Profile Encryption ............................................................................................. 34 Figure 17 ZyXEL Utility: Profile Summary .............................................................................................. 34 Figure 18 ZyXEL Utility: Profile Activate ................................................................................................. 35 Figure 19 Example of a Wireless Network ............................................................................................. 38 Figure 20 Example WPS Process: PIN Method ..................................................................................... 43 Figure 21 How WPS works ..................................................................................................................... 44 Figure 22 WPS: Example Network Step 1 .............................................................................................. 45 Figure 23 WPS: Example Network Step 2 .............................................................................................. 45 Figure 24 WPS: Example Network Step 3 .............................................................................................. 46 Figure 25 ZyXEL Utility Menu Summary ............................................................................................... 50 Figure 26 Link Info ................................................................................................................................. 51 Figure 27 Link Info: Trend Chart ............................................................................................................ 52 Figure 28 Site Survey ............................................................................................................................ 53 Figure 29 Security Setting: WEP .......................................................................................................... 54 Figure 30 Security Setting: WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK ................................................................................. 55 Figure 31 Security Settings: WPA/WPA2 ................................................................................................ 56 Figure 32 Security Setting: 802.1x ........................................................................................................ 57 Figure 33 Summary Screen ................................................................................................................... 59 Figure 34 Profile ................................................................................................................................... 60 Figure 35 Profile: Add a New Profile ..................................................................................................... 61 Figure 36 Profile: Wireless Settings ...................................................................................................... 62 Figure 37 Profile: Wireless Settings ...................................................................................................... 63 Figure 38 Profile: Security Settings ....................................................................................................... 63 NWD271N Users Guide 13 List of Figures Figure 39 Profile: Confirm New Settings ............................................................................................... 63 Figure 40 Profile: Activate the Profile .................................................................................................... 64 Figure 41 Adapter .................................................................................................................................. 64 Figure 42 WPS: PBC (Push Button Configuration) ................................................................................ 65 Figure 43 WPS: PIN - Use this Devices PIN ......................................................................................... 66 Figure 44 WPS: PIN - Use the PIN from the AP or Wireless Router ...................................................... 67 Figure 45 Vista Security: Additional Information Required ..................................................................... 68 Figure 46 Vista Security: Enter Credentials ............................................................................................ 68 Figure 47 Vista Security: Additional Information Required ..................................................................... 69 Figure 48 Vista Security: Select Certificate ............................................................................................ 69 Figure 49 About ..................................................................................................................................... 72 Figure 50 Uninstall: Confirm ................................................................................................................. 72 Figure 51 Uninstall: Finish ..................................................................................................................... 73 Figure 52 Windows XP: Start Menu ........................................................................................................ 88 Figure 53 Windows XP: Control Panel ................................................................................................... 88 Figure 54 Windows XP: Control Panel > Network Connections > Properties ........................................ 89 Figure 55 Windows XP: Local Area Connection Properties ................................................................... 89 Figure 56 Windows XP: Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) Properties .............................................................. 90 Figure 57 Windows XP: Advanced TCP/IP Properties ........................................................................... 91 Figure 58 Windows XP: Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) Properties .............................................................. 92 Figure 59 Windows Vista: Start Menu ..................................................................................................... 93 Figure 60 Windows Vista: Control Panel ................................................................................................ 93 Figure 61 Windows Vista: Network And Internet .................................................................................... 93 Figure 62 Windows Vista: Network and Sharing Center ......................................................................... 94 Figure 63 Windows Vista: Network and Sharing Center ......................................................................... 94 Figure 64 Windows Vista: Local Area Connection Properties ................................................................ 95 Figure 65 Windows Vista: Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) Properties ....................................... 96 Figure 66 Windows Vista: Advanced TCP/IP Properties ........................................................................ 97 Figure 67 Windows Vista: Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) Properties ....................................... 98 Figure 68 Peer-to-Peer Communication in an Ad-hoc Network ............................................................. 99 Figure 69 Basic Service Set ................................................................................................................. 100 Figure 70 Infrastructure WLAN ............................................................................................................. 101 Figure 71 RTS/CTS ............................................................................................................................. 102 Figure 72 WPA(2) with RADIUS Application Example ......................................................................... 109 Figure 73 WPA(2)-PSK Authentication ..................................................................................................110 Figure 74 Vista: Start Menu ...................................................................................................................113 Figure 75 Vista: The Connect To Window .............................................................................................114 Figure 76 Vista: Additional Information ..................................................................................................114 Figure 77 Vista: Enter Security Key .......................................................................................................115 Figure 78 Vista: Connecting ..................................................................................................................115 Figure 79 Vista: Successful Connection ................................................................................................116 Figure 80 Vista: Choose a Connection Option ......................................................................................117 Figure 81 Vista: Connect Manually ........................................................................................................117 14 NWD271N Users Guide List of Figures Figure 82 Vista: Successfully Added Network .......................................................................................118 Figure 83 Vista: Set Up An Ad-hoc Network ..........................................................................................119 Figure 84 Vista: Ad-hoc Options ...........................................................................................................119 Figure 85 Vista: Ad-hoc Network Ready .............................................................................................. 120 Figure 86 Windows XP SP1: Wireless Network Connection Status ..................................................... 121 Figure 87 Windows XP SP2: Wireless Network Connection Status ..................................................... 121 Figure 88 Windows XP SP1: Wireless Network Connection Properties ............................................... 122 Figure 89 Windows XP SP2: Wireless Network Connection Properties ............................................... 122 Figure 90 Windows XP SP2: WZC Not Available ................................................................................. 123 Figure 91 Windows XP SP2: System Tray Icon ................................................................................... 123 Figure 92 Windows XP SP2: Wireless Network Connection Status ..................................................... 124 Figure 93 Windows XP SP1: Wireless Network Connection Status ..................................................... 124 Figure 94 Windows XP SP2: Wireless Network Connection ................................................................ 125 Figure 95 Windows XP SP1: Wireless Network Connection Properties ............................................... 126 Figure 96 Windows XP SP2: Wireless Network Connection: WEP or WPA-PSK ................................ 126 Figure 97 Windows XP SP2: Wireless Network Connection: No Security .......................................... 127 Figure 98 Windows XP: Wireless (network) properties: Association .................................................... 127 Figure 99 Windows XP: Wireless (network) properties: Authentication ............................................... 129 Figure 100 Windows XP: Protected EAP Properties ............................................................................ 130 Figure 101 Windows XP: Smart Card or other Certificate Properties ................................................... 131 Figure 102 Windows XP SP2: Wireless Networks: Preferred Networks .............................................. 132 Figure 103 Windows XP SP1: Wireless Networks: Preferred Networks .............................................. 132 NWD271N Users Guide 15 List of Figures 16 NWD271N Users Guide List of Tables List of Tables Table 1 NWD271N External View .......................................................................................................... 22 Table 2 NWD271N LEDs ....................................................................................................................... 22 Table 3 ZyXEL Utility: System Tray Icon ................................................................................................ 25 Table 4 ZyXEL Utility Menu Summary ................................................................................................... 50 Table 5 Link Info .................................................................................................................................... 51 Table 6 Link Info: Trend Chart ............................................................................................................... 52 Table 7 Site Survey ................................................................................................................................ 53 Table 8 Security Setting: WEP ............................................................................................................... 54 Table 9 Security Setting: WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK ................................................................................... 56 Table 10 Security Setting: WPA/WPA2 .................................................................................................. 56 Table 11 Security Settings: IEEE 802.1x ............................................................................................... 58 Table 12 Summary Screen .................................................................................................................... 59 Table 13 Profile ...................................................................................................................................... 60 Table 14 Profile: Add a New Profile ....................................................................................................... 61 Table 15 Profile: Wireless Settings ........................................................................................................ 62 Table 16 Adapter ................................................................................................................................... 64 Table 17 WPS: PIN - Use this Devices PIN .......................................................................................... 66 Table 18 WPS: PIN - Use the PIN from the AP or Wireless Router ...................................................... 67 Table 19 About ....................................................................................................................................... 72 Table 20 Product Specifications ............................................................................................................. 81 Table 21 IEEE 802.11g ........................................................................................................................ 103 Table 22 Wireless Security Levels ....................................................................................................... 104 Table 23 Comparison of EAP Authentication Types ............................................................................ 107 Table 24 Wireless Security Relational Matrix .......................................................................................110 Table 25 Vista: Connect Manually ........................................................................................................117 Table 26 Windows XP SP2: System Tray Icon .................................................................................... 123 Table 27 Windows XP SP2: Wireless Network Connection ................................................................. 125 Table 28 Windows XP: Wireless Networks .......................................................................................... 127 Table 29 Windows XP: Wireless (network) properties: Association .................................................... 128 Table 30 Windows XP: Wireless (network) properties: Authentication ................................................ 129 Table 31 Windows XP: Protected EAP Properties ............................................................................... 130 Table 32 Windows XP: Smart Card or other Certificate Properties ..................................................... 131 NWD271N Users Guide 17 List of Tables 18 NWD271N Users Guide PART I Introduction and Configuration Getting Started (21) Tutorial (27) Wireless LANs (37) ZyXEL Utility - Windows (49) Maintenance (71) 19 20 CHAPTER 1 Getting Started 1.1 Overview The ZyXEL NWD271N USB adapter brings you a better Internet experience over existing 802.11g networks. With data rates of up to 300 Mbps, you can enjoy a breathtaking high-speed connection at home or in the office. It is an excellent solution for daily activities such as file transfers, music downloading, video streaming and online gaming. This section includes:

About Your NWD271N on page 22 Application Overview on page 23 Hardware and Utility Installation on page 24 Configuration Methods on page 25 1.1.1 What You Need to Know The following terms and concepts may help as you read through this section, and subsequently as you read through the rest of the Users Guide. Access Point An Access Point (AP) is a network device that acts as a bridge between a wired and a wireless network. Outside of the home or office, APs can most often be found in coffee shops, bookstores and other businesses that offer wireless Internet connectivity to their customers. Infrastructure An infrastructure network is one that seamlessly combines both wireless and wired components. One or more APs often serve as the bridge between wireless and wired LANs. Ad-Hoc An Ad-Hoc wireless LAN is a self-contained group of computers connected wirelessly and which is independent of any other networks and Access Points. 1.1.2 Before You Begin Read the Quick Start Guide for information on making hardware connections and using the ZyXEL utility to connect your NWD271N to a network. NWD271N Users Guide 21 Chapter 1 Getting Started 1.2 About Your NWD271N Your NWD271N is an IEEE 802.11n draft 2.0 compliant wireless LAN adapter. It can also connect to IEEE 802.11b/g wireless networks. The NWD271N is WPS (Wi-Fi Protected Setup) compliant. WPS allows you to easily connect to another WPS-enabled device. The NWD271N is a USB adapter which connects to an empty USB port on your computer. See your NWD271Ns Quick Start Guide for installation instructions, and see the section on product specifications in this Users Guide for detailed information. 1.2.1 Hardware This section describes the NWD271Ns physical appearance. Figure 1 The NWD271N A B C D The following table describes the NWD271N. Table 1 NWD271N External View LABEL A B C D DESCRIPTION WPS button LED USB connector USB connector cap The following table describes the operation of the NWD271Ns LEDs. Table 2 NWD271N LEDs STATUS LED On COLOR Green DESCRIPTION The NWD271N is turned on, connected to an AP, and is not transmitting or receiving data. The NWD271N is turned on, connected to an AP, and is transmitting or receiving data. It also blinks when the WPS feature is being used or a WPS connection is being initiated. The NWD271N is turned off. Blinking Off 22 NWD271N Users Guide Chapter 1 Getting Started 1.3 Application Overview This section describes some network applications for the NWD271N. You can either set the network type to Infrastructure and connect to an AP or use Ad-Hoc mode and connect to a peer computer (another wireless device in Ad-Hoc mode). 1.3.1 Infrastructure To connect to a network via an access point (AP), set the NWD271N network type to Infrastructure (see Chapter 4 on page 59). Through the AP, you can access the Internet or the wired network behind the AP. Figure 2 Application: Infrastructure 1.3.2 Ad-Hoc To set up a small independent wireless workgroup without an AP, use Ad-Hoc (see Chapter 4 on page 59). Ad-Hoc does not require an AP or a wired network. Two or more wireless clients communicate directly with each other.

Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) is not available in ad-hoc mode. NWD271N Users Guide 23 Chapter 1 Getting Started Figure 3 Application: Ad-Hoc 1.4 Hardware and Utility Installation Follow the instructions in the Quick Start Guide to install the ZyXEL utility and make hardware connections. 1.4.1 ZyXEL Utility Icon After you install and start the ZyXEL utility, an icon for the ZyXEL utility appears in the system tray.

The ZyXEL utility system tray icon displays only when the NWD271N is installed properly.

When you use the ZyXEL utility, it automatically disables Wireless Zero Configuration (WZC) in Windows XP. Figure 4 ZyXEL Utility: System Tray Icon 24 NWD271N Users Guide Chapter 1 Getting Started The color of the ZyXEL utility system tray icon indicates the status of the NWD271N. Refer to the following table for details. Table 3 ZyXEL Utility: System Tray Icon COLOR Red Green DESCRIPTION The NWD271N is not connected to a wireless network. The NWD271N is connected to a wireless network. 1.5 Configuration Methods To configure your NWD271N, use one of the following applications:

Wireless Zero Configuration (WZC, the Windows XP wireless configuration tool) or WLAN AutoConfig (the Windows Vista wireless configuration tool). The ZyXEL utility.

Do NOT use Windows XPs Wireless Zero Configuration tool at the same time you use the ZyXEL utility. 1.5.1 Enabling Windows Wireless Configuration

When you use the ZyXEL utility, it automatically disables Windows XPs wireless configuration tool. If you want to use the Windows XP wireless configuration tool to configure the NWD271N, you need to disable the ZyXEL utility. Right-click the utility icon (

) in the system tray and select Exit. Figure 5 Enable WZC Refer to the appendices for information on how to use the Windows wireless configuration tool to manage the NWD271N. To reactivate the ZyXEL utility, double-click the (

(All) Programs > ZyXEL Wireless N USB Adapter Utility > ZyXEL Wireless N USB Adapter Utility.

) icon on your desktop or click Start >

NWD271N Users Guide 25 Chapter 1 Getting Started 1.5.2 Accessing the ZyXEL Utility Double-click on the ZyXEL wireless LAN utility icon in the system tray to open the ZyXEL utility. The ZyXEL utility screens are similar in all Microsoft Windows versions. Screens for Windows XP are shown in this Users Guide.

Click the window. icon (located in the top right corner) to display the online help 26 NWD271N Users Guide CHAPTER 2 Tutorial 2.1 Overview This tutorial shows you how to join a wireless infrastructure network using the ZyXEL utility. The wireless client is labeled C and the Access Point is labeled AP. Figure 6 Infrastructure Network 2.1.1 What You Can Do in This Tutorial Connect securely either to an infrastructure AP using the WPS protocol. See Section 2.2 on page 28 for details. Connect securely to an infrastructure AP using many of the strongest and most common encryption protocols. See Section 2.3 on page 31 for details. Save a your settings so that you can later connect again to an infrastructure AP with a single click. See Section 2.3.2 on page 33 for details. 2.1.2 What You Need to Know The following term may help as you read through this section. WPS Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) is a security protocol that lets two or more devices connect securely to one another with a minimum amount of hassle on your part. It most cases, establishing a secure connection with another WPS device is as easy as pushing a button. 2.1.3 Before You Begin Make sure that you have already familiarized yourself with the NWD271Ns features and hardware, as described in Chapter 1 on page 21. You should have valid login information for an existing network Access Point, otherwise you may not be able to make a network connection right away. NWD271N Users Guide 27 Chapter 2 Tutorial 2.2 Connecting to an AP using Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) This section gives you an example of how to set up your wireless network using WPS. This example uses the NWD271N as the wireless client, and ZyXELs NBG334W as the Access Point (AP).

The Access Point must be a WPS-aware device. There are two WPS methods for creating a secure connection. This tutorial shows you both. Push Button Configuration (PBC) - create a secure wireless network simply by pressing a button. See Section 2.2.1 on page 28.This is the easier method. PIN Configuration - create a secure wireless network simply by entering a wireless client's PIN (Personal Identification Number) in the NWD271Ns interface. See Section 2.2.2 on page 29. This is the more secure method, since one device can authenticate the other. 2.2.1 Push Button Configuration (PBC) 1 Make sure that your access point is turned on and that it is within range of the computer with the NWD271N installed. 2 Make sure that you have installed the NWD271Ns driver and utility on your computer. 3 In the NWD271Ns utility, click the Adapter tab, enable WPS and select PBC (Push Button Configuration). In the screen that appears, click Start. 4 Log into the APs web configurator and locate its WPS settings section. On the NBG334W, press the Push Button button in the Network > Wireless Client > WPS Station screen.

It doesnt matter which button is pressed first. You must press the second button within two minutes of pressing the first one. The AP sends the proper configuration settings to the NWD271N. This may take up to two minutes. Then the NWD271N is able to communicate with the AP securely. The following figure shows you an example to set up wireless network and security by pressing a button on both the AP (the NBG334W in this example) and the NWD271N. 28 NWD271N Users Guide Figure 7 Example WPS Process: PBC Method You Chapter 2 Tutorial AP WITHIN 2 MINUTES SECURITY INFO COMMUNICATION 2.2.2 PIN Configuration When you use the PIN configuration method, you need to use both the NWD271Ns utility and the APs configuration interface. 1 In the NWD271Ns Adaptor tab, select WPS and PIN - Use this Devices PIN. Note down the PIN in the screen that appears. 2 Enter the PIN number in the APs configuration interface. In the NBG334W, use the PIN field in the Network > Wireless LAN > WPS Station screen. 3 Click the Start buttons on both the NWD271N utility screen and the APs configuration utility (the WPS Station screen on the NBG334W) within two minutes. The NWD271N authenticates the wireless client and sends the proper configuration settings to the wireless client. This may take up to two minutes. Then the wireless client is able to communicate with the NWD271N securely. The following figure shows you the example of configuring the wireless network and security on the NWD271N and the AP (ZyXELs NBG334W in this example) by using the PIN method. NWD271N Users Guide 29 Chapter 2 Tutorial Figure 8 Example WPS Process: PIN Method You AP WITHIN 2 MINUTES Authentication by PIN SECURITY INFO COMMUNICATION 30 NWD271N Users Guide 2.3 Connecting to an AP Without Using WPS Chapter 2 Tutorial There are three ways to connect the wireless client (the NWD271N) to a network without using WPS. Configure nothing and leave the wireless client to automatically scan for and connect to any available network that has no wireless security configured. Manually connect to a network (see Section 2.3.1 on page 31). Configure a profile to have the wireless client automatically connect to a specific network or peer computer (see Section 2.3.2 on page 33). 2.3.1 Manually Connecting to a Wireless LAN This example illustrates how to manually connect your wireless client to an access point (AP) configured for WPA-PSK security and connected to the Internet. Before you connect to the access point, you must know its Service Set IDentity (SSID) and WPA-PSK pre-shared key. In this example, the APs SSID is SSID_Example3 and its pre-shared key is ThisismyWPA-

PSKpre-sharedkey. After you install the ZyXEL utility and then insert the wireless client, follow the steps below to connect to a network using the Site Survey screen. 1 Open the ZyXEL utility and click the Site Survey tab to open the screen shown next. Figure 9 ZyXEL Utility: Site Survey 2 The wireless client automatically searches for available wireless networks. Click Scan if you want to search again. If no entry displays in the Available Network List, that means there is no wireless network available within range. Make sure the AP or peer computer is turned on, or move the wireless client closer to the AP or peer computer. See Table 4.4 on page 53 for detailed field descriptions. 3 To connect to an AP or peer computer, either click an entry in the list and then click Connect or double-click an entry (SSID_Example3 in this example). 4 When you try to connect to an AP with security configured, a window will pop up prompting you to specify the security settings. Enter the pre-shared key and leave the encryption type at the default setting. Use the Next button to move on to the next screen. You can use the Back button at any time to return to the previous screen, or the Exit button to return to the Site Survey screen. NWD271N Users Guide 31 Chapter 2 Tutorial Figure 10 ZyXEL Utility: Security Settings 5 The Summary window appears. Check your settings and click Save to continue. Figure 11 ZyXEL Utility: Summary 6 The ZyXEL utility returns to the Link Info screen while it connects to the wireless network using your settings. When the wireless link is established, the ZyXEL utility icon in the system tray turns green and the Link Info screen displays details of the active connection. Check the network information in the Link Info screen to verify that you have successfully connected to the selected network. If the wireless client is not connected to a network, the fields in this screen remain blank. See Table 4.3 on page 51 for detailed field descriptions. Figure 12 ZyXEL Utility: Link Info 7 Open your Internet browser and enter http://www.zyxel.com or the URL of any other web site in the address bar. If you are able to access the web site, your wireless connection is successfully configured. If you cannot access the web site, check the 32 NWD271N Users Guide Chapter 2 Tutorial Troubleshooting section of this User's Guide or contact your network administrator if necessary. 2.3.2 Creating and Using a Profile A profile lets you automatically connect to the same wireless network every time you use the ZyXEL utility. You can also configure different profiles for different networks, for example if you connect a notebook computer to wireless networks at home and at work. This example illustrates how to set up a profile and connect the wireless client to an access point configured for WPA-PSK security. In this example, the APs SSID is SSID_Example3 and its pre-shared key is ThisismyWPA-PSKpre-sharedkey. You have chosen the profile name PN_Example3. 1 Open the ZyXEL utility and click the Profile tab to open the screen as shown. Click Add to configure a new profile. Figure 13 ZyXEL Utility: Profile 2 The Add New Profile screen appears. The wireless client automatically searches for available wireless networks, which are displayed in the Scan Info box. You can also configure your profile for a wireless network that is not in the list. Figure 14 ZyXEL Utility: Add New Profile 3 Give the profile a descriptive name (of up to 32 printable ASCII characters). Select Infrastructure and either manually enter or select the AP's SSID in the Scan Info table and click Select. 4 Choose the same encryption method as the AP to which you want to connect (In this example, WPA-PSK). NWD271N Users Guide 33 Chapter 2 Tutorial Figure 15 ZyXEL Utility: Profile Security 5 This screen varies depending on the encryption method you selected in the previous screen. In this example, enter the pre-shared key and leave the encryption type at the default setting. Figure 16 ZyXEL Utility: Profile Encryption 6 Verify the profile settings in the ready-only screen. Click Save to save and go to the next screen. Figure 17 ZyXEL Utility: Profile Summary 7 Click Activate Now to use the new profile immediately. Otherwise, click the Activate Later button to go back to the Profile List screen. If you clicked Activate Later you can select the profile from the list in the Profile screen and click Connect to activate it. 34 NWD271N Users Guide Chapter 2 Tutorial

Only one profile can be activated and used at any given time. Figure 18 ZyXEL Utility: Profile Activate 8 When you activate the new profile, the ZyXEL utility goes to the Link Info screen while it connects to the AP using your settings. When the wireless link is established, the ZyXEL utility icon in the system tray turns green and the Link Info screen displays details of the active connection. 9 Make sure the selected AP in the active profile is on and connected to the Internet. Open your Internet browser, enter http://www.zyxel.com or the URL of any other web site in the address bar and press ENTER. If you are able to access the web site, your new profile is successfully configured. 10 If you cannot access the Internet, go back to the Profile screen. Select the profile you are using and click Edit. Check the details you entered previously. Also, refer to the Troubleshooting section of this User's Guide or contact your network administrator if necessary. NWD271N Users Guide 35 Chapter 2 Tutorial 36 NWD271N Users Guide CHAPTER 3 Wireless LANs 3.1 Overview This section provides background information on wireless Local Area Networks. 3.1.1 What You Can Do in This Section Connect securely to an AP using many of the strongest and most common encryption protocols. See Section 3.3 on page 39 for details. Connect securely either to an AP or computer-to-computer using WPS. See Section 3.4 on page 41 for details. 3.1.2 What You Need to Know The following terms and concepts may help as you read through this section. Server When two or more devices are connected digitally to form a network, the one that distributes data to the other devices is known as the server. A RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service) is a kind of server that manages logins and logout, among other things, for the network to which it is connected. Client When two or more devices are connected digitally to form a network, the one that contacts and obtains data from a server is known as the client. Each client is designed to work with one or more specific kinds of servers, and each server requires a specific kind of client. Wireless adapters are clients that connect to a network server through an AP. Authentication Authentication is the process of confirming a clients or users digital identity when they connect to a network. Turning off authentication means disabling all security protocols and opening your network to anyone with the means to connect to it. Encryption The process of taking data and encoding it, usually using a mathematical formula, so that it becomes unreadable unless decrypted with the proper code or pass phrase. NWD271N Users Guide 37 Chapter 3 Wireless LANs 3.1.3 Before You Begin You should have valid login information for an existing network Access Point, otherwise you may not be able to make a network connection right away. 3.2 Wireless LAN Overview The following figure provides an example of a wireless network with an AP. See Figure 3 on page 24 for an Ad Hoc network example. Figure 19 Example of a Wireless Network The wireless network is the part in the blue circle. In this wireless network, devices A and B are called wireless clients. The wireless clients use the access point (AP) to interact with other devices (such as the printer) or with the Internet Every wireless network must follow these basic guidelines. Every device in the same wireless network must use the same SSID. The SSID is the name of the wireless network. It stands for Service Set IDentity. If two wireless networks overlap, they should use a different channel. Like radio stations or television channels, each wireless network uses a specific channel, or frequency, to send and receive information. Every device in the same wireless network must use security compatible with the AP or peer computer. Security stops unauthorized devices from using the wireless network. It can also protect the information that is sent in the wireless network. 38 NWD271N Users Guide Chapter 3 Wireless LANs 3.3 Wireless LAN Security Wireless LAN security is vital to your network to protect wireless communications. If you do not enable any wireless security on your NWD271N, the NWD271Ns wireless communications are accessible to any wireless networking device that is in the coverage area.

You can use only WEP encryption if you set the NWD271N to Ad-hoc mode. See the appendices for more detailed information about wireless security. 3.3.1 User Authentication and Encryption You can make every user log in to the wireless network before they can use it. This is called user authentication. However, every wireless client in the wireless network has to support IEEE 802.1x to do this. Wireless networks can use encryption to protect the information that is sent in the wireless network. Encryption is like a secret code. If you do not know the secret code, you cannot understand the message. 3.3.1.1 WEP 3.3.1.1.1 Data Encryption WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) encryption scrambles all data packets transmitted between the NWD271N and the AP or other wireless stations to keep network communications private. Both the wireless stations and the access points must use the same WEP key for data encryption and decryption. There are two ways to create WEP keys in your NWD271N. Automatic WEP key generation based on a password phrase called a passphrase. The passphrase is case sensitive. You must use the same passphrase for all WLAN adapters with this feature in the same WLAN. For WLAN adapters without the passphrase feature, you can still take advantage of this feature by writing down the four automatically generated WEP keys from the Security Settings screen of the ZyXEL utility and entering them manually as the WEP keys in the other WLAN adapter(s). Enter the WEP keys manually. Your NWD271N allows you to configure up to four 64-bit, 128-bit or 152-bit WEP keys. Only one key is used as the default key at any one time. 3.3.1.1.2 Authentication Type The IEEE 802.11b/g standard describes a simple authentication method between the wireless stations and AP. Three authentication types are defined: Auto, Open and Shared. NWD271N Users Guide 39 Chapter 3 Wireless LANs Open mode is implemented for ease-of-use and when security is not an issue. The wireless station and the AP or peer computer do not share a secret key. Thus the wireless stations can associate with any AP or peer computer and listen to any transmitted data that is not encrypted. Shared mode involves a shared secret key to authenticate the wireless station to the AP or peer computer. This requires you to enable the wireless LAN security and use same settings on both the wireless station and the AP or peer computer. Auto authentication mode allows the NWD271N to switch between the open system and shared key modes automatically. Use the auto mode if you do not know the authentication mode of the other wireless stations. 3.3.1.2 IEEE 802.1x The IEEE 802.1x standard outlines enhanced security methods for both the authentication of wireless stations and encryption key management. Authentication can be done using an external RADIUS server. 3.3.1.2.1 EAP Authentication EAP (Extensible Authentication Protocol) is an authentication protocol that runs on top of the IEEE 802.1x transport mechanism in order to support multiple types of user authentication. By using EAP to interact with an EAP-compatible RADIUS server, an access point helps a wireless station and a RADIUS server perform authentication. The type of authentication you use depends on the RADIUS server and an intermediary AP(s) that supports IEEE 802.1x. The NWD271N supports EAP-TLS, EAP-TTLS (at the time of writing, TTLS is not available in Windows Vista) and EAP-PEAP. Refer to Appendix B on page 99 for descriptions. For EAP-TLS authentication type, you must first have a wired connection to the network and obtain the certificate(s) from a certificate authority (CA). Certificates (also called digital IDs) can be used to authenticate users and a CA issues certificates and guarantees the identity of each certificate owner. 3.3.1.3 WPA and WPA2 Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) is a subset of the IEEE 802.11i standard. WPA2 (IEEE 802.11i) is a wireless security standard that defines stronger encryption, authentication and key management than WPA. Key differences between WPA(2) and WEP are improved data encryption and user authentication. Both WPA and WPA2 improve data encryption by using Temporal Key Integrity Protocol

(TKIP), Message Integrity Check (MIC) and IEEE 802.1x. WPA and WPA2 use Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) in the Counter mode with Cipher block chaining Message authentication code Protocol (CCMP) to offer stronger encryption than TKIP. If both an AP and the wireless clients support WPA2 and you have an external RADIUS server, use WPA2 for stronger data encryption. If you don't have an external RADIUS server, you should use WPA2-PSK (WPA2-Pre-Shared Key) that only requires a single (identical) password entered into each access point, wireless gateway and wireless client. As long as the passwords match, a wireless client will be granted access to a WLAN. 40 NWD271N Users Guide Chapter 3 Wireless LANs If the AP or the wireless clients do not support WPA2, just use WPA or WPA-PSK depending on whether you have an external RADIUS server or not. Select WEP only when the AP and/or wireless clients do not support WPA or WPA2. WEP is less secure than WPA or WPA2. 3.4 WiFi Protected Setup Your NWD271N supports WiFi Protected Setup (WPS), which is an easy way to set up a secure wireless network. WPS is an industry standard specification, defined by the WiFi Alliance. WPS allows you to quickly set up a wireless network with strong security, without having to configure security settings manually. Each WPS connection works between two devices. Both devices must support WPS (check each devices documentation to make sure). Depending on the devices you have, you can either press a button (on the device itself, or in its configuration utility) or enter a PIN (a unique Personal Identification Number that allows one device to authenticate the other) in each of the two devices. When WPS is activated on a device, it has two minutes to find another device that also has WPS activated. Then, the two devices connect and set up a secure network by themselves. 3.4.1 Push Button Configuration WPS Push Button Configuration (PBC) is initiated by pressing a button on each WPS-enabled device, and allowing them to connect automatically. You do not need to enter any information. Not every WPS-enabled device has a physical WPS button. Some may have a WPS PBC button in their configuration utilities instead of or in addition to the physical button. Take the following steps to set up WPS using the button. 1 Ensure that the two devices you want to set up are within wireless range of one another. 2 Look for a WPS button on each device. If the device does not have one, log into its configuration utility and locate the button (see the devices Users Guide for how to do this - for the NWD271N, see Section 4.6.1 on page 65). 3 Press the button on one of the devices (it doesnt matter which). 4 Within two minutes, press the button on the other device. The registrar sends the network name (SSID) and security key through an secure connection to the enrollee. If you need to make sure that WPS worked, check the list of associated wireless clients in the APs configuration utility. If you see the wireless client in the list, WPS was successful. 3.4.2 PIN Configuration Each WPS-enabled device has its own PIN (Personal Identification Number). This may either be static (it cannot be changed) or dynamic (in some devices you can generate a new PIN by clicking on a button in the configuration interface). NWD271N Users Guide 41 Chapter 3 Wireless LANs Use the PIN method instead of the push-button configuration (PBC) method if you want to ensure that the connection is established between the devices you specify, not just the first two devices to activate WPS in range of each other. However, you need to log into the configuration interfaces of both devices to use the PIN method. When you use the PIN method, you must enter the PIN from one device (usually the wireless client) into the second device (usually the Access Point or wireless router). Then, when WPS is activated on the first device, it presents its PIN to the second device. If the PIN matches, one device sends the network and security information to the other, allowing it to join the network. Take the following steps to set up a WPS connection between an access point or wireless router (referred to here as the AP) and a client device using the PIN method. 1 Ensure WPS is enabled on both devices. 2 Access the WPS section of the APs configuration interface. See the devices Users Guide for how to do this. 3 Look for the clients WPS PIN; it will be displayed either on the device, or in the WPS section of the clients configuration interface (see the devices Users Guide for how to find the WPS PIN - for the NWD271N, see Section 4.6 on page 64). 4 Enter the clients PIN in the APs configuration interface.

If the client devices configuration interface has an area for entering another devices PIN, you can either enter the clients PIN in the AP, or enter the APs PIN in the client - it does not matter which. 5 Start WPS on both devices within two minutes.

Use the configuration utility to activate WPS, not the push-button on the device itself. 6 On a computer connected to the wireless client, try to connect to the Internet. If you can connect, WPS was successful. If you cannot connect, check the list of associated wireless clients in the APs configuration utility. If you see the wireless client in the list, WPS was successful. The following figure shows a WPS-enabled wireless client (installed in a notebook computer) connecting to the WPS-enabled AP via the PIN method. 42 NWD271N Users Guide Figure 20 Example WPS Process: PIN Method ENROLLEE REGISTRAR Chapter 3 Wireless LANs WPS This devices WPS PIN: 123456 WPS Enter WPS PIN from other device:

WPS WPS START START WITHIN 2 MINUTES SECURE EAP TUNNEL SSID WPA(2)-PSK COMMUNICATION 3.4.3 How WPS Works When two WPS-enabled devices connect, each device must assume a specific role. One device acts as the registrar (the device that supplies network and security settings) and the other device acts as the enrollee (the device that receives network and security settings. The registrar creates a secure EAP (Extensible Authentication Protocol) tunnel and sends the network name

(SSID) and the WPA-PSK or WPA2-PSK pre-shared key to the enrollee. Whether WPA-PSK or WPA2-PSK is used depends on the standards supported by the devices. If the registrar is already part of a network, it sends the existing information. If not, it generates the SSID and WPA(2)-PSK randomly. The following figure shows a WPS-enabled client (installed in a notebook computer) connecting to a WPS-enabled access point. NWD271N Users Guide 43 Chapter 3 Wireless LANs Figure 21 How WPS works ACTIVATE WPS WITHIN 2 MINUTES ACTIVATE WPS ENROLLEE WPS HANDSHAKE SECURE TUNNEL SECURITY INFO COMMUNICATION REGISTRAR The roles of registrar and enrollee last only as long as the WPS setup process is active (two minutes). The next time you use WPS, a different device can be the registrar if necessary. The WPS connection process is like a handshake; only two devices participate in each WPS transaction. If you want to add more devices you should repeat the process with one of the existing networked devices and the new device. Note that the access point (AP) is not always the registrar, and the wireless client is not always the enrollee. All WPS-certified APs can be a registrar, and so can some WPS-enabled wireless clients. By default, a WPS devices is unconfigured. This means that it is not part of an existing network and can act as either enrollee or registrar (if it supports both functions). If the registrar is unconfigured, the security settings it transmits to the enrollee are randomly-generated. Once a WPS-enabled device has connected to another device using WPS, it becomes configured. A configured wireless client can still act as enrollee or registrar in subsequent WPS connections, but a configured access point can no longer act as enrollee. It will be the registrar in all subsequent WPS connections in which it is involved. If you want a configured AP to act as an enrollee, you must reset it to its factory defaults. 3.4.3.1 Example WPS Network Setup This section shows how security settings are distributed in an example WPS setup. The following figure shows an example network. In step 1, both AP1 and Client 1 are unconfigured. When WPS is activated on both, they perform the handshake. In this example, AP1 is the registrar, and Client 1 is the enrollee. The registrar randomly generates the security information to set up the network, since it is unconfigured and has no existing information. 44 NWD271N Users Guide Figure 22 WPS: Example Network Step 1 ENROLLEE CLIENT 1 SECURITY INFO Chapter 3 Wireless LANs REGISTRAR AP1 In step 2, you add another wireless client to the network. You know that Client 1 supports registrar mode, but it is better to use AP1 for the WPS handshake with the new client since you must connect to the access point anyway in order to use the network. In this case, AP1 must be the registrar, since it is configured (it already has security information for the network). AP1 supplies the existing security information to Client 2. Figure 23 WPS: Example Network Step 2 REGISTRAR AP1 EXISTING CONNECTION O F Y I N R I T U C E S CLIENT 1 ENROLLEE CLIENT 2 In step 3, you add another access point (AP2) to your network. AP2 is out of range of AP1, so you cannot use AP1 for the WPS handshake with the new access point. However, you know that Client 2 supports the registrar function, so you use it to perform the WPS handshake instead. NWD271N Users Guide 45 Chapter 3 Wireless LANs Figure 24 WPS: Example Network Step 3 CLIENT 1 REGISTRAR CLIENT 2 EXISTING CONNECTION N T I O C E N N O G C T I N X I S E SECURITY INFO AP1 ENROLLEE AP1 3.4.4 Limitations of WPS WPS has some limitations of which you should be aware. WPS works in Infrastructure networks only (where an AP and a wireless client communicate). It does not work in Ad-Hoc networks (where there is no AP). When you use WPS, it works between two devices only. You cannot enroll multiple devices simultaneously, you must enroll one after the other. For instance, if you have two enrollees and one registrar you must set up the first enrollee

(by pressing the WPS button on the registrar and the first enrollee, for example), then check that it successfully enrolled, then set up the second device in the same way. WPS works only with other WPS-enabled devices. However, you can still add non-WPS devices to a network you already set up using WPS. WPS works by automatically issuing a randomly-generated WPA-PSK or WPA2-PSK pre-shared key from the registrar device to the enrollee devices (see Section 4.4.1.2 on page 55 for information on pre-shared keys). Whether the network uses WPA-PSK or WPA2-PSK depends on the device. You can check the configuration interface of the registrar device to discover the key the network is using (if the device supports this feature). Then, you can enter the key into the non-WPS device and join the network as normal (the non-WPS device must also support WPA-PSK or WPA2-PSK). When you use the PBC method, there is a short period (from the moment you press the button on one device to the moment you press the button on the other device) when any WPS-enabled device could join the network. This is because the registrar has no way of identifying the correct enrollee, and cannot differentiate between your enrollee and a rogue device. This is a possible way for a hacker to gain access to a network. 46 NWD271N Users Guide Chapter 3 Wireless LANs You can easily check to see if this has happened. WPS works between only two devices simultaneously, so if another device has enrolled your device will be unable to enroll, and will not have access to the network. If this happens, open the access points configuration interface and look at the list of associated clients (usually displayed by MAC address). It does not matter if the access point is the WPS registrar, the enrollee, or was not involved in the WPS handshake; a rogue device must still associate with the access point to gain access to the network. Check the MAC addresses of your wireless clients (usually printed on a label on the bottom of the device). If there is an unknown MAC address you can remove it or reset the AP. NWD271N Users Guide 47 Chapter 3 Wireless LANs 48 NWD271N Users Guide CHAPTER 4 ZyXEL Utility - Windows 4.1 Overview This section shows you how to configure your NWD271N using the ZyXEL utility in Windows.

Some features available in Windows XP or Windows 2000 are not available in Windows Vista. 4.1.1 What You Can Do in This Section On the Link Info screen, you can see your current connection details, monitor signal strength and quality, and more. See Section 4.3 on page 51 for details. On the Site Survey screen, you can connect to any available unsecured wireless network in range of the NWD271N, or open the security settings screen for any secured wireless network in range. See Section 4.4 on page 53 for details.\

On the Profile screen, you can create, delete and manage your wireless network profiles. See Section 4.5 on page 59 for details. On the Adapter screen, you can configure the NWD271N hardware, such as activating WPS mode or its power saving feature. See Section 4.6 on page 64 for details. 4.1.2 What You Need to Know The following terms and concepts may help as you read through this section. Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) encrypts data transmitted between wired and wireless networks to keep the transmission private. Although one of the original wireless encryption protocols, WEP is also the weakest. Many people use it strictly to deter unintentional usage of their wireless network by outsiders. Wi-fi Protected Access (WPA) Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) is a subset of the IEEE 802.11i standard. It improves data encryption by using Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP), Message Integrity Check (MIC) and IEEE 802.1x. WPA uses Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) in the Counter mode with Cipher block chaining Message authentication code Protocol (CCMP) to offer stronger NWD271N Users Guide 49 Chapter 4 ZyXEL Utility - Windows encryption than TKIP. WPA applies IEEE 802.1x and Extensible Authentication Protocol

(EAP) to authenticate wireless clients using an external RADIUS database. The WPA protocol affords users with vastly stronger security than the WEP protocol. It comes in two different varieties: WPA and WPA2. Always try to use WPA2 as it implements the full version of the security standard while WPA does not. Pre-Shared Key (PSK) A pre-shared key is a password shared between the server and the client that unlocks the algorithm used to encrypt the data traffic between them. Without the proper password, the client and the server cannot communicate. Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) An enhanced security framework designed to improve an existing security protocol, such as WPA-PSK or WPA2-PSK. 4.1.3 Before You Begin Make sure the ZyXEL utility is already installed. See the Quick Start Guide for more. 4.2 ZyXEL Utility Screen Summary This section describes the ZyXEL utility screens. Figure 25 ZyXEL Utility Menu Summary The following table describes the menus. Table 4 ZyXEL Utility Menu Summary TAB Link Info DESCRIPTION Use this screen to see your current connection status, configuration and data rate statistics. Use this screen to:

Use this screen to add, delete, edit or activate a profile with a set of wireless and security settings. Use this screen to configure preamble type, enable power saving and use WiFi Protected Setup (WPS). scan for a wireless network. configure wireless security (if activated on the selected network). connect to a wireless network. Site Survey Profile Adapter 50 NWD271N Users Guide Chapter 4 ZyXEL Utility - Windows 4.3 The Link Info Screen When the ZyXEL utility starts, the Link Info screen displays, showing the current configuration and connection status of your NWD271N. Figure 26 Link Info The following table describes the labels in this screen. Table 5 Link Info LABEL Wireless Network Status DESCRIPTION Profile Name Network Name (SSID) AP MAC Address Network Type Transmission Rate Security Channel Statistics This is the name of the profile you are currently using. The SSID identifies the wireless network to which a wireless station is associated. This field displays the name of the wireless device to which the NWD271N is associated. This field displays the MAC address of the AP or peer computer to which the NWD271N is associated. This field displays the network type (Infrastructure or Ad-Hoc) of the wireless network. This field displays the current transmission rate of the NWD271N in megabits per second (Mbps). This field displays whether data encryption is activated (WEP / 802.1x / WPA /

WPA-PSK / WPA2 / WPA2-PSK) or inactive (DISABLE). This field displays the radio channel the NWD271N is currently using. Transmit Rate This field displays the current data transmission rate in kilobits per second (Kbps). Receive Rate This field displays the current data receiving rate in kilobits per second (Kbps). Authentication This field displays the authentication method of the NWD271N. Network Mode This field displays the wireless standard used by the selected wireless device. It shows B for 802.11b, G for 802.11g or N for 802.11n. Total Transmit This field displays the total number of data frames transmitted. Total Receive This field displays the total number of data frames received. NWD271N Users Guide 51 Chapter 4 ZyXEL Utility - Windows Table 5 Link Info (continued) LABEL Link Quality Trend Chart Signal Strength Link Quality 4.3.1 Trend Chart DESCRIPTION This field displays the signal strength of the NWD271N. Click this button to display the real-time statistics of the data rate in kilobits per second (Kbps). The status bar shows the strength of the signal. The signal strength mainly depends on the antenna output power and the distance between your NWD271N and the AP or peer computer. The status bar shows the quality of wireless connection. This refers to the percentage of packets transmitted successfully. If there are too many wireless stations in a wireless network, collisions may occur which could result in a loss of messages even though you have high signal strength. Click Trend Chart in the Link Info screen to display a screen as shown below. Use this screen to view real-time data traffic statistics. Figure 27 Link Info: Trend Chart The following table describes the labels in this screen. Table 6 Link Info: Trend Chart LABEL DESCRIPTION This field displays the current data transmission rate in kilobits per second (Kbps). Transmit Receive This field displays the current data reception rate in kilobits per second (Kbps). 52 NWD271N Users Guide Chapter 4 ZyXEL Utility - Windows 4.4 The Site Survey Screen Use the Site Survey screen to scan for and connect to a wireless network automatically. Figure 28 Site Survey The following table describes the labels in this screen. Table 7 Site Survey LABEL Available Network List DESCRIPTION Click a column heading to sort the entries.

, or SSID Channel Signal Scan Connect Site Information Network Type Network Mode Channel Security denotes that the wireless device is in infrastructure mode and the wireless security is activated. denotes that the wireless device is in infrastructure mode but the wireless security is deactivated. denotes that the wireless device is in Ad-Hoc mode and the wireless security is activated. denotes that the wireless device is in Ad-Hoc mode but the wireless security is deactivated. This field displays the SSID (Service Set IDentifier) of each wireless device. This field displays the channel number used by each wireless device. This field displays the signal strength of each wireless device. Click Scan to search for available wireless devices within transmission range. Click Connect to associate to the selected wireless device. Click an entry in the Available Network List table to display the information of the selected wireless device. This field displays the network type (Infrastructure or Ad Hoc) of the wireless device. This field displays the wireless standard used by the selected wireless device. It shows B for 802.11b, G for 802.11g or N for 802.11n. This field displays the channel number used by each wireless device. This field shows whether data encryption is activated (WEP, WPA, WPA-PSK, WPA2, WPA2-PSK or 802.1x) or inactive (DISABLE). NWD271N Users Guide 53 Chapter 4 ZyXEL Utility - Windows Table 7 Site Survey (continued) LABEL DESCRIPTION This field displays the MAC address of the wireless device. MAC address Surveyed at This field displays the time when the wireless device was scanned. 4.4.1 Security Settings When you configure the NWD271N to connect to a network with wireless security activated and the security settings are disabled on the NWD271N, the screen varies according to the encryption method used by the selected network. 4.4.1.1 WEP Encryption Configure WEP security in this screen. Figure 29 Security Setting: WEP The following table describes the labels in this screen. Table 8 Security Setting: WEP LABEL DESCRIPTION Security Settings WEP Authentication Type Pass Phrase Transmit Key Select 64 Bits or 128 Bits to activate WEP encryption and then fill in the related fields. Select an authentication method. Choices are Open and Shared. Refer to Section 3.3.1.1.2 on page 39 for more information. Enter a passphrase of up to 32 case-sensitive printable characters. As you enter the passphrase, the NWD271N automatically generates four different WEP keys and displays the first in the key field below. Refer to Section 3.3.1.1.1 on page 39 for more information. Select a default WEP key to use for data encryption. The key displays in the adjacent field. 54 NWD271N Users Guide Chapter 4 ZyXEL Utility - Windows Table 8 Security Setting: WEP (continued) LABEL Key x (where x is a number between 1 and 4) DESCRIPTION Select this option if you want to manually enter the WEP keys. Enter the WEP key in the field provided. If you select 64 Bits in the WEP field. Enter either 10 hexadecimal digits in the range of A-F, a-f and 0-9 (for example, 11AA22BB33) for HEX key type. or Enter 5 ASCII characters (case sensitive) ranging from a-z, A-Z and 0-9

(for example, MyKey) for ASCII key type. If you select 128 Bits in the WEP field, Enter either 26 hexadecimal digits in the range of A-F, a-f and 0-9 (for example, 00112233445566778899AABBCC) for HEX key type or Enter 13 ASCII characters (case sensitive) ranging from a-z, A-Z and 0-9

(for example, MyKey12345678) for ASCII key type. Note: The values for the WEP keys must be set up exactly the same on all wireless devices in the same wireless LAN. ASCII WEP keys are case sensitive. Click Back to go to the Site Survey screen to select and connect to another network. Click Next to confirm your selections and advance to the Summary screen. Refer to Section 4.4.2 on page 59. Click Exit to return to the Site Survey screen without saving. Back Next Exit 4.4.1.2 WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK Configure WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK security in this screen.

The procedure to configure WPA or WPA2 is different in Windows Vista. See Section 4.7 on page 67 for information on setting up your NWD271N to use WPA or WPA2 in Vista. Figure 30 Security Setting: WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK NWD271N Users Guide 55 Chapter 4 ZyXEL Utility - Windows The following table describes the labels in this screen. Table 9 Security Setting: WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK LABEL Encryption Type DESCRIPTION The encryption mechanisms used for WPA/WPA2 and WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK are the same. The only difference between the two is that WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK uses a simple common password, instead of user-specific credentials. Select the encryption type (TKIP or AES) for data encryption. Refer to Section 3.3.1.3 on page 40 for more information. Type a pre-shared key (same as the AP or peer device) of between 8 and 63 case-sensitive ASCII characters (including spaces and symbols) or 64 hexadecimal characters. Click Back to go to the Site Survey screen to select and connect to another network. Click Next to confirm your selections and advance to the Summary screen. Refer to Section 4.4.2 on page 59. Click Exit to return to the Site Survey screen without saving. Pre-Shared Key Back Next Exit 4.4.1.3 WPA/WPA2 The screen that displays when you select WPA or WPA2 differs, depending on the EAP Type you select (TLS, PEAP or TTLS). Figure 31 Security Settings: WPA/WPA2 The following table describes the labels in this screen. Table 10 Security Setting: WPA/WPA2 LABEL Encryption Type DESCRIPTION The encryption mechanisms used for WPA/WPA2 and WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK are the same. The only difference between the two is that WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK uses a simple common password, instead of user-specific credentials. Select the encryption type (TKIP or AES) for data encryption. Refer to Section 3.3.1.3 on page 40 for more information. The type of authentication you use depends on the RADIUS server or AP. Select an authentication method from the drop down list. Options are TLS, PEAP and TTLS (at the time of writing, TTLS is not available in Windows Vista). Enter a user name. This is the user name that you or an administrator set up on a RADIUS server. This field is not available when you select TLS in the EAP Type field. Enter the password associated with the user name above. EAP Type Login Name Password 56 NWD271N Users Guide Chapter 4 ZyXEL Utility - Windows Table 10 Security Setting: WPA/WPA2 LABEL Certificate DESCRIPTION This field is only available when you select TLS in the EAP Type field. Click Browse to select a certificate. Note: You must first have a wired connection to a network and obtain the certificate(s) from a certificate authority (CA). Consult your network administrator for more information. This field is only available when you select PEAP in the EAP Type field. The PEAP method used by the RADIUS server or AP for client authentication is MS CHAP v2. This field is available only when you select TTLS in the EAP Type field. Select a TTLS protocol that the RADIUS server uses. Options are CHAP, MS-

CHAP, MS-CHAP-V2 and PAP. Note: This feature is not available on Windows Vista. Click Back to go to the Site Survey screen to select and connect to another network. Click Next to confirm your selections and advance to the Summary screen (refer to Section 4.4.2 on page 59.) Click Exit to return to the Site Survey screen without saving. PEAP Inner EAP TTLS Protocol Back Next Exit 4.4.1.4 IEEE 802.1x Configure IEEE 802.1x security with various authentication methods in this screen.

The procedure to configure 802.1x is different in Windows Vista. See Section 4.7 on page 67 for information on setting up your NWD271N to use 802.1x in Vista. Figure 32 Security Setting: 802.1x NWD271N Users Guide 57 Chapter 4 ZyXEL Utility - Windows The following table describes the labels in this screen. Table 11 Security Settings: IEEE 802.1x LABEL Encryption Type DESCRIPTION Select WEP if the access point is configured to use 802.1x with WEP encryption. A dynamic WEP key is generated automatically. Otherwise, select Disable (at the time of writing, this is not available in Windows Vista). The type of authentication you use depends on the RADIUS server or AP. Select an authentication method from the drop down list. Options are TLS, PEAP and TTLS (at the time of writing, TTLS is not available in Windows Vista). Enter a user name. This is the user name that you or an administrator set up on a RADIUS server. This field is not available when you select TLS in the EAP Type field. Enter the password associated with the user name above. This field is only available when you select TLS in the EAP Type field. Click Browse to select a certificate. EAP Type Login Name Password Certificate Note: You must first have a wired connection to a network and obtain the certificate(s) from a certificate authority (CA). Consult your network administrator for more information. This field is available only when you select TTLS in the EAP Type field. Select a TTLS protocol that the RADIUS server uses. Options are CHAP, MS-

CHAP, MS-CHAP-V2 and PAP. Note: This feature is not available on Windows Vista. This field is only available when you select PEAP in the EAP Type field. The PEAP method used by the RADIUS server or AP for client authentication is MS CHAP v2. Click Back to go to the Site Survey screen to select and connect to another network. Click Next to confirm your selections and advance to the Summary screen (refer to Section 4.4.2 on page 59.) Click Exit to return to the Site Survey screen without saving. TTLS Protocol PEAP Inner EAP Back Next Exit 58 NWD271N Users Guide Chapter 4 ZyXEL Utility - Windows 4.4.2 Summary Screen Use this screen to confirm and save the security settings. Figure 33 Summary Screen The following table describes the labels in this screen. Table 12 Summary Screen LABEL Network Name

(SSID) Network Type DESCRIPTION This field displays the SSID previously entered. This field displays the network type (Infrastructure or Ad-Hoc) of the wireless device. This field displays the channel number used by the profile. This field shows whether data encryption is activated (WEP, WPA, WPA-PSK, WPA2, WPA2-PSK, 802.1x) or inactive (DISABLE). Click Back to return to the previous screen. Click Save to save the changes back to the NWD271N and display the Link Info screen. Click Exit to discard changes and return to the Site Survey screen. Channel Security Back Save Exit 4.5 The Profile Screen A profile is a set of wireless parameters that you need to connect to a wireless network. With a profile activated, each time you start the NWD271N, it automatically scans for the specific SSID and joins that network with the pre-defined wireless security settings. If the specified network is not available, the NWD271N cannot connect to a network. If you do not configure and activate a profile, each time you start the NWD271N, the NWD271N uses the default profile to connect to any available network that has no security enabled. The default profile is a profile that allows you to connect to any SSID that has no security enabled. Click the Profile tab in the ZyXEL utility program to display the Profile screen as shown next. The profile function allows you to save the wireless network settings in this screen, or use one of the pre-configured network profiles. NWD271N Users Guide 59 Chapter 4 ZyXEL Utility - Windows Figure 34 Profile The following table describes the labels in this screen. Table 13 Profile LABEL Profile List DESCRIPTION Click a column heading to sort the entries.

, or Profile Name SSID Connect Add Delete Edit Profile Info Network Type SSID Channel Security Transfer Rate denotes that the wireless device is in infrastructure mode and the wireless security is activated. denotes that the wireless device is in infrastructure mode but the wireless security is deactivated. denotes that the wireless device is in Ad-Hoc mode and the wireless security is activated. denotes that the wireless device is in Ad-Hoc mode but the wireless security is deactivated. This is the name of the pre-configured profile. This is the SSID of the wireless network to which the selected profile associate. To use and activate a previously saved network profile, select a pre-configured profile name in the table and click Connect. To add a new profile into the table, click Add. To delete an existing wireless network configuration, select a profile in the table and click Delete. To edit an existing wireless network configuration, select a profile in the table and click Edit. The following fields display detailed information of the selected profile in the Profile List table. This field displays the network type (Infrastructure or Ad-Hoc) of the profile. This field displays the networks Service Set IDentity (the name of the network). This field displays the channel number used by the profile. This field shows whether data encryption is activated (WEP, WPA, WPA-PSK, WPA2, WPA2-PSK or 802.1x) or inactive (DISABLE). This field displays the transmission speed of the selected profile in megabits per second (Mbps). 60 NWD271N Users Guide Chapter 4 ZyXEL Utility - Windows 4.5.1 Adding a New Profile Follow the steps below to add a new profile. 1 Click Add in the Profile screen. An Add New Profile screen displays as shown next. Figure 35 Profile: Add a New Profile The following table describes the labels in this screen. Table 14 Profile: Add a New Profile LABEL Add New Profile Profile Name SSID DESCRIPTION Enter a descriptive name in this field. Select an available wireless device in the Scan Info table and click Select, or enter the SSID of the wireless device to which you want to associate in this field manually. Otherwise, enter Any to have the NWD271N associate to any AP or roam between any infrastructure wireless networks. Select Infrastructure to associate to an AP. Select Ad-Hoc to associate to a peer computer. Click Next to go to the next screen. Click Exit to go back to the previous screen without saving. This table displays the information of the available wireless networks within the transmission range. denotes that the wireless device is in infrastructure mode and the wireless security is activated. denotes that the wireless device is in infrastructure mode but the wireless security is deactivated. denotes that the wireless device is in Ad-Hoc mode and the wireless security is activated. denotes that the wireless device is in Ad-Hoc mode but the wireless security is deactivated. Network Type Next Exit Scan Info

, or SSID This field displays the SSID (Service Set IDentifier) of each AP or peer device. NWD271N Users Guide 61 Chapter 4 ZyXEL Utility - Windows Table 14 Profile: Add a New Profile (continued) LABEL Scan Select DESCRIPTION Click Scan to search for available wireless devices within transmission range. Select an available wireless device in the table and click Select to add it to this profile. Whenever you activate this profile, the NWD271N associates to the selected wireless network only. 2 If you select the Infrastructure network type in the previous screen, skip to step 3. If you select the Ad-Hoc network type in the previous screen, a screen displays as follows. Select a Channel number and Wireless Mode and click Next to continue.

To associate to an ad-hoc network, you must use the same channel as the peer computer. Figure 36 Profile: Wireless Settings The following table describes the labels in this screen. Table 15 Profile: Wireless Settings LABEL Wireless Settings Channel DESCRIPTION Wireless Mode Select a channel number from the drop-down list box. To associate to an ad-hoc network, you must use the same channel as the peer computer. This is the wireless standard the NWD271N uses. In Ad-Hoc mode, you can use only 802.11b or 802.11g. 3 If you selected Infrastructure network type in the first screen, select WEP, WPA, WPA2, WPA-PSK, WPA2-PSK or 802.1x from the drop-down list box to enable data encryption. If you selected Ad-Hoc network type in the first screen, you can use only WEP encryption method. Otherwise, select DISABLE to allow the NWD271N to communicate with the access points or other peer wireless computers without any data encryption, and skip to step 5. 62 NWD271N Users Guide Figure 37 Profile: Wireless Settings Chapter 4 ZyXEL Utility - Windows 4 The screen varies depending on the encryption method you select in the previous screen. The settings must be exactly the same on the AP or other peer wireless computers as they are on the NWD271N. Refer to Section 4.4.1 on page 54 for detailed information on wireless security configuration. Figure 38 Profile: Security Settings 5 This read-only screen shows a summary of the new profile settings. Verify that the settings are correct. Click Save to save and go to the next screen. Click Back to return to the previous screen. Otherwise, click Exit to go back to the Profile screen without saving. Figure 39 Profile: Confirm New Settings NWD271N Users Guide 63 Chapter 4 ZyXEL Utility - Windows 6 To use this network profile, click the Activate Now button. Otherwise, click the Activate Later button. You can activate only one profile at a time.

Once you activate a profile, the ZyXEL utility will use that profile the next time it is started. Figure 40 Profile: Activate the Profile 4.6 The Adapter Screen To set the other advanced features on the NWD271N, click the Adapter tab. Figure 41 Adapter The following table describes the labels in this screen. Table 16 Adapter LABEL Adapter Setting Preamble Type DESCRIPTION Preamble is used to signal that data is coming to the receiver. Short preamble increases performance as less time sending preamble means more time for sending data. All IEEE 802.11b/g compliant wireless adapters support long preamble, but not all support short preamble. The NWD271N automatically uses short preamble when the access point supports it; otherwise the NWD271N uses long preamble. At the time of writing, this field is not available in Windows Vista. 64 NWD271N Users Guide Chapter 4 ZyXEL Utility - Windows Table 16 Adapter (continued) LABEL Power Saving Mode DESCRIPTION Select Fast Power Save to save power. This forces the NWD271N to go to sleep mode when it is not transmitting data. When you select Continuous Access Mode, the NWD271N will never go to sleep mode. At the time of writing, this field is not available in Windows Vista. Select this to enable Wi-fi MultiMedia Quality of Service on the NWD271N. At the time of writing, this field is not available in Windows Vista. Select this to enable Wi-fi Protected Setup on the NWD271N. Select this to use the PBC (Push-Button Configuration) WPS mode. When you use the PBC mode you do not use a PIN. When you select this, the PBC (Push Button Configuration screen appears (see Section 4.6.1 on page 65). Select this to use the PIN (Personal Identification Number) WPS mode. Use this option when you want to enter the NWD271Ns PIN in another WPS-enabled device. When you select this, the PIN - Use this Devices PIN screen appears (see Section 4.6.2 on page 66). Select this to use the PIN (Personal Identification Number) WPS mode. Use this option when you want to enter the PIN from another WPS-enabled device in the NWD271N. When you select this, the PIN - Use the PIN From the AP or Wireless Router screen appears (see Section 4.6.3 on page 67). Click Save to save the changes to the NWD271N and return to the Link Info screen. WMM QoS WPS (WiFi Protected Setup) PBC (Push Button Configuration) PIN - Use This Devices PIN PIN - Use the PIN From the AP or Wireless Router Save 4.6.1 WPS: PBC (Push Button Configuration) This screen allows you to use the WPS Push Button Configuration mode. See Section 3.4.1 on page 41 for more information. Select WPS and PBC (Push Button Configuration) in the Adapter screen. The following screen displays. Figure 42 WPS: PBC (Push Button Configuration) Press Start when you want to begin the WPS process. You must also press the button on the other device within two minutes. NWD271N Users Guide 65 Chapter 4 ZyXEL Utility - Windows 4.6.2 WPS: PIN - Use this Devices PIN This screen allows you to use the WPS Personal Identification Number mode, by entering the NWD271Ns unique PIN in the configuration utility of the other WPS-enabled device. See Section 3.4.2 on page 41 for more information. Select WPS and PIN - Use this Devices PIN in the Adapter screen. The following screen displays. Figure 43 WPS: PIN - Use this Devices PIN The following table describes the labels in this screen. Table 17 WPS: PIN - Use this Devices PIN DESCRIPTION LABEL This is the NWD271Ns Personal Identification Number (PIN). This This devices PIN field is read-only. Enter the number that displays in this field into the configuration interface of the other WPS-enabled device. Start Note: Each time this screen displays, the PIN is different. The PIN is valid for only one WPS transaction. Click this to start WPS. You must start WPS on the other WPS-

enabled device within two minutes. 66 NWD271N Users Guide Chapter 4 ZyXEL Utility - Windows 4.6.3 WPS: PIN - Use the PIN from the AP or Wireless Router This screen allows you to use the WPS Personal Identification Number mode, by entering the PIN from another WPS-enabled device into the NWD271Ns utility. See Section 3.4.2 on page 41 for more information. Select WPS and PIN - Use the PIN from the AP or Wireless Router in the Adapter screen. The following screen displays. Figure 44 WPS: PIN - Use the PIN from the AP or Wireless Router The following table describes the labels in this screen. Table 18 WPS: PIN - Use the PIN from the AP or Wireless Router LABEL AP or Routers PIN DESCRIPTION Enter the PIN from your AP or wireless router in this field before you click Start. Click this to start WPS. You must start WPS on the other WPS-

enabled device within two minutes. Start 4.7 Security Settings in Windows Vista When you use the NWD271N in Windows Vista, the procedure for setting up WPA, WPA2 and 802.1x security settings is different from that of other operating systems (other security types are not affected). The procedures for setting up WPA, WPA2 or 802.1x in Vista are the same. However, the procedure differs depending on whether you use PEAP (Protected Extensible Authentication Protocol) or TLS (Transport Layer Security) encryption. Consult your network administrator if you are unsure which type of encryption to use. See Section 4.7.1 on page 68 to use PEAP, or see Section 4.7.2 on page 69 to use TLS.

TTLS (Tunneled TLS) is not available when using Windows Vista, at the time of writing. NWD271N Users Guide 67 Chapter 4 ZyXEL Utility - Windows 4.7.1 Using PEAP in Vista Take the following steps to set up WPA, WPA2 or 802.1x security using PEAP in Windows Vista. 1 Either select the AP to which you want to connect in the Site Survey screen (see Section 4.4 on page 53), or configure a profile in the normal way (see Section 4.5 on page 59). 2 In the WPA, WPA2 or 802.1x security screen (see Section 4.4.1.3 on page 56 and Section 4.4.1.4 on page 57), select PEAP as the EAP Type. Note that the Login Name and Password fields are greyed-out (not available). 3 Click Next. 4 In the Summary screen that appears, click Save. 5 A message similar to the following appears in the bottom-right of your screen. Click the message. Figure 45 Vista Security: Additional Information Required 6 The Enter Credentials screen displays. Enter your User name and Password for the network to which you want to connect. Figure 46 Vista Security: Enter Credentials

If you are not sure what to enter, contact your network administrator. 7 Click OK. The Enter Credentials screen disappears and the NWD271N tries to connect to the network. The ZyXEL utilitys Link Info screen displays, showing the connection status (see Section 4.3 on page 51). If the Link Info screen displays an active connection, you have successfully completed the procedure. 68 NWD271N Users Guide Chapter 4 ZyXEL Utility - Windows 4.7.2 Using TLS in Vista Take the following steps to set up WPA, WPA2 or 802.1x security using TLS in Windows Vista. 1 Either select the AP to which you want to connect in the Site Survey screen (see Section 4.4 on page 53), or configure a profile (see Section 4.5 on page 59) in the normal way. 2 In the WPA, WPA2 or 802.1x security screen, select TLS as the EAP Type. Note that the Login Name, Certificate and Validate Server Certificate fields are greyed-out (not available). 3 Click Next. 4 In the Summary screen, click Save. 5 A message similar to the following appears in the bottom-right of your screen. Click the message. Figure 47 Vista Security: Additional Information Required 6 The Select Certificate screen displays. Select the certificate you want to use in order to authenticate with the server, and enter your username. Figure 48 Vista Security: Select Certificate

If you do not have the right certificate, or are not sure which certificate you should use, contact your network administrator. 7 Click OK. The Select Certificate screen disappears and the NWD271N tries to connect to the network. The ZyXEL utilitys Link Info screen displays, showing the connection status (see Section 4.3 on page 51). If the Link Info screen displays an active connection, you have successfully completed the procedure. NWD271N Users Guide 69 Chapter 4 ZyXEL Utility - Windows 70 NWD271N Users Guide CHAPTER 5 Maintenance 5.1 Overview This section describes how to uninstall or upgrade the ZyXEL utility. 5.1.1 What You Can Do in This Section Learn which version of the ZyXEL utility and device driver youre currently using. See Section 5.2 on page 71 for details. Remove the ZyXEL utility from your computer. See Section 5.3 on page 72 for details. Upgrade the ZyXEL utility. See Section 5.4 on page 73 for details. 5.1.2 What You Need to Know The following term may help as you read through this section. Device driver A system file that lets other programs interact with a piece of hardware, or device. You should never try to locate and install or uninstall device drivers yourself since they are modifications to an operating system at the core (or kernel) level. Doing so could irreparably damage your installation. 5.1.3 Before You Begin Disconnect the NWD271N if you are going to uninstall or upgrade the ZyXEL utility, save your work in any other open programs, and then close them. 5.2 The About Screen The About screen displays driver and utility version numbers of the NWD271N. To display the screen as shown below, click the about (

) button. NWD271N Users Guide 71 Chapter 5 Maintenance Figure 49 About The following table describes the read-only fields in this screen. Table 19 About LABEL Driver Version Utility Version DESCRIPTION This field displays the version number of the NWD271N driver. This field displays the version number of the ZyXEL utility. 5.3 Uninstalling the ZyXEL Utility Follow the steps below to remove (or uninstall) the ZyXEL utility from your computer.

Before you uninstall the ZyXEL utility, take note of your current wireless configurations. 1 Click Start > (All) Programs > ZyXEL Wireless N USB Utility > Uninstall ZyXEL Wireless N USB Adapter Utility. 2 When prompted, click OK or Yes to remove the driver and the utility software. Figure 50 Uninstall: Confirm 3 Click Finish to complete uninstalling the software and restart the computer when prompted. 72 NWD271N Users Guide Figure 51 Uninstall: Finish Chapter 5 Maintenance 5.4 Upgrading the ZyXEL Utility

Before you uninstall the ZyXEL utility, take note of your current wireless configurations. To perform the upgrade, follow the steps below. 1 Download the latest version of the utility from the ZyXEL web site and save the file on 2 Follow the steps in Section 5.3 on page 72 to remove the current ZyXEL utility from 3 Restart your computer when prompted. 4 Disconnect the NWD271N from your computer. 5 Double-click on the setup program for the new utility to start the ZyXEL utility your computer. your computer. installation. 6 Insert the NWD271N and check the version numbers in the About screen to make sure the new utility is installed properly. NWD271N Users Guide 73 Chapter 5 Maintenance 74 NWD271N Users Guide PART II Troubleshooting and Specifications Troubleshooting (77) Product Specifications (81) 75 76 CHAPTER 6 Troubleshooting This chapter offers some suggestions to solve problems you might encounter. The potential problems are divided into the following categories. Power, Hardware Connections, and LEDs Accessing the ZyXEL Utility Link Quality Problems Communicating with Other Computers 6.1 Power, Hardware Connections, and LEDs

The NWD271N does not turn on. None of the LEDs turn on. 1 Make sure the NWD271N is correctly installed (refer to your Quick Start Guide). 2 Restart the computer to which the NWD271N is attached. 3 If the problem continues, contact the vendor.

One of the LEDs does not behave as expected. 1 Make sure you understand the normal behavior of the LED. See Section 1.2 on page 22. 2 Check the hardware connection. See the Quick Start Guide and Section 1.2 on page 22. 3 Restart the computer to which the NWD271N is attached. 4 If the problem continues, contact the vendor. NWD271N Users Guide 77 Chapter 6 Troubleshooting 6.2 Accessing the ZyXEL Utility

I cannot access the ZyXEL Utility 1 Make sure the NWD271N is properly inserted and the LEDs are on. Refer to the Quick Start Guide for information on how to properly connect the NWD271N. 2 Use the Device Manager to check for possible hardware conflicts. Click Start >

Settings > Control Panel > System > Hardware > Device Manager. Verify the status of the NWD271N under Network Adapter (steps may vary depending on the version of Windows). 3 Install the NWD271N on another computer. 4 If the error persists, you may have a hardware problem. In this case, you should contact your vendor. 6.3 Link Quality

The link quality and/or signal strength is poor. 1 Scan for and connect to another AP with a better link quality using the Site Survey 2 Move your computer closer to the AP or the peer computer(s) within the transmission screen. range. 3 There may be too much radio interference (for example from a microwave oven, or another AP using the same channel) around your wireless network. Lower the output power of each AP. 4 Make sure there are not too many wireless stations connected to a wireless network. 6.4 Problems Communicating with Other Computers

The computer with the NWD271N installed cannot communicate with the other computer(s). In Infrastructure Mode Make sure that the AP and the associated computers are turned on and working properly. Make sure the NWD271N computer and the associated AP use the same SSID. 78 NWD271N Users Guide Chapter 6 Troubleshooting Change the AP and the associated wireless clients to use another radio channel if interference is high. Make sure that the computer and the AP share the same security option and key. Verify the settings in the Profile Security Setting screen. If you are using WPA(2) or WPA(2)-PSK security, try changing your encryption type from TKIP to AES or vice versa. In Ad-Hoc Mode Verify that the peer computer(s) is turned on. Make sure the NWD271N computer and the peer computer(s) are using the same SSID and channel. Make sure that the computer and the peer computer(s) share the same security settings. Change the wireless clients to use another radio channel if interference is high. NWD271N Users Guide 79 Chapter 6 Troubleshooting 80 NWD271N Users Guide CHAPTER 7 Product Specifications Table 20 Product Specifications PHYSICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL Product Name Interface Standards NWD271N WLAN 802.11n USB Adapter USB 2.0 IEEE 802.11b IEEE 802.11g IEEE 802.11n (Draft 2.0) 2.4GHz and 5 GHz 0 - 40 degrees Celsius Antenna Operating Temperature Storage Temperature Operating Humidity Storage Humidity Operation Voltage Power Saving Mode Current Consumption Voltage Weight Dimensions RADIO SPECIFICATIONS Media Access Protocol Transmit Power Receiver Sensitivity

-30 - 70 degrees Celsius 20 - 90% (non-condensing) 5 - 90% (non-condensing) 5V Yes Transmit: <500 mA Receive: <350 mA 5 V 21g / 0.74oz 81 (W) 28 (D) 12 (H) mm / 3.19 (W) x 1.10 (D) x 0.47 (H) inches IEEE 802.11 802.11b: At 11Mbps: 17dBm 802.11g: At 54Mbps: 14.5dBm 802.11n (Draft 2.0):

At HT20 MSC7:12.5dBm At HT40 MSC7: 12.5dBm Tolerance () 2 dB 802.11b: At 11Mbps: -82dBm 802.11g: At 54Mbps: -71dBm 802.11n (Draft 2.0):

At HT20 MSC7: -66dBM At HT40: -63dBM NWD271N Users Guide 81 Chapter 7 Product Specifications Table 20 Product Specifications (continued) WIRELESS STANDARDS IEEE 802.11b Operation Frequency Operation Channels Dynamically shifts between 11, 5.5, 2, and 1 Mbps network speed. 2.412GHz~2.472GHz N. America &Taiwan 2.412GHz~ 2.462GHz 1-11 Euro ETSI 2.412GHz~ 2.472GHz 1-13 IEEE 802.11g Operation Frequency Operation Channels Dynamically shifts between 54, 48, 36, 24, 18, 12, 9 and 6 Mbps network speed. 2.412GHz~2.472GHz N. America &Taiwan IEEE 802.11n (draft 2.0) Downstream data rate Upstream data rate Operation Frequency Operation Channels Networking Mode Approvals 2.412GHz~ 2.462GHz 1-11 Euro ETSI 2.412GHz~ 2.472GHz 1-13 300 Mbps 150 Mbps 2.412GHz~ 2.472GHz N. America & Taiwan HT20 2.412GHz~ 2.462GHz 1-11 N. America & Taiwan HT40 2.422GHz~ 2.452GHz 3-9 Euro ETSI HT20 2.412GHz~ 2.472GHz 1-13 Euro ETSI HT40 2.422GHz~ 2.462GHz 3-11 Infrastructure, Ad-Hoc Safety European Union: EN60950 (CE-LVD) EMI United States: FCC Part 15B Class B Canada: ICES-003 European Union: CE EN 55022 Class B Australia: C-Tick EMS European Union: CE EN55024 RF United States: FCC Part 15C Canada: RSS-210 European Union: CE EN 300 328 Taiwan: NCC LP0002 Wi-Fi Certification WPA/WPA2/WMM/WMM-PS Microsoft Certification SOFTWARE SPECIFICATIONS WHQL: Windows Vista (32- and 64-bit), Windows XP (32- and 64-bit), Windows 2000 82 NWD271N Users Guide Chapter 7 Product Specifications Table 20 Product Specifications (continued) Device Drivers Windows Vista (32- and 64-bit) Windows XP (32- and 64-bit) Windows 2000 WIRELESS FEATURES Wireless Security Wireless QoS WPS (Wi-Fi Protected Setup) WEP 64bit, 128bit, WPA, WPA-PSK, WPA2, WPA2-PSK 802.1x

(EAP-TLS, EAP-TTLS, EAP-PEAP), WPS. Note: EAP-TTLS is not supported in Windows Vista WMM Note: Not supported in Windows Vista. Push button configuration Use device's PIN Use AP or Router's PIN NWD271N Users Guide 83 Chapter 7 Product Specifications 84 NWD271N Users Guide PART III Appendices and Index

The appendices provide general information. Some details may not apply to your NWD271N. Setting Up Your Computers IP Address (87) Wireless LANs (99) Windows Wireless Management (113) Legal Information (135) Customer Support (139) Index (145) 85 86 A APPENDIX Setting Up Your Computers IP Address This appendix shows you how to configure the TCP/IP settings on your computer in order for it to be able to communicate with the other devices on your network. Windows Vista/XP/2000 include the software components you need to use TCP/IP on your computer. If you manually assign IP information instead of using a dynamic IP, make sure that your networks computers have IP addresses that place them in the same subnet. In this chapter, you can set up an IP address for:

Windows XP/2000/NT on page 88 Windows Vista Professional on page 93 NWD271N Users Guide 87 Appendix A Setting Up Your Computers IP Address Windows XP/2000/NT The following example uses the default Windows XP display theme but can also apply to Windows 2000 and Windows NT. 1 Click Start > Control Panel. Figure 52 Windows XP: Start Menu 2 In the Control Panel, click the Network Connections icon. Figure 53 Windows XP: Control Panel 88 NWD271N Users Guide Appendix A Setting Up Your Computers IP Address 3 Right-click Local Area Connection and then select Properties. Figure 54 Windows XP: Control Panel > Network Connections > Properties 4 On the General tab, select Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and then click Properties. Figure 55 Windows XP: Local Area Connection Properties NWD271N Users Guide 89 Appendix A Setting Up Your Computers IP Address 5 The Internet Protocol TCP/IP Properties window opens. Figure 56 Windows XP: Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) Properties 6 If you have a dynamic IP address, select Obtain an IP address automatically. 7 If you have a static IP address, select Use the following IP Address and fill in the IP address, Subnet mask, and Default gateway fields. 8 Click Advanced. 90 NWD271N Users Guide Appendix A Setting Up Your Computers IP Address 9 The Advanced TCP/IP Settings window opens. Figure 57 Windows XP: Advanced TCP/IP Properties 10 If you do not know your gateway's IP address, remove any previously installed gateways in the IP Settings tab and click OK. Do one or more of the following if you want to configure additional IP addresses:

11 On the IP Settings tab, click Add in the IP addresses category. 12 In the TCP/IP Address field, type an IP address in IP address and a subnet mask in Subnet mask, and then click Add. 13 Repeat the above two steps for each IP address you want to add. 14 Configure additional default gateways in the IP Settings tab by clicking Add in Default gateways. 15 In the TCP/IP Gateway Address field, type the IP address of the default gateway in Gateway. To manually configure a default metric (the number of transmission hops), clear the Automatic metric check box and type a metric in Metric. 16 Click Add. 17 Repeat the previous three steps for each default gateway you want to add. 18 Click OK when finished. NWD271N Users Guide 91 Appendix A Setting Up Your Computers IP Address 19 The Internet Protocol TCP/IP Properties comes back into focus:

Figure 58 Windows XP: Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) Properties 20 Select Obtain DNS server address automatically if you do not know your DNS server 21 If you know your DNS server IP address(es), select Use the following DNS server addresses, and type them in the Preferred DNS server and Alternate DNS server fields. 22 If you have previously configured DNS servers, click Advanced and then the DNS tab IP address(es). to order them. 23 Click OK to close the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) Properties window. 24 Click Close to close the Local Area Connection Properties window. 25 Close the Network Connections window. Verifying Settings 1 Click Start > All Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt. 2 In the Command Prompt window, type "ipconfig" and then press [ENTER]. You can also go to Start > Control Panel > Network Connections, right-click a network connection, click Status and then click the Support tab. 92 NWD271N Users Guide Appendix A Setting Up Your Computers IP Address Windows Vista This section shows screens from Windows Vista Professional. 1 Click Start > Control Panel. Figure 59 Windows Vista: Start Menu 2 In the Control Panel, click the Network and Internet icon. Figure 60 Windows Vista: Control Panel 3 Click the Network and Sharing Center icon. Figure 61 Windows Vista: Network And Internet NWD271N Users Guide 93 Appendix A Setting Up Your Computers IP Address 4 Click Manage network connections. Figure 62 Windows Vista: Network and Sharing Center 5 Right-click Local Area Connection and then select Properties. Figure 63 Windows Vista: Network and Sharing Center

During this procedure, click Continue whenever Windows displays a screen saying that it needs your permission to continue. 94 NWD271N Users Guide Appendix A Setting Up Your Computers IP Address 6 Select Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) and then select Properties. Figure 64 Windows Vista: Local Area Connection Properties NWD271N Users Guide 95 Appendix A Setting Up Your Computers IP Address 7 The Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) Properties window opens. Figure 65 Windows Vista: Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) Properties 8 If you have a dynamic IP address, select Obtain an IP address automatically. 9 If you have a static IP address, select Use the following IP address and fill in the IP address, Subnet mask, and Default gateway fields. 10 Click Advanced. 96 NWD271N Users Guide Appendix A Setting Up Your Computers IP Address 11 The Advanced TCP/IP Settings window opens. Figure 66 Windows Vista: Advanced TCP/IP Properties 12 If you do not know your gateway's IP address, remove any previously installed gateways in the IP Settings tab and click OK. Do one or more of the following if you want to configure additional IP addresses:

13 On the IP Settings tab, click Add in the IP addresses category. 14 In the TCP/IP Address field, type an IP address in IP address and a subnet mask in Subnet mask, and then click Add. 15 Repeat the above two steps for each IP address you want to add. 16 Configure additional default gateways in the IP Settings tab by clicking Add in Default gateways. 17 In the TCP/IP Gateway Address field, type the IP address of the default gateway in Gateway. To manually configure a default metric (the number of transmission hops), clear the Automatic metric check box and type a metric in Metric. 18 Click Add. 19 Repeat the previous three steps for each default gateway you want to add. 20 Click OK when finished. NWD271N Users Guide 97 Appendix A Setting Up Your Computers IP Address 21 In the Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) Properties comes back into focus. Figure 67 Windows Vista: Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) Properties 22 Select Obtain DNS server address automatically if you do not know your DNS server 23 If you know your DNS server IP address(es), select Use the following DNS server addresses, and type them in the Preferred DNS server and Alternate DNS server fields. 24 If you have previously configured DNS servers, click Advanced and then the DNS tab IP address(es). to order them. 25 Click OK to close the Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) Properties window. 26 Click Close to close the Local Area Connection Properties window. 27 Close the Network Connections window. Verifying Settings 1 Click Start > All Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt. 2 In the Command Prompt window, type "ipconfig" and then press [ENTER]. You can go to Start > Control Panel > Network Connections, right-click a network connection, click Status and then click the Support tab. 98 NWD271N Users Guide APPENDIX B Wireless LANs Wireless LAN Topologies This section discusses ad-hoc and infrastructure wireless LAN topologies. Ad-hoc Wireless LAN Configuration The simplest WLAN configuration is an independent (Ad-hoc) WLAN that connects a set of computers with wireless adapters (A, B, C). Any time two or more wireless adapters are within range of each other, they can set up an independent network, which is commonly referred to as an ad-hoc network or Independent Basic Service Set (IBSS). The following diagram shows an example of notebook computers using wireless adapters to form an ad-hoc wireless LAN. Figure 68 Peer-to-Peer Communication in an Ad-hoc Network BSS A Basic Service Set (BSS) exists when all communications between wireless clients or between a wireless client and a wired network client go through one access point (AP). Intra-BSS traffic is traffic between wireless clients in the BSS. When Intra-BSS is enabled, wireless client A and B can access the wired network and communicate with each other. When Intra-BSS is disabled, wireless client A and B can still access the wired network but cannot communicate with each other. NWD271N Users Guide 99 Appendix B Wireless LANs Figure 69 Basic Service Set ESS An Extended Service Set (ESS) consists of a series of overlapping BSSs, each containing an access point, with each access point connected together by a wired network. This wired connection between APs is called a Distribution System (DS). This type of wireless LAN topology is called an Infrastructure WLAN. The Access Points not only provide communication with the wired network but also mediate wireless network traffic in the immediate neighborhood. An ESSID (ESS IDentification) uniquely identifies each ESS. All access points and their associated wireless clients within the same ESS must have the same ESSID in order to communicate. 100 NWD271N Users Guide Figure 70 Infrastructure WLAN Appendix B Wireless LANs Channel A channel is the radio frequency(ies) used by wireless devices to transmit and receive data. Channels available depend on your geographical area. You may have a choice of channels (for your region) so you should use a channel different from an adjacent AP (access point) to reduce interference. Interference occurs when radio signals from different access points overlap causing interference and degrading performance. Adjacent channels partially overlap however. To avoid interference due to overlap, your AP should be on a channel at least five channels away from a channel that an adjacent AP is using. For example, if your region has 11 channels and an adjacent AP is using channel 1, then you need to select a channel between 6 or 11. RTS/CTS A hidden node occurs when two stations are within range of the same access point, but are not within range of each other. The following figure illustrates a hidden node. Both stations (STA) are within range of the access point (AP) or wireless gateway, but out-of-range of each other, so they cannot "hear" each other, that is they do not know if the channel is currently being used. Therefore, they are considered hidden from each other. NWD271N Users Guide 101 Appendix B Wireless LANs Figure 71 RTS/CTS When station A sends data to the AP, it might not know that the station B is already using the channel. If these two stations send data at the same time, collisions may occur when both sets of data arrive at the AP at the same time, resulting in a loss of messages for both stations. RTS/CTS is designed to prevent collisions due to hidden nodes. An RTS/CTS defines the biggest size data frame you can send before an RTS (Request To Send)/CTS (Clear to Send) handshake is invoked. When a data frame exceeds the RTS/CTS value you set (between 0 to 2432 bytes), the station that wants to transmit this frame must first send an RTS (Request To Send) message to the AP for permission to send it. The AP then responds with a CTS (Clear to Send) message to all other stations within its range to notify them to defer their transmission. It also reserves and confirms with the requesting station the time frame for the requested transmission. Stations can send frames smaller than the specified RTS/CTS directly to the AP without the RTS (Request To Send)/CTS (Clear to Send) handshake. You should only configure RTS/CTS if the possibility of hidden nodes exists on your network and the "cost" of resending large frames is more than the extra network overhead involved in the RTS (Request To Send)/CTS (Clear to Send) handshake. If the RTS/CTS value is greater than the Fragmentation Threshold value (see next), then the RTS (Request To Send)/CTS (Clear to Send) handshake will never occur as data frames will be fragmented before they reach RTS/CTS size.

Enabling the RTS Threshold causes redundant network overhead that could negatively affect the throughput performance instead of providing a remedy. Fragmentation Threshold A Fragmentation Threshold is the maximum data fragment size (between 256 and 2432 bytes) that can be sent in the wireless network before the AP will fragment the packet into smaller data frames. A large Fragmentation Threshold is recommended for networks not prone to interference while you should set a smaller threshold for busy networks or networks that are prone to interference. 102 NWD271N Users Guide Appendix B Wireless LANs If the Fragmentation Threshold value is smaller than the RTS/CTS value (see previously) you set then the RTS (Request To Send)/CTS (Clear to Send) handshake will never occur as data frames will be fragmented before they reach RTS/CTS size. Preamble Type Preamble is used to signal that data is coming to the receiver. Short and long refer to the length of the synchronization field in a packet. Short preamble increases performance as less time sending preamble means more time for sending data. All IEEE 802.11 compliant wireless adapters support long preamble, but not all support short preamble. Use long preamble if you are unsure what preamble mode other wireless devices on the network support, and to provide more reliable communications in busy wireless networks. Use short preamble if you are sure all wireless devices on the network support it, and to provide more efficient communications. Use the dynamic setting to automatically use short preamble when all wireless devices on the network support it, otherwise the NWD271N uses long preamble.

The wireless devices MUST use the same preamble mode in order to communicate. IEEE 802.11g Wireless LAN IEEE 802.11g is fully compatible with the IEEE 802.11b standard. This means an IEEE 802.11b adapter can interface directly with an IEEE 802.11g access point (and vice versa) at 11 Mbps or lower depending on range. IEEE 802.11g has several intermediate rate steps between the maximum and minimum data rates. The IEEE 802.11g data rate and modulation are as follows:

Table 21 IEEE 802.11g DATA RATE (MBPS) MODULATION 1 2 5.5 / 11 6/9/12/18/24/36/48/54 OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) DBPSK (Differential Binary Phase Shift Keyed) DQPSK (Differential Quadrature Phase Shift Keying) CCK (Complementary Code Keying) Wireless Security Overview Wireless security is vital to your network to protect wireless communication between wireless clients, access points and the wired network. NWD271N Users Guide 103 Appendix B Wireless LANs Wireless security methods available on the NWD271N are data encryption, wireless client authentication, restricting access by device MAC address and hiding the NWD271N identity. The following figure shows the relative effectiveness of these wireless security methods available on your NWD271N. Table 22 Wireless Security Levels SECURITY LEVEL Least Secure SECURITY TYPE Unique SSID (Default) Unique SSID with Hide SSID Enabled MAC Address Filtering WEP Encryption IEEE802.1x EAP with RADIUS Server Authentication Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) WPA2 Most Secure

You must enable the same wireless security settings on the NWD271N and on all wireless clients that you want to associate with it. IEEE 802.1x In June 2001, the IEEE 802.1x standard was designed to extend the features of IEEE 802.11 to support extended authentication as well as providing additional accounting and control features. It is supported by Windows XP and a number of network devices. Some advantages of IEEE 802.1x are:

User based identification that allows for roaming. Support for RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial In User Service, RFC 2138, 2139) for centralized user profile and accounting management on a network RADIUS server. Support for EAP (Extensible Authentication Protocol, RFC 2486) that allows additional authentication methods to be deployed with no changes to the access point or the wireless clients. RADIUS RADIUS is based on a client-server model that supports authentication, authorization and accounting. The access point is the client and the server is the RADIUS server. The RADIUS server handles the following tasks:

Authentication Determines the identity of the users. Authorization 104 NWD271N Users Guide Appendix B Wireless LANs Determines the network services available to authenticated users once they are connected to the network. Accounting Keeps track of the clients network activity. RADIUS is a simple package exchange in which your AP acts as a message relay between the wireless client and the network RADIUS server. Types of RADIUS Messages The following types of RADIUS messages are exchanged between the access point and the RADIUS server for user authentication:

Access-Request Sent by an access point requesting authentication. Access-Reject Sent by a RADIUS server rejecting access. Access-Accept Sent by a RADIUS server allowing access. Access-Challenge Sent by a RADIUS server requesting more information in order to allow access. The access point sends a proper response from the user and then sends another Access-Request message. The following types of RADIUS messages are exchanged between the access point and the RADIUS server for user accounting:

Accounting-Request Sent by the access point requesting accounting. Accounting-Response Sent by the RADIUS server to indicate that it has started or stopped accounting. In order to ensure network security, the access point and the RADIUS server use a shared secret key, which is a password, they both know. The key is not sent over the network. In addition to the shared key, password information exchanged is also encrypted to protect the network from unauthorized access. Types of EAP Authentication This section discusses some popular authentication types: EAP-MD5, EAP-TLS, EAP-TTLS, PEAP and LEAP. Your wireless LAN device may not support all authentication types. EAP (Extensible Authentication Protocol) is an authentication protocol that runs on top of the IEEE 802.1x transport mechanism in order to support multiple types of user authentication. By using EAP to interact with an EAP-compatible RADIUS server, an access point helps a wireless station and a RADIUS server perform authentication. The type of authentication you use depends on the RADIUS server and an intermediary AP(s) that supports IEEE 802.1x. NWD271N Users Guide 105 Appendix B Wireless LANs For EAP-TLS authentication type, you must first have a wired connection to the network and obtain the certificate(s) from a certificate authority (CA). A certificate (also called digital IDs) can be used to authenticate users and a CA issues certificates and guarantees the identity of each certificate owner. EAP-MD5 (Message-Digest Algorithm 5) MD5 authentication is the simplest one-way authentication method. The authentication server sends a challenge to the wireless client. The wireless client proves that it knows the password by encrypting the password with the challenge and sends back the information. Password is not sent in plain text. However, MD5 authentication has some weaknesses. Since the authentication server needs to get the plaintext passwords, the passwords must be stored. Thus someone other than the authentication server may access the password file. In addition, it is possible to impersonate an authentication server as MD5 authentication method does not perform mutual authentication. Finally, MD5 authentication method does not support data encryption with dynamic session key. You must configure WEP encryption keys for data encryption. EAP-TLS (Transport Layer Security) With EAP-TLS, digital certifications are needed by both the server and the wireless clients for mutual authentication. The server presents a certificate to the client. After validating the identity of the server, the client sends a different certificate to the server. The exchange of certificates is done in the open before a secured tunnel is created. This makes user identity vulnerable to passive attacks. A digital certificate is an electronic ID card that authenticates the senders identity. However, to implement EAP-TLS, you need a Certificate Authority (CA) to handle certificates, which imposes a management overhead. EAP-TTLS (Tunneled Transport Layer Service) EAP-TTLS is an extension of the EAP-TLS authentication that uses certificates for only the server-side authentications to establish a secure connection. Client authentication is then done by sending username and password through the secure connection, thus client identity is protected. For client authentication, EAP-TTLS supports EAP methods and legacy authentication methods such as PAP, CHAP, MS-CHAP and MS-CHAP v2. PEAP (Protected EAP) Like EAP-TTLS, server-side certificate authentication is used to establish a secure connection, then use simple username and password methods through the secured connection to authenticate the clients, thus hiding client identity. However, PEAP only supports EAP methods, such as EAP-MD5, EAP-MSCHAPv2 and EAP-GTC (EAP-Generic Token Card), for client authentication. EAP-GTC is implemented only by Cisco. LEAP 106 LEAP (Lightweight Extensible Authentication Protocol) is a Cisco implementation of IEEE 802.1x. NWD271N Users Guide Appendix B Wireless LANs Dynamic WEP Key Exchange The AP maps a unique key that is generated with the RADIUS server. This key expires when the wireless connection times out, disconnects or reauthentication times out. A new WEP key is generated each time reauthentication is performed. If this feature is enabled, it is not necessary to configure a default encryption key in the wireless security configuration screen. You may still configure and store keys, but they will not be used while dynamic WEP is enabled.

EAP-MD5 cannot be used with Dynamic WEP Key Exchange For added security, certificate-based authentications (EAP-TLS, EAP-TTLS and PEAP) use dynamic keys for data encryption. They are often deployed in corporate environments, but for public deployment, a simple user name and password pair is more practical. The following table is a comparison of the features of authentication types. Table 23 Comparison of EAP Authentication Types EAP-TLS Yes Yes Yes Yes Strong Hard No Mutual Authentication Certificate Client Certificate Server Dynamic Key Exchange Credential Integrity Deployment Difficulty Client Identity Protection EAP-TTLS Yes Optional Yes Yes Strong Moderate Yes EAP-MD5 No No No No None Easy No LEAP Yes No No Yes Moderate Moderate No PEAP Yes Optional Yes Yes Strong Moderate Yes WPA and WPA2 Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) is a subset of the IEEE 802.11i standard. WPA2 (IEEE 802.11i) is a wireless security standard that defines stronger encryption, authentication and key management than WPA. Key differences between WPA or WPA2 and WEP are improved data encryption and user authentication. If both an AP and the wireless clients support WPA2 and you have an external RADIUS server, use WPA2 for stronger data encryption. If you don't have an external RADIUS server, you should use WPA2-PSK (WPA2-Pre-Shared Key) that only requires a single (identical) password entered into each access point, wireless gateway and wireless client. As long as the passwords match, a wireless client will be granted access to a WLAN. If the AP or the wireless clients do not support WPA2, just use WPA or WPA-PSK depending on whether you have an external RADIUS server or not. Select WEP only when the AP and/or wireless clients do not support WPA or WPA2. WEP is less secure than WPA or WPA2. NWD271N Users Guide 107 Appendix B Wireless LANs Encryption Both WPA and WPA2 improve data encryption by using Temporal Key Integrity Protocol

(TKIP), Message Integrity Check (MIC) and IEEE 802.1x. WPA and WPA2 use Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) in the Counter mode with Cipher block chaining Message authentication code Protocol (CCMP) to offer stronger encryption than TKIP. TKIP uses 128-bit keys that are dynamically generated and distributed by the authentication server. AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) is a block cipher that uses a 256-bit mathematical algorithm called Rijndael. They both include a per-packet key mixing function, a Message Integrity Check (MIC) named Michael, an extended initialization vector (IV) with sequencing rules, and a re-keying mechanism. WPA and WPA2 regularly change and rotate the encryption keys so that the same encryption key is never used twice. The RADIUS server distributes a Pairwise Master Key (PMK) key to the AP that then sets up a key hierarchy and management system, using the PMK to dynamically generate unique data encryption keys to encrypt every data packet that is wirelessly communicated between the AP and the wireless clients. This all happens in the background automatically. The Message Integrity Check (MIC) is designed to prevent an attacker from capturing data packets, altering them and resending them. The MIC provides a strong mathematical function in which the receiver and the transmitter each compute and then compare the MIC. If they do not match, it is assumed that the data has been tampered with and the packet is dropped. By generating unique data encryption keys for every data packet and by creating an integrity checking mechanism (MIC), with TKIP and AES it is more difficult to decrypt data on a Wi-Fi network than WEP and difficult for an intruder to break into the network. The encryption mechanisms used for WPA(2) and WPA(2)-PSK are the same. The only difference between the two is that WPA(2)-PSK uses a simple common password, instead of user-specific credentials. The common-password approach makes WPA(2)-PSK susceptible to brute-force password-guessing attacks but its still an improvement over WEP as it employs a consistent, single, alphanumeric password to derive a PMK which is used to generate unique temporal encryption keys. This prevent all wireless devices sharing the same encryption keys.

(a weakness of WEP) User Authentication WPA and WPA2 apply IEEE 802.1x and Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) to authenticate wireless clients using an external RADIUS database. WPA2 reduces the number of key exchange messages from six to four (CCMP 4-way handshake) and shortens the time required to connect to a network. Other WPA2 authentication features that are different from WPA include key caching and pre-authentication. These two features are optional and may not be supported in all wireless devices. Key caching allows a wireless client to store the PMK it derived through a successful authentication with an AP. The wireless client uses the PMK when it tries to connect to the same AP and does not need to go with the authentication process again. Pre-authentication enables fast roaming by allowing the wireless client (already connecting to an AP) to perform IEEE 802.1x authentication with another AP before connecting to it. 108 NWD271N Users Guide Appendix B Wireless LANs Wireless Client WPA Supplicants A wireless client supplicant is the software that runs on an operating system instructing the wireless client how to use WPA. At the time of writing, the most widely available supplicant is the WPA patch for Windows XP, Funk Software's Odyssey client. The Windows XP patch is a free download that adds WPA capability to Windows XP's built-

in "Zero Configuration" wireless client. However, you must run Windows XP to use it. WPA(2) with RADIUS Application Example To set up WPA(2), you need the IP address of the RADIUS server, its port number (default is 1812), and the RADIUS shared secret. A WPA(2) application example with an external RADIUS server looks as follows. "A" is the RADIUS server. "DS" is the distribution system. 1 The AP passes the wireless client's authentication request to the RADIUS server. 2 The RADIUS server then checks the user's identification against its database and grants 3 A 256-bit Pairwise Master Key (PMK) is derived from the authentication process by the or denies network access accordingly. RADIUS server and the client. 4 The RADIUS server distributes the PMK to the AP. The AP then sets up a key hierarchy and management system, using the PMK to dynamically generate unique data encryption keys. The keys are used to encrypt every data packet that is wirelessly communicated between the AP and the wireless clients. Figure 72 WPA(2) with RADIUS Application Example WPA(2)-PSK Application Example A WPA(2)-PSK application looks as follows. 1 First enter identical passwords into the AP and all wireless clients. The Pre-Shared Key

(PSK) must consist of between 8 and 63 ASCII characters or 64 hexadecimal characters

(including spaces and symbols). 2 The AP checks each wireless client's password and allows it to join the network only if the password matches. NWD271N Users Guide 109 Appendix B Wireless LANs 3 The AP and wireless clients generate a common PMK (Pairwise Master Key). The key itself is not sent over the network, but is derived from the PSK and the SSID. 4 The AP and wireless clients use the TKIP or AES encryption process, the PMK and information exchanged in a handshake to create temporal encryption keys. They use these keys to encrypt data exchanged between them. Figure 73 WPA(2)-PSK Authentication Security Parameters Summary Refer to this table to see what other security parameters you should configure for each authentication method or key management protocol type. MAC address filters are not dependent on how you configure these security features. Table 24 Wireless Security Relational Matrix AUTHENTICATION METHOD/ KEY MANAGEMENT PROTOCOL Open ENTER MANUAL KEY ENCRYPTIO N METHOD IEEE 802.1X None No Open Shared WPA WPA-PSK WPA2 WPA2-PSK WEP WEP TKIP/AES TKIP/AES TKIP/AES TKIP/AES No Yes Yes No Yes Yes No Yes No Yes Disable Enable without Dynamic WEP Key Enable with Dynamic WEP Key Enable without Dynamic WEP Key Disable Enable with Dynamic WEP Key Enable without Dynamic WEP Key Disable Enable Disable Enable Disable 110 NWD271N Users Guide Appendix B Wireless LANs Antenna Overview An antenna couples RF signals onto air. A transmitter within a wireless device sends an RF signal to the antenna, which propagates the signal through the air. The antenna also operates in reverse by capturing RF signals from the air. Positioning the antennas properly increases the range and coverage area of a wireless LAN. Antenna Characteristics Frequency An antenna in the frequency of 2.4GHz (IEEE 802.11b and IEEE 802.11g) or 5GHz (IEEE 802.11a) is needed to communicate efficiently in a wireless LAN Radiation Pattern A radiation pattern is a diagram that allows you to visualize the shape of the antennas coverage area. Antenna Gain Antenna gain, measured in dB (decibel), is the increase in coverage within the RF beam width. Higher antenna gain improves the range of the signal for better communications. For an indoor site, each 1 dB increase in antenna gain results in a range increase of approximately 2.5%. For an unobstructed outdoor site, each 1dB increase in gain results in a range increase of approximately 5%. Actual results may vary depending on the network environment. Antenna gain is sometimes specified in dBi, which is how much the antenna increases the signal power compared to using an isotropic antenna. An isotropic antenna is a theoretical perfect antenna that sends out radio signals equally well in all directions. dBi represents the true gain that the antenna provides. Types of Antennas for WLAN There are two types of antennas used for wireless LAN applications. Omni-directional antennas send the RF signal out in all directions on a horizontal plane. The coverage area is torus-shaped (like a donut) which makes these antennas ideal for a room environment. With a wide coverage area, it is possible to make circular overlapping coverage areas with multiple access points. Directional antennas concentrate the RF signal in a beam, like a flashlight does with the light from its bulb. The angle of the beam determines the width of the coverage pattern. Angles typically range from 20 degrees (very directional) to 120 degrees (less directional). Directional antennas are ideal for hallways and outdoor point-to-point applications. NWD271N Users Guide 111 Appendix B Wireless LANs Positioning Antennas In general, antennas should be mounted as high as practically possible and free of obstructions. In point-topoint application, position both antennas at the same height and in a direct line of sight to each other to attain the best performance. For omni-directional antennas mounted on a table, desk, and so on, point the antenna up. For omni-directional antennas mounted on a wall or ceiling, point the antenna down. For a single AP application, place omni-directional antennas as close to the center of the coverage area as possible. For directional antennas, point the antenna in the direction of the desired coverage area. 112 NWD271N Users Guide C APPENDIX Windows Wireless Management This appendix shows you how to manage your NWD271N using the Windows Vista and Windows XP wireless configuration tools. Windows Vista Take the following steps to connect to a wireless network using the Windows Vista wireless configuration tool (WLAN AutoConfig). Connecting to a Wireless Network 1 Click Start (

) > Connect To. Figure 74 Vista: Start Menu The Connect To window displays, showing all available networks. NWD271N Users Guide 113 Appendix C Windows Wireless Management Figure 75 Vista: The Connect To Window The security status of each wireless network displays, as well as an indication of its signal strength. If you use the mouse pointer to hover over a networks entry, additional information about the network displays. Figure 76 Vista: Additional Information 2 Double-click the networks name to join the network, or select a network and click Connect.

If the network to which you want to connect does not display, see the section on setting up a connection manually on page 116. 3 If security is enabled, you may be prompted to enter your security key. 114 NWD271N Users Guide Appendix C Windows Wireless Management Figure 77 Vista: Enter Security Key Your computer tries to connect to the wireless network. Figure 78 Vista: Connecting If your computer has connected to the wireless network successfully, the following screen displays. NWD271N Users Guide 115 Appendix C Windows Wireless Management Figure 79 Vista: Successful Connection 4 If you will use this network again, ensure that Save this network is selected. If you save the network, you do not have to configure its settings again. 5 Select Start this connection automatically if you want Windows to always try to use this network when you start up your computer. If you do not select this (but select Save this network) you can connect manually each time by clicking Start > Connect to and selecting the networks name from the list. Connecting to a Network Manually If the wireless network to which you want to connect does not appear in the Connect to window (if your networks SSID is hidden, for example), take the following steps to configure your network connection manually 1 Click Set up a connection or network at the bottom of the Connect to screen. The following screen displays. 116 NWD271N Users Guide Appendix C Windows Wireless Management Figure 80 Vista: Choose a Connection Option 2 Click Manually connect to a wireless network. The following screen displays. Figure 81 Vista: Connect Manually The following table describes the labels in this screen. Table 25 Vista: Connect Manually LABEL Network name Security type DESCRIPTION Enter your networks SSID (Service Set IDentifier). Select the type of security used by the network to which you want to connect. The types of available security shown depend on your computers wireless client. In this field, WPA(2)-Personal is the same as WPA(2)-PSK, and WPA(2)-

Enterprise is the same as WPA(2) NWD271N Users Guide 117 Appendix C Windows Wireless Management Table 25 Vista: Connect Manually LABEL Encryption type DESCRIPTION Select the type of encryption used by the network. When you use WEP or 802.1x, WEP displays. When you use a WPA mode (WPA(2)-Personal or WPA(2)-Enterprise) you can choose AES or TKIP (if supported by your computers wireless client). If your network uses WEP or WPA(2)-Personal security, enter the key here. Select this if you do not want the security key characters to be hidden. Select this box if you always want to try to connect to this network at startup. If you leave this box unchecked, you will need to connect manually each time. Select this box if you always want to try to connect to this network at startup, even if the network is not broadcasting its SSID. The warning in this field refers to the fact that if you do this, your computer sends out probe request packets, which contain the networks SSID and could be used by an attacker to access the network. Click this to save your settings and move on to the next page. Click this to stop setting up your network. Security Key /

Passphrase Display Characters Start this connection automatically Connect even if the network is not broadcasting Next Cancel 3 When you have finished filling in the fields, click Next. the following screen displays. Figure 82 Vista: Successfully Added Network 4 If you want to make any changes to the settings you just configured, click Change connection settings. Otherwise, click Connect to.... In the window that displays, double-click the new networks name to connect to the network. Setting Up An Ad-Hoc Network Take the following steps to set up a wireless connection between two computers in Windows Vista. 118 NWD271N Users Guide Appendix C Windows Wireless Management 1 Click Start (

) > Connect To. In the Connect to screen, click Set up a connection or network. The following screen displays. Figure 83 Vista: Set Up An Ad-hoc Network 2 Select Set up a wireless ad hoc (computer-to-computer) network and click Next. The following screen displays. Figure 84 Vista: Ad-hoc Options 3 Enter the Network name (SSID) you want to use for your network. Select a Security type. If you are not sure what kind of security you want to use, click the Help me choose link. NWD271N Users Guide 119 Appendix C Windows Wireless Management

Make sure all the wireless clients on your ad-hoc network can support the type of security you select. 4 Enter the Security key/Passphrase. Everybody on the network must enter this key in their computers wireless client in order to access the network. If you want to see the characters you entered, select the Display characters box. Otherwise, leave it empty

(dots display instead of the characters). 5 If you will use this ad-hoc network again, select the Save this network box. If you do this, the next time you click Start > Connect to, you can select the network from the list. 6 Click Next. The following screen displays. Figure 85 Vista: Ad-hoc Network Ready 7 If you want to share files with other computers on the ad-hoc network, or let other computers use your Internet connection, click the Network and Sharing Center link. Otherwise, click Close. Windows XP Be sure you have the Windows XP service pack 2 installed on your computer. Otherwise, you should at least have the Windows XP service pack 1 already on your computer and download the support patch for WPA from the Microsoft web site. Windows XP SP2 screen shots are shown unless otherwise specified. Click the help icon (

) in most screens, move the cursor to the item that you want the information about and click to view the help. Activating Wireless Zero Configuration 1 Click Start > Control Panel and double-click Network Connections. 120 NWD271N Users Guide Appendix C Windows Wireless Management 2 Double-click on the icon for wireless network connection. 3 The status window displays as shown below. Click Properties. Figure 86 Windows XP SP1: Wireless Network Connection Status Figure 87 Windows XP SP2: Wireless Network Connection Status 4 The Wireless Network Connection Properties screen displays. Click the Wireless Networks tab. Make sure the Use Windows to configure my wireless network settings check box is selected. NWD271N Users Guide 121 Appendix C Windows Wireless Management Figure 88 Windows XP SP1: Wireless Network Connection Properties Figure 89 Windows XP SP2: Wireless Network Connection Properties If you see the following screen, refer to article 871122 on the Microsoft web site for information on starting WZC. 122 NWD271N Users Guide Appendix C Windows Wireless Management Figure 90 Windows XP SP2: WZC Not Available Connecting to a Wireless Network 1 Double-click the network icon for wireless connections in the system tray to open the Wireless Network Connection Status screen. Figure 91 Windows XP SP2: System Tray Icon The type of the wireless network icon in Windows XP SP2 indicates the status of the NWD271N. Refer to the following table for details. Table 26 Windows XP SP2: System Tray Icon ICON DESCRIPTION The NWD271N is connected to a wireless network. The NWD271N is in the process of connecting to a wireless network. The connection to a wireless network is limited because the network did not assign a network address to the computer. The NWD271N is not connected to a wireless network. 2 Windows XP SP2: In the Wireless Network Connection Status screen, click View Wireless Networks to open the Wireless Network Connection screen. NWD271N Users Guide 123 Appendix C Windows Wireless Management Figure 92 Windows XP SP2: Wireless Network Connection Status Windows XP SP1: In the Wireless Network Connection Status screen, click Properties and the Wireless Networks tab to open the Wireless Network Connection Properties screen. Figure 93 Windows XP SP1: Wireless Network Connection Status 3 Windows XP SP2: Click Refresh network list to reload and search for available wireless devices within transmission range. Select a wireless network in the list and click Connect to join the selected wireless network. 124 NWD271N Users Guide Appendix C Windows Wireless Management Figure 94 Windows XP SP2: Wireless Network Connection The following table describes the icons in the wireless network list. Table 27 Windows XP SP2: Wireless Network Connection ICON DESCRIPTION This denotes that wireless security is activated for the wireless network. This denotes that this wireless network is your preferred network. Ordering your preferred networks is important because the NWD271N tries to associate to the preferred network first in the order that you specify. Refer to the section on ordering the preferred networks for detailed information. This denotes the signal strength of the wireless network. Move your cursor to the icon to see details on the signal strength. Windows XP SP1: Click Refresh to reload and search for available wireless devices within transmission range. Select a wireless network in the Available networks list, click Configure and set the related fields to the same security settings as the associated AP to add the selected network into the Preferred networks table. Click OK to join the selected wireless network. Refer to the section on security settings (discussed later) for more information. NWD271N Users Guide 125 Appendix C Windows Wireless Management Figure 95 Windows XP SP1: Wireless Network Connection Properties 4 4.Windows XP SP2: If the wireless security is activated for the selected wireless network, the Wireless Network Connection screen displays. You must set the related fields in the Wireless Network Connection screen to the same security settings as the associated AP and click Connect. Refer to the section about security settings for more information. Otherwise click Cancel and connect to another wireless network without data encryption. If there is no security activated for the selected wireless network, a warning screen appears. Click Connect Anyway if wireless security is not your concern. Figure 96 Windows XP SP2: Wireless Network Connection: WEP or WPA-PSK 126 NWD271N Users Guide Appendix C Windows Wireless Management Figure 97 Windows XP SP2: Wireless Network Connection: No Security 5 Verify that you have successfully connected to the selected network and check the connection status in the wireless network list or the connection icon in the Preferred networks or Available networks list. The following table describes the connection icons. Table 28 Windows XP: Wireless Networks ICON DESCRIPTION This denotes the wireless network is an available wireless network. This denotes the NWD271N is associated to the wireless network. This denotes the wireless network is not available. Security Settings When you configure the NWD271N to connect to a secure network but the security settings are not yet enabled on the NWD271N, you will see different screens according to the authentication and encryption methods used by the selected network. Association Select a network in the Preferred networks list and click Properties to view or configure security. Figure 98 Windows XP: Wireless (network) properties: Association NWD271N Users Guide 127 Appendix C Windows Wireless Management The following table describes the labels in this screen. Table 29 Windows XP: Wireless (network) properties: Association LABEL Network name

(SSID) DESCRIPTION This field displays the SSID (Service Set IDentifier) of each wireless network. Network Authentication Data Encryption Network Key Confirm network key Key index

(advanced) The key is provided for me automatically This is a computer-to-

computer (ad hoc) network; wireless access points are not used OK Cancel This field automatically shows the authentication method (Share, Open, WPA or WPA-PSK) used by the selected network. This field automatically shows the encryption type (TKIP, WEP or Disable) used by the selected network. Enter the pre-shared key or WEP key. The values for the keys must be set up exactly the same on all wireless devices in the same wireless LAN. Enter the key again for confirmation. Select a default WEP key to use for data encryption. This field is available only when the network use WEP encryption method and the The key is provided for me automatically check box is not selected. If this check box is selected, the wireless AP assigns the NWD271N a key. If this check box is selected, you are connecting to another computer directly. Click OK to save your changes. Click Cancel to leave this screen without saving any changes you may have made. Authentication Click the Authentication tab in the Wireless (network) properties screen to display the screen shown next. The fields on this screen are grayed out when the network is in Ad-Hoc mode or data encryption is disabled. 128 NWD271N Users Guide Appendix C Windows Wireless Management Figure 99 Windows XP: Wireless (network) properties: Authentication The following table describes the labels in this screen. Table 30 Windows XP: Wireless (network) properties: Authentication LABEL Enable IEEE 802.1x authentication for this network EAP Type DESCRIPTION This field displays whether the IEEE 802.1x authentication is active. If the network authentication is set to Open in the previous screen, you can choose to disable or enable this feature. Select the type of EAP authentication. Options are Protected EAP (PEAP) and Smart Card or other Certificate. Click this button to open the properties screen and configure certificates. The screen varies depending on what you select in the EAP type field. Select this check box to have the computer send its information to the network for authentication when a user is not logged on. Properties Authenticate as computer when computer information is available Authenticate as guest when user or computer information is unavailable OK Cancel Select this check box to have the computer access to the network as a guest when a user is not logged on or computer information is not available. Click OK to save your changes. Click Cancel to leave this screen without saving any changes you may have made. Authentication Properties Select an EAP authentication type in the Wireless (network) properties: Authentication screen and click the Properties button to display the following screen. NWD271N Users Guide 129 Appendix C Windows Wireless Management Protected EAP Properties Figure 100 Windows XP: Protected EAP Properties The following table describes the labels in this screen. Table 31 Windows XP: Protected EAP Properties LABEL Validate server certificate Connect to these servers Trusted Root Certification Authorities:

DESCRIPTION Select the check box to verify the certificate of the authentication server. Select the check box and specify a domain in the field below to have your computer connect to a server which resides only within this domain. Select a trusted certification authority from the list below. Note: You must first have a wired connection to a network and obtain the certificate(s) from a certificate authority (CA). Consult your network administrator for more information. Do not prompt user to authorize new server or trusted certification authorities. Select Authentication Method:

Enable Fast Reconnect OK Cancel Select this check box to verify a new authentication server or trusted CA without prompting. This field is available only if you installed the Windows XP server pack 2. Select an authentication method from the drop-down list box and click Configure to do settings. Select the check box to automatically reconnect to the network (without re-

authentication) if the wireless connection goes down. Click OK to save your changes. Click Cancel to leave this screen without saving any changes you may have made. 130 NWD271N Users Guide Appendix C Windows Wireless Management Smart Card or other Certificate Properties Figure 101 Windows XP: Smart Card or other Certificate Properties DESCRIPTION Select this check box to use the smart card for authentication. The following table describes the labels in this screen. Table 32 Windows XP: Smart Card or other Certificate Properties LABEL Use my smart card Use a certificate on this computer Validate server certificate Connect to these servers Trusted Root Certification Authorities:

Select the check box and specify a domain in the field below to have your computer connect to a server which resides only within this domain. Select a trusted certification authority from the list below. Select the check box to check the certificate of the authentication server. Select this check box to use a certificate on your computer for authentication. Note: You must first have a wired connection to a network and obtain the certificate(s) from a certificate authority (CA). Consult your network administrator for more information. View Certificate Use a different user name for the connection:

OK Cancel Click this button if you want to verify the selected certificate. Select the check box to use a different user name when the user name in the smart card or certificate is not the same as the user name in the domain that you are logged on to. Click OK to save your changes. Click Cancel to leave this screen without saving any changes you may have made. Ordering the Preferred Networks Follow the steps below to manage your preferred networks. NWD271N Users Guide 131 Appendix C Windows Wireless Management 1 Windows XP SP2: Click Change the order of preferred networks in the Wireless Network Connection screen (see Figure 94 on page 125). The screen displays as shown. Figure 102 Windows XP SP2: Wireless Networks: Preferred Networks Windows XP SP1: In the Wireless Network Connection Status screen, click Properties and the Wireless Networks tab to open the screen as shown. Figure 103 Windows XP SP1: Wireless Networks: Preferred Networks 2 Whenever the NWD271N tries to connect to a new network, the new network is added in the Preferred networks table automatically. Select a network and click Move up or Move down to change it's order, click Remove to delete it or click Properties to view 132 NWD271N Users Guide Appendix C Windows Wireless Management the security, authentication or connection information of the selected network. Click Add to add a preferred network into the list manually. NWD271N Users Guide 133 Appendix C Windows Wireless Management 134 NWD271N Users Guide APPENDIX D Legal Information Copyright Copyright 2008 by ZyXEL Communications Corporation. The contents of this publication may not be reproduced in any part or as a whole, transcribed, stored in a retrieval system, translated into any language, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, magnetic, optical, chemical, photocopying, manual, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of ZyXEL Communications Corporation. Published by ZyXEL Communications Corporation. All rights reserved. Disclaimers ZyXEL does not assume any liability arising out of the application or use of any products, or software described herein. Neither does it convey any license under its patent rights nor the patent rights of others. ZyXEL further reserves the right to make changes in any products described herein without notice. This publication is subject to change without notice. Trademarks Trademarks mentioned in this publication are used for identification purposes only and may be properties of their respective owners. Certifications Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Interference Statement The device complies with Part 15 of FCC rules. Operation is subject to the following two conditions:

This device may not cause harmful interference. This device must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause undesired operations. This device has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installation. This device generates, uses, and can radiate radio frequency energy, and if not installed and used in accordance with the instructions, may cause harmful interference to radio communications. However, there is no guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular installation. NWD271N Users Guide 135 Appendix D Legal Information If this device does cause harmful interference to radio/television reception, which can be determined by turning the device off and on, the user is encouraged to try to correct the interference by one or more of the following measures:

1 Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna. 2 Increase the separation between the equipment and the receiver. 3 Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the receiver is connected. 4 Consult the dealer or an experienced radio/TV technician for help. FCC Radiation Exposure Statement This device has been tested to the FCC exposure requirements (Specific Absorption Rate). This device complies with the requirements of Health Canada Safety Code 6 for Canada. Testing was performed on laptop computers with antennas at 0mm spacing. The maximum SAR value is: 0.680 W/kg. The device must not be collocated with any other antennas or transmitters. This equipment has been SAR-evaluated for use in laptops (notebooks) with side slot configuration. The device complies with FCC RF radiation exposure limits set forth for an uncontrolled environment, under 47 CFR 2.1093 paragraph (d)(2). End users must follow the specific operating instructions for satisfying RF exposure compliance. To maintain compliance with FCC RF exposure compliance requirements, please follow operation instruction as documented in this manual. This transmitter must not be co-located or operating in conjunction with any other antenna or transmitter. IEEE 802.11b or 802.11g operation of this product in the U.S.A. is firmware-limited to channels 1 through 11.

5250MHz~5350MHz 136 NWD271N Users Guide Appendix D Legal Information Notices Changes or modifications not expressly approved by the party responsible for compliance could void the user's authority to operate the equipment. This device has been designed for the WLAN 2.4 GHz network throughout the EC region and Switzerland, with restrictions in France. This Class B digital apparatus complies with Canadian ICES-003. Cet appareil numrique de la classe B est conforme la norme NMB-003 du Canada. Viewing Certifications 1 Go to http://www.zyxel.com. 2 Select your product on the ZyXEL home page to go to that product's page. 3 Select the certification you wish to view from this page. ZyXEL Limited Warranty ZyXEL warrants to the original end user (purchaser) that this product is free from any defects in materials or workmanship for a period of up to two years from the date of purchase. During the warranty period, and upon proof of purchase, should the product have indications of failure due to faulty workmanship and/or materials, ZyXEL will, at its discretion, repair or replace the defective products or components without charge for either parts or labor, and to whatever extent it shall deem necessary to restore the product or components to proper operating condition. Any replacement will consist of a new or re-manufactured functionally equivalent product of equal or higher value, and will be solely at the discretion of ZyXEL. This warranty shall not apply if the product has been modified, misused, tampered with, damaged by an act of God, or subjected to abnormal working conditions. Note Repair or replacement, as provided under this warranty, is the exclusive remedy of the purchaser. This warranty is in lieu of all other warranties, express or implied, including any implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular use or purpose. ZyXEL shall in no event be held liable for indirect or consequential damages of any kind to the purchaser. To obtain the services of this warranty, contact ZyXEL's Service Center for your Return Material Authorization number (RMA). Products must be returned Postage Prepaid. It is recommended that the unit be insured when shipped. Any returned products without proof of purchase or those with an out-dated warranty will be repaired or replaced (at the discretion of ZyXEL) and the customer will be billed for parts and labor. All repaired or replaced products will be shipped by ZyXEL to the corresponding return address, Postage Paid. This warranty gives you specific legal rights, and you may also have other rights that vary from country to country. Registration Register your product online to receive e-mail notices of firmware upgrades and information at www.zyxel.com. NWD271N Users Guide 137 Appendix D Legal Information 138 NWD271N Users Guide APPENDIX E Customer Support Please have the following information ready when you contact customer support. Required Information Product model and serial number. Warranty Information. Date that you received your device. Brief description of the problem and the steps you took to solve it.

+ is the (prefix) number you dial to make an international telephone call. Corporate Headquarters (Worldwide) Support E-mail: support@zyxel.com.tw Sales E-mail: sales@zyxel.com.tw Telephone: +886-3-578-3942 Fax: +886-3-578-2439 Web: www.zyxel.com, www.europe.zyxel.com FTP: ftp.zyxel.com, ftp.europe.zyxel.com Regular Mail: ZyXEL Communications Corp., 6 Innovation Road II, Science Park, Hsinchu 300, Taiwan Costa Rica Support E-mail: soporte@zyxel.co.cr Sales E-mail: sales@zyxel.co.cr Telephone: +506-2017878 Fax: +506-2015098 Web: www.zyxel.co.cr FTP: ftp.zyxel.co.cr Regular Mail: ZyXEL Costa Rica, Plaza Roble Escaz, Etapa El Patio, Tercer Piso, San Jos, Costa Rica Czech Republic E-mail: info@cz.zyxel.com Telephone: +420-241-091-350 Fax: +420-241-091-359 Web: www.zyxel.cz NWD271N Users Guide 139 Appendix E Customer Support Regular Mail: ZyXEL Communications, Czech s.r.o., Modransk 621, 143 01 Praha 4 -

Modrany, Cesk Republika Denmark Support E-mail: support@zyxel.dk Sales E-mail: sales@zyxel.dk Telephone: +45-39-55-07-00 Fax: +45-39-55-07-07 Web: www.zyxel.dk Regular Mail: ZyXEL Communications A/S, Columbusvej, 2860 Soeborg, Denmark Finland Support E-mail: support@zyxel.fi Sales E-mail: sales@zyxel.fi Telephone: +358-9-4780-8411 Fax: +358-9-4780-8448 Web: www.zyxel.fi Regular Mail: ZyXEL Communications Oy, Malminkaari 10, 00700 Helsinki, Finland France E-mail: info@zyxel.fr Telephone: +33-4-72-52-97-97 Fax: +33-4-72-52-19-20 Web: www.zyxel.fr Regular Mail: ZyXEL France, 1 rue des Vergers, Bat. 1 / C, 69760 Limonest, France Germany Support E-mail: support@zyxel.de Sales E-mail: sales@zyxel.de Telephone: +49-2405-6909-69 Fax: +49-2405-6909-99 Web: www.zyxel.de Regular Mail: ZyXEL Deutschland GmbH., Adenauerstr. 20/A2 D-52146, Wuerselen, Germany Hungary Support E-mail: support@zyxel.hu Sales E-mail: info@zyxel.hu Telephone: +36-1-3361649 Fax: +36-1-3259100 Web: www.zyxel.hu Regular Mail: ZyXEL Hungary, 48, Zoldlomb Str., H-1025, Budapest, Hungary 140 NWD271N Users Guide Appendix E Customer Support India Support E-mail: support@zyxel.in Sales E-mail: sales@zyxel.in Telephone: +91-11-30888144 to +91-11-30888153 Fax: +91-11-30888149, +91-11-26810715 Web: http://www.zyxel.in Regular Mail: India - ZyXEL Technology India Pvt Ltd., II-Floor, F2/9 Okhla Phase -1, New Delhi 110020, India Japan Support E-mail: support@zyxel.co.jp Sales E-mail: zyp@zyxel.co.jp Telephone: +81-3-6847-3700 Fax: +81-3-6847-3705 Web: www.zyxel.co.jp Regular Mail: ZyXEL Japan, 3F, Office T&U, 1-10-10 Higashi-Gotanda, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo 141-0022, Japan Kazakhstan Support: http://zyxel.kz/support Sales E-mail: sales@zyxel.kz Telephone: +7-3272-590-698 Fax: +7-3272-590-689 Web: www.zyxel.kz Regular Mail: ZyXEL Kazakhstan, 43 Dostyk Ave., Office 414, Dostyk Business Centre, 050010 Almaty, Republic of Kazakhstan Malaysia Support E-mail: support@zyxel.com.my Sales E-mail: sales@zyxel.com.my Telephone: +603-8076-9933 Fax: +603-8076-9833 Web: http://www.zyxel.com.my Regular Mail: ZyXEL Malaysia Sdn Bhd., 1-02 & 1-03, Jalan Kenari 17F, Bandar Puchong Jaya, 47100 Puchong, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia North America Support E-mail: support@zyxel.com Support Telephone: +1-800-978-7222 Sales E-mail: sales@zyxel.com Sales Telephone: +1-714-632-0882 Fax: +1-714-632-0858 Web: www.zyxel.com NWD271N Users Guide 141 Appendix E Customer Support Regular Mail: ZyXEL Communications Inc., 1130 N. Miller St., Anaheim, CA 92806-

2001, U.S.A. Norway Support E-mail: support@zyxel.no Sales E-mail: sales@zyxel.no Telephone: +47-22-80-61-80 Fax: +47-22-80-61-81 Web: www.zyxel.no Regular Mail: ZyXEL Communications A/S, Nils Hansens vei 13, 0667 Oslo, Norway Poland E-mail: info@pl.zyxel.com Telephone: +48-22-333 8250 Fax: +48-22-333 8251 Web: www.pl.zyxel.com Regular Mail: ZyXEL Communications, ul. Okrzei 1A, 03-715 Warszawa, Poland Russia Support: http://zyxel.ru/support Sales E-mail: sales@zyxel.ru Telephone: +7-095-542-89-29 Fax: +7-095-542-89-25 Web: www.zyxel.ru Regular Mail: ZyXEL Russia, Ostrovityanova 37a Str., Moscow 117279, Russia Singapore Support E-mail: support@zyxel.com.sg Sales E-mail: sales@zyxel.com.sg Telephone: +65-6899-6678 Fax: +65-6899-8887 Web: http://www.zyxel.com.sg Regular Mail: ZyXEL Singapore Pte Ltd., No. 2 International Business Park, The Strategy

#03-28, Singapore 609930 Spain Support E-mail: support@zyxel.es Sales E-mail: sales@zyxel.es Telephone: +34-902-195-420 Fax: +34-913-005-345 Web: www.zyxel.es Regular Mail: ZyXEL Communications, Arte, 21 5 planta, 28033 Madrid, Spain 142 NWD271N Users Guide Appendix E Customer Support Sweden Support E-mail: support@zyxel.se Sales E-mail: sales@zyxel.se Telephone: +46-31-744-7700 Fax: +46-31-744-7701 Web: www.zyxel.se Regular Mail: ZyXEL Communications A/S, Sjporten 4, 41764 Gteborg, Sweden Thailand Support E-mail: support@zyxel.co.th Sales E-mail: sales@zyxel.co.th Telephone: +662-831-5315 Fax: +662-831-5395 Web: http://www.zyxel.co.th Regular Mail: ZyXEL Thailand Co., Ltd., 1/1 Moo 2, Ratchaphruk Road, Bangrak-Noi, Muang, Nonthaburi 11000, Thailand. Ukraine Support E-mail: support@ua.zyxel.com Sales E-mail: sales@ua.zyxel.com Telephone: +380-44-247-69-78 Fax: +380-44-494-49-32 Web: www.ua.zyxel.com Regular Mail: ZyXEL Ukraine, 13, Pimonenko Str., Kiev 04050, Ukraine United Kingdom Support E-mail: support@zyxel.co.uk Sales E-mail: sales@zyxel.co.uk Telephone: +44-1344-303044, 08707-555779 (UK only) Fax: +44-1344-303034 Web: www.zyxel.co.uk FTP: ftp.zyxel.co.uk Regular Mail: ZyXEL Communications UK Ltd., 11 The Courtyard, Eastern Road, Bracknell, Berkshire RG12 2XB, United Kingdom (UK) NWD271N Users Guide 143 Appendix E Customer Support 144 NWD271N Users Guide Index Index See CA. certifications 135 notices 137 viewing 137 channel 38, 51, 53, 62, 101 interference 101 configuration method 25 important note 25 Wireless Zero Configuration (WZC) 24, 25 ZyXEL utility 25 configuration status 51 connection status 51 contact information 139 continuous access mode 65 copyright 135 creating a new profile 61 credentials 68 CTS (Clear to Send) 102 current configuration 51 current connection status 51 customer support 139 D data encryption 53 digital ID 40 dimensions 81 disclaimer 135 download 73 driver version 71, 72 dynamic WEP key exchange 107 A About 71 about your ZyXEL Device 22 Access Point (AP) 38 Access point (AP) 38 Access Point. See also AP. ACT LED 22 activating a profile 64 adapter 64 Ad-Hoc 23, 62 Advanced Encryption Standard 40 See AES. advanced settings 64 AES 108 antenna directional 111 gain 111 omni-directional 111 AP 101 See also access point. AP MAC address 51 authentication 51 authentication type 39 auto 40 open system 40 shared key 40 auto authentication 40 automatic connection 53 automatic network scan 31, 59 B Basic Service Set, See BSS 99 BSS 99 E C CA 40, 106 CCMP 40 Certificate Authority NWD271N Users Guide EAP (Extensible Authentication Protocol) 40 EAP Authentication 105 EAP authentication 40 EAP type 67 EAP-PEAP 40 EAP-TLS 40 EAP-TTLS 40 145 Index encryption 108 encryption type 39, 56 environmental specifications 81 ESS 100 Extended Service Set, See ESS 100 F fast power save 65 FCC interference statement 135 fragmentation threshold 102 frequency 38, 82 G getting started 21 H hardware connections 24 help 26 hidden node 101 humidity 81 I IBSS 99 IEEE 802.11g 103 IEEE 802.1x 40, 57, 67 Independent Basic Service Set See IBSS 99 infrastructure 23 Initialization Vector (IV) 108 installation 24 interface 81 Internet access 23 L LEDs 22 lights 22 146 link information 51 LINK LED 22 link quality 52 M manual network connection 31 Message Integrity Check (MIC) 40, 108 N network mode 51 network name 51 network overlap 38 network scan 59 network type 51, 53 O online help 26 P packet collisions 52 Pairwise Master Key (PMK) 108, 110 passphrase 39, 54 password 39 PEAP 67, 68 peer computer 23, 62 physical specifications 81 power saving 65 power saving mode 65 preamble 64 preamble mode 103 product registration 137 product specifications 81 profile 51, 60 activation 64 add new 61 configure 31, 33 default 59 delete 60 edit 60 NWD271N Users Guide information 60 new 60, 61 PSK 108 Q Quick Start Guide 24, 78 R radio interference 78 radio specifications 81, 82 RADIUS 40, 104 message types 105 messages 105 shared secret key 105 real-time data traffic statistics 52 receive rate 51 registration product 137 related documentation 3 RTS (Request To Send) 102 threshold 101, 102 S safety warnings 6 save power 65 scan 53 scan info 62 search 53 security 38, 39, 51, 83 data encryption 39 security settings and Vista 67 sensitivity 81 Service Set Identity (SSID) 31, 38 signal strength 52, 53 site information 53 site survey 53 scan 53 security settings 54 sleep mode 65 SSID 31, 38, 51, 53, 78 statistics 51 syntax conventions 4 system tray 24 Index T temperature 81 Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) 40, 108 The 67 TLS 67, 69 total receive 51 total transmit 51 trademarks 135 transmission rate 51, 60 transmit key 54 transmit rate 51 trend chart 52 TTLS 67 U uninstalling the ZyXEL utility 72 upgrading the ZyXEL utility 73 important step 73 user authentication 39 utility installation 24 utility version 71 V Vista 67, 69 voltage 81 W warranty 137 note 137 weight 81 WEP 39, 54 automatic setup 39 manual setup 39, 55 passphrase 39, 54 WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) 39 WEP Encryption 54 WEP key generation 39 Wi-Fi Protected Access 40, 107 Wi-Fi Protected Setup 50 Windows 67 Windows XP 25 NWD271N Users Guide 147 Index wireless client 38 wireless client WPA supplicants 109 wireless LAN introduction 37 security 39 wireless LAN (WLAN) 37 wireless network 38 wireless security 103 wireless standard 81 wireless station mode adapter 64 security settings 54 site survey 53 trend chart 52 wireless tutorial 28 WLAN interference 101 security parameters 110 WPA 40, 56, 67, 107 key caching 108 pre-authentication 108 user authentication 108 vs WPA-PSK 108 wireless client supplicant 109 with RADIUS application example 109 WPA2 40, 56, 67, 107 user authentication 108 vs WPA2-PSK 108 wireless client supplicant 109 with RADIUS application example 109 WPA2-Pre-Shared Key 40, 107 WPA2-PSK 40, 55, 107, 108 application example 109 WPA-PSK 41, 55, 107, 108 application example 109 WPS see also Wi-Fi Protected Setup 50 WZC activating 120 network connection 123 not available 122 preferred network 131 security setting 127 system tray icon 123 WZC (Wireless Zero Configuration) 25 Z ZyXEL Utility accessing 26 ZyXEL utility 25 accessing 26 148 driver version number 71 exiting 25 help 26 reactivating 25 status 25 system tray icon 24 upgrading 73 version number 71 NWD271N Users Guide