Understand 802.11 wireless network settings
Network name (SSID)
By default, the device looks for the wireless network name or SSID named "hpsetup."
Your network may have a different SSID.
Chapter 10
162
Configure and manage
Communication mode
There are two communication mode options:
•
Ad hoc: On an ad hoc network, the device is set to ad hoc communication mode
and communicates directly with other wireless devices without the use of a WAP.
All devices on the ad hoc network must fulfill the following requirements:
◦
Be 802.11 compatible
◦
Have ad hoc as the communication mode
◦
Have the same network name (SSID)
◦
Be on the same subnet and same channel
◦
Have the same 802.11 security settings
•
Infrastructure (recommended): On an infrastructure network, the device is set to
infrastructure communication mode and communicates with other devices on the
network, whether the devices are wired or wireless, through a wireless access
point, such as a wireless router. Access points commonly act as routers or
gateways on small networks.
Security settings
NOTE: For the available settings for the device, see
Understand the network
configuration page
.
For more information on wireless security, visit
www.wifi.org
.
•
Network authentication: The device's factory default setting is Open, which does
not require security for authorization or encryption. The other possible values are
OpenThenShared
, Shared, and WPA-PSK (Wi-Fi
®
Protected Access Pre-Shared
Key).
WPA increases the level of over-the-air data protection and access control on
existing and future Wi-Fi networks. It addresses all known weaknesses of WEP,
the original native security mechanism in the 802.11 standard.
WPA2 is the second generation of WPA security; it provides enterprise and
consumer Wi-Fi users with a high level of assurance that only authorized users
can access their wireless networks.
•
Data encryption:
◦
Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) provides security by encrypting data sent over
radio waves from one wireless device to another wireless device. Devices on a
WEP-enabled network use WEP keys to encode data. If your network uses
WEP, you must know the WEP key(s) it uses.
◦
WPA uses the Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) for encryption.
◦
WPA2 provides a new encryption scheme, the Advanced Encryption Standard
(AES). AES is defined in counter cipher-block chaining mode (CCM) and
supports the Independent Basic Service Set (IBSS) to enable security between
client workstations operating in ad hoc mode.