Understanding Wireless Network Profiles
During start up, a wireless client searches for radio signals or beacon frames that originate from the nearest IAP. After locating the IAP, the following transactions take place between the client and the IAP:
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Authentication — The IAP communicates with a RADIUS server to validate or authenticate the client. |
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Connection — After successful authentication, the client establishes a connection with the IAP. |
Network Types
Instant wireless networks are categorized as:
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Employee network — An Employee network is a classic Wi-Fi network. This network type is used by the employees in an organization and it supports passphrase-based or 802.1X based authentication methods. Employees can access the protected data of an enterprise through the employee network after successful authentication. The employee network is selected by default during a network profile configuration. |
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Voice network —This Voice network type allows you to configure a network profile for devices that provide only voice services such as handsets or applications that require voice traffic prioritization. |
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Guest network —The Guest wireless network is created for guests, visitors, contractors, and any non-employee users who use the enterprise Wi-Fi network. The Virtual Controller assigns the IP address for the guest clients. Captive portal or passphrase based authentication methods can be set for this wireless network. Typically, a guest network is an un-encrypted network. However, you can specify the encryption settings when configuring a guest network. |
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When a client is associated to the Voice network, all data traffic is marked and placed into the high priority queue in QoS (Quality of Service).
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To configure a new wireless network profile, complete the following procedures: