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.
Communication mode
Appendix D
200
Network setup (some models only)
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:
◦
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 WAP. WAPs commonly act as routers or gateways on small
networks.
Security settings
NOTE: For more information on wireless security, visit
www.weca.net/opensection/pdf/
whitepaper_wi-fi_security4-29-03.pdf
.
•
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 and employs 802.1X
authentication with one of the standard Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) types
available today.
◦
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.