In this demonstration we'll cover the process of adding a new wireless network
and a new wireless access point. We'll begin by logging into the XG firewall.
Let's take a look at an example scenario where an administrator may need to setup
a wireless network. In this example an administrator has been asked to setup a
new wireless access point as well as a wireless network allowing for company
staff to wirelessly connect their mobile devices to the company network. Let's
have a look at how to do this on the XG firewall. Next we'll navigate to
Protection > Wireless Protection > Wireless Networks where we can view,
modify, and add new wireless networks. Here we can see two predefined networks,
one for guests, and another for the main wireless network. Let's create a new
wireless network. We'll select Add and we'll give our wireless network a name.
Note that the name isn't the SSID that the users will connect to though, I do
tend to name my wireless networks with my SSID just for simplicity and clarity
sake. Then we'll select SSID, security mode, or in other words encryption. If you
have a radius server configured use Enterprise, otherwise use personal and
enter a passphrase. We can segment our wireless networks onto a separate zone
for added security or we can bridge it to our access point and LAN or VLAN.
Assigning clients to a separate zone will require the axis pointing clients
to have their own IP address range, DHCP server, and firewall rules for traffic to
flow. This is ideal for contractors or guests.
Bridging your LAN offers a simple solution which shares addresses with the
VLAN zone to which the AP is connected, and does not require additional firewall
rules for traffic to flow in between the wired and wireless portions of the
network.
Under the Advanced section we'll be sure to deselect AES under the encryption
option unless we need TK IP for older backwards compatibility. Then we'll go
ahead and select frequency. 5 gigahertz will generally provide us with higher
performance but lower range, while 2.4 gigahertz offers higher range but with
slightly less performance. You can then allow access on a scheduled base or
allow access anytime.
Client isolation will prevent devices on the network from communicating with each
other providing an additional layer of security on guests or public networks. We
can then choose to hide the SSID and enable 802.1, our fast transition of
devices as they move around our network. This is only helpful if we have multiple
access points and mesh setup. You can also filter devices by MAC address. This
is done under Hosts, Services, and Objects. Once everything is filled out we'll go
ahead and click Save. And once this is saved we're ready to start adding access
points. In this case we've connected an AP 55 to our LAN switch. after a few
minutes it'll appear automatically in the control center. Clicking on the
widget takes us to the access point configuration screen which is also
accessible manually through Wireless Protection > Access Points. Here we see
the existing access point on the list as well as the newly added AP100 in the
pending AP list. I can accept it here and complete the configuration. Here we can
give our access point a label, set the country, and assign it to a group if
we're managing multiple access points and want to control wireless network
assignment at a group level. We can then assign the wireless network that we
created earlier to this access point. We can set the radio settings, assign, a
channel, or leave it to auto select at startup. Because dynamic channel
selection can be disruptive we usually recommend that you leave it unchecked
unless absolutely necessary. Lastly we'll go ahead and click Save and
our access point should now be live and broadcasting our SSIDs. In this
demonstration we created a wireless network, we added a new access point, and
we assigned it to the wireless network that we created.