ZyXEL Communications 802.11g Wireless Access Point ZyXEL G-560 - Manual (Page 72)

ZyXEL G-560 User’s Guide
72 Chapter 6 Wireless Screens
6.11.2 User Authentication
WPA or WPA2 applies IEEE 802.1x and Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) to
authenticate wireless clients using an external RADIUS database.
6.12 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 (including spaces and
symbols).
2 The AP checks each client’s password and (only) allows it to join the network if it
matches its password.
3 The AP derives and distributes keys to the wireless clients.
4 The AP and wireless clients use the TKIP or AES encryption process to encrypt data
exchanged between them.
Figure 39 WPA(2)-PSK Authentication
6.13 WPA(2) with RADIUS Application Example
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
or denies network access accordingly.
3 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 pair-wise key to dynamically