Configuring the Access Point

Once the AirStation Manager connects to the ASAP, you'll have the ASAP's IP address, which you then use to connect to the its web Admin interface.  I've included a few screen shots below so that you can get a feel for the AirStation Manager program and Admin web interface.

(click on an image to open a new window with a full-sized view)

Among the features you can control on the ASAP are:

• Set the AP Name, Group name, ESS-ID (same as "SSID", or "Service Area")

• Set the AP channel (frequency) and bit rate

• Set one ASCII or Hex Encryption key (40 bit encryption only)

• Allow/disallow clients by MAC address

• Setup packet filters

• Set the DTIM Beacon interval to control client power saving.

The ASAP has a theoretical limit of 254 clients (due to Class C subnet limitations), but the practical number of clients will be much lower since they'll be competing for the same bandwidth.

When you click the "Diagnosis" button on the Admin top page, you can also monitor various ASAP and wireless client statistics such as:

• Ethernet and wireless LAN send/receive packet and error counts

• MAC addresses of currently connected wireless clients

• Run a client Ping test

Note that you can't control peer to peer wireless client communication from the ASAP.  That's handled with the Client Manger program on the wireless clients, so let's move on to look at the LAN client cards.