Simple Wireless Setup -I need Pointers-

[mrashby]

All,

I have an established LAN. Well management wants to test throwing wireless in the mix. We are an all Cisco shop so I figure that should be a plus. Can anyone tell me the basic equipment I would need to make a simple wireless domain. I don't need anything big just something to test in our environment. One more question does the Aironet equipment use the regular cisco IOS? Thanks.

[thisisshanky]

You will need to decide a few things before moving to wireless,

a. require 802.11 a, b or g coverage

b. what level of security you will need to protect wired segment from wireless segment as well as within the wireless segment.

c. Perform a site survey of the location to determine the number of access-points and antennas required. This will also help you to determine any interference due to neighboring tenants wireless network or other telecommunication equipment used in your facility.

You can either use 1100s (fixed antenna) or the 1200s with external antennas (separate cost). I will suggest going with 802.11g APs (say 1200s) as the pricing on both b and g APs from Cisco are the same. Drawbacks with 802.11g is that, because it is backwards compatible with 802.11b, when a b client associates with a g access points the bandwidth available to all the clients (whether b or g) will be tied down to 11 mbps or less.

Aironet does not run regular Cisco IOS though its Operating system is also called as IOS (as the CLI is router IOS like)

[dixho]

Aironet does not run regular Cisco IOS though its Operating system is also called as IOS (as the CLI is router IOS like)

Answer: All new Aironet product runs IOS now.

To add the list, you need to find out if you want to use WDS, which enhance your wireless network. You may need a radius server.

[mrashby]

Okay,

Well I have a TACACS server running, can I use that? So if I buy a wireless access point and connect it into my network wia a switch and set the authentication to run through my TACACS, that should put me on the starting path or is it more to it. Also I am not sure about what WDS is.

[dixho]

You can use the TACACS server for authentication telnet or http session to the AP. In order to authentication wireless users, you have to use a radius server.