Airflow AirSwitch 1211 User guide

System
The AirSwitch 1200
Release 1.0
Manual

DCN: as1200sm-B11
All contents copyright ©2003
by
AirFlow Networks, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Notice
The information contained in this manual is Proprietary and Confidential. No contents of this doc-
ument may be disclosed, reproduced, or distributed without the express written permission of the
copyright holder, AirFlow Networks, Inc.
All reasonable effort was made to ensure that the information contained in this manual was com-
plete and accurate at the time of publication. However, AirFlow Networks, Inc. cannot be held lia-
ble for any errors or omissions. Changes and/or corrections to the information contained in this
document will be published in future versions.
Any changes or modifications to the AirSwitch or AirHubs not expressly approved by AirFlow
Networks, Inc., may void the user’s authority to operate this equipment.
Contact Information
AirFlow Networks, Inc.
455 West Maude Avenue
Sunnyvale, CA 94085
408-524-3100
www.airflownetworks.com
We welcome feedback on this manual: [email protected]
Published by AirFlow Networks, Inc.
Sunnyvale, California

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DCN: as1200sm-B11
Contents
I. Product Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
The AirFlow Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Hardware Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
AirSwitch Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Switch Fans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
AC Power. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
AirHub 100 Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Back Panel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
LED Functions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
System Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Packet Antenna Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Power over Ethernet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Autostart and AutoRestart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Bypass Port. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Wireless Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Seamless Roaming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Access Control List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
WEP Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
CLI Management Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Layer 2 Switching Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Statistical Monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Current Status Monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Configuration Export . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Diagnostic Logging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Public Port . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
FCC Compliance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
II. Planning Your System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Network Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Wireless Network Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Packet Antenna Coverage Cells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Cell Shape. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Cell Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Number of PAs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Powering the PAs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

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Interference Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Exterior Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
FCC Exposure Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Rearranging and Expanding your Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
III. Setting Up Your System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Physical Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Power up the AirSwitch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Connect to the Network Backbone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Connect 10/100 Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Connect a Local Console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Connect to the SVC Port . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
The Initial Configuration Dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Default Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Connecting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Assign Service Port IP Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Set Enable Password . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Define the SSID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Choose Installation Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Configure Internal VLANs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Confirm Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Examples. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Further Initial Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Populate the Access Control List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Create a Telnet User . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Replace the Default System Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Create New VLANs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Designate a Management VLAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Create Additional SSIDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Set up WEP Authentication and Encryption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Save Your Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
IV. Securing Your System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
The Access Control List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Managing the ACL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Adding Entries with the CLI. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Importing Entries into the ACL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Viewing the ACL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
About WEP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
WEP Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Switch Side and Client Side . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
WEP Authentication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

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WEP Encryption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Summary of WEP CLI Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
V. Managing Your System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Using Telnet Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Managing Telnet Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Adding a New Telnet User . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Changing a User’s Password . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Deleting a Telnet User. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Viewing All Telnet Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Managing VLANs, SSIDs, and Interfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Ports and Interfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
VLANs and SSIDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
SSID Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Advertising SSIDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Making Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Changing Your Management Port . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Changing the CLI Enable Password . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Managing Packet Antennas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Changing PA State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Rebooting PAs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Redefining PAs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Preconfiguring PAs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Managing Wireless Clients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Controlling Client Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
The Disassociate and Deauthenticate Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
The ACL Command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Upgrading your System Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Customizing Your Upgrade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Viewing Installed Versions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Trouble shooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
VI. Using the Public Port . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
What is the Public Port? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Using the Public Port . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Public Port Setup Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Visitor Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Port Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Administrative Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Viewing Current Visitor Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

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Configuring the Public Port . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Configure the DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Set up the Public SSID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Define a Public Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Monitoring Public Port Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
VII. Handling System Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Managing Configuration Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Using FTP and TFTP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
FTP Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
TFTP Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Upgrading System Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Updating your Boot Flash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
VIII. Monitoring Your System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Monitoring Client Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Viewing the ASL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Viewing System Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Viewing Statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Viewing Packet Antenna Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Viewing Switch Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Viewing the Entire Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Restarting Statistical Counting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Viewing Interface Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Restarting Interface Statistics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
The System Log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Displaying System Log Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Logging Timestamps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Viewing Log Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Saving System Log Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
IX. Layer 2 Switching Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
VLANs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Viewing VLANs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Internal VLANs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Collapsing Internal VLANs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
User-Defined VLANs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Setting up VLANs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Example. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Configuring STP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Class of Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

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Configuring CoS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Port Mirroring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Configuring Port Mirroring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Packet Storm Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Configuring Storm Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Using the Command Line Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
The CLI Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
About Submodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Navigating through the CLI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Abbreviated Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
CLI Help Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Main Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Enabled Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Configure Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Submode Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
The Group Submode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
The Interface Submode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
The Public Submode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
The System Submode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
The VLAN Submode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
The SHOW Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
SHOW Command Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
The NO Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
NO Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Navigate the CLI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Display Current Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Display Cumulative Statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Change and Redefine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Create and Delete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Do General Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
AirSwitch MAC Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Regulatory Compliance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
US FCC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
AirSwitch 1200 Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
AirHub 100 Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
System File Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
X. Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

AirFlow AirSwitch 1200 •System Manual •Contents
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I. Product Features
This manual provides comprehensive information on installing, configuring and using
the AirFlow AirSwitch 1200 product family, from AirFlow Networks. We start by pro-
viding a high-level description of product features, including:
• an overview of the AirFlow distributed AP architecture;
• a description of AirSwitch and AirHub hardware (page
10); and
• a summary of the AirFlow system’s main features (page
13).
Details on configuring and using all features are provided in later chapters of this
manual, as indicated by cross-references.
The AirFlow
Architecture The AirFlow AirSwitch provides your enterprise with 802.11b wireless LAN connec-
tivity similar to that of standard Access Point (AP) products available on the market
today. There is, however, one critical difference that sets it apart: the AirFlow dis-
tributed architecture. Whereas ordinary APs integrate radio and security protocols
in a single unit, the AirFlow AP distributes this intelligence across a central Air-
Switch connected by Ethernet cables to multiple packet antennas called AirHubs. In
802.11 terms, the individual AirHubs are not APs; rather, the whole coverage area of
all AirHubs constitutes a single AP, through which wireless clients can roam seam-
lessly without needing to reauthenticate and reassociate.
Because each of these packet antennas creates a coverage area for wireless clients,
they combine to cover a significantly larger area than a standard AP does. Because
the AP consists of many overlapping coverage areas, wireless clients can roam
among them while the switch monitors signal quality and hands the network connec-
tion over from one AirHub to another as the client moves. Because these handovers
are completely transparent, mobile users enjoy a wider mobile coverage area than
would be possible with standard APs.
Because AirHubs can be more closely spaced than standard APs, clients can be
closer on average to an AirHub than they would be to a standard AP, which means
faster data rates, higher throughput, and longer battery life. In this situation, wire-
less clients can be connected to more than one AirHub at the same time, which
eliminates the single point of failure characteristic of ordinary APs. And because
AirHubs connect to existing Ethernet lines and offer plug-and-play autoconfigura-

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tion, they offer unparalleled flexibility in expanding or reshaping your wireless LAN
whenever the need arises.
Hardware
Description This section provides a description of the hardware features of the AirSwitch and
the AirHubs.
AirSwitch
Hardware Figure 1-1, below, shows the front panel of the AirSwitch 1211. The numbered call-
outs in the figure refer to the following text description.
1. Reset Button: This can be used to force a reboot of the AirSwitch, to original
factory defaults.
2. Serial Port: Used to connect a serial console for management purposes.
3. LED legend: Explains the meanings of the four LAN port status LEDs (see #7
below).
4. Switch Power LED: Will light steady green when switch system power is on,
not lit when system power is off.
5. System Status LED: Will light steady amber during bootup and POST, and
steady green when switch system has finished bootup and POST and is running
normally. Not lit while system is booting up or is not running for any reason.
6. Service ETH Port: Used to connect to a local console for management and
diagnostic purposes.
7. LAN Port Status LEDs: Display the status of the LAN ports. These LEDs are
arranged in a grid with each column representing one LAN port. There are four
LED indicators per each port; their meaning is shown in the illustration below.
10/100 SVC10/100 SVC
SERIALSERIAL
121211111010998877
665544332211
PowerPower
StatusStatus
UPLINK 1UPLINK 1 PUBLICPUBLIC UPLINK 2UPLINK 2
A IR S WITCH 1211
11
22121211111010998877665544332211
LinkLink## ActivityActivity
AirScout PresentAirScout Present
Power-over-Ethernet OnPower-over-Ethernet On
(2) Serial Port
(4) Switch Power LED
(5) Switch Status LED
(6) Service ETH port
(3) LED Legend
(7) LAN Port Status LEDs
(8) LAN Ports (FE1-FE12)
(10) 10/100/1000 ETH Uplink Ports (GE1 & GE2)
(9) 10/100/1000 Uplink
(1) Reset
Button
Figure 1-1: AirSwitch, Front Panel Features
Port Status LEDs
(11) Public Port

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8. LAN Ports: Used to connect CAT-5 cables to network entities such as packet
antennas, PCs, hubs, switches, 3rd-party access points, etc.
9. Gb Uplink Port Status LEDs: Display the status of the Gb uplink ports. These
work just like the top two LAN port LEDs: port number lights green if link is up
on the port, not lit if link is down; rectangular LED rapidly flashes green when
data traffic is passing on this link, and is not lit when there is no data traffic.
10. Gb Uplink Ports: Used to connect the 10/100/1000 line uplink to the backbone
router.
11. Reserved Port: This port is reserved for a future release feature.
Switch Fans
The switch chassis is cooled by a set of five DC fan units that vent the chassis from
the left side to the right. The fans run at half speed at temperatures below 35° C.,
and at full speed from 35° to 50° C. When the temperature rises above 50°, an
immediate power shutdown will occur, turning off the entire switch, including the
fans, and protecting the components from overheating.
AC Power
The power cord on the back of the AirSwitch connects to the power supply unit,
which has an integrated On/Off switch that controls all power for the system. The
power supply also has an integrated fuse unit.
123 Port no. green = Link is up on port 3;
not lit = Link is down
Flashes green = data traffic on this link;
not lit = no traffic on this link
Lights green = packet antenna connected;
not lit = no packet antenna connected
Lights green = Power-over-Ethernet is on;
not lit = PoE is off
Column shows
status of Port 3

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AirHub 100
Hardware The AirHubs, by design, are relatively simple devices with very few features. Figure
1-2 and Figure 1-3, below, represent the AirHub back panel and LEDs. The numbered
callouts in the figure refer to the text description of all features.
Back Panel
1. Downlink Bypass Port: This port is available for plugging in a desktop PC or
other network device, if convenient. All traffic to and from this device will be
passed through the AirHub without any processing, and with no effect on the
performance of either the AirHub or the second device.
2. Uplink ETH Port: This is the connection to the LAN wall jack, using a standard
Ethernet cable.
3. Local AC Power: If you are not using PoE, you can plug in the local AC con-
verter in here. If you are using PoE for this AirHub, the local power port will
be disabled.
Note: You must never use any AC converter other than the one supplied by AirFlow
Networks. Using an unapproved adaptor is likely to cause irreparable damage to the
AirHub.
LED Functions
1. Bypass Port Traffic: Lights solid green when the AirHub detects a normal link
to a wired PC, through the Bypass Port.
2. Radio Transmit Traffic: Blinks rapidly green when the AirHub is sending RF
traffic out across the wireless link.
3. AirHub Status:
• Solid red: power on, awaiting download of firmware
from AirSwitch
• Blinking red: has not received firmware within normal
time-out interval
Figure 1-2: AirHub 100, Back Panel
(1) Downlink Bypass Port
(2) Uplink ETH Port
(3) Local AC Power

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• Solid amber: download and self-test in progress
• Solid green: download and self-test successful, AirHub in
normal operation.
System
Features The features listed below have been implemented in the 1.0 release of the AirSwitch
1200.
Packet Antenna
Support The current version can support one or multiple AirHubs at each of its twelve 10/100
Ethernet ports. Multiple AirHubs can be connected to a single port by using an exter-
nal third-party switch or LAN hub. A switch is preferable, as it reduces the extrane-
ous data traffic on each packet antenna.
Power over Ethernet
AirHubs receive power over Ethernet from the AirSwitch. PoE is always available on
all ports, but is device-sensitive, and will only be sent if the AirSwitch detects a con-
nection to a device, such as an AirHub or a VoIP phoneset, that requires it. PoE will
not be sent to ordinary network devices like PCs or printers.
If you set up an intermediate hub or switch between the AirSwitch and one or more
packet antennas, the PoE will terminate at this hub or switch, and will not be avail-
able for any packet antennas downlink from it. For this reason, each AirHub is
equipped with a power converter for plugging into a local AC power supply, as an
alternative to PoE.
(4) Bypass Port Traffic (6) AirHub Status(5) Radio Traffic
Figure 1-3: AIrHub 100, LED Functions

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Note: You should never use a third-party PoE power injector to send power to an
AirHub.
Autostart and AutoRestart
Starting up individual AirHubs requires no action from the system administrator. As
soon as the switch is booted up, it detects all connected packet antennas, sends
them all required configuration parameters, and places them in Active mode.
From this point on, the switch continuously monitors the status of all attached
AirHubs through a heartbeat mechanism. If it detects that a packet antenna has
stopped running for any reason, it will automatically resend configuration settings
and restart the AirHub.
Bypass Port
Each AirHub has a bypass port that lets you plug it into an Ethernet jack that is
already in use by another device. For example, if you need to install an AirHub in a
room with only one jack that is already in use by a desktop PC, simply unplug the
PC, plug in the AirHub, and plug the PC back into the AirHub’s bypass port. The PC’s
traffic will then pass normally back to the network with no effect on performance,
of either the PC or the AirHub.
Wireless
Performance The current version has been satisfactorily tested with a wide variety of wireless
devices, client cards, and card drivers. Coverage range is comparable to currently
available 802.11b AP products; although it will vary according to your facility’s
topology, operation should be reliable at a range of 50 to 100 meters. All four stan-
dard data rates—1, 2, 5.5, and 11 Mbps—are supported.
Many RF attributes of the AirHubs, such as channel, transmit power, data rate, bea-
con interval, and so on, are configurable, though not individually. That is, changes
to any packet antenna’s operational settings will apply to all PAs currently con-
nected to the AirSwitch.
Seamless
Roaming The AirSwitch supports seamless roaming from one active packet antenna to
another, based on data transfer quality. When a device moves from one coverage
area toward another, the switch detects that the wireless connection is degrading in
the first area and improving in the second and hands the connection over to the new
PA before the performance drop becomes noticeable to the user. Again, because all
coverage areas are part of the same distributed access point, this does not involve
disassociation from and reassociation to the network, making the handover com-
pletely transparent to the user.
Access Control
List Before any client devices can associate with the AirSwitch, they must be added to
the Access Control List. This mechanism provides basic security, guarding against
wireless devices in the coverage area casually attaching to the wireless network.
However, because this is a relatively low level of security that can be bypassed by a
knowledgeable hacker, additional security mechanisms should be installed on the
network.

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For a more reliable security solution, AirFlow currently recommends using the Air-
Switch in combination with a layered security regimen incorporating technologies
such as 802.1x and IPSec.
Individual entries to the ACL can be added one at a time through the CLI. Existing
lists can be imported from an Excel spreadsheet, for convenience and accuracy. For
details, see “Importing Entries into the ACL” on page 35.
WEP Security The AirSwitch supports standard 40-bit and 128-bit WEP encryption and authentica-
tion, for additional security.
CLI
Management
Interface
You can view and change your AirSwitch’s configuration settings through an industry-
standard Command Line Interface (CLI) on a locally connected console, or remotely
via telnet connection. The CLI commands currently enabled are described in detail
in Appendix A, "CLI Reference".
Layer 2
Switching
Features
The AirSwitch supports the following standard Layer 2 features:
• Port-based VLANs
• Class of Service levels
• Port Mirroring
•PacketStormControl
• Spanning Tree Protocol
Details on these features are provided in Chapter IX, "Layer 2 Switching Features".
Statistical
Monitoring This release provides a set of statistical counters, which can be viewed via the CLI.
These include statistics for individual packet antennas level, individual ports or
interfaces, and the switch as a whole.
The statistical monitoring feature is used through the SHOW STATISTICS CLI com-
mand, as described in Table A-1 on page 122. All counters can be manually reset as
desired. The following statistics are available in this release:
Packet antenna-level statistics:
•PAuptime
• Number of client devices associated
• Number of data frames sent
• Number of data frames received
• Number of retransmits
• Number of CRC errors received
• Number of failed packets
• Number of ACK failures
Interface-level statistics:

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• Number of inbound octets, unicast packets, and non-uni-
cast packets received
• Number of outbound octets, unicast packets, and non-
unicast packets received
Switch-level statistics:
• Number of beacons sent
• Number of authentication requests received
• Number of authentication requests rejected
•Numberofassociation requests received
• Number of association requests rejected
Current Status
Monitoring In addition to the statistics listed above, y ou can use the CLI to display:
• The current Access Control List
• A list of all currently attached wireless devices
• A list of all currently operating packet antennas, and
their status
• Status of all interfaces
• The current settings for all available switch configura-
tion parameters
• Current contents of system log in NVRAM
Configuration
Export You can save and reload multiple switch configurations, in addition to the factory
default and the currently running configurations. For details on using this feature,
see “Managing Configuration Files” on page 65.
Diagnostic
Logging To aid in toubleshooting, the AirSwitch can generate a diagnostic log of recent
switch events and software component statuses, which can be sent to AirFlow tech-
nical support engineers to help them analyze and solve potential problems. You can
generate these logs with the SHOW TECH command (see “Trouble shooting” on
page 56.).
Public Port This is a special feature that allows visitors to your enterprise to attach to and use
the wireless network, through a Gb uplink connection that is completely isolated
from the backbone network. Because this port bypasses the network’s firewall and
the AirSwitch’s standard VPN termination, visiting users connect directly to the
Internet, and have no access to any of your network resources. Because this port is
password protected, it lets you provide your visitors with the benefit of simple wire-
less access from inside your enterprise, on a selective and controlled basis. For
details, see “Using the Public Port” on page 57.

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FCC
Compliance The AirSwitch 1200 has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class A
digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules and ICES 003. These limits are
designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference when the
equipment is operated in a commercial environment. This equipment generates,
uses, and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accor-
dance with the instruction manual, may cause harmful interference to radio commu-
nications. Operation of this equipment in a residential area is likely to cause harmful
interference in which case the user will be required to correct the interference at
his own expense.
Any changes or modifications to the AirSwitch or AirHubs not expressly approved by
AirFlow Networks, Inc., may void the user’s authority to operate this equipment.

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II. Planning Your System
Network
Architecture Typically, the AirSwitch 1200 should be installed in your network at the network
edge, as an edge switch would be. All AirHubs are connected only to the AirSwitch’s
10/100 ports (either directly or through an intermediate hub or switch), rather than
to any other devices downstream from the AirSwitch. Desktop PCs or other Ethernet
devices may be connected to the AirSwitch as well. Figure 2-1 illustrates a typical
deployment.
The defining aspect of this design is that all AirFlow Transport Protocol (ATP) traffic
between the AirHubs and the AirSwitch passes only through the downlink Ethernet
Figure 2-1: Typical AirSwitch Network Architecture

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ports—that is, it terminates at the AirSwitch, and never passes out the uplink Gb
port.
Wireless
Network
Planning
One of the benefits of the AirFlow distributed architecture is that it can be deployed
in a large enterpise with very little detailed site planning or technically complex RF
surveys. This is so because PAs are relatively inexpensive, and can be distributed
with large degrees of overlapping coverage, without concern about interference or
maximizing coverage. Moreover, since packet antennas simply plug into existing
Ethernet cables and can easily be moved later, there is less concern that they be
placed in exactly the optimum location during your initial installation.
Nevertheless, there are a few considerations you should make before you begin your
installation. These are discussed in this section.
Packet Antenna
Coverage Cells It is helpful to think of your WLAN like a miniature cell phone network, consisting of
overlapping coverage cells. Stationary wireless devices will usually be covered by
more than one cell, but will connect to the network through whichever PA is closest
and so provides the best data throughput. Moving devices will transparently roam
from one cell to another, just as your cell phone does if you use it while you drive.
Cell Shape
For planning purposes these cells may be thought of as basically circular, though
technically they are irregularly shaped due to interference from objects in the envi-
ronment and from other radio signals and noise. Because the radio coverage extends
in three dimensions, the cells actually are spherical, and in a multi-floor building
will usually extend to the floors above and below. In a multi-floor enterprise this
may represent a benefit; if your enterprise only occupies one floor, this overlap is
not a problem since AirFlow’s multi-level security mechanisms will prevent any
unauthorized use of the WLAN.
Cell Size
As with standard 802.11 access points, the wireless coverage of the AirHub 100 is
influenced by environmental barriers such as walls, structural supports, elevator
banks and so on. In all cases, the coverage radius will be wider in an open space,
and will be reduced in more closed spaces. In general, the coverage of a packet
antenna is comparable to that of a standard 802.11b access point.
Number of PAs The standard system starts with one AirSwitch and four PAs. If these are not ade-
quate to cover your enterprise, simply install more PAs, which can be purchased
separately.
Technically, each AirSwitch 1200 can support up to 60 PAs. This limitation is prima-
rily driven by processor performance and memory requirements on the system. In
future versions, new limits will be provided as the system designs expand. You have
the option of connecting each packet antenna either directly to a port on the switch