EXS 5001 Wireless NODE User manual

eXS 5001 Wireless NODE
Version A
Technician Manual
Revision A.2.1
November, 2005
®

eXS 5001A Tech Manual
2
Contents
CONTENTS ................................................................................ 2
WEB CONFIGURATION MANAGER APPLICATION ...................... 5
Top ............................................................................................................... 7
Status........................................................................................................... 7
Log ............................................................................................................... 8
Setup............................................................................................................ 9
Web Configuration Manager Setup Feature...................................................... 10
IP Addresses and General Network Setup ....................................................... 10
Wireless Access........................................................................................... 13
Wi_Fi Protected Access (WPA-PSK) ................................................................ 15
MAC Address Authentication ......................................................................... 15
Channel Setup ............................................................................................ 17
Committing Your Changes ............................................................................ 18
Advanced.....................................................................................................18
Wireless Setting for the Access Point.............................................................. 19
Wireless Setting for the Mesh Network ........................................................... 19
Network Settings for the NODE ..................................................................... 20
Network Settings for the Ethernet port ........................................................... 21
WDS.......................................................................................................... 23
Traffic control: ............................................................................................ 24
Backup ........................................................................................................25
Restore........................................................................................................26
Restoring from Factory Defaults .................................................................... 27
Restoring from Last Committed Changes ........................................................ 28
Restoring from a Local File............................................................................ 28
Software Update..........................................................................................31
Using the Update Feature ............................................................................. 31
Uploading via Web Browser .......................................................................... 32
Downloading via the http or ftp Protocol ......................................................... 33
Troubleshooting the Software Update Process.................................................. 34
Reboot.........................................................................................................34
MULTI-LAYERED MESH NETWORK .......................................... 35

eXS 5001A Tech Manual
3
COPYRIGHT INFORMATION .................................................... 36
LIMITED WARRANTY .............................................................. 36
APPENDIX: RADIO CHARACTERISTICS ................................... 40
Transmit Output Power................................................................................40
Maximum Output Power Settings, United States ..........................................41
Receiver Sensitivity .....................................................................................42
APPENDIX: USER INFORMATION............................................ 43
Professional Installation..............................................................................43
Operation ....................................................................................................43
Interference ................................................................................................43
Radiation Exposure......................................................................................44
APPENDIX: FCC RULES ........................................................... 45
Part 15.203: Antenna Requirement................................................................ 45
Part 15.407: Technical Requirements (UNII) ................................................... 45
Part 15.407: RF Transmission Auto-control ..................................................... 46

eXS 5001A Tech Manual
4
Introduction
The eXS®5001 Wireless NODE is a dual-radio device that enable the network
operator to deploy a wireless network, eXS ZONE™, without laying any data
cables. The eXS NODE™ is designed to:
1. Mesh with other NODEs using the IEEE 802.11a radio
2. Service clients over the Ethernet port and the wireless access port
(IEEE 802.11g radio)
3. The traffic is routed to the eXS NODE™ that is connected to the
backhaul, otherwise known as the gateway.
The NODE is a layer-3 router that can be configured as a Repeater or as a
Gateway. In the Repeater configuration the DHCP server internal to the
NODE will service BOTH the LAN port and the wireless 802.11g access.
The NODE supports the installation of client devices like a SIP phones over
the LAN interface.
The Gateway mode will configure the LAN interface to act as a WAN port to
enable the unit to interface to the existing campus/corporate LAN or to the
available backhaul. The port in this configuration can be configured to act as
a DHCP CLIENT or with STATIC IP information.
The setup of the 802.11b/g access is performed through the “setup” tab
while the mesh network configuration is done through the “Advanced” tab. It
is important to remember to configure the mesh network after configuring
the access.
Notation: Prompts and dialog scripts are shown in normal type. Technician
typed inputs and names of tabs are shown in italics.
This manual follows industry practice of referring to this professional person
as the “User”. In this manual “User” does not mean the consumer, network
subscriber or end user.
Professional installation: This system must be professionally configured,
installed and maintained. The person configuring the NODEs must be
knowledgeable in the radio and safety regulations for the country and
location where this system will be installed, and is responsible for making the
installation comply with those safety and radio regulations.
The NODE can be used with ANY brand and type of power over Ethernet
(PoE) that is an approved power source for the installation location.
The professional planning the installation shall be responsible for ensuring
that the proper antenna is employed so that the radio and safety
requirements for that location are met.
In the USA, the PoE and antenna have to be the units tested for Certification,
which are on the eXS Price List.

eXS 5001A Tech Manual
5
Web Configuration Manager Application
The eXS 5001 Wireless NODE is configured using a web browser such as
Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape, from any wired or wireless station
on the local area network.
Using the https protocol, enter
https://<single_board_computer_IP_address> as the location.
The default address is: https://192.168.100.1
At which point you will be see the security alert below
Figure 1
Click the Yes button to access the NODE. You will be prompted then to type
your username and password.

eXS 5001A Tech Manual
6
Figure 2
The defaults are:
Username: admin
Password: admin
When you enter the password, asterisks are displayed
When you have been authenticated to access the web configuration manager
application, the Top page is displayed as shown in Figure 3.
Warning: there are web sites on the Internet that contain factory passwords
for thousands of products. Be sure to set a unique Username and Password
for each major network. It is good practice to change these whenever there
is a change in personnel.

eXS 5001A Tech Manual
7
Figure 3
Top
The Top page is the first page displayed by the web configuration manager
application as shown in above.
The web configuration application's main menu is a collection of tabs in the
upper left side of the page. The Top page displays the values of various
pieces of information in the center of the page, such as the host name and
the current mode of operation. Additionally, the Top page provides a way to
change the admin user password.
The values displayed on the Top page are from the NODE configuration data
stored the last time the configuration was saved. When the NODE is first
booted, the data on the Top page reflects the values of the configuration data
under which the unit is currently operating. For example, in the previous
figure showing a sample Top page, the current mode of operation is a
Gateway.
Status
The Status main menu item displays a brief overview of the overall system as
shown in the Figure 4. The values displayed on the Status page are from the
saved configuration data. When the single board computer is first booted, the
data on the Status page reflects the values of the configuration data under

eXS 5001A Tech Manual
8
which the NODE is currently operating.
Figure 4
Log
The Log main menu item displays the System Log file. You can click on the
System Details button which results in displaying the output of various
system commands to provide a more detailed summary of the overall
system.
The Current System Time in the NODE will reset itself at every power up
cycle to 1 January 2000 at 00:00:00 hours.

eXS 5001A Tech Manual
9
Figure 5
Setup
The Setup main menu item is for setting the mode of operation for the
NODE. Two operating modes are available through the pull down menu
gateway and Repeater as shown in the following figure.

eXS 5001A Tech Manual
10
Figure 6
As mentioned before, the majority of NODEs are configured as Repeaters.
Web Configuration Manager Setup Feature
To select a mode of operation, open the pull-down menu and choose a mode
by highlighting the mode and clicking on it. The mode you selected will be
displayed in the field.
The NODE Identifier should be a unique number on the mesh network to help
identify the unit.
The NODE is shipped configured as a Repeater. This configuration is the most
common for a mesh NODE. The following subsections will show what web
pages are displayed to configure the NODE for a repeater mode of operation.
IP Addresses and General Network Setup
In the repeater mode the wireless Access and the LAN port are serviced by a
DHCP server. The next few screens cover the configuration of the network
parameters for these two interfaces.
As shown in the figure below, the first screen is to configure the IP address
and netmask of the NODE, that is the address used to access the NODE when
connect through the Wireless Access port or the wired LAN Access port.

eXS 5001A Tech Manual
11
Figure 7
The following screen, will ask you to enter the DNS server IP addresses.

eXS 5001A Tech Manual
12
Figure 8
Once those parameters are configured the next screen allows the user to
configure the DHCP server details such as the IP range and lease time
duration.

eXS 5001A Tech Manual
13
Figure 9
Wireless Access
The following steps would be to configure the wireless access features on the
NODE the available options would be to configure the ESSID and the wireless
security.
Enter the desired SSID. The SSID is case sensitive.
The SSID on the Access side is visible to client software that scans for
available wireless networks, unless that broadcast ID feature is disabled (see
below).

eXS 5001A Tech Manual
14
Figure 10
The first security feature is choosing an encryption type. The NODE supports
the security defined by the IEEE 802.11 standards for use between clients
and an Access Point.
If you want to enable WEP, select one of the WEP buttons which indicate the
size of the WEP key, such as WEP128 for 128_bit WEP keys. If you do not
want to enable WEP, select the None button.
The next security feature is whether you want to hide the SSID in beacon
frames. If this feature is enabled, the SSID field of beacon frames will be
empty. This feature helps to prevent associations from stations that do not
know the NODE’s Access SSID, default (EXS_AP_DEFAULT). We recommend
hiding the SSID beacon.
The last security feature is whether you want to discard broadcast SSID
probe requests. If this feature is enabled, the NODE will not send responses
to "broadcast SSID" probe request frames. This feature also helps to prevent
associations from stations that do not know the AP's SSID. We recommend
discarding probe requests.
When you have selected which wireless security features you want to
enable/disable, click the Next button to proceed to the next setup page.

eXS 5001A Tech Manual
15
Figure 11
Wi_Fi Protected Access (WPA-PSK)
If you chose to enable Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) instead of WEP, a setup
page for entering the WPA Pre-Shared Key (PSK) is displayed as shown in the
following example. Enter the WPA Pre-Shared Key. It should be at least 20
characters long. When you have entered the key, click the Next button to
continue.
MAC Address Authentication
This part of the setup is for MAC address authentication. You can further
restrict which stations are allowed to join the wireless LAN via MAC address
authentication.
When an access point receives an authentication request, it will check its
Access Control List (ACL) for the client MAC address. Depending on the
authentication mode, the client request will be accepted or denied.
The following figure is the page for configuring the MAC address
authentication.

eXS 5001A Tech Manual
16
Figure 12
To configure MAC address authentication, select from one of the following
MAC address authentication modes:
• allow all _ authentication requests are accepted by any MAC address. The
access control list is ignored.
• allow only those MACs in the access list _ by choosing this mode, the
access point will process authentication requests from only those MAC
addresses in the access control list. Authentication requests from any MAC
address not in the access control list are ignored.
• deny only those MACs in the access list _ by choosing this mode, the
access point will deny authentication requests from MAC addresses in the
access control list. Authentication requests from any MAC address NOT in the
access control list are processed.
• deny all _ all authentication requests are denied. The access control list is
ignored.
Next, build an access control if you selected a mode other than allow all or
deny all. To build the access control list, enter a MAC address in the MAC
address field and click on the Add MAC to Access Control List button (refer to
the previous figure).

eXS 5001A Tech Manual
17
The format of the MAC address is a six hexadecimal byte address separated
by colons (e.g. 01:02:03:04:05:06). Continue doing this for each MAC
address you wish to add to the access control list. When you have finished
with MAC address authentication, click the Next button to continue with the
setup
Channel Setup
Following the setup for Repeater capability is the channel setup. The
following figure shows the setup page for selecting the channel in which the
wireless LAN device should operate. The channel selection is a drop down
menu, and only one channel may be selected as shown in the next figure.
Click the Next button to proceed to the next setup page.
In many countries the preferred channels are 1, 6 & 11.
So many consumer devices come from the factory with channel 6 as the
default that it is better to use channels 1 and 11 where possible.
Figure 13

eXS 5001A Tech Manual
18
Committing Your Changes
After the setup is completed, the page to permanently commit your changes
is displayed as shown below. To permanently commit your changes, click the
Commit Changes button.
A reboot will occur so the NODE will boot and initialize using your new
values. You will need to wait a minute or so until after the NODE has
completely rebooted. Once the reboot sequence has completed, you may
access the web configuration again by clicking the Go to Top button as shown
in the next figure.
Figure 14
Advanced
The Advanced main menu item provides access to all of the NODE
configuration variables. This tab does not contain the configuration wizard of
the setup tab, so changes to one field will not result in auto-configuration of
the others, i.e. when changing the mode of operation from Repeater to

eXS 5001A Tech Manual
19
Gateway, the LAN port will not be configured automatically for you.
Understanding such relationships is necessary when using the Advanced
features in order for the NODE to function properly the next time it's
rebooted.
Figure 15
Wireless Setting for the Access Point
In this tab the user can configure the Access Point features in the NODE.
The Wireless Access (SSID, rates); Radio specifications (channel assignment,
power levels) and wireless security (WEP 64&128 & WPA-PSK, Broadcast
ESSID and MAC address authentication) are set.
Wireless Setting for the Mesh Network
In this tab the user can configure the Mesh Network features in the NODE.
The Mesh (SSID, rates); Radio specifications (channel assignment, power
levels) and wireless security (WEP 64&128 & WPA-PSK, Broadcast ESSID and
MAC address authentication) are set.

eXS 5001A Tech Manual
20
Figure 16
Network Settings for the NODE
In this tab the user can configure the DNS & DHCP parameters for the NODE.