home 
wiki
wiki
Spelling: AccessPoint
An Access Point runs BSS [1] to serve clients. They allow the
connection of wireless clients to a wired network.
At its simplest, an Access Point is a box with a connector for a
wired network, and an antenna to transmit and receive a wireless
network. Most APs have capabilities beyond this however. APs are able
to accept connections from between roughly ten to one hundred Client
[2]s simultaneously, depending on the APs specifications, and the
prevailing RFEnvironment [3]
Commercial access points tend to come in two flavours:
* Small, single card boxes, with support for DHCP [4], NAT [5], etc
all you need to access the wireless network at home, but with a limit
of around ten clients
* Larger, double card boxes, designed more for enterprise networks.
These models tend to support SNMP [6] management and up to 50
simultaneous clients.
The Linux [7] HostAP [8] driver allows a wireless Client Card [9] to
emulate an Access Point. This has certain advantages in some
situations as it gives more hardware and software options having an
Access Point inside a PC.
There's also the OpenAP [10] project (and also AirportLinux [11])
that convert a commercial AccessPoint [12] to run Linux, or you can
use a generic PC Unix and configure it [13] appropriately (although at
this stage, it does not actually support BSS [14] mode operation).
Also there is a Windows hack [15] to enable BSS [16] mode for some
hardware.
All access points act as an 802.x Bridge [17], exchanging frames
between the wireless and wired LANs.
Example access points are
* OrinocoSilver [18] based
* AppleAirport [19]
* OrinocoRG1000 [20]
* Eumitcom WL11000SA-N based
* US Robotics (USR 2450)
* SMC 2652W EZconnect Wireless AP
* Addtron AWS-100
* Dlink DWL-900AP [21]
* Dlink DWL-1000AP [22]
* SVEC FD1811a [23]
* Minitar MNWAPB [24]
BSS [25] Mode is also known by the following names:
* Infrastructure Mode [26]
* Access Point Mode [27]
* AP Mode [28]
* Client Mode [29]
* Managed Mode [30]
* Master Mode [31] - see HostApMode [32]
While these names mean different things depending on whether you want
your device to act as a Client [33] or Access Point, they are all
covered by the Basic Service Set [34].
Some newer Access Points can do more modes than the standard Basic
Service Set [35]. Some can act as wireless clients themselves - ie
they can connect as Client [36]s to other APs. They can do Bridging
[37] mode to form a wireless point-to-point [38] or
point-to-multipoint [39] link between two or more segments of a wired
network. Some, specifically the minitar [40] can even emulate IBSS
[41] or Ad-Hoc Mode [42]. Since these modes are not covered by the BSS
[43] these modes sometimes have problems when using APs from different
manufacturers. Rob Clark [44] has done some tests [45] involving the
minitar [46] AP and its various modes.
Links:
------
[1] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?BSS
[2] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?Client
[3] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?RFEnvironment
[4] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?DHCP
[5] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?NAT
[6] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?SNMP
[7] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?Linux
[8] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?HostAP
[9] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?Client
[10] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?OpenAP
[11] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?AirportLinux
[12] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?AccessPoint
[13] http://www.live.com/wireless/unix-base-station.html
[14] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?BSS
[15]
http://forums.netstumbler.com/showthread.php?s=5df34487e355945f16e13add0243854c&threadid=575&perpage=15&highlight=hermes&pagenumber=1
[16] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?BSS
[17] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?Bridge
[18] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?OrinocoSilver
[19] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?AppleAirport
[20] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?OrinocoRG1000
[21] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?DWL-900AP
[22] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?DWL-1000AP
[23] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?SVECWLAP
[24] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?minitar
[25] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?BSS
[26] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?InfrastructureMode
[27] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?AccessPointMode
[28] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?APMode
[29] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?ClientMode
[30] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?ManagedMode
[31] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?MasterMode
[32] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?HostApMode
[33] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?Client
[34] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?BasicServiceSet
[35] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?BasicServiceSet
[36] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?Client
[37] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?Bridge
[38] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?p2p
[39] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?p2mp
[40] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?minitar
[41] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?IBSS
[42] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?AdHocMode
[43] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?BSS
[44] http://www.freenet-antennas.com
[45] http://www.freenet-antennas.com/minitar_mnwapb.htm
[46] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?minitar
[EditText] [Spelling] [Current] [Raw] [Code] [Diff] [Subscribe] [VersionHistory] [Revert] [Delete] [RecentChanges]