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User Guide
3Com Outdoor 11a Building to Building Bridge and
11bg Access Point
3CRWEASYA73 / WL-575
www.3Com.com
Part Number 10015232 Rev. AA
Published August, 2006
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3Com Corporation 350 Campus Drive Marlborough, MA 01752-3064 Copyright © 2006 3Com Corporation. All rights reserved. No part of this documentation may be reproduced in any form or by any means or used to make any derivative work (such as translation, transformation, or adaptation) without written permission from 3Com Corporation. 3Com Corporation reserves the right to revise this documentation and to make changes in content from time to time without obligation on the part of 3Com Corporati
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Contents 1 Introduction Product Features 1-1 Radio Characteristics 1-2 APPROVED CHANNELS 1-2 Package Checklist 1-3 Hardware Description 1-4 Integrated High-Gain Antenna 1-4 External Antenna Options 1-4 Ethernet Port 1-5 Power Injector Module 1-5 Grounding Point 1-6 Water Tight Test Point 1-6 Wall- and Pole-Mounting Bracket Kit 1-7 System Configuration 1-7 Operating Modes 1-7 Point-to-Point Configuration 1-8 Point-to-Multipoint Configura
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Using the Pole-Mounting Bracket 3-2 Using the Wall-Mounting Bracket 3-4 Connect External Antennas 3-6 Connect Cables to the Unit 3-7 Connect the Power Injector 3-7 Check the LED Indicators 3-9 Align Antennas 3-10 4 Initial Configuration Networks with a DHCP Server 4-1 Networks without a DHCP Server 4-1 Using the 3Com Installation CD 4-2 Launch the 3COM Wireless Infrastructure Device Manager (Widman) utility 4-2 Launching the 3com Wireless Interface De
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RSSI 5-35 Radio Interface 5-37 802.11a Interface 5-38 Configuring Radio Settings 5-38 Configuring Common Radio Settings 5-39 802.11b/g Interface 5-43 Configuring Wi-Fi Multimedia 5-45 Security 5-50 Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) 5-53 Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) 5-57 6 Command Line Interface Using the Command Line Interface 6-1 Accessing the CLI 6-1 Console Connection 6-1 Telnet Connection 6-2 Entering Commands 6-3 Keywords and Argument
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Straight-Through Wiring B-3 Crossover Wiring B-4 8-Pin DIN Connector Pinout B-5 8-Pin DIN to RJ-45 Cable Wiring B-6 Glossary Index vi
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TERMINOLOGY Access Point—An internet working device that seamlessly connects wired and wireless networks. Ad Hoc—An ad hoc wireless LAN is a group of computers, each with wireless adapters, connected as an independent wireless LAN. Backbone—The core infrastructure of a network. The portion of the network that transports information from one central location to another central location where it is unloaded onto a local system. Base Station—In mobile telecommunications, a base station is the
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RTS Threshold—Transmitters contending for the medium may not be aware of each other (they are “hidden nodes”). The RTS/CTS mechanism can solve this problem. If the packet size is smaller than the preset RTS Threshold size, the RTS/CTS mechanism will not be enabled. VAP—Virtual Access Point. An access point radio capable of operating as four separate access points. VLAN—Virtual Local Area Network. A LAN consisting of groups of hosts that are on physically different segments but that communi
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1 INTRODUCTION The 3Com Outdoor 11a Building to Building Bridge and 11bg Access Point system provides point-to-point or point-to-multipoint bridge links between remote Ethernet LANs, and wireless access point services for clients in the local LAN area. It includes an integrated high-gain antenna for the 802.11a radio and can operate as a “Slave” or “Master” bridge in point-to-multipoint configurations, or provide a high-speed point-to-point wireless link between two sites that can be up to
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Provides access point services for the 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz radios using various external antenna options Maximum data rate up to 108 Mbps on the 802.11a (5 GHz) radio Outdoor weatherproof design IEEE 802.11a and 802.11b/g compliant Local network connection via 10/100 Mbps Ethernet port Powered through its Ethernet cable connection to the power injector module Brackets for wall- or pole-mount options Security through 64/128/152-bit Wired Equivalent Protection (WEP) or 128-bit Advanced E
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PACKAGE CHECKLIST The 3Com Outdoor 11a Building to Building Bridge and 11bg Access Point package includes: One 3Com Outdoor 11a Building to Building Bridge and 11bg Access Point Mounting bracket and hardware One Weatherproof Category 5 network cable One Weatherproof Console to RS232 cable PoE power injector/ Ethernet connector and AC power cord One grounding screw, not attached One Quick Start Guide One CD-ROM containing the Setup Wizard software and User’s Manual One Warranty Flyer O
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HARDWARE DESCRIPTION Bottom Water Tight Test Point (DO NOT REMOVE) Console Port Cap Attachment Console Port with Ethernet/PoE Grounding Protective Cap Connector Point Integrated Antenna Top View N-Type External Antenna N-Type External Antenna Connector (2.4 GHz) Connector (5 GHz) INTEGRATED HIGH-GAIN ANTENNA The WL-575 bridge includes an integrated high-gain (17 dBi) flat-panel antenna for 5 GHz operation. With this antenna, in a direct line-of-sight link using a point-to-point deployment,
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Item Antenna Type Gain (dBi) Horizontal Vertical HPBW* HPBW* 2.4 GHz 5.0 GHz (Degrees) (Degrees) 3CWE591 3Com 6/8 dBi Dual-Band Omni 6 8 360 5GHz: 20 2.4GHz: 30 3Com 18/20 dBi Dual-Band Panel 3CWE596 18 20 18 19 3Com 8/10 dBi Dual-Band Panel 3CWE598 8 10 60 60 * Half-power beam width External antennas connect to the N-type RF connectors on the wireless bridge using the optional RF coaxial cables. Using the external antennas in a point-to-multipoint deployment, the maximum range for bridge li
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network interconnection devices such as a switch or router that provide MDI-X ports. However, when connecting the access point to a workstation or other device that does not have MDI-X ports, you must use crossover twisted-pair cable. AC Power Socket LED Indicator (Hidden) Input Output Ethernet from Local Ethernet and Power Network to Wireless Bridge The wireless bridge does not have a power switch. It is powered on when its Ethernet port is connected to the power injector module, and the p
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WALL- AND POLE-MOUNTING BRACKET KIT The wireless bridge includes a bracket kit that can be used to mount the bridge to a wall, pole, radio mast, or part of a tower structure. SYSTEM CONFIGURATION At each location where a unit is installed, it must be connected to the local network using the power injector module. The following figure illustrates the system component connections. External Antenna RF Coaxial Cable Indoor Outdoor Wireless Bridge Unit LAN Switch Ethernet Cable Ethernet Cable Ligh
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The wireless bridge modes connect two or more wired networks, for example networks in different buildings with no wired connections. You will need a 3Com Outdoor 11a Building to Building Bridge and 11bg Access Point unit on both sides of the connection. The wireless bridge can connect up to six remote networks. When using bridge mode on a radio band, only wireless bridge units can associate to each other. Wireless clients can only associate with the unit using a radio band set to access po
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The following figure shows a point-to-multipoint “in-line” configuration with one bridge set to “Master” and using a directional panel antenna. 19° Beam Angle 1-9
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1-10
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2 BRIDGE LINK PLANNING The 3Com Outdoor 11a Building to Building Bridge and 11bg Access Point supports fixed point-to-point or point-to-multipoint wireless links. A single link between two points can be used to connect a remote site to larger core network. Multiple bridge links can provide a way to connect widespread Ethernet LANs. For each link in a wireless bridge network to be reliable and provide optimum performance, some careful site planning is required. This chapter provides guidance
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DATA RATES Using the 5.0 GHz integrated antenna, two WL-575 bridges can operate over a range of up to 15.4 km (9.6 miles) or provide a high-speed connection of 54 Mbps (108 Mbps in turbo mode). However, the maximum data rate for a link decreases as the operating range increases. A 15.4 km link can only operate up to 6 Mbps, whereas a 108 Mbps connection is limited to a range of 1.3 km. When you are planning each wireless bridge link, take into account the maximum distance and data rates for
