ZyXEL Communications G-570S User Manual

ZyXEL G-570S User’s Guide

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Chapter 6 Wireless Screens

Figure 44   EAP Authentication

The details below provide a general description of how IEEE 802.1x EAP authentication 
works. For an example list of EAP-MD5 authentication steps, see the IEEE 802.1x appendix. 

1 The wireless station sends a “start” message to the G-570S. 

2 The G-570S sends a “request identity” message to the wireless station for identity 

information.

3 The wireless station replies with identity information, including user name and password. 

4 The RADIUS server checks the user information against its user profile database and 

determines whether or not to authenticate the wireless station.

The AP maps a unique key that is generated with the RADIUS server. This key expires when 
the wireless connection times out, disconnects or reauthentication times out. A new WEP key 
is generated each time reauthentication is performed.

If this feature is enabled, it is not necessary to configure a default WEP encryption key in the 
Wireless screen. You may still configure and store keys here, but they will not be used while 
Dynamic WEP is enabled.

To use Dynamic WEP, enable and configure the RADIUS server and enable Dynamic WEP 
Key Exchange in the WIRELESS Security 802.1x screen. Ensure that the wireless station’s 
EAP type is configured to one of the following: 

• EAP-TLS
• EAP-TTLS
• PEAP

Note: EAP-MD5 cannot be used with Dynamic WEP Key Exchange.

Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) is a subset of the IEEE 802.11i standard. WPA2 (IEEE 
802.11i) is a wireless security standard that defines stronger encryption, authentication and 
key management than WPA.