ZyXEL Communications ZyXEL G-560 User Manual

ZyXEL G-560 User’s Guide

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Chapter 6 Wireless Screens

WPA or WPA2 applies IEEE 802.1x and Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) to 
authenticate wireless clients using an external RADIUS database. 

A WPA(2)-PSK application looks as follows.

1 First enter identical passwords into the AP and all wireless clients. The Pre-Shared Key 

(PSK) must consist of between 8 and 63 ASCII characters (including spaces and 
symbols).

2 The AP checks each client’s password and (only) allows it to join the network if it 

matches its password.

3 The AP derives and distributes keys to the wireless clients.

4 The AP and wireless clients use the TKIP or AES encryption process to encrypt data 

exchanged between them.

You need the IP address of the RADIUS server, its port number (default is 1812), and the 
RADIUS shared secret. A WPA(2) application example with an external RADIUS server 
looks as follows. “A” is the RADIUS server. “DS” is the distribution system.

1 The AP passes the wireless client’s authentication request to the RADIUS server.

2 The RADIUS server then checks the user's identification against its database and grants 

or denies network access accordingly.

3 The RADIUS server distributes a Pairwise Master Key (PMK) key to the AP that then 

sets up a key hierarchy and management system, using the pair-wise key to dynamically