Deploying a wireless lan

C H A P T E R

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Deploying a Wireless LAN
Wireless connectivity offers users a high degree of mobility and provides another networking option when traditional wired networks are impractical. The Microsoft® Windows® Server 2003 operating system provides the networking services needed to deploy a secure and manageable wireless local area network (WLAN) infrastructure within an enterpriseenvironment. The deployment of WLANs — the primary wireless networking support for an enterprise environment provided by Windows Server 2003 and the Microsoft® Windows® XP operating system — is detailed in this chapter.

In This Chapter
Overview of Deploying a Wireless LAN.......................................................................................... 558 Adapting the NetworkInfrastructure for a WLAN ........................................................................ 561 Designing a Wireless Network Access Solution .......................................................................... 568 Implementing a WLAN Test Environment ..................................................................................... 584 Additional Resources..................................................................................................................... 598

Related Information
• For more information about the Internet Authentication Service (IAS), see “Deploying IAS” in this book and the Networking Guide of the Microsoft® Windows® Server 2003 Resource Kit (or see the Networking Guide on the Web at http://www.microsoft.com/reskit). For information aboutdesigning a certificate infrastructure, see “Designing a Public Key Infrastructure” in Designing and Deploying Directory and Security Services of this kit. For more information about implementing the Active Directory® directory service, see “Designing and Deploying Directory Services” in Designing and Deploying Directory and Security Services.

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558 Chapter 11 Deploying a Wireless LAN

Overviewof Deploying a Wireless LAN
To provide authorization and authentication, automatic IP address assignment, and name resolution for wireless users, your networking infrastructure should include the following services: • • • • • Active Directory directory service Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service (RADIUS) servers and proxies A certificate infrastructure, also known as a public keyinfrastructure (PKI) Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) services Domain Name System (DNS) services

These services together provide the security, availability, and scalability needed for an enterprise WLAN solution. Before you begin designing and deploying an enterprise WLAN, all of the supporting components and services in your networking infrastructure should be in place. All of the componentsrequired for an enterprise WLAN solution are included with Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP. Windows Server 2003 includes DHCP, DNS, and Certificate Services, and support for RADIUS (through the Internet Authentication Service [IAS]), the IEEE 802.1X standard, and certificate authentication. Windows XP with wireless network adapters provides support for wireless devices such as laptops andpersonal digital assistants (PDAs), the IEEE 802.1X standard, and certificate authentication.

Note
Though the WLAN components are included in the Microsoft® Windows® Server 2003, Standard Edition; Windows® Server 2003, Enterprise Edition; and Windows® Server 2003, Datacenter Edition operating systems, there are differences in the levels of features supported and the capabilities. For informationabout differences in these services among the Windows Server 2003 operating systems, see Help and Support Center for Windows Server 2003.

After designing your enterprise WLAN and deploying the networking components and services needed for the WLAN, you will be able to maintain a secure and manageable wireless network by using supported features such as the Wireless Zero Configuration (WZC)...