Discovering Access Points

You can have many wireless access points within reach of the signal of the wireless appliance on your network. The Wireless > IDS page reports on all access points the SonicWALL security appliance can find by scanning the 802.11a, 802.11g, and 802.11n radio bands. This section details the steps to configure your Discovered Access Point settings.

NOTE: Wireless Discovered Access Points is supported on SonicOS Enhanced 5.6 or higher firmware.

Requesting Discovered Access Points

You can use a wireless appliance to discover information about access points.

1	Navigate to the Wireless > IDS page.

 

2	Click the link for Request Discovered Access Points Information from Firewall.

The Modify Task Description and Schedule pop-up window displays.

 

3	Enter a Description.

4	Select a Schedule:

•

Default

•

Immediate

•	At: (select a custom date and time)

5	Click Accept.

The discovered access points populate in the Discovered Access Points list.

Searching for Discovered Access Points

The Wireless > IDS page offers a search feature to filter the list of discovered access points. To search for a discovered access point, complete the following steps:

NOTE: The search feature is only available at unit level.

1	Navigate to the Wireless > IDS page.

2	In the Discovered Access Points Search panel, complete the following:

 

a	Click the Search pull-down lists.

b	Select MAC Address (BSSID), SSID, or Manufacture.

c	Select Equals, Starts With, Ends With, or Contains.

d	Enter a value in the text-box.

e	Click Search.

Scanning Access Points

Active scanning occurs when the security appliance starts up, and at any time Scan Now is clicked on the Wireless > IDS page. When the security appliance executes a scan, a temporary interruption of wireless clients occurs for no more than a few seconds. This interruption manifests itself as follows:

•	Non-persistent, stateless protocols (such as HTTP) should not exhibit any ill-effects.

•	Persistent connections (protocols such as FTP) are impaired or severed.

•	WiFiSec connections should automatically re-establish and resume with no noticeable interruption to the client.

WARNING:If service disruption is a concern, it is recommended that the Scan Now feature not be used while the SonicWALL security appliance is in Access Point mode until such a time that no clients are active, or the potential for disruption becomes acceptable.

Scanning for Access Points

1	Navigate to the Wireless > IDS page.

 

2	Click Scan Now...

A warning message displays.

 

3

Click OK.

The Modify Task Description and Schedule pop-up window displays.

 

4	Enter a Description.

5	Select a Schedule:

•

Default

•

Immediate

•	At: (select a custom date and time)

6	Click Accept.

Viewing the Discovered Access Points List

The Discovered Access points displays information on every access point that is detected by the Wireless radio:

 

Table 22. Discovered Access Points

Column	Description
MAC Address (BSSID)	The MAC address of the radio interface of the detected access point.
SSID	The radio SSID of the access point.
Channel	The radio channel used by the access point.
Manufacturer	The manufacturer of the access point. SonicPoints will show a manufacturer of either SonicWALL or Senao.
Signal Strength	The strength of the detected radio signal.
Secure	This lock icon shows if the connection from the access point is secured or not. If the locked icon is present, the access point has a secured connection.
Max Rate	The strength of the detected radio signal.
Authorize	Adds the access point to the address object group of authorized access points.

Authorizing Access Points on Your Network

Access Points detected by the security appliance are regarded as rogues until they are identified to the security appliance as authorized for operation. To authorize an access point, complete the following steps:

1	In the Discovered Access Points list, locate the desired Rogue Access Point and click the Edit icon in the Authorize column.

 

The Edit pop-up window displays.

 

2

Click OK.

NOTE: To unauthorize an access point, remove it from the “Address Object Group of Authorized Access Points.”