Cisco AP541N Dual-band Single-radio Access Point Administration ...

WirelessClient Connection Control4Client Connection ControlA Media Access Control (MAC) address is a hardware address that uniquelyidentifies each node of a network. All IEEE 802 network devices share a common48-bit MAC address format, usually displayed as a string of 12 hexadecimal digitsseparated by colons, for example 00:DC:BA:09:87:65. Each wireless networkinterface card (NIC) used by a wireless client has a unique MAC address.You can use the Access Point Configuration Utility on the access point or use anexternal RADIUS server to control access to the network through the access pointbased on the MAC address of the wireless client. This feature is called MACAuthentication or MAC Filtering. To control access, you configure a global list ofMAC addresses locally on the access point or on an external RADIUS server. Then,you set a filter to specify whether the clients with those MAC addresses areallowed or denied access to the network. When a wireless client attempts toassociate with an access point, the access point looks up the MAC address of theclient in the local Stations List or on the RADIUS server. If it is found, the globalallow or deny setting is applied. If it is not found, the opposite is applied.On the Virtual Access Point Settings page, the MAC Auth Type setting controlswhether the access point uses the station list configured locally on the ClientConnection Control page or the external RADIUS server. The Allow/Block filtersetting on the Client Connection Control page determines whether the clients inthe station list (local or RADIUS) can access the network through the access point.For more information about setting the MAC authentication type, see Configuringthe Wireless Distribution System, page 91.Configuring a MAC Filter and Station List on the Access PointThe Client Connection Control page allows you to control access to access pointbased on MAC addresses. Based on how you set the filter, you can allow onlyclient stations with a listed MAC address or deny access to the stations listed.When you enable MAC Authentication and specify a list of approved MACaddresses, only clients with a listed MAC address can access the network. If youspecify MAC addresses to deny, all clients can access the network except for theclients on the deny list.To enable filtering by MAC address, click the Client Connection Control tab.Cisco AP 541N Dual-band Single-radio Access Point Quick Start Guide 76