Ralink Soft AP Operation Manual

Use Ralink soft AP in windows XP

Start Ralink Soft AP

Config Setting

Security Setting

Access Control

MAC Table

Event Log

Statistics

About

Configure A.P. with WEP on

Configure A.P. with WPA-PSK

Excursus


Use Ralink soft AP in windows XP

Windows XP provides WPA support to hotfix Q815485, however, you have to make sure that hotfix Q815485 (requires XP SP1 to be installed) has been installed in your system before you can start using the WPA features. You can check the installation of hotfix in add/remove software page under control panel. The page is shown as Figure 1.

Figure 1 Windows XP Hotfix Q815485 installed

Currently, Ralink’s utility (RaConfig) provides WPA-PSK supplicant functionality if the user requires the WPA function. RaConfig will prompt the user to make a selection when it first runs after XP boots.

Clicking [image] will bring up the selection window and let the user make a selection. It can switch between “AP mode” and “Station mode” as shown in Figure 1-1.

Figure 1-1 Select AP Mode or Station Mode

If “Switch to AP mode” is selected, please read through this document for all details.

If “Switch to Station mode” is selected, please refer to the station’s help file.


Start Ralink Soft AP

When switching to AP mode, the system will display default information. The dialog box is shown in figure 2.

Figure 2 First Page Shown When Choose AP Mode

When starting RaConfig, a small Ralink icon appears within the notification area of the windows taskbar as shown in figure 2-1. Double click it to bring up the main menu if the RaConfig menu was closed earlier. The user can also right-click it to close RaConfig utility.

Figure 2-1 Ralink Icon

The icon changes color to reflect the current wireless network connection status. The status is indicated as follows:

: Indicates it is connected and signal strength is good.

: Indicates that a wireless NIC is not detected.

: Indicates it is not yet connected.


Config Setting

He user can set and display detailed Soft AP information in this dialog box. It is shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3 Config Setting Page

Definition of each field

1.  SSID: AP name of user type. The user also can select [Use Mac Address] to display it. System default is SoftAP-13.

2.  Wireless Mode: Select wireless mode. 2.4G and 5G are supported. System default is 2.4G.

3.  Country Region Code: There are eight countries to choose from. Country channel list:

Classification	Range
0: FCC (Canada)	CH1 ~	CH11
1: ETSI	CH1 ~	CH13
2: SPAIN	CH10 ~	CH11
3: FRANCE	CH10 ~	CH13
4: MKK	CH14 ~	CH14
5: MKKI (TELEC)	CH1 ~	CH14
6: ISRAEL	CH3 ~	CH9
7: ISRAEL	CH5 ~	CH13
4.  Beacon (ms): The time between two beacons. System default is 100 ms.

5.  TX Power: Manually force the AP’s transmitting power. System default is 100%.

6.  TX Rate: Manually select the transmitting rate. The default is auto.

7.  Wireless Protection: The user can chose from Auto, on, and off. System default is auto. (802.11n wireless cards don’t support wireless protection.)

a. Auto: STA will dynamically change according to the AP.

b. On: Always send frames with protection.

c. Off: Always send frames without protection.

8.  Idle Time: Manually force the Idle Time using a selected value. The default is 300.

9. Channel: Select the AP’s channel manually. System default is channel 1.

10. Use Mac Address: Use the MAC address of wireless card as the AP’s name. System default is APX. ( X is last number of Mac Address.)

11. Security Setting: Authentication mode and encryption algorithm used by the AP. The system default is no authentication and encryption.

12. No forwarding among wireless clients: If there is no beacon among the wireless clients, they can’t share information with each other. The system default is no forwarding.

13. Hide SSID: Don’t display the AP name. The system default is to not hide the SSID.

14. Allow BW40 MHz: Allow BW40 MHz capability.

15. Default: Use system default values.

16. Apply: Apply the any changes made. If using default values, it will be shown as in Figure 3-1.

17. TX Burst: Ralink’s proprietary frame burst mode. System default is no TX Burst.

Figure 3-1 Station Site Survey Page


Security Setting

Authentication & Security settings, as shown in figure 4.

Figure 4 Auth. vs. Security Page

Authentication Type: There are three types of authentication mode supported by RaConfig. They are open and WPA-PSK system.

Encryption Type: For open and Share authentication mode, the selected of encryption type are none and WEP. For WPA-PSK authentication mode, the encryption types are TIKP and AES.

WPA Pre-shared Key: This is the shared PIN between the AP and STA. For WPA-PSK authentication mode, this field must be filled with a PIN between 8 and 32 characters long. (PCI only)

Group Rekey Interval: Only valid when using WPA-PSK encryption algorithm. The key will change compliance with the time or beacon that the user has set. (PCI device only)

WEP Key: Only valid when using WEP encryption algorithm. The key must match the AP’s key. There are several formats to enter the key.

a. Hexadecimal (40bits): 10 Hex characters.

b. Hexadecimal (128bits): 32Hex characters.

c. ASCII (40bits): 5 ASCII characters.

d. ASCII (128bits): 13 ASCII characters.

* There are examples in select 11-WEP Setting and select 12-WPA-PSK Setting *

* Powered by Meetinghouse.


Access Control

AP connected or can’t connect with Mac address that user setting. Shown as figure 5.

Figure 5 Access Control Page

Access Policy: The User chooses if the AP starts the function. System default is disabled.

Mac Address: Manually force the Mac address using the function, and press [Add] to [Access List].

Access List: Display all Mac Addresses that the user has set.

Delete: Delete the Mac address set by user.

Remove All: Remove all Mac addresses in [Access List].

Apply: Apply the above changes.


MAC Table

Figure 7 shows the link status page. It displays detailed station  information of current connection.

Figure 7 MAC Table Page

Detail information:

1. MAC Address: The station’s Mac address of the current connection.

2. AID: Raise value by current connection.

3. Power Saving Mode: Support Power Saving Mode on the currently connected station.

4. Status: The link status of the current connection.


Event Log

A record of all event times and messages, as shown below.

Figure 8 Event Log Page

1.	Event Time (yy/mm/dd-hh:mm:ss): Event time recorded.

2.	Message: All event messages.


Statistics

The statistics page displays detailed counter information based on the 802.11 MIB counters. The information is translated into a format easier for the user to understand.

Figure 9 Transmit and Receive statistics

Transmit Statistics:

1.  Frames Transmitted Successfully: The number of frames sent successfully.

2.  Frames Fail To Receive ACK After All Retries: The number of frames failed to transmit after hitting the retry limit.

3.  RTS Frames Successfully Receive CTS: The number of successfully received CTS after sending RTS frame.

4.  RTS Frames Fail To Receive CTS: The number of CTS failed to receive after sending RTS.

5.  Frames Retransmitted Successfully: The number of successfully retransmitted frames.

Receive Statistics:

1.  Frames Received Successfully: The number of frames received successfully.

2.  Frames Received With CRC Error: The number of frames received with a CRC error.

3.  Frames Dropped Due To Out-of-Resource: The number of frames dropped due to resource issues.

4.  Duplicate Frames Received: The number of duplicate frames received.

Reset counters to zero.


About

The About page displays the wireless card and driver version information as shown in figure 10.

Figure 10 About Page

Connects to Ralink’s website: Ralink Technology, Corp.

Displays Configuration Utility, Driver and EEPROM version information.

Displays Wireless NIC MAC address.


Configure A.P. with WEP on

1.	Click [Security Setting] on the [Config] page.

2.	The Authentication & Security page appears. Choose “WEP” in [Encryption Type].

3.	Enter “1234567890” for key#1 which is our intended AP’s setting.

4.	Click OK. The result will appear as in the figure below.


Configure A.P. with WPA-PSK

1.	Click [Security Setting] on the [Config] page.

2.	The Authentication & Security page appears. Choose “WPA-PSK” in [Authentication Type] and “TKIP” in [Encryption Type].

3.	Enter the WPA Pre-Shared PIN as “12345678”.

4.	Enter Group Rekey Interval as 60 seconds.

5.	Click OK. The result will appear as in the figure below.


Excursus

The above settings are used in the test platform by RaLink technology corp. The User can adjust the functions of Soft AP.