Creating a Network That Uses a Pre-Shared Key

You can create a network that requires users to enter a pre-shared key (PSK).

Complete the following steps to create a PSK-protected network.
  1. From the navigation pane, click Networks.
  2. Click Add Network.
    The Add Network dialog box is displayed.
  3. Complete the settings on the Network Details page.
    • Network Name: Enter a name (up to 32 characters) that you want assign to the network.
    • Description: Enter a description (up to 64 characters) to help you identify the network using.
    • Network Type: Click Pre-Shared Key.
    When the network type is selected, a structure diagram of a PSK type of network displays.
  4. Click Next.
    The PSK Settings page is displayed.
  5. Complete the settings on the PSK Settings page.
    • Passphrase: Enter a passphrase that you want users to provide before they can access the network.
    • SAE Passphrase: Enter a SAE passphrase that you want users to provide before they can access the network. This option is available only when the security protocol is WPA3 or WPA3/WPA2 mixed mode.
    • Security Protocol: Select the security protocol that you want this network to use. The default security protocol is WPA2, Other options include WPA, WPA3, WPA3/WPA3 mixed mode, and WEP.
  6. Click Next.
    The Venues page is displayed.
  7. Select the venues in which you want to activate this network:
    • To activate the network in all of your venues, click Activate in all venues.
    • To activate the network in a specific venue, locate the venue from the list, and set the switch to ON in the Activated column.
    • The Select APs on venue venue-name page is displayed.
  8. In the Select APs on venue venue-name page, you have two choices for defining how the network will be activated:
    • Click the All APs button to activate this network on all current and future APs at this venue. You can also choose a radio band of 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, or both.
    • Click the Select specific AP groups button to activate this network on specific AP groups including any AP that is added to selected AP groups in the future. The APs not assigned to any group option is displayed. After APs not assigned to any group is selected, two more options are displayed:
      • In the VLAN option, click the edit (pencil) icon to edit the VLAN number. The default is VLAN 1.
      • In the Radios option, select a radio band of 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, or both.
  9. Click the clock icon under Schedule to configure the schedule for the network in the selected venue.
    The Schedule for Network <network-name> in Venue <venue-name> dialog appears.
    1. Check one of the Network Availability options:
    • 24/7: Network is available 24/7.
    • Custom schedule: Network schedule is customized as per the your requirement. You can configure the schedule for Monday through Sunday and from midnight to midnight (from 00:00 hours through 23.59 hours).
  10. Click OK.
    Returns to Add Network dialog box.
  11. Click Next.
    The Summary page is displayed.
  12. Review the settings that you configured. To display the passphrase in plain text, click the eye icon.
  13. To configure advanced options for the network, click Advanced Network Settings. The Advanced Network Settings dialog box is displayed.
    • Enter the VLAN ID.
    • In the Load Control section, complete the following configuration:
      • Select the Max Rate from the list, based on which load will be controlled over the network.
      • Calibrate the maximum number of clients per radio.
      • If you want to enable load balancing between 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz radios, select the button.
      • If you want to enable load balancing between APs, select the button.
    • In the Access Control section, you can define a user device policy by clickingSet up a Policy. By default, the Allow Connections only from MAC addresses listed below option (green) is enabled. You can choose to change this to Block Connections from MAC addresses listed below by clicking the option (red) provided. Click Add to add a MAC address. The Add MAC address dialog box is displayed. Enter the MAC address and click Add. Click Clear list to clear the MAC address list.
      Note: As an admin user, you can assign a single policy of each type to the network as the default policy or as part of the Network and Venue activation. This action overrides the default network policy.
    • In the Access Control section, you can define a user traffic policy by clickingSet up a Policy. The Traffic Policy dialog box is displayed.
      Note: By default, the Allow Traffic option (green) is enabled. You can choose to change this to Block Traffic by clicking the option (red).
    • To create a new traffic rule, click the Add Rule. The Add Traffic Access Rule dialog box is displayed. You can create rules for upstream traffic only.
      • Enter a description for the rule.
      • You can create a rule to allow or block upstream traffic by selecting the Allow Traffic or Block Traffic option, respectively.
      • Select the protocol that you want to use for the new traffic rule from the Protocol list. The following protocols are available for use:
        • TCP: Transmission Control Protocol
        • UDP: User Datagram Protocol
        • UDPLITE: Lightweight User Datagram Protocol, which is a connectionless protocol that allows even a damaged data payload to be delivered rather than being discarded.
        • ICMP (ICMPV4): Internet Control Message Protocol, which is an error-reporting protocol used by network devices to generate error messages to the source IP address, when issues in the network prevent delivery of IP packets.
        • IGMP: Internet Group Management Protocol, which is a communications protocol used by hosts on IPv4 networks to establish multicast group memberships.
        • ESP:Encapsulating Security Payload is a protocol which provides the authentication, integrity, and confidentially of network packets in IPv4 and IPv6 networks.
        • AH: Authentication Header protocol, which is used to authenticate SNMP.
        • SCTP: Stream Control Transmission Protocol is a communications protocol which operates at the transport layer.
      • Specify the source address in the Source field. You can either specify a range (a network address and a subnet mask) or you an specify a source IP address. Also, specify a port number or a range of ports (for example, 22-34) for the source.
      • Specify the destination address in the Destination field. You can either specify a range (a network address and a subnet mask) or you an specify a destination IP address. Also, specify a port number or a range of ports (for example, 22-34) for the destination.
        Note: If you choose ICMP (ICMPv4), the option to specify source and destination ports is not available.
  14. Click Create. The rule that you created is displayed in the Traffic Policy dialog box.
    Note: The rule that you create initially is displayed in a row with the priority set to 1 by default. When you create a second rule, it is displayed with the priority set to 1, and the previous rule is displayed in the second row with the priority set to 2. When you have created multiple rules, you can use the up and down arrows to move rows up or down to set the desired priority of the rules. The edit and delete links options at the end of each row enables you to edit or delete rules. When you click the edit button, the Add Traffic Access Rule dialog box is displayed where you can edit any of the rule properties.
  15. Click OK in the Traffic Policy dialog box, added all the required rules.
    You return to the Advanced Network Settings dialog box, where are can set the Traffic Policy button to ON or OFF, activating or de-activating the traffic policy that you created. The Edit option allows you to navigate to the Traffic Policy dialog box, where you can edit the policy that you created. The Clear button allows you to delete the traffic policy.
  16. Toggle the Wi-Fi Calling option to ON and click Select Profiles to select a Wi-Fi calling profile.
    By default, the Wi-Fi Calling is set to OFF
  17. In Enable Client Isolation: Select this check box to prevent clients on the same network from communicating with each other.
  18. In Force DHCP: Select this check box to force clients to obtain a valid IP address from a DHCP server. This prevents clients configured with a static IP address from connecting to the network.
    If a client performs Layer 3 roaming between different subnets, in some cases the client sticks to the former IP address. This mechanism optimizes the roaming experience by forcing clients to request a new IP address.
  19. In Hide SSID: Select this check box if you do not want the ID of this network advertised at any time. This will not affect performance or force the network user to perform any unnecessary tasks.
  20. In Enable OFDM only (Disables 802.11b): Enabling this option disables CCK rates of 1, 2, 5.5, and 11 Mbps, so no 802.11b-only clients can connect. Beacons and probe responses will be transmitted at 6 Mbps, and data frames at 6, 9, 18, 24, 36, 48, and 54 Mbps. Enforcing higher minimum data rates increases overall network throughput capacity, but reduces the distance at which clients are able to remain connected.
  21. In Enable logging client data to external syslog: Select this check box to allow client data to be logged in all venues that have the external syslog server enabled. The box is unchecked by default. Refer to the Configuring the Syslog Server for a Venue page for details about configuring the external syslog server for a venue.
  22. In BSS Min Rate: Use this option to configure the minimum transmission rate supported by the network. If OFDM Only is enabled, the only valid options are 12 Mbps and 24 Mbps, with Mgmt Tx frames fixed at 6 Mbps. This option can also be used to prevent 11b clients from connecting, and to allow greater client density with higher data rates.
  23. In Mgt Tx Rate: This option is only available if both OFDM Only and BSS Min Rate are disabled. (Otherwise, the Mgmt Tx Rate is defined by those settings.) Use this setting to configure the rate at which management frames are sent. The default is 6 Mbps.
  24. Enable 802.11k neighbor reports: Enhances roaming by providing a list of neighbor APs to the client device.
  25. Enable 802.11r Fast BSS Transition: 802.11r Fast BSS Transition fast roaming protocol.
  26. Client Inactivity Timeout: Client will be disconnected from the network if it is inactive for more than the time interval specified. The timeout period can range from 60 through 1000 seconds.
  27. Directed MC/BC Threshold: Directed multicast/broadcast threshold.
  28. Click Save in the Advanced Network Setting dialog box and you return to the Add Network dialog box. Click the Create button to create the Wi-Fi network. The newly created Wi-Fi network is displayed in the Networks window, with the Overview tab displaying an overview diagram of the Wi-Fi network with various network properties. To view and edit all the network settings that you entered while creating the network, click the Edit Network link on the top-right corner of the Network page. You can make the required changes and click the Save button to enable the edits.