Configuring an ESS

A basic service set (BSS) is the basic building block of an IEEE 802.11 wireless LAN; one access point together with all associated clients is called a BSS. An AP acquires its clients by broadcasting its name (SSID) which is picked up by clients within range. Clients can then respond, establishing a connection. It is legitimate for multiple access points to share the same SSID if they provide access to the same network as part of an Extended Service Set (ESS). You can establish different kinds of ESS for different situations such as:

• a VLAN that supports multiple access points per ESS.
• several different ESS on one physical access point.
• a VLAN for each ESS to separate network traffic. You can also specify that a VLAN be shared between multiple ESS.
• an ESS that supports just one person.
• an ESS for a remote AP, such as in a branch office. That AP can additionally support ESSs for local traffic.

The Wireless LAN System also allows you to customize a beacon per ESS to support different access point settings, such as base or supported transmit rates, different BSSs, different beacon intervals, and different DTIM periods. This beacon customization allows service customization for each ESS, as well as more flexibility in supporting different clients and services.

ESS profiles for a controller can also be configured from E(z)RF Network Manager. You can tell where an ESS was configured by checking the read-only field Owner. The Owner is either nms-server or controller. AP1000 can simultaneously support an ESS with Virtual cell and another ESS without Virtual Cell.