Netgear WC7500-Wireless User Manual - Page 33

ProSAFE Wireless Controller Basic and Advanced Setting Concepts You can deploy the wireless controller in a small WiFi network with 10 or 20 access points or in a large WiFi network with up to 600 access points. Small networks require a basic configuration, but large networks can become complex and require you to configure the advanced features of the wireless controller. Depending on your network configuration, use basic settings or advanced settings to manage your access points: • Basic settings for a typical network. The basic settings work with most common network configurations. For example, all access points on the WLAN are for the same organization or business and therefore adhere to the same policies and use a few service set identifiers (SSIDs, or network names). • Advanced settings for access point profile groups. In a large WiFi network, or if separate networks share a single WLAN, use the advanced settings to set up multiple access point profile groups with multiple security profiles (SSIDs with associated security settings). For example, a shopping mall might need several access point profile groups if several businesses share a WLAN but each business maintains its own network. Larger networks could require multiple access point profile groups to allow different policies per building or department. The access points could support different security profiles per building and department, for example, one for guests, one for management, and one for sales. Note: Access point profile groups are also referred to as just profile groups. Profiles, security profiles, and SSIDs (that is, SSIDs with associated security settings) are terms that are interchangeable. To accommodate all types of networks, almost all configuration menus of the web management interface are divided into basic and advanced submenus. The following figure shows an example of the Configuration > Security > Basic submenu on the left and the Configuration > Security > Advanced submenu on the right: Figure 10. Basic and advanced submenus System Planning and Deployment Scenarios 33