ZyXEL Communications NWA3160 - Manual (Page 36)

Chapter 1 Introducing the ZyXEL Device
ZyXEL NWA-3160 Series User’s Guide
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1.3 CAPWAP (NWA-3160 and NWA-3163 Only)
CAPWAP allows a single access point (the AP controller) to manage up to eight other access
points (the managed APs). The managed APs receive all their configuration information from
the AP controller. This includes radio configuration (such as the wireless channel to use,
permitted data rates, and so on), security profile and SSID profile information. The managed
APs’ web configurators are disabled, and they are managed entirely by the AP controller.
At the time of writing, the NWA-3160 is the only ZyXEL AP model that can be a CAPWAP
controller.
At the time of writing, the following ZyXEL AP models can be CAPWAP managed APs:
• NWA-3160
• NWA-3163
• NWA-3500
• NWA-3550
1.4 Ways to Manage the ZyXEL Device
Use any of the following methods to manage the ZyXEL Device.
• Web Configurator. This is recommended for everyday management of the ZyXEL Device
using a (supported) web browser.
• Command Line Interface. Line commands are mostly used for troubleshooting by service
engineers.
• SMT (NWA-3165 only). System Management Terminal is a text-based configuration
menu that you can use to configure your device. Use Telnet to access the SMT.
• FTP for firmware upgrades and configuration backup and restore.
• SNMP. The device can be monitored by an SNMP manager. See the SNMP chapter in this
User’s Guide.
1.5 Good Habits for Managing the ZyXEL Device
Do the following things regularly to make the ZyXEL Device more secure and to manage it
more effectively.
• Change the password often. Use a password that’s not easy to guess and that consists of
different types of characters, such as numbers and letters.
• Write down the password and put it in a safe place.
• Back up the configuration (and make sure you know how to restore it). Restoring an
earlier working configuration may be useful if the device becomes unstable or even
crashes. If you forget your password, you will have to reset the ZyXEL Device to its
factory default settings. If you backed up an earlier configuration file, you won’t have to
totally re-configure the ZyXEL Device; you can simply restore your last configuration.