Manuals

Dell Wireless 2350 Broadband Router User's Guide

Back to Contents Page

How to Configure the Dell Wireless 2350 Broadband Router using the Control Utility: Dell™ Wireless 2350 Broadband Router User's Guide

My Network Overview

Wireless Settings

Network Access Control

My Network Overview

This screen provides information about your network connection and settings. The left pane displays your connection status. The right pane displays the following network settings:

· Operation Mode

· Connection Type

· Internet IP Address

· Internet MAC Address

· LAN IP Address

· LAN Subnet Mask

· Network Name (SSID)

· Wireless Security

My Network Overview

Wireless Settings

· Network Name (SSID)
The SSID is a unique network name. It is used to identify the WLAN. This name is used when connecting additional computers to your wireless router.

· Channel
This is the radio channel over which a communication transmission occurs.

· Default Settings
Resets the Dell Wireless 2350 Broadband Router to its factory defaults.

· Apply
Saves current settings.

· Restore
Restores previous settings.

Your router has an advanced security mechanism. It ensures the confidentiality of data, and also guards data against being modified. If you want to enable the security mechanism, click to select Enable Wireless Security. You will then be able to choose whether you wish to use WEP or WPA security mechanisms.

Wireless Settings WEP

WEP Settings

Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) encryption is used in the 802.11 standard is to protect wireless communication from eavesdropping. WEP provides a way of creating an encrypted key that is shared between a wireless client (such as a notebook with a wireless PC card) and the router. This key encrypts data before it is transmitted. WEP can be implemented with a 40(64)-bit or 104(128)-bit key. For added security, change your key often. When you change the key on one wireless device, it must be changed for all wireless devices in the network.

· Key Format
This can be ASCII or hexadecimal format. Hexadecimal format includes the numbers 0 through 9 and the letters A through F. ASCII format includes all alphanumeric characters.

· Key Length
This can be either 40(64)-bit or 104(128)-bit key length. Some wireless network cards are only able to use 40(64)-bit encryption. If all your clients are able to communicate at 104(128)-bit, then choose 104(128)-bit. If any client is only able to communicate at 40(64)-bit, then choose 40(64)-bit.

· Key1, Key2, Key3, and Key4
You can type up to four different keys in the Key fields provided to store on the Dell Wireless 2350 Broadband Router. If you choose 40(64)-bit encryption, enter a 5-character (or 10 hexadecimal digits) WEP key. For 104(128)-bit encryption, enter a 13-character (or 26 hexadecimal digits) WEP key.

· Default Key
Select only one key out of the four provided in the Default Key field.

Wireless Settings WPA

WPA Settings

Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) is an upgrade to the WEP standard for securing your wireless network.

If you would like to secure your wireless network using WPA, you must have WPA support for your wireless clients. If you are using a Dell wireless client, you can check for the availability of WPA-enabled software updates for your wireless client at http://support.dell.com.

· WPA Pre-shared Key
All wireless clients must use this key to gain access to the network. Note that the Key format must also match the setting used for the wireless clients.

· Key Format
This can be ASCII or hexadecimal format. Hexadecimal format includes the numbers 0 through 9 and the letters A through F. ASCII format includes all alphanumeric characters.

· WPA Group Rekey Interval
WPA Group Rekey Interval is used to specify the frequency of encryption key rotations. The lower the number, the faster your encryption key will rotate. However, setting this number too low may cause your wireless network to slow down.

· WPA Encryption
TKIP (Temporal Key Integrity Protocol) is the most commonly used encryption method. AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) can be used if your wireless clients do not support TKIP.

Network Access Control

· Add
This adds a new Parental Control entry to the list.

· Edit
Allows you to edit any current entry.

· Delete
Deletes am entry from the Parental Control list..

· Delete All
Deletes all records from the Parental Control list.

· Restore
Restores previous settings.

Network Access Control

Parental Control

Parental Control allows you to determine what type of websites are accessible through your wireless network. It also allows you to specify what time of day the Internet can be accessed.

To enable parental control, perform the following steps:

Click the Add button. The Parental Control window appears.
Enter the IP address of the computer you want to control (for example, your child's computer).
Select Allow or Deny from the Internet Access list.
Select a time interval by choosing a start time in the From list and an end time in the To list.
Select Allow or Deny for web access.
Specify which websites may be accessed or may not be accessed by entering their URLs in the Website URL field.
Click the OK button to apply you settings, or click the Cancel button to exit without making any changes.
Click the Apply Parental Control Settings button on the bottom of the screen to activate the new settings.

MAC (Media Access Control)

This feature prevents specific computers within the wireless local area network (WLAN) from accessing the Internet.

To enable MAC, perform the following steps:

Click to select Enable MAC Access Control.
Click the Add button. The MAC Access Control: Add a Record window appears.
Enter the hexadecimal MAC address (for example, 00:11:22:33:44:55) that you want to grant or deny access in the MAC Address box.
Click the OK button to apply, or click the Cancel button to exit without making any changes.
Click the Apply MAC Control Settings button on the bottom of the screen to activate the new settings.

Gaming

In some cases, the firewall feature of the router will cause a game not to function as intended. The settings listed on the Gaming menu can solve these problems.

Your Dell Wireless 2350 Broadband Router has an integrated Network Address Translation (NAT) firewall that rejects any unsolicited data from the Internet to access the computer on your LAN. Applications like e-mail and web browsing are unaffected by NAT. However, some applications (such as Internet messaging and gaming applications) will not function correctly.

Gaming

DMZ

Some applications experience problems when working behind a firewall. To solve this problem you can put computers outside of the firewall via the router's DMZ (demilitarized zone) feature. The DMZ feature disables the NAT firewall and allows all data to pass through all ports to this computer.

Follow the instructions below to enable the DMZ feature.

Click to select Enable DMZ Host.
Type the IP address of the computer that will run the gaming application in the DMZ IP Address field.
Click the Apply button to apply the new settings.

Port Forwarding Settings

Port forwarding allows you to configure your router to accept unsolicited data through a specific port. The ports and protocol type (TCP, UDP, or both) will depend on what gaming service you are using.

NOTE:

This information should be available from your gaming service or your the documentation that came with your game.

To enable Port Forwarding, perform the following steps:

Click the Add button. The Gaming: Add a Record window appears.
Type the desired name or description in the Game Description field. This cannot be more than 31 characters in length.
Type the IP address of the device (for example, desktop computer) for gaming in the Computer IP for gaming field.
Select a transport layer protocol from the Protocol Type list. The options listed here are TCP (Transmission Control Protocol), UDP (User Datagram Protocol), and both.
Enter the incoming port number in the Incoming Port No. field and the outgoing port number in the Outgoing Port No. (also called Destination Port) field.
Select Enable or Disable the gaming from the State list.
Click the OK button to apply, or click the Cancel button to exit without making any changes.

Remote Access

Remote Access

Allow Remote User to Configure the Device

This option allows you to configure the device from a remote location via the network.

1. Click to select Allow remote user to configure the device.

2. Enter the IP address of the remote administration host in the required field.

3. Enter the HTTP port number that will be used on the router in the HTTP port number field.

4. Click the Apply button to save the settings, or click the Restore button to restore to its previous settings.

Allow Remote User to Ping the Device

This option allows you to configure the WAN ping capability. The default setting is disabled. The router will not answer ping requests, so your WAN port is invisible to port scanners, which can make your network safer.

1. If you want your WAN port to be visible on the Internet, click to select Allow remote user to ping the device.

2. Click the Apply button to save the settings, or click the Restore button to restore to its previous settings.

Administration

Administration

System Rescue

System Rescue allows you to reset your Dell Wireless 2350 Broadband Router. You can also save or load a backup of your configuration settings.

Reset to Factory Default Settings
Resets the Dell Wireless 2350 Broadband Router to its default factory configuration.
Save Current System Configuration To File
Saves the current settings of the Dell Wireless 2350 Broadband Router to a .pro file.
Load System Configuration Manually
Loads settings onto the Dell Wireless 2350 Broadband Router from a backed up .pro file to restore previously saved settings.

Change Password

To prevent unauthorized changes to the router settings, the router is password protected. It is strongly recommended that you change the factory default password which is admin

Click the Change the Router Password button. The Password Settings window appears.
Type the original password in the Original Password field.
Type the new password in the New Password field, and then retype it in the Confirm Password field to verify.
Type the password hint message in the Password Hint Message field.
Click the Submit button when you finish the setting. If you want to clear any values you have entered in any field, click the Cancel button.

Upgrade to New Firmware

If you are instructed to upgrade the firmware, click the Upgrade to New Firmware button. It will connect to the Dell website to upgrade to the latest firmware release. It is unnecessary to upgrade the firmware if your router is working properly.

Diagnostics

Diagnostics

You can monitor the current status of your network connection in the Diagnostics menu. The network detection can be activated by clicking the Start Diagnostics button on the bottom of the screen.

When the detection is done, the screen will display a summary of your network connectivity.

Advanced Settings

To configure the advanced settings of the router, click the Login button to log in to the web-based configuration tool. Your Internet browser will open and you will be logged into the Dell Wireless 2350 Broadband Router's web-based configuration tool. The web-based configuration tool allows you to set up advanced network configurations for your Dell Wireless 2350 Broadband Router. Refer to the section Web-Based Configuration Tool for detailed information.

Back to Contents Page