A WLAN is generally deployed in an enterprise campus or branch office for increased efficiency and flexibility. WLANs are one of the most effective methods to connect to an enterprise network. With version 12.01T, you can configure your wireless devices to operate in a VLAN.
The basic wireless components of a VLAN consist of an bridge and a set of clients associated to it using wireless technology. The bridge is physically connected through a trunk port to the network switch on which the VLAN is configured. The physical connection to the VLAN switch is through the bridge's Ethernet port.
In fundamental terms, the key to configuring an bridge to connect to a specific VLAN is by configuring an SSID to map to that VLAN. Because VLANs are identified by a VLAN ID, it follows that if an SSID on an bridge is configured to map to a specific VLAN ID, a connection to the VLAN is established. When this connection is made, associated wireless client devices having the same SSID are able to access the VLAN through the bridge. The VLAN processes data to and from the clients the same way that it processes data to and from wired connections. The fact that the client is wireless has no impact on the VLAN.
The VLAN feature now enables users to deploy wireless devices with greater efficiency and flexibility. For example, one bridge can now handle the specific requirements of multiple users having widely varied network access and permissions. Without VLAN capability, multiple bridges, one for each VLAN, would have to be employed to serve classes of users based on the access and permissions they were assigned.
