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You use the Ethernet Advanced page to assign special configuration settings for the operational status of the Ethernet port. You can also use this page to make temporary changes in port status to help with troubleshooting network problems.

Settings

Requested Status

This setting is useful for troubleshooting problems on your network. Up, the default setting, enables the Ethernet port for normal operation. Down disables the Ethernet port.

Current Status

This line displays the current status, Up or Down, of the Ethernet port. This field can also display Error, meaning the port is in an error condition.

Packet Forwarding

This setting is always set to Enabled for normal operation. For troubleshooting, you might want to set packet forwarding to Disabled, which prevents data from moving between the Ethernet and the radio. The Forwarding State line under the setting displays the current forwarding state. The state for normal operation is Forwarding. Blocking is always displayed when there are no clients associated to the access point. Four settings are possible:

• Unknown -- The state cannot be determined.
• Disabled -- Forwarding capabilities are disabled.
• Blocking -- The port is blocking transmission.
• Broken -- This state reports an Ethernet port failure.

Forwarding State

Displays the current forwarding state. The state for normal operation is Forwarding. Four other settings are possible:

• Unknown -- The state cannot be determined.
• Disabled -- Forwarding capabilities are disabled.
• Blocking -- The port is blocking transmission.
• Broken -- This state reports an Ethernet port failure.

Default Unicast and Default Multicast Address Filter

MAC address filters allow or disallow the forwarding of unicast and multicast packets sent to specific MAC addresses. You can create a filter that passes traffic to all MAC addresses except those you specify, or you can create a filter that blocks traffic to all MAC addresses except those you specify.

• Allowed -- The device forwards all traffic except packets sent to the MAC addresses listed as disallowed on the Address Filters page.

• Disallowed -- The device discards all traffic except packets sent to the MAC addresses listed as allowed on the Address Filters page. This setting affects packets sent from the Ethernet to the radio.

MAC addresses listed as disallowed cannot browse to the device through another device or through the wired LAN.

Unicast packets are addressed to just one device on the network. Multicast packets are addressed to multiple devices on the network.

Note If you plan to discard traffic to all MAC addresses except those you specify (the Disallowed setting), be sure to enter your own MAC address as allowed on the Address Filters page.

Note Client devices with blocked MAC addresses cannot send or receive data through the device, but they might remain in the Association Table until the device stops monitoring them, or until they associate with another device.

Maximum Multicast Packets/Second

Enter the number of multicast packets that can pass through the port each second. If 0 is entered, the device passes an unlimited number of multicast packets. If a non-zero number is entered, the device passes only that number of multicast packets.

Always unblock Ethernet when STP is disabled

Select yes for this setting to maintain a bridge link when STP is disabled. For more information on disabling STP while maintaining a bridge link, see Disabling STP.

Optimize Ethernet for

Use this setting to specify how you want the Ethernet link to perform. You have two choices: performance (the default setting) and statistics collection. Selecting either results in a compromise. However, on a well-designed network, this compromise is virtually unnoticed.

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