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Forum Discussion
Netgear EX6200 creating Vlans
As you will notice in the picture below I have only created 1 LAN for each of the 2.4 and 5 GHz channels.
For some reason however, my extender will allow itself to develop alternate VLANs ,...
jpow01 wrote:
For example I named my 2.4 GHZ channel extend24; after a while my devices would connect to extend24 2 or extend24 3 or extend24 4. They were not connecting to the SSID I had made but a replica with a different number to it. I don't know how best to describe it.
What you describe here is more an oddity in how some clients (say Windows) are handling the stored or known wireless (and sometimes even wired) connections and the sometimes weired logic of mapping network names with locations. We randomly see (or have seen) similarity things, and some times later it's like some "garbage collection" going on cleaning up and streamlining these multiple entries into a single one. You might ask Microsoft respectively the computer OEM which licensed Windows what does cause this.
It's not that the wireless name which has changed.
So it would just be the way that the PC NIC stores SSID's? Are there any known security risks associated with this? Would setting a static IP for my devices help to connect it to a specific SSID or would it still just be an issue from the PC NIC? My next thought was it could have been that I have set some devices with a static IP through Address Reservation setting; I don't know if this could cause anything like this.
No, this is not about how and where Microsot does store the SSIDs, it's much more on how they associate them with a site or location. The things you see there with the postfix " 2" and " 3" are duplicated entries and don't reflect indiviudual SSIDs.
schumaku wrote:
The things you see there with the postfix " 2" and " 3" are duplicated entries and don't reflect indiviudual SSIDs.
Correct. One aspect of this is that when you have multiple APs (or routers, extenders), each packet your client sends still has to be directed to a specific AP.
SSID (Service Set Identifier): name of the network.
BSSID ( Base Service Set Identifier): identifies a specific AP (or router, extender).
The client knows both the BSSID and SSID, since the packets are sent (and received) from a specific BSSID. When you roam to/from the extender (using OneName), the SSID remains the same, but the BSSID changes when the client switches to the another AP.
So even when the SSID matches, there are still multiple wireless networks.
I really do appreciate the time and input that both of you have given me; it is very helpful and educational. That makes sense however, I only have the Base Station and Extender; my desktop doesn't roam to any AP's. I guess my real question is- Is this a security risk? I'm not broadcasting any SSID and have set basic security settings for both intermidiary devices.
