Wi-Fi Alliance Issues in WLAN Roaming Serge Manning IETF 58 - RADEXT BOF

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Wi-Fi Alliance Issues inWLAN Roaming Serge
ManningIETF 58 - RADEXT BOF
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What is Wi-Fi Alliance?

• Wi-Fi certification
• WLAN equipment (access points, PC cards)
• Focus on Public Access
• Commercial WLAN systems in the public space
• Market Requirements Document (MRD)
• To lead to Public Access certification of Wi-Fi
  products.
• Status
• MRD in progress.
• Estimated Completion Dec 2003 March 2004.

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Wi-Fi Alliance Market Reqs Document

• Background
• Support for WLAN security Wi-Fi Protected Access
  (WPA)
• WEP vs WPA vs 802.11i
• WPA does not require hardware changes
• Universal Access Method
• Browser Hijack
• User enters username and password
• MRD Addresses
• Coexistence
• Very important to support UAM and WPA
  simultaneously
• MRD recommends set of standard attributes for UAM
  and WPA.
• Network Discovery
• Requirements may impact attributes
• Prepaid Support
• Using existing attributes
• Set of Use Cases
• Certification
• WFA will certify support of attributes in the
  access point

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Use of Vendor Specific Attributes

• MRD currently uses WISPr VSAs
• Available in http//www.weca.net/OpenSection/downl
  oads/WISPr_V1.0.pdf
• Hot Spot Location
• Geographic area, location name
• Operator Identification
• Name and type of WLAN operator
• User Bandwidth
• Minimum and maximum uplink/downlink bandwidths
• Would like to migrate to standard attributes
• Developed in RADEXT

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Wrap Up

• Role of WFA
• Determining market requirements (define the
  problem)
• Pull together a solution across multiple operator
  types (not GSM, CDMA, or WISP specific)
• Generate test plans and certify equipment
  (enforcement)
• Role of IETF RADEXT
• Develop specifications that recommend one way to
  solve a problem
• Eliminate confusion when different solutions
  exist.
• Attributes
• WFA would like to point to IETF documents for
  lists of WLAN roaming attributes.