• SonicOS 7.1 Access Points
• About SonicOS
  • About SonicOS
  • SonicOS Workflow
  • How to Use the SonicOS Administration Guides
  • Guide Conventions
• About Access Points
• Settings
  • Synchronize Access Points
  • Provisioning Overview
  • Creating/Modifying Provisioning Profiles
    • Adding/Editing a Provisioning Profile - Getting Started
    • General Settings for Provisioning Profiles
    • 5GHz/2.4GHz Radio Basic Settings for Provisioning Profiles
      • Radio Settings
      • Wireless Security
      • Protected Management Frames (PMF Option)
      • About Local Radius Servers and EAP Authentication Balancing
      • Configuring Radius Server Settings
      • ACL Enforcement
      • Remote MAC Address Access Control Settings
    • 5GHz/2.4GHz Radio Advanced Settings for Provisioning Profiles
      • Configuring the RSSI Threshold
      • Configuring IEEE802.11r Settings for Secure Fast Roaming
      • Configuring IEEE802.11k Settings for Dynamic Radio Management
      • Configuring IEEE802.11v Settings for Dynamic Environment Management
    • Sensor Settings for WIDP in Provisioning Profiles
    • Mesh Network Settings for Provisioning Profiles
      • Setting Up a Mesh Network
      • Enabling a Multi-hop Mesh Network
      • Active/Active Clustering Full Mesh
    • 3G/4G/LTE WWAN Settings for Provisioning Profiles
      • Manually Configuring the 3G/4G/LTE WWAN Profile
      • Configuring Load Balancing among Multiple USB Modems
    • Bluetooth LE Settings for Provisioning Profiles
    • Deleting Access Point Profiles
    • Product Specific Configuration Notes
  • Managing Access Point Objects
    • Deleting Access Point Objects
    • Rebooting Access Point Objects
    • Modifying Access Point Objects
• Firmware Management
  • About Firmware Management
  • Obtaining the Latest SonicWall Firmware
  • Downloading Firmware from a Specific URL
  • Uploading Firmware to an Access Point
• Floor Plan View
  • Managing the Floor Plans
    • Selecting a Floor Plan
    • Creating a Floor Plan
    • Editing a Floor Plan
  • Managing Access Points
    • Available Devices
    • Added Access Points
    • Removing Access Points
    • Export Image
    • Context Menu
• Station Status
• Intrusion Detection Services
  • Scanning Access Points
  • Authorizing Access Points
• Advanced IDP
  • Enabling Wireless IDP on a Profile
  • Configuring Wireless IDP Settings
  • Viewing KRACK Sniffer Packets
• Packet Capture
• Virtual Access Points
  • Before Configuring VAPs
    • Determining Your VAP Needs
    • Determining Security Configurations
    • Sample Network Definitions
    • Prerequisites
    • VAP Configuration Worksheet
  • Access Point VAP Configuration Task List
  • Virtual Access Point Groups
  • Virtual Access Point Objects
    • General Tab
    • Advanced Tab
  • Virtual Access Point Profiles
    • Virtual Access Point Schedule Settings
    • Virtual Access Point Profile Settings
    • Remote MAC Address Access Control Settings
    • ACL Enforcement
    • IEEE802.11R Settings
    • IEEE802.11K Settings
    • IEEE802.11V Settings
    • Agile Multiband Settings
• RF Monitoring
  • Prerequisites
  • RF Monitoring Summary
  • 802.11 General Frame Setting
  • 802.11 Management Frame Setting
  • 802.11 Data Frame Setting
  • Discovered RF Threat Stations
  • Adding a Threat Station to the Watch List
  • Practical RF Monitoring Field Applications
    • Using Sensor ID to Determine RF Threat Location
    • Using RSSI to Determine RF Threat Proximity
• RF Analysis
  • Using RF Analysis on SonicWall Access Points
    • Understanding the RF Score
    • Channel Utilization Graphs and Information
    • Viewing Overloaded Channels
    • RFA Highly Interfered Channels
• RF Spectrum
• FairNet
  • Supported Platforms
  • FairNet Features
  • Management Interface Overview
  • Configuring FairNet
• Wi-Fi Multimedia
  • WMM Access Categories
  • Assigning Traffic to Access Categories
  • Configuring Wi-Fi Multimedia Parameters
    • Configuring WMM
    • Creating a WMM Profile for an Access Point
• 3G/4G/LTE WWAN
• Bluetooth LE Devices
  • Viewing BLE Scanned Data
• Radio Management
  • Configuring Radio Management
  • Configuring Dynamic Channel Selection Settings
• SonicWall Support
  • About This Document

Virtual Access Points

Virtual access points are supported when using wireless access points along with SonicWall SonicPoint appliances.

A Virtual Access Point (VAP) is a multiplexed representation of a single physical access point—it presents itself as multiple discrete access points. To wireless LAN clients, each virtual access point appears to be an independent physical access point, when actually only one physical access point exists. VAPs allow you to control wireless user access and security settings by setting up multiple custom configurations on a single physical interface. Each of these custom configurations acts as a separate (virtual) access point and can be grouped and enforced on a single internal wireless radio.

The SonicWall VAP feature is in compliance with the IEEE 802.11 standard for the media access control (MAC) protocol layer that includes a unique Basic Service Set Identifier (BSSID) and Service Set Identified (SSID). This segments the wireless network services within a single radio frequency footprint on a single physical access point.

VAPs allow you to control wireless user access and security settings by setting up multiple custom configurations on a single physical interface. Each of these custom configurations acts as a separate (virtual) access point, and can be grouped and enforced on single or multiple physical access points simultaneously.

Virtual Access Point Configuration

VAPs afford the following benefits

• Each VAP can have its own security services settings (for example, GAV, IPS, CFS, and so on).
• Traffic from each VAP can be easily controlled using access rules configured from the zone level.
• Separate Guest Services or Lightweight Hotspot Messaging (LHM) configurations can be applied to each, facilitating the presentation of multiple guest service providers with a common set of access points.
• Bandwidth management and other access rule-based controls can easily be applied.

• Before Configuring VAPs
• Access Point VAP Configuration Task List
• Virtual Access Point Groups
• Virtual Access Point Objects
• Virtual Access Point Profiles