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CC3235SF: A Cautionary tale of CC3235SF and WiFi WPA2-ENT

Part Number: CC3235SF

This is not a question - just a 'caution' or warning! We goofed around for nearly 4 months trying to get CC3235SF to work with our inhouse WiFi. WPA2-PSk worked fine, but WPA2-ENT always failed with weird results which TI couldn't explain.

Turns out the Cisco Access-Point we were given by our out-sourced IT group was not properly integrated into a fancy higher-level security system. They had something they refer to (but won't discuss in detail) called "anti-rogue-AP" functions. So the Cisco AP we were to test against was deemed a 'rogue AP' and subtly blocked from working with the RADIUS server! Odd that the WPA2-PSK worked; also odd that the outsourced IT group could always send us examples and Web access to the AP proving "it worked" ... when it didn't really.

Finally one day, one of the IT guys was inhouse and my boss was angry enough to cajole him to go up to our lab and use an old iPhone we had to try and connect with WPA2-ENT. He couldn't. Within half-an-hour, he explained that "oh, this rogue-AP function is active ...". A few minutes later, and the CC3235SF with SimpleLink could connect to the WPA2-ENT.

This is not just a matter of try a simple AP first. I'd already used the CC3235SF with a $12 ASUS home router and WPA2-ENT. We even paid a consultant who used a CC3235SF launch pad to connect to both his own meraki and aruba WPA-ENT. The problem was how to go into an arbitrary customer and connect to their existing WPA2-ENT? The actual anti-rogue-AP tools in use at our HQ/warehouse complex is still part mystery, but from what I've seen, there are also warnings about using for example the SimpleLink in AP mode for OTA access - which risks the MAC address being black-balled by the security system as a 'rogue-AP' and potential hacker. Fortunately, we use USB for all of our 'OTA like' FW and config functions.