"Don't string up another cable in the house," my wife informed me last night, "just set up a wireless server for me instead."
It took me five years to get from FORMAT C: to knowing how to operate a Linux server with IP masquerading and the like, and now she wants me to become a wireless expert overnight. Where do I start???
I read Hugo Haas' wireless home LAN howto, which is mostly laptop-centric and doesn't explain what equipment you need for a desktop server; I read Jean Tourrilhes' extensive treatise on the history and theory of everything related to wireless networking; I even read some 847 page tome with brilliant illustrations of phase modulation and how my microwave oven affects the signal. Now I'm even more clueless than when I started!
Here's what I'm trying to accomplish: I have a perfectly good ethernet LAN right now, with a Linux server I compulsively keep up to date acting as firewall, router, and gaming console; I have a cheap 8-port switch to send those little electrons scurrying across the living room rug to the other computers in the house. All I want to add is something that will send those same electrons scurrying through the air instead of on wires, using the same DNS, NAT, and whatever other acronyms I can throw in that are already in use on the desktop server.
Do I need a separate WAP device? Is there a wireless equivalent of this little 8-port network switch? My wife says she saw something like that at Wal-Mart, but she has no idea what it does or how to use it.
Some stuff I read makes it sound like I can just plug a wireless NIC (with built-in antenna) into the host and the NIC will act as its own WAP. That sounds like the best (read: cheapest) solution, but I don't want to blow fifty bucks (or 200!) on something that won't do the job. I also need to be sure that whatever I buy has working drivers in the Linux kernel, and I haven't been able to find a comprehensive list of Linux- friendly, PCI-based wireless cards that aren't PCMCIA.
Any idle speculation, personal experiences, pointers to a FAQ that I missed, or general ridicule gratefully accepted.
You could add a WLAN card to your linux box and run your own access point. But that takes time and research, gotta be picky about drivers, and if/when your hard disk dies on that box, boy yer screwed.
I say, just buy a Linksys WRT54GL. It's a wireless router which has a wan port, a 4port LAN switch, and in between it has a wireless access point, SPI firewall, DHCP server, and web-based configuration accessible at http://192.168.1.1 from the LAN side. There are two ways to use it in your setup: either 1) Plug its WAN port into your 8 port switch. Plug anything with dhcpdc and a webbrowser into one of the lan ports and configure it. Read the simple instruction manual. You'll be done inside the hour unless your house is RF hell. You'll want to use WPA-PSK encryption, and be a good boy and use a 20charter or better very random passphrase in there and you should be in good shape. WPA-PSK is just preshared key encryption. Any WPA support machine such as winXP or any modern linux will prompt you for a WPA passphrase when you try to join the network. quite straightforward or 2) plus the WRT54GL's WAN port into your broadband connection, replacing your linux server for firewall duties, hang your 8port hub off one of the 4 LAN ports on the WRT54GL, and the WRT54GL will be your new firewall/dhcpserver/nat box. Sam configuration tips apply for WPA-PSK above.
FYI, the WRT54GL doles out of 192.168.1.x addresses via DHCP on its LAN. If you use this same subnet behind your linux box currently, and you opt for scenario 1 above, you'll need to reconfig the WRT54GL to use a different subnet for its LAN to avoid IP address conflicts. In scenario 2, it's less of an issue assuming all your clients are dhcp. If they're static, you'll of course need to eithe re-IP them or change teh linksys's local network range to match.
That would be a simple wireless access point, which you'd just plu into your 8 port switch, and yeah they do exist and they aren't difficult to deal with either.
These things don't care about your operating system generally. They tend to be configurable from anything that accepts a DHCP address and has a web browser.
Now, if you wanna have linux fun with these devices later after you're up and running,look into the fun of running third party open source firmware on them. Linux on a $60 appliance is kewl. dd-wrt.com is a popular one and hte WRTG54L supports all its flavors. Buffalo WHR G54s is cheaper if that's important to ya. openwrt is another popular
Excellent! This is probably a stupid question that will answer itself when I get this router and plug it into the hub, but... how do I tell the firewall (which currently allows only 192.168.xxx.0/24 connections on the in-house ethernet line) to allow, for example, my wife's laptop on
192.168.1.xyz but not Nosy Neighbor who piggybacks on my signal and acquires 192.168.1.abc from the router's DHCP? As often as I have borrowed an unsecure signal when travelling I would be a hypocrite not to share bandwidth, but I don't want the files on my hard drive to go beyond my family.
Nosy Neighbor will not be allowed to associate with your wireless access point if he doesn't know the WPA pre-shared key value that you'll dutifully configure when you setup your router.
WPA with a strong pre-shared key secures your wireless connection. Folks running wide open access points are those too lazy or ignorant to have configured WPA.
And, may be a bit "retro" but there are very useful books on wireless networking, to get you up to speed, and understand the acronyms and pitfalls. On Amazon books searching on "wireless" returned many, many, many hits. (Sorry, Commandant Lessard.)
The Windoze "Start" button is in the lower left hand corner of the screen, but can be moved elsewhere. If it's not in its traditional location, look in the other corners of the screen.
Wrong. You're not building a server. What you apparently missed is that *ALL* wireless is bridging. There are no IP's involved in wireless except to connect to the device to configure it. What 802.11 wireless does is encapsulate 802.3 ethernet packets, inside 802.11 packets, thus acting like an ethernet extension cord. There is no "server" anywhere in sight.
Did you learn to drive a vehicle by reading about thermodynamics and Carnot Cycle Heat Engine theory? While these will certainly help you understand how the engine functions, it won't help you decide on which vehicle to purchase or how to operate it.
You didn't read our FAQ:
formatting link
is normally a capital crime punishable by death, a support call to India, or both, but we'll forgo punishment because you've already suffered enough reading about wireless theory. It's also obvious that you didn't read the IEEE-802.11a/b/g documentation, as you are still sane.
Also, I suggest you download and browser the Intel Wireless Hot Spot Guide from:
Lots of good info on how Wi-Fi and such work included.
Incidentally, congratulations. Yours is the first posting in months that I've seen that actually supplied the most basic information required to answer a technical question.
What are you trying to accomplish?
What do you have to work with?
Where are you stuck? It's quite refreshing and thanks.
Yes. You can do it with an internal PCI card or USB contrivance inside the Linux server, but I don't recommend it. The computer generates too much RFI, the metal box acts as an RF barricade, the position of the antenna tends to be mediocre, and it will be yet another service to screw with under Linux. Keep it simple and just get an AP (access point).
However, I would not purchase something designated specifically as only an AP. A "wireless router" is nothing more than a conglomeration of: - ethernet router - wireless access point (i.e. bridge) - 4 port ethernet switch If you buy a wireless router instead of an access point, all you need to do is disable the DHCP server and ignore the router section and you have an access point. It's also cheaper this way as there are many more wireless routers sold than access points.
The external AP also has a security benifit. Since it's not part of the server, you can turn it off when it's not being used. I know of several that are powered by AC lamp timer.
Yep. Wireless router. Leave your 8 port ethernet switch alone. Run a CAT5 cable between the switch and one of the LAN ports on the wireless router, and you now have a 7+3= 10 port switch.
Translation: You make the purchase so that you get blamed if it goes wrong. Is your wife a manager at some large company?
Yes. You can do that, but I advise against it. Just leave your existing network alone and add a wireless access point (or wireless router acting like an access point).
I usually avoid specific hardware recommendations, but I'll make an exception here. Since you are apparently well versed in Linux, it might be best if you use a router that supports alternative open source Linux firmware. I suggest a Buffalo WHR-HP-54G router, running DD-WRT firmware. The feature and function list is far more extensive than the cheap routers. The cost is about $50-$70. You don't really need the router section, but as I previously mumbled, just use the access point features.
It will also save you the cost of the lamp timer as it has cron based access and reboot control.
Nope. That's another reason NOT to buy an internal card to play access point. With an external AP, you don't need to do anything to your Linux box. No drivers, cards, or even anything to plug in. The ethernet cable from the wireless access point goes to your 8 port switch (unless it's already crammed full of CAT5 cables in which case I sympathize with your wife's position).
It's possible that your house is not suitable for wireless. Look for metal in the walls such as aluminum foil backed wallpaper or fiberglass insulation. Wireless will do one conventional drywall easily. Two walls are a bit of an effort and require aftermarket antennas. 3 walls or more are a crap shoot. Floors are also a problem and may require more than one WAP for a large house.
If coverage is going to be a problem, or you have a very large house, you might also consider alternatives to wireless such as:
Power Line networking:
Phone line networking:
CATV coax sharing:
(sorta, maybe)
In all cases, you do NOT need to add anything inside your Linux server as all of these have external ethernet connections.
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