WLAN setup help

[mcdougrs]

Hey everyone,

Well I am in SC now and on my laptop right this second. But I'm writing to ask for some help. The internet connection is in the bedroom and we don't want run wires all over the place so my router has wireless capabilities. And that is how the laptop is running right now. BUT what I want is to be able to make my tower wireless in the dinning room/living room. I bought a Linksys Wireless-B Access point thinking that I could use that to connect to my wireless router and then plug that into a hub or directly into my PC. This however does not seem to be the case. Do you all know what it is that I would be looking for? Do I need another wireless router?

Thanx,
Ryan

[Compunuts]

[quote author=Izan Seth link=board=4;threadid=9564;start=0#msg87067 date=1090690937]
The internet connection is in the bedroom and we don't want run wires all over the place so my router has wireless capabilities.[/quote]
If your router has wireless capabilities, why do you even need another access point? All you need is wireless card for your desktop at your dinnning room area. All is good ( taking the fact that you bought compartible wireless pci card for your desktop box ).

I bought a Linksys Wireless-B Access point thinking that I could use that to connect to my wireless router and then plug that into a hub or directly into my PC.

The price point between B and G is so minimal that I would just go with G if I were to start with Access point and wireless cards ( YMMV though ). B is currently at 11 Mbps and G is at 54 Mbps.

Do you all know what it is that I would be looking for? Do I need another wireless router?

Basically what you need is

a. Wireless access point or AP with router capabilities
b. Wireless access cards for desktops
c. PCMCIA wireless cards for notebooks if you have some
d. All you need to make sure is to have compartible versions such as b or g or whatever.
e. The basic set up is
Broadband_Modem -->Wireless_AP_router -->Clients

That's it.

HTH ...

[mcdougrs]

Yeah that helps... Although I forgot to look at this before I went to the store again :-\ I did end up just getting a wireless card for the desktop (D-Link 802.11B) and all is well now.

The reason I wanted to get another wireless router/AP or whatever was because all my other PCs have wired NICs in them already so I just thought that might be the easiest. Like a wireless bridge, but the wireless NICs were on sale and I got mine for about $40 up front with a $20 mail in rebate.

[Compunuts]

Yeah, that's what I want to do.

My own network is wired in my garage. I do all the testing and playing stuff there. The rest of the house is on another LAN but off of only one Net connection. I used to have them on both wired but when I moved to this house, I don't feel like re-wiring the whole house. Plus, the speed of wireless with G is so good that I am now confortible to move to wireless LAN ( but my test network will always remain in wired LAN at least for the time being due to security issues with wireless stuff ).

[mcdougrs]

Maybe you can answer a question for me about WEP keys? (If this deserves a seperate thread... sorry)

My router has 4 slots for WEP keys and so doesn't the software for my wireless card. Do tey use all of them? Or is that there so that you can use any one of the 4 without actually having to change them every week?

[Compunuts]

I **think** they use only one for each VLAN. So yeah, they use only one if you have one network. They were saying that some OSes ( namely Apples ) will only use specific slot for this.

[andrzej]

[quote author=Izan Seth link=board=4;threadid=9564;start=0#msg87222 date=1090973084]
My router has 4 slots for WEP keys and so doesn't the software for my wireless card. Do tey use all of them? Or is that there so that you can use any one of the 4 without actually having to change them every week?
[/quote]

There are some possible configurations:
1. "Static" WEP
Keys are statically configured at the AP and stations.
Your AP should have an option to select which key to use. It will probably always use the same key for all packets (it might change keys - the is a key ID field in an 802.11b frame). Some station software will have an option of filling in all 4 keys, some will allow for just one. If the latter is the case then just set all 4 at the AP to the same key as you've set your at your PC.

2. "Dynamic" WEP (aka WEP keymapping)
In this case the AP will generate a pair of keys for each station (usually key derivation is based on EAP-based negotation with a Radius server). Keys are sent to stations encrypted in EAPOL-Key packets. One key (key index 0 or 1) will be used for all unicast packets and the second key (key index 2 or 3) will be used for all broadcast traffic. The broadcast key must be the same for all stations - usually the statically configured key number 2 or 3 is sent.
You do not have to fill-in anything at the station in case of WEP keymapping, unless WEP encryption is also used during association and authentication stage.

Sorry for a too detailed posting. The short answer for you is probably "just fill in all 4 slots at the AP and the key at the PC with the same value". Remember that static WEP offers almost no protection (can be compromised in minutes), frequently refreshed dynamic WEP is much better, but it's highly recommended to use WPA.

[Compunuts]

[quote author=andrzej link=board=4;threadid=9564;start=0#msg87324 date=1091096505]
Sorry for a too detailed posting.
[/quote]
No. I think we prefer to have the complete answer rather than half ass one. ;D . I mean, we are here to learn so whatever makes the learning complete would be alot preferable than not knowing it.

Thanks for your reply.

[mcdougrs]

CRAP

I think that my router only uses static WEP!!! DARN IT! Oh well its not like its a problem... I was just wondering. I use firewalls on all of my systems, so I not too worries about hacking. But the Static WEP thing just means that someone can sniff all netowrk traffic right? Anytime I enter passwords and stuff its over https so that should make that a little safer, right? There was actually an open AP here at my apartment complex at one point! I thought about trying to see if I could get onto it and sniff a little, but decided against it. They aren't even using WEP. Anyway. Thanx for that answer it helped!

<edit>
Oh plus I use the MAC address filter option with my router, that should help too right?
</edit>

[andrzej]

[quote author=Izan Seth link=board=4;threadid=9564;start=0#msg87376 date=1091154867]
But the Static WEP thing just means that someone can sniff all netowrk traffic right?
[/quote]

Well, it takes some skill and knowledge to sniff a wlan protected with static WEP, but it's relatively easy. I think you can just Google for a step-by-step recipe.

There was actually an open AP here at my apartment complex at one point! I thought about trying to see if I could get onto it and sniff a little, but decided against it. They aren't even using WEP.

I usually assume that if someone is not using any kind of encryption, then he does not mind me sniffing :P

Oh plus I use the MAC address filter option with my router, that should help too right?

It will protect you from someone using your network (but remember that spoofing the MAC address is quite easy). It will not give you any protection against sniffing.

Regards,
Andrzej