Re: wireless LAN in place of existing cabled one
----- Original Message -----
From: "Benedict Verheyen" <linux4bene@pandora.be>
To: <debian-user@lists.debian.org>
Sent: Wednesday, November 12, 2003 3:16 PM
Subject: wireless LAN in place of existing cabled one
> Hi,
>
> my current LAN looks like this:
>
> cable ----- eth0 (public ip) -server
> modem eth1 (192.168.0.1)
> |
> hub
> |
> |
> pc 1
>
> My server runs dhcp, apache, exim, fetchmail, webmail and so on.
> Now the wife is fed up with the cable running through our living room
> up the stairs to my room where the server, the hub and pc1 are.
> Now we (she) wants to go wireless. I asked a local dealer and he
> works with D-Link equipment more specifically the Di-714P+ or
> the Di-614+. This would be the future setup:
>
> cablemodem --- router --wireless-- server -- hub -- pc 1
> |
> -----wireless-- clients
>
> I have some questions about this:
>
>
> 1. The server acts as a gateway now where eth0 is an ip from my
> isp and eth1 is a fixed internal ip where a DHCP daemon is listening
> to distribute ip's to the clients (currently pc1 but 1 other pc will
> follow
> and will be placed downstairs). Now i think i can still use the server
> as gateway with the new setup but i will not be able to secure the
> LAN with the firewall script that runs on it, correct?
> I mean any incoming traffic can immediately go to the wireless clients
> without going through the server first, right?
> Is there anyway i can solve this? I thought about putting the server
> between the cablemodem and the router to accomplish this.
>
> 2. I saw that there a 2 big differences between the Di-714P+ and the
> Di-614+: the Di-714P+ has printer server support (i don't care) and
> the built in firewall stuff has SPI (Stateful packet inspection). Is
> this
> the same as what you would get with iptables? The 614 seems to
> lack this.
>
> 3. Is the network traffic encrypted by default?
>
> 4. What kernel options do i have to activate to be able to use a
> wireless usb card (DWL-120+) . Usb is already compiled in. I'm
> not even sure these will function under Linux. Any place i can
> find out?
>
> Thanks
> Benedict
>
Benedict,
Double (and triple) check that your wireless cards are supported under
Linux. I bought a Linksys 802.11B card only to find out the version I bought
(2.6) was not supported, but 2.5 was. My desktop was dual-boot, and it
worked fine under Windows.
I then bought an 802.11B wireless card that attaches via USB slot. Not
supported. Didn't work under Linux. Worked fine under Windows. Then I bought
a Liinksys 802.11 A/B/G PCI card and built the madwifi drivers. That one got
a signal and kinda worked, but was EXTREMELY slow due to poor reception.
To avoid the whole mess, I picked up a wireless media adapter. It has an
Ethernet port on it, and just bridges you into a wireless network. It
worked, but kept dropping signals. So I returned it. (and all the previous
stuff).
I finally picked up a wireless bridge. A Linksys 802.11B WET11. It has
great signal reception and works extremely well. No dropped sessions, no
timeouts. If I use a hub or switch, I can have multiple PCs in the same room
and go wireless downstairs.
My setup is different than yours:
DSL in --> Westell DSL Modem/Router ---> Linksys BFSX41 Router with 4 LAN
ports.
LAN Side: wired clients downstairs
Linksys 802.11G WAP for wireless clients
Linksys 802.11G Cardbus card for laptop
Linksys 802.11B WET11 Bridge for upstairs clients
I have heard of people that use their PC to serve wireless clients. That's a
little beyond what I can do.
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