Re: wireless LAN in place of existing cabled one
BruceG wrote:
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "BruceG" <bruce-lists@manygriffi.blogdns.net>
> To: <debian-user@lists.debian.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, November 12, 2003 5:39 PM
> Subject: 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.
>
> I forgot to mention a few things. I wanted 802.11G for higher speeds,
> but that's not going to happen over longer distances (like downstairs
> to upstairs). I also found that you don't get 802.11G support without
> compiling madwifi drivers and using a card with the Atheros chipset.
> Mine was pretty expensive (I think $130 or so if I remember right - I
> bet I could have got a LAN drop run for that price!!!).
>
> Since I got an 802.11B bridge, I've read that ALL my 802.11G clients
> throttle down to 802.11B. I'm not sure if that is really so. If so,
> it would have been a lot less expensive to just buy an 802.11B WAP
> and cardbus card for my wife.
>
> If you don't mind using the DLink (or a Linksys) to do your routing
> and dhcp, you can often find the wireless routers cheaper than the
> special purpose wireless WAP. Especially if you decide to stick with
> 802.11B until there is more support for G. Your server would still do
> mail and web, it just wouldn't do proxy and dhcp if you go for the
> wireless router.
>
> My wife loves wireless on her WinXP laptop. To me, it doesn't make a
> bit of difference to my desktop. Actually, for LAN stuff it's slower
> than a LAN drop.
>
> While pricing wireless, also get the price to have a Cat5E cable run
> upstairs. You might be surprised. With the LAN drop upstairs you don't
> change anything on your servers, and still use a hub to support more
> PCs.
Thanks for the warnings. I'm not going to buy any equipment without
either being sure it works or a "does-not-work-return" policy.
Would i be able to connect such a wireless bridge on my cable modem
and then have the eth0 of the server connect to the bridge via an usb
wireless network card? I could then pop in another wireless bridge in
eth1 of the server and use that to serve the clients (also wireless).
Or isn't something like this possible?
Anyway, it seems to me that the simplest thing would be to move
the server downstairs. Then eth0 would still be connected to the
cable modem and i could just install a bridge on eth1 and that would
be it (if that is what a bridge does).
But that's not going to happen since my server will not be allowed
in the livingroom. Might be for the best too. My son is starting
to walk so the server would be in for some kicking.
Still a bit confused on what hardware components i need but
the wife is getting really tired of the cable.
I think she even deliberatly tries to ware out the cable: it runs
under a door as well and she loves to open and close that door :)
"Look honey, see, the cable is starting to fail here, look, look"
Benedict
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