Christmas Wireless - final push today...

[Mark Knecht]

On Thu, 16 Dec 2004 11:31:25 -0800, Rick Stevens
<rstevens at vitalstream.com> wrote:

> It won't unless you have an /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-wlan0
> file set up.  Sample for my Broadcom on FC3:
> 
> # Please read /usr/share/doc/initscripts-*/sysconfig.txt
> # for the documentation of these parameters.
> # Broadcom BCM94306 802.11g for VitalStream Irvine office
> IPV6INIT=no
> ONBOOT=no
> USERCTL=no
> PEERDNS=yes
> GATEWAY=
> TYPE=Wireless
> DEVICE=wlan0
> HWADDR=00:90:96:57:E9:FF  <<--this will be different for you
> BOOTPROTO=dhcp
> NETMASK=
> DHCP_HOSTNAME=golem.corp.publichost.com <<--choose a hostname you want
> IPADDR=
> DOMAIN=
> ESSID=someessid  <<--use YOUR ESSID here
> CHANNEL=7
> KEY=s:xxxxxxxxxxxxx  <<--I use a 13-character ASCII ESSID
> KEY=hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh  <<-- Use a 26-character HEX key instead
> MODE=Managed
> RATE=11Mb/s

OK, I set it up as best I could. Now ndiswrapper is loaded at boot
time. No network yet, but it's a start. A couple of questions on the
file:

1) GATEWAY, NETMASK, IPADDR & DOMAIN are left empty. Correct?

2) ESSID doesn't require quotes around someessid?

3) My router is set to channel 11. Do I need to set the same channel
in this config or is the hardware supposed to adjust itself? Or should
it NOT be set to the same value? I changed mine to 11. iwlist wlan0
channel says I'm on 11.

4) iwlist wlan0 encryption reports the correct key number but only for
key #1. The router has the same key for all 4 keys. wlan- says keys 2,
3 & 4 are off. Security mode == restricted. The router is set WEP,
Open System, 128-bit.


> Is your access point set up to use 64-, 128-, or 256-bit encryption?
> I use 128 here (some older cards can't do 256-bit).

Everybody seems to say 128-bit.


> Try "ifconfig -a", kernel 2.6 doesn't show wireless by default.

That works. Thanks.



> The "No DHCPOFFERS received" message is most likely because you don't
> have a valid ESSID, CHANNEL or KEY set up.
> 
> The "configuration for wlan0 not found" isn't really an issue.  It
> simply means that you didn't set up any restrictions as to what dhclient
> can do.  I have this in my /etc/dhclient/dhclient.conf file to restrict
> what DHCP does:
> 
> interface "wlan0" {
>      send host-name "golem-wireless";
>      request subnet-mask, broadcast-address, routers;
>      require subnet-mask, routers;
>      supersede domain-name-servers 64.7.192.162, 64.7.192.163;
> }

Have not done this yet. Is it required or just helpful?

> 
> Most likely.  You need to set up something like I have in my ifcfg-wlan0
> file above.  Most importantly, make sure your ESSID, KEY, MODE, and
> CHANNEL are set properly.  Things should work fine at that point.  As
> a test, try:
> 
> iwconfig wlan0 ESSID your-essid CHANNEL your-channel KEY your-key

iwconfig doesn't like CHANNEL in caps! 

iwconfig wlan0 ESSID my-essid channel 11 KEY my-key

is accepted.

> 
> Remember that "your-key" will be one of the following:
> 
> 64-bit encryption:      14 hex chars OR "s:" and 7 ASCII chars
> 128-bit encryption:     26 hex chars OR "s:" and 13 ASCII chars
> 256-bit encryption:     48 hex chars OR "s:" and 24 ASCII chars
> 
> 64-bit really is 56-bit, 128-bit is 104-bit, and 256-bit is 192-bit.
> Ah, well.

iwconfig reports back the correct key.

There is a network configuration tool system-config-network. In that
tool both eth0 and wlan0 show Inactive. Under hardware wlan0 says
configured. When I tell the tool to activate the interface (same as
ifconfig wlan0 up?) It sits for a minute saying 'Determining IP
information for wlan0...' and then fails with the message 'Determining
IP information for wlan0...failed'.

iwlist wlan0 scan   still reports the correct ESSID from the router.

I think I'm quite close, actually. I hope we can get there.

Thanks for your help!

- Mark

> > What do I need to do to really attach to the network?
> 
> The valid ESSID, KEY and CHANNEL set.

I've tried 7 and 11. I thought they were lucky?! ;-)