Connecting to an access point with shared wep key

I'm running RH9 on a Toshiba Satellite A15. The laptop connects
automattically to my home wireless network. I can give it commands
manually (like iwconfig, ifconfig, dhclient) using a shell and I can
access public wireless access points at Barnes and Noble cafes. The
latter does not use wep encryption. (For some reason, the network gui
refuses to work although I used it to set up access at home.) At Barnes
and Noble I have to drop the firewall to get to the login web page.
After I login I can put up the firewall and still access web pages.

My problem is that I cannot access a wireless access point at my
university library. It requires and essid and wep. I give it commands like:

> /sbin/iwconfig essid "PITT-WIRELESS"
> /sbin/iwconfig mode "Managed"
> /sbin/iwconfig key restricted XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
> /sbin/ifconfig eth1 up
> /sbin/dhclient eth1

DHCP assigns an IP and creates a resolv.conf with the nameserver
information. netstat shows that a default route and gateway is
established. I can ping the gateway. The wireless icon on the panel
shows a connection with a percentage in the 90's. The green light on the
pcmcia wireless network card is solid green indicating a connection. The
wireless pc card is a DLink DW-650 with the prism 2 chipset.

When I point the browser at google, the login web page appears. I can
login to my university account. It shows I'm logged in and then tries to
resolve the google web site but never does. It also pops up a logoff
webpage and I can click it to log off. I cannot ping the nameservers nor
anything but the gateway. I've checked and I get a DHCP lease. I took my
laptop to the library IT people. The only thing they could think of was
that maybe the network card could not handle a shared wep key althought
they would not have thought I could get to the login web page.

My understanding is that DHCP should assign everything I need to connect.

Any insights would be greatly appreciated.

Rick B.

in Rick Bilonick's honest opinion:

> > /sbin/ifconfig eth1 up
> > /sbin/dhclient eth1

i don't think you need to ifconfig up, dhclient would do it by itself
(dhcpcd does that)

> I can ping the gateway.

how did you ping that: by ip or name?

> I cannot ping the nameservers nor anything but the gateway.

that's the problem: you cannot reach dns servers and this is why you can't
navigate over website.

firstly of all can you look at others' network configuration got from dhcp
server? then check if your configuration matches.

secondly you cannot ping remote hosts: it could be caused by security
reasons (sysadmin does not allow forward of icmp packets), try to see if
others can do that (especially if they can ping remote dns before and after
web authentication)

if they can there is something wrong in authentication process: you'd better
contact your technical staff
--
remove_this_ on mailing

"Rick Bilonick" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:41ba857c$(E-Mail Removed)...
> I'm running RH9 on a Toshiba Satellite A15. The laptop connects
> automattically to my home wireless network. I can give it commands
> manually (like iwconfig, ifconfig, dhclient) using a shell and I can
> access public wireless access points at Barnes and Noble cafes. The latter
> does not use wep encryption. (For some reason, the network gui refuses to
> work although I used it to set up access at home.) At Barnes and Noble I
> have to drop the firewall to get to the login web page. After I login I
> can put up the firewall and still access web pages.
>
> My problem is that I cannot access a wireless access point at my
> university library. It requires and essid and wep. I give it commands
> like:
>
> > /sbin/iwconfig essid "PITT-WIRELESS"
> > /sbin/iwconfig mode "Managed"
> > /sbin/iwconfig key restricted XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
> > /sbin/ifconfig eth1 up
> > /sbin/dhclient eth1
>
> DHCP assigns an IP and creates a resolv.conf with the nameserver
> information. netstat shows that a default route and gateway is
> established. I can ping the gateway. The wireless icon on the panel shows
> a connection with a percentage in the 90's. The green light on the pcmcia
> wireless network card is solid green indicating a connection. The wireless
> pc card is a DLink DW-650 with the prism 2 chipset.
>
> When I point the browser at google, the login web page appears. I can
> login to my university account. It shows I'm logged in and then tries to
> resolve the google web site but never does. It also pops up a logoff
> webpage and I can click it to log off. I cannot ping the nameservers nor
> anything but the gateway. I've checked and I get a DHCP lease. I took my
> laptop to the library IT people. The only thing they could think of was
> that maybe the network card could not handle a shared wep key althought
> they would not have thought I could get to the login web page.
>
> My understanding is that DHCP should assign everything I need to connect.
>
> Any insights would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Rick B.

Rick;

Sounds like you are not getting any DNS. Can't tell you how to fix it.

Doug

Doug Holtz NOSPAM in adress wrote:
> "Rick Bilonick" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:41ba857c$(E-Mail Removed)...
>
>>I'm running RH9 on a Toshiba Satellite A15. The laptop connects
>>automattically to my home wireless network. I can give it commands
>>manually (like iwconfig, ifconfig, dhclient) using a shell and I can
>>access public wireless access points at Barnes and Noble cafes. The latter
>>does not use wep encryption. (For some reason, the network gui refuses to
>>work although I used it to set up access at home.) At Barnes and Noble I
>>have to drop the firewall to get to the login web page. After I login I
>>can put up the firewall and still access web pages.
>>
>>My problem is that I cannot access a wireless access point at my
>>university library. It requires and essid and wep. I give it commands
>>like:
>>
>>
>>>/sbin/iwconfig essid "PITT-WIRELESS"
>>>/sbin/iwconfig mode "Managed"
>>>/sbin/iwconfig key restricted XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
>>>/sbin/ifconfig eth1 up
>>>/sbin/dhclient eth1
>>
>>DHCP assigns an IP and creates a resolv.conf with the nameserver
>>information. netstat shows that a default route and gateway is
>>established. I can ping the gateway. The wireless icon on the panel shows
>>a connection with a percentage in the 90's. The green light on the pcmcia
>>wireless network card is solid green indicating a connection. The wireless
>>pc card is a DLink DW-650 with the prism 2 chipset.
>>
>>When I point the browser at google, the login web page appears. I can
>>login to my university account. It shows I'm logged in and then tries to
>>resolve the google web site but never does. It also pops up a logoff
>>webpage and I can click it to log off. I cannot ping the nameservers nor
>>anything but the gateway. I've checked and I get a DHCP lease. I took my
>>laptop to the library IT people. The only thing they could think of was
>>that maybe the network card could not handle a shared wep key althought
>>they would not have thought I could get to the login web page.
>>
>>My understanding is that DHCP should assign everything I need to connect.
>>
>>Any insights would be greatly appreciated.
>>
>>Rick B.
>
>
> Rick;
>
> Sounds like you are not getting any DNS. Can't tell you how to fix it.
>
> Doug
>
>
I would say that too but I can see from the DHCP lease information and
the resolv.conf file created by the DHCP client that a primary and
secondary nameservers are assigned. As I said, I can't ping them which
is weird.

Rick B.

Rick Bilonick <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> DHCP assigns an IP and creates a resolv.conf with the nameserver
> information. netstat shows that a default route and gateway is
> established. I can ping the gateway. The wireless icon on the panel
> shows a connection with a percentage in the 90's. The green light on the
> pcmcia wireless network card is solid green indicating a connection. The
> wireless pc card is a DLink DW-650 with the prism 2 chipset.
>
> When I point the browser at google, the login web page appears. I can

At this point, you're on the wireless network. There's nothint to fix there.

> login to my university account. It shows I'm logged in and then tries to
> resolve the google web site but never does. It also pops up a logoff
> webpage and I can click it to log off. I cannot ping the nameservers nor
> anything but the gateway. I've checked and I get a DHCP lease. I took my
> laptop to the library IT people. The only thing they could think of was
> that maybe the network card could not handle a shared wep key althought
> they would not have thought I could get to the login web page.

The problem is between your laptop and whatever system your network group is
using to throw up that login page. It sounds like they're using something like
bluesocket or airespace wireless to throw up another layer of authentication
above and beyond the WEP key. You need to track down whoever is responsible
for that login page, and ask them for help.

--
Frank Sweetser fs at wpi.edu
WPI Network Engineer
GPG fingerprint = 6174 1257 129E 0D21 D8D4 E8A3 8E39 29E3 E2E8 8CEC

Frank Sweetser wrote:
> Rick Bilonick <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>>DHCP assigns an IP and creates a resolv.conf with the nameserver
>>information. netstat shows that a default route and gateway is
>>established. I can ping the gateway. The wireless icon on the panel
>>shows a connection with a percentage in the 90's. The green light on the
>>pcmcia wireless network card is solid green indicating a connection. The
>>wireless pc card is a DLink DW-650 with the prism 2 chipset.
>>
>>When I point the browser at google, the login web page appears. I can
>
>
> At this point, you're on the wireless network. There's nothint to fix there.
>
>
>>login to my university account. It shows I'm logged in and then tries to
>>resolve the google web site but never does. It also pops up a logoff
>>webpage and I can click it to log off. I cannot ping the nameservers nor
>>anything but the gateway. I've checked and I get a DHCP lease. I took my
>>laptop to the library IT people. The only thing they could think of was
>>that maybe the network card could not handle a shared wep key althought
>>they would not have thought I could get to the login web page.
>
>
> The problem is between your laptop and whatever system your network group is
> using to throw up that login page. It sounds like they're using something like
> bluesocket or airespace wireless to throw up another layer of authentication
> above and beyond the WEP key. You need to track down whoever is responsible
> for that login page, and ask them for help.
>

I remember seeing the word "bluesocket" on the login web page. I'll call
the main help center to get more information.

If there is another level of authentication, how would I configure access?

Thanks.

Rick B.

Rick Bilonick <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>> The problem is between your laptop and whatever system your network group is
>> using to throw up that login page. It sounds like they're using something
>> like bluesocket or airespace wireless to throw up another layer of
>> authentication above and beyond the WEP key. You need to track down whoever
>> is responsible for that login page, and ask them for help.
>>
>
> I remember seeing the word "bluesocket" on the login web page. I'll call

Bingo.

> the main help center to get more information.
>
> If there is another level of authentication, how would I configure access?

Typically, the way that bluesocket works is it acts as a router for untrusted
subnets, like wireless. The first time you open a web browser, it hijacks it
and points you at its login page. Once you succesfully log in, it should open
up a hole in its internal firewall and you your machine through. You shouldn't
have to do anything further on your system.

--
Frank Sweetser fs at wpi.edu
WPI Network Engineer
GPG fingerprint = 6174 1257 129E 0D21 D8D4 E8A3 8E39 29E3 E2E8 8CEC

Hekaton Keires wrote:
> in Rick Bilonick's honest opinion:
>
>
>> > /sbin/ifconfig eth1 up
>> > /sbin/dhclient eth1
>
>
> i don't think you need to ifconfig up, dhclient would do it by itself
> (dhcpcd does that)
>
>
>>I can ping the gateway.
>
>
> how did you ping that: by ip or name?
>
>
>>I cannot ping the nameservers nor anything but the gateway.
>
>
> that's the problem: you cannot reach dns servers and this is why you can't
> navigate over website.
>
> firstly of all can you look at others' network configuration got from dhcp
> server? then check if your configuration matches.
>
> secondly you cannot ping remote hosts: it could be caused by security
> reasons (sysadmin does not allow forward of icmp packets), try to see if
> others can do that (especially if they can ping remote dns before and after
> web authentication)
>
> if they can there is something wrong in authentication process: you'd better
> contact your technical staff

I use the numeric IP address when I ping the gateway. I just remembered
though that when I do a route it shows the name of the gateway unless I
do "route -n". So how does it know the name if the DNS cannot be reached?

I tried just using dhclient to get access (it works fine at Barnes and
Noble - but they don't use bluesocket).

When I get a chance I'm going to call the help desk. Maybe they can shed
light on this. I would try connecting under XP but if I boot into XP
with the DWL-650 plugged in, XP crashes - every time -- even though I
have the latest driver for the card.

Rick B.