Help - Wifi network

This may actually be so simple, but I just don't get it.

I've got two small networks - two machines at home, two at the
pharmacy. I'd like to link them with a WiFi. I obtained a CNAP711
Access Point (ATMEL 12350 based) and a CWP854 Client (RT2500 based).
The RF part is working - the client is logged as 'associated' with the
AP.

I've read quite a bit on the 'net on APs and configuring, but all are
for AP cards. The CNAP is an Ethernet card. I get the strangest
results.

The home net is at 192.168.0, the remote net at 192.168.1. eth1 is just
used to go to the DSL router, and, for privacy, I've removed the
default path to the ISP from the route table at home:

Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use
Iface
192.168.0.240 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.255 UH 0 0 0
eth0
10.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0
eth1
192.168.2.0 192.168.0.240 255.255.255.0 UG 0 0 0
eth0
192.168.1.0 192.168.0.240 255.255.255.0 UG 0 0 0
eth0
192.168.0.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0
eth0
127.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 255.0.0.0 U 0 0 0
lo
0.0.0.0 xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx 0.0.0.0 UG 0 0 0
ppp0

The 192.168.2 is the 'net' consisting of the only the client card at
the other side (ra0). 0.240 is the IP of the AP at home.

Now for the strange (for me) things:

Any IP I ping from home on 192.168.1.x replies! Also for non-existing
machines, and, as far as I can see, no packets are sent. (tx counter in
ap-utils doesn't increment)

Is the AP replying to all these pings? And... after a few minutes the
AP even dies, and has to be 'power-cycled' (reset).

Can anyone suggest what is going wrong here? Is it even possible to use
the AP/Client as a link between nets?

Thanks in advance.

John

(E-Mail Removed) wrote:
>
>Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use
>Iface
>192.168.0.240 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.255 UH 0 0 0
>eth0
>10.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0
>eth1
>192.168.2.0 192.168.0.240 255.255.255.0 UG 0 0 0
>eth0
>192.168.1.0 192.168.0.240 255.255.255.0 UG 0 0 0
>eth0
>192.168.0.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0
>eth0
>127.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 255.0.0.0 U 0 0 0
>lo
>0.0.0.0 xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx 0.0.0.0 UG 0 0 0
>ppp0
>
>The 192.168.2 is the 'net' consisting of the only the client card at
>the other side (ra0). 0.240 is the IP of the AP at home.

Try using 192.168.2.240 for the AP, which puts the entire wireless
network on the 192.168.2 subnet.

>Now for the strange (for me) things:
>
>Any IP I ping from home on 192.168.1.x replies! Also for non-existing
>machines, and, as far as I can see, no packets are sent. (tx counter in
>ap-utils doesn't increment)

Does the counter for eth0 change, as shown with "ifconfig eth0"
on the PC whose route table is shown above?

If it does, then the packets are physically being sent, and it
would appear that the AP is seriously munged (misconfigured or
broken otherwise).

>Is the AP replying to all these pings? And... after a few minutes the
>AP even dies, and has to be 'power-cycled' (reset).

Sounds bad... What I'm interested in is the client with an
rt2500 though??? Is it stable? I've got a couple of Linksys
WMP54G cards that use an rt2500, and with either the XP driver
loaded with ndiswrapper or the native Linux driver, they are
unstable. Changing configuration of either the client or the AP
can cause the kernel to panic. Once rebooted it works with the
new configuration though. (Sure makes configuring it a hap
hazard operation!)

>Can anyone suggest what is going wrong here? Is it even possible to use
>the AP/Client as a link between nets?

Thats the easiest way.

--
Floyd L. Davidson <http://web.newsguy.com/floyd_davidson>
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska) (E-Mail Removed)

Hello Floyd

Several things. This is driving me mad, but I've read that an
AP/Client pair is not capable to link two nets - you need two APs for
that. Anyway, I'd be happy if I could get even a simple link running
....

Now, I've noticed that if I ping an IP which is on the remote net (with
the exact config from above), the AP actually changes its local IP to
the one I ping! It doesn't listen on the original configged IP anymore,
and doesn't accept configuration commands on the new IP.

Maybe all this is normal, but I cannot find a good spec on how APs
should behave (APs like the CNAP711). The ATMEL12350 datasheet is only
available under a NDA, and the Atmel people don't even answer e-mail.

About the stability of the rt2500. I got quite mad at the beginning,
because it didn't seem to accept (iw)config or iwpriv commands. Later,
I discovered that iwconfig only shows, eg., the essid when the links is
established. Same with the mode. Now it seems the card is doing well,
it's the AP I have problems with.

John

(E-Mail Removed) wrote:
>Hello Floyd
>
>Several things. This is driving me mad, but I've read that an
>AP/Client pair is not capable to link two nets - you need two APs for
>that. Anyway, I'd be happy if I could get even a simple link running

Depends on what you mean by "two nets". An AP will link a wired
net to a wireless net (using "managed" mode, where all nodes are
wireless clients).

If you want to link two wire based nets with wireless, that
requires two AP's, or the equivalent. "Equivalent" can be an AP
and a client wireless in a host that does IP forwarding (and
hence acts just like an AP).

>Now, I've noticed that if I ping an IP which is on the remote net (with
>the exact config from above), the AP actually changes its local IP to
>the one I ping! It doesn't listen on the original configged IP anymore,
>and doesn't accept configuration commands on the new IP.
>
>Maybe all this is normal, but I cannot find a good spec on how APs
>should behave (APs like the CNAP711). The ATMEL12350 datasheet is only
>available under a NDA, and the Atmel people don't even answer e-mail.

Ya just gotta love assholes, eh?

Does that have have some kind initial configuration setup doing
that, as a way to set its IP? I would assume there necessarily
would be a way to get it to stop doing it too.

I downloaded the user guide for the CNAP711 from cnet... but they
distribute it wrapped in an Windoze executable! So I couldn't
read it anyway.

>About the stability of the rt2500. I got quite mad at the beginning,
>because it didn't seem to accept (iw)config or iwpriv commands. Later,
>I discovered that iwconfig only shows, eg., the essid when the links is
>established. Same with the mode. Now it seems the card is doing well,
>it's the AP I have problems with.

Yep, until there is a connection between the two nodes a number of
fields are invalid.

What I just discovered playing with my stuff last night, and
another poster in this group seems to have been bitten by this
too I see, is that it is possible to get everything to look
quite nice as reported by iwconfig, and still have a
non-functional link if the encryption keys aren't right. I've
been able to make my equipment work with the first encryption
key, but I haven't found a way to get it to work using the 2nd,
3rd or 4th key. And worse, if I change it to a non-valid key,
it not only stops but refuses to be reset to a valid key without
turning the link down and bringing it back up again.

--
Floyd L. Davidson <http://web.newsguy.com/floyd_davidson>
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska) (E-Mail Removed)

Floyd L. Davidson wrote:
> (E-Mail Removed) wrote:

> I downloaded the user guide for the CNAP711 from cnet... but they
> distribute it wrapped in an Windoze executable! So I couldn't
> read it anyway.
>

Did you try to unzip it? The .exe packets are pretty often
self-opening zip archives.

--

Tauno Voipio
tauno voipio (at) iki fi

Tauno Voipio <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>Floyd L. Davidson wrote:
> (E-Mail Removed) wrote:
>
>> I downloaded the user guide for the CNAP711 from cnet... but they
>> distribute it wrapped in an Windoze executable! So I couldn't
>> read it anyway.
>>
>
>Did you try to unzip it? The .exe packets are pretty often
>self-opening zip archives.

I tried, fully expecting it to work. It didn't work on that one.

--
Floyd L. Davidson <http://web.newsguy.com/floyd_davidson>
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska) (E-Mail Removed)

>If you want to link two wire based nets with wireless, that
>requires two AP's, or the equivalent. "Equivalent" can be an AP
>and a client wireless in a host that does IP forwarding (and
>hence acts just like an AP).

Hello Floyd.

I'll try to find more info on that.... (pointers?)

>Does that have have some kind initial configuration setup doing
>that, as a way to set its IP? I would assume there necessarily
>would be a way to get it to stop doing it too.

The AP is on the local net, and can be configged with eg., ap-config.
Such as setting its IP. Of course you then have to log in again at the
new address.
What happened yesterday is that the AP's address changed all by itself
(by just pinging to an IP inside a net mapped to it - 192.168.1.105)
and it didn't reply anymore to the 0.240 I'd programmed by hand.

>I downloaded the user guide for the CNAP711 from cnet... but they
>distribute it wrapped in an Windoze executable! So I couldn't
>read it anyway.

I have the users' manual in HTML from the CD if you're interested -
it's really a piece of art.

I wonder - if the idea of an AP is connecting multiple clients, how
does it communicate the ID of the clients to the host? Is that done by
essid? I suspect its not by IP as those details should be hidden from
the AP... But how are the different essids distinguished at the host
where the AP is connected?

>...but I haven't found a way to get it to work using the 2nd,
>3rd or 4th key. And worse, if I change it to a non-valid key,
>it not only stops but refuses to be reset to a valid key without
>turning the link down and bringing it back up again.

Works here (hey - something actually _works_!)

Do you have any suggestions where to find info on the AP protocol
(except IEEE's 802.11 specs)?

Thanks

(E-Mail Removed) wrote:
>
>Do you have any suggestions where to find info on the AP protocol
>(except IEEE's 802.11 specs)?

I guess the only real advice for any of it is: google is your
friend! Find and read everything you can.

--
Floyd L. Davidson <http://web.newsguy.com/floyd_davidson>
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska) (E-Mail Removed)