Wireless access point question

Greetings all,

So here's my problem: I'm a sysadmin at a company that would like to
provide wireless access to visitors and employees in a few different
conference rooms.

Our current system uses MAC security as well as a key. The problem
with this is that the whole system needs to be rebooted once you put a
new MAC address in, and we can't do that because our manufacturing
floor relies on the system.

Therefore, daytime visitors have to wait until the next day to be able
to use the wireless. It's a real pain.

Is there an access point product that pulls up a default web page that
you can type a key into? I've seen this type of thing at internet
cafes and airports... anyone know of a product that does this?

Thanks

P.H.



syrjalab@gsilumonics.com

> Is there an access point product that pulls up a default web page that
> you can type a key into? I've seen this type of thing at internet
> cafes and airports... anyone know of a product that does this?

You really don't have the right product here at all. If you want to
provide visitor access then you ideally need an AP that provides
multiple SSID's or some form of authentication, certainly one that
doesn't need a reboot!

MAC/WEP security is as good as no security for anyone that has half an
hour to spare to crack it.

If *all* that you want to do is offer visitors access to the internet on
a cheap basis then either just install a second AP (cheaper than
replacing the existing AP with one that provides multiple SSID's and
VLAN assignments to an appropriate AAA server) or alternatively use
something like this:-

http://www.dlink.com/products/?sec=0&pid=173

You can get them with the radios built in too for an all in one
solution.

David.