Wireless In A Nutshell

I've just added a Netgear 802.11.b/g wireless access point to
my home network. I've configured it as best I can with my limited
knowledge of wireless.

I previously had a CCNA which expired two years ago. I am
within a month of passing the ICND (I already passed the INTRO). And
I have completed CCNA 1 and 2 and am currently taking CCNA 3 of the
Cicsco NetAcademy program.

Can you please recommend a good Web page to read that will
explain Wireless Protocol to me in the proverbial 'in a nutshell'
fashion so I will be understand configuring this unit?

I want to understand (and experiment with) the encryption
keys. But when I'm done, I want to make this open so that someone
visiting my home could use their wireless laptop to access my network.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.


Fred

Fred Atkinson <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> I want to understand (and experiment with) the encryption
> keys. But when I'm done, I want to make this open so that someone
> visiting my home could use their wireless laptop to access my network.

You could always just tell the person what the key is.
If you use WPA on newer cards, this is a simple text phrase, but your
visitors might not have WPA. You could disable encryption when someone
visits.

--
---
Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8-122.5

On Wed, 26 Jan 2005 16:40:39 GMT, Fred Atkinson
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> I've just added a Netgear 802.11.b/g wireless access point to
>my home network. I've configured it as best I can with my limited
>knowledge of wireless.

Oh neato. A mystery. The clues are that it's made by Netgear, it's
an access point, and it does both 802.11b and 802.11g. Assuming that
it's current production, that would make it a WG602 access point.
When do I get my prize?

> I previously had a CCNA which expired two years ago. I am
>within a month of passing the ICND (I already passed the INTRO). And
>I have completed CCNA 1 and 2 and am currently taking CCNA 3 of the
>Cicsco NetAcademy program.

Cool. Cisco is one of the few certificate factories that hasn't
trashed the value of their wallpaper. Best of luck.

> Can you please recommend a good Web page to read that will
>explain Wireless Protocol to me in the proverbial 'in a nutshell'
>fashion so I will be understand configuring this unit?

By "Wireless Protocol" do you mean 802.11, 802.11b/g, 802.3
encapsulation methods, WEP, WPA, WPA-PSK, and related protocols?

> I want to understand (and experiment with) the encryption
>keys.

OK. That's WEP and WPA.
http://www.practicallynetworked.com/security/
http://www.tomsnetworking.com/NeedToKnows.php
http://www.drizzle.com/~aboba/IEEE/
http://www.wi-fiplanet.com/tutorials/
If you wanna do some digging, start here:
http://www.wardrive.net
One important fact that seems to be lost on all the various tutorials
is that WPA is nothing more than WEP with an improved key exchange
mechanism. Looking at it with a sniffer, they're basically identical.

If you wanna see what the encrypted data actually looks like, I
suggest the Linux version of Ethereal. Better yet, get one of the
all-in-one bootable wireless cdroms:
http://remote-exploit.org/?page=auditor
http://www.knoppix-std.org

>But when I'm done, I want to make this open so that someone
>visiting my home could use their wireless laptop to access my network.

Just give them the WEP or WPA key. With WEP128, think of it as a
typing test. You have to type 13 characters of gibberish, twice, to
connect. If you're a masochist like me, it's 26 characters of
gibberish. I keep mine on a USB dongle and use cut-n-paste as my
typing is horrible.


--
Jeff Liebermann (E-Mail Removed)
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 AE6KS 831-336-2558

"Fred Atkinson" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> I've just added a Netgear 802.11.b/g wireless access point to
> my home network. I've configured it as best I can with my limited
> knowledge of wireless.
>
Fred,

Having just done something similar with a netgear FWAG114 with a service
supplier who pay me money for people that aren't friends <g> ; I found the
support pages for netgear quite useful in explaining many of the settings
There are many documents for specific devices containing a reasonable
description of the meaning of each setting

http://kbserver.netgear.com/main.asp

Have to agree though, there's a need for something more basic to perhaps
explain if and how devices using the same protocol talk to each other and
how to offer both freedom of access with some element of security.

My aim is to provide free service to nearby community facilities offsetting
the cost by charging passing business users.

Jeff

Well, that's true of course.

But, I wouldn't learn how to do the different tricks when I
set one of these things up for someone else.

Thanks,


Fred

Jeff Liebermann <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> Just give them the WEP or WPA key. With WEP128, think of it as a
> typing test. You have to type 13 characters of gibberish, twice, to
> connect. If you're a masochist like me, it's 26 characters of
> gibberish. I keep mine on a USB dongle and use cut-n-paste as my
> typing is horrible.

I noticed that you referred (in another post) to typing in a key on a
Mac. Just for reference, although the Mac's wireless connection dialog
doesn't permit pasting, Keychain Access (in /Applications/Utilities) and
the Network preference pane (the "specific network" fields) do.