WLAN SETUP HOWTO

Naveen.M.K, Protocol Engineering & Technology Unit, Electrical Engineering Department, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore - 12.

Outline

Introduction TypesofWLANs ATypicalWLANInstallation WLANHardware 802.11bWLANInstallationinLinux

Adhocnetwork WithAccessPoint

Introduction

WLANisawirelesslocalareanetworkthatuses radiowavesasitscarrier:thelastlinkwiththeusers iswireless,togiveanetworkconnectiontoallusers inthesurroundingarea. Areasmayrangefromasingleroomtoanentire campus. Thebackbonenetworkusuallyusescables,withone ormorewirelessaccesspointsconnectingthe wirelessuserstothewirednetwork.

TypesofWLANs

InfrastructureNetworks

WLAN,CellularNetworksetc.

TypesofWLANs

InfrastructurelessNetworks

MANET

TypesofWLANs

ImplementationWise AdhocMode

NoAccessPoint,onlymobilenodes APwithDHCP,mobilenodes AbridgeassistedbyaDHCPServerhost,mobilenodes NotAP,ahostactingasanAP,mobilenodes

AllinoneAP

BridgewithaDHCPHost

HostAP(AllinoneHost)

TypicalWLANInstallation

WAN/ Internet

WLAN Link

WLAN

TypicalWLAN

1centralAccessPoint Membersofthenetwork(mobileorstatic) AllnodesshouldhaveaWNIC,(withrelevant driversinstalled). AP:

EnableandconfigureDHCP IdentifyanactiveAP RegistertoitsLANusingDHCP

Members:

WirelessHardware

Hardwarerequirements
Accesspoints WLANCards+Appropriatedrivers Nodes

AccessPoints

Anaccesspointactsasacentralhub,router,bridgetoEthernet, andserverfordynamichostconfigurationprotocol(DHCP)and networkaddresstranslation(NAT),aswellasotherfunctions. Thestandardhomegatewaysoftenhaveawideareanetwork (WAN)Ethernetport(toconnecttoaDSLorcablemodem)and oneormorelocalareanetwork(LAN)portsforthelocal network. CiscoAironet1200series Linksys802.11b/gWirelessrouterwithaccesspoints Wehavelinksys802.11bBEFW11S4,EtherfastWireless AP+Cable/DSLRouterwith4PortSwitch

LinksysBEFW11S4

LinksysBEFW11S4

Linksys2.4GHz.EtherFastWirelessAccessPointand Cable/DSLRouterwith4PortSwitch Supportsupto32users Typicalrangeofupto100150ft.indoors Connectstoabroadbandmodem,10/100Ethernet backboneorwirelessnetwork Eliminatesneedforanadditionalhuborswitch Providesroaming,bestaccesspointselection,load balancingandnetworktrafficfiltering ConfigurablethroughnetworkedPC'sWebbrowser Capableofupto128bitWEPencryption AbilitytoactasDHCP

LinksysBEFW11S4Details

ProductTypeRouter Speed11Mbps AutodetectingYes AutosensingYes LANConnectionWireless WirelessStandard2.4Ghz SystemRequirementsLinux,Windows95+.

Linksys802.11GAPWAP54G

LinksysWAP54G

802.11G54Mbps(interoperablewith802.11b) AdvancedwirelesssecuritywithWPA,128bit WEPencryption,andMACfiltering AllotherfunctionalitiesaresimilartoBEFW11S4

WLANCards

Thiscardusesaantennatocommunicatethroughmicrowaves.A WNICinadesktopcomputerismostlylocatedinthe USB/PCMIA/PCI(canbeintegrated)slot. AWNICcanoperateintwomodesknownasinfrastructuremode andadhocmode. CommonWLANCards IntersilPrismIIbasedcards(availablewithHostAPmode)(the mostcommon) LucentOrinoco,Samsung(whatwehave) OrinocoUSBcardsandHP/Compaqmultiport CiscoAironetWLANcards RealtekRTL8180Lcards

WLANCards

802.11gbaPCICard

WLANPCMCIACard

WirelessUSBAdapter

LinuxWired&WirelessExtensions

LinuxWiredExtensions

ifconfig dhcp network

LinuxWirelessExtensions

/proc/net/wireless iwconfig iwlist

Ifconfig

Ifconfigisusedtoconfigurethekernelresident networkinterfaces.Itisusedatboottimetoset upinterfacesasnecessary.Afterthat,itis usuallyonlyneededwhendebuggingorwhen systemtuningisneeded. Options:

interface up down netmask

Ifconfig

Ifconfig

Ifconfig

dhcpdanddhclient

dhcpdDynamicHostConfigurationProtocol Server ImplementstheDynamicHostConfiguration Protocol(DHCP)andtheInternetBootstrap Protocol(BOOTP).DHCPallowshostsona TCP/IPnetworktorequestandbeassignedIP addresses,andalsotodiscoverinformationabout thenetworktowhichtheyareattached.

dhcpdanddhclient

DHCPClient,dhclient,providesameansfor configuringoneormorenetworkinterfacesusing theDynamicHostConfigurationProtocol, BOOTPprotocol,oriftheseprotocolsfail,by staticallyassigninganaddress.

dhclientoutput

dhcpd.confanddhclient.conf

dhcpd.conffilecontainsconfigurationinformation fordhcpd Keywords:

defaultleasetime,maxleasetime subnet,netmask,range,routers domainname,domainnameservers

dhcpd.confanddhclient.conf

dhclient.conffilecanbeusedtoconfigurethebehaviourof theclientinawidevarietyofways: protocoltiming,informationrequestedfromtheserver informationrequiredoftheserver defaultstouseiftheserverdoesnotprovidecertain information valueswithwhichtooverrideinformationprovidedbythe server, valuestoprependorappendtoinformationprovidedbythe server.Theconfigurationfilecanalsobepreinitializedwith addressestouseonnetworksthatdon'thaveDHCPservers.

LinuxWirelessExtensions

/proc/net/wirelessisdesignedtogivesome wirelessspecificstatisticsoneachwireless interfaceinthesystem.Thisentryisinfactaclone of/proc/net/devwhichgivesthestandarddriver statistics

/proc/net/wireless

Foreachdevice,thefollowinginformationisgiven:

Status:Itscurrentstate.Thisisadevicedependent information. Qualitylink:generalqualityofthereception. Qualitylevel:signalstrengthatthereceiver. Qualitynoise:silencelevel(nopacket)atthereceiver. Discardednwid:numberofdiscardedpacketsdueto invalidnetworkid. Discardedcrypt:numberofpacketunabletodecrypt

iwconfig

Thistoolisdesignedtoconfigureallthewirelessspecific parametersofthedriverandthehardware.Thisisacloneof ifconfigusedforstandarddeviceconfiguration. Parametersavailable:

freqorchannel:thefrequencyorthechannelsequence nwid:networkidordomain,todistinguishdifferentlogical networks thenameoftheprotocolusedontheair sens:thisisthesignallevelthresholdtotriggerpacketreception (sensitivity). enc:theencryptionorscramblingkeyused.

iwconfig

iwlist

Getmoredetailedwirelessinformationfroma wirelessinterface Usedtolistcurrentlyactiveaccesspoints Options:

scan:GivethelistofAccessPointsandAdHoccellsin range,andoptionallyawholebunchofinformationabout them(ESSID,Quality,Frequency,Mode...). freq/channel:Givethelistofavailablefrequenciesin thedeviceandthenumberofdefinedchannels.

iwlistexample

WirelessNetworkTypes

AdhocMode AllinoneAP APwithaDHCPHost HostAP(AllinoneHost)

AdhocNetworkSetup

Aselfconfiguringnetworkofmobilerouters(and associatedhosts)connectedbywirelesslinksthe unionofwhichformanarbitrarytopology. NoneedofAP Certaintechnicalknowhowonthepartoftheuser isrequiredtoconnecttotheadhocnetwork Theessidhastobedistributed(manuallyor otherwise)toeveryonewhowishestoconnectto theadhocnetwork

AdhocNetworkSetupSteps

iwconfigresult

AdhocNetworkSetupSteps

Createaessid inadhoc modeonone ofthemobile nodes

AdhocNetworkSetupSteps

Associateto thesameessid inadhoc modeon another mobilenode

AdhocNetworkSetupSteps

AssignanIPaddressusingifconfig.

AdhocNetworkSetupSteps

Pingto another node 13.12.11.1

AdhocNetworkSetupSteps

Pingto theother node 13.12.11.2

AllinoneAP

UsingLinksys802.11bBEFW11S4asanexample. ConnecttheAPtothecomputerdirectlyusingoneof the4switchports. AccesstheAPthroughabrowserusingapredefinedIP address(theIPaddresscanbefoundinthemanual.) ThewebinterfaceallowsconfigurationoftheAP's DHCPserver,NAT,Securitykeys,IPforwardingetcas showninthefollowingslides.

MainOptions&AdvancedOptions

SetupPage

SetupPage

PasswordPage

StatusOptionPage

DHCPOptionPage

LogPage

SecurityOptionsPage

AdvancedOptionsFilters

AdvancedOptionsFilters

ForwardingOptionsPage

DynamicRouting

StaticRoutingOptionsPage

DMZHostOptionsPage

MACAddressClone

WirelessOptionsPage

WirelessOptionsPage

AP+DHCPHost

Inthisnetworkmodetheaccesspointactsasabridge Allpacketsreceivedononeinterfaceareforwarded toanotherinterface DHCPHostConfiguration

dhcpd.conf

dhcpd.confanddhclient.conf

dhcpd.confanddhclient.conf

HostAP(AllinoneHost)

CertainWLANcarddrivershavebeenprogrammedsuchthatwhen installedonacomputer,thecomputercanbehaveasanAccessPoint. SuchacomputerisknownasHostAP.

LinuxdriverswrittenforwirelessLANcardsbasedonIntersil's Prism2/2.5/3chipsetcurrentlysupporthostAPfacility. ThesecardssupportaninherentHostAPmode. ThreemaincomponentsoftheHostAPproject(http://hostap.epitest.fi/) HostAPLinuxdriverforPrism2/2.5/3 hostapduserspacedaemonforaccesspoints,including,e.g.,IEEE 802.1X/WPA/EAPAuthenticatorfornumberofLinuxandBSD drivers,RADIUSclient,integratedEAPserver,andRADIUS authenticationserver wpa_supplicantuserspaceIEEE802.1X/WPAsupplicant(wireless client)fornumberofLinux,BSD,andWindowsdrivers

HostAP(AllinoneHost)

HostAPisaLinuxdriverforwirelessLANcardsbasedonIntersil's Prism2/2.5/3chipset. DriversupportsaHostAPmodeittakescareofIEEE802.11 managementfunctionsinthehostcomputerandactsasanaccesspoint. DoesnotrequireanyspecialfirmwareforthewirelessLANcard. Inadditiontothis,ithassupportfornormalstationoperationsinBSS andpossiblealsoinIBSS. WPAandRSN(WPA2)issupportedwhenusedwithaccompanied tools,wpa_supplicant(WPA/RSNSupplicant)andhostapd(WPA/RSN Authenticator). Alltheseprogramshavebeendesignedforbothdesktop/laptop computersandembeddedsystems.

HostAP(AllinoneHost)

Intersil's station firmware for Prism2 chipset supports a so called HostAPmode thefirmwaretakescareofbeaconsendingandframeacknowledging leavesothermanagementtaskstohostcomputerdriver ThisdriverimplementsinitializationandconfigurationofPrism2 basedcards,tosendandreceiveframes,andtogatherstatistics. Inaddition,itincludesanimplementationof:authentication(and deauthentication),association(reassociation,anddisassociation), datatransmissionbetweentwowirelessstations,powersaving(PS) modesignalingandframebufferingforPSstations.

Thankyou Questions.