[ILUG] Adding wireless to a Linux home network

[Brendan Kehoe]

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> If someone has a similar setup working at home, any advice as to which
> make/model of router/access point and any difficulties they had in
> configuration/operation would be greatly appreciated. 

We had an existing network comprised of Linux, Windows, and Mac hosts all 
connected by a bunch of CAT5 ports; those, in turn, joined together via a 
patch panel to a 10/100 switch (was a hub once).  One of the Linux boxes is 
running RedHat---soon to change to Debian probably---and, at first, acted as 
our dialup, dns, dhcp, mail, news (via leafnode+), printer, etc server.  When 
we switched to DSL, we configured our Zyxel Prestige 642R-11 box to be the 
router for the DSL connection.  (After it was initially given to us to be a 
bridge, relying on the Linux box to do all of the work.)  The Linux box now 
still does everything except the dialup; it too now shares the Zyxel box as 
its default route, as do everyone else.

Then we got a 3Com OfficeConnect Cable/DSL Gateway Wireless AP box and some 
random PCMCIA cards (and an AirPort card for an iBook).  The 3Com AP is 
actually not doing the DSL gateway stuff yet---its location to give us a lot 
of wireless coverage is not in the same location as where the DSL line enters 
the house.  It's also able to be a DHCP server, but we've not taken that off 
the RedHat box yet, since I've not yet found a (clear) way to assign specific 
addresses to specific hosts by way of their MAC address.  I don't like the 
idea of being too willing to do arbitrary assignment.  So it's just a 
wireless AP waiting to be able to do more, I guess.

It was easy to configure into our existing setup.  While it comes with Windows 
software, it can also be configured via telnet.  I didn't have to do anything 
fancy, just make sure its subnet was correct (I had to change a laptop to be 
192.168.1.100, say, to be able to see it).  Then I plugged it into the house 
CAT5 network, and everything's happy.  It's a 11Mb box, not 802.11g, but 
that's okay---there aren't 30 of us trying to us it at once. :-)  And if we 
get frustrated, we just plug into the CAT5 port in the wall to jump to 100Mb 
to speed up a download.

B

- -- 
Brendan Kehoe                                               brendan at zen.org

http://www.zen.org/~brendan/
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