about nwid and essid

[Giulio Orsero]

I read iwconfig man page, then 
http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Jean_Tourrilhes/Linux/Linux.Wireless.Extensions.html
and scanned list archive.

I could not find a clear explanaton on why I would want to set nwid
different from essid, and if I'd want to set them at all (and not leave
autodetection do the work).

Suppose I have a network of: 
a) 1AP + 10 clients
b) 2APs + 20 clients + roaming
they are all in the same ip subnet, there are other APs of other networks I
don't want to mess with.

So, how would I set nwid and essid in case a) and b) (the same,
autodetection, different, ...)?
Since there is other wireless stuff nearby, I should avoid autodetection,
right?

iwconfig man page talks about a cell using a nwid, and multiple cells using
the same essid, so why should I use nwid at all when I can use essid?


Thanks!

-- 
giulioo at pobox.com