wireless.opt options for different reasons

[Rob]

Thank you for your info.  It is.  I am finding scattered pieces of info all
over the net going between network.opt and wireless.opt.

>>> Is there a site or book that describes ALL options for
>>wireless.opt for the
>>> different situations or explains the different options?
>>
>>What do you expect, Microsoft tech writers?  :-)  Seriously, it's a very
>>appropriate request.

Very true since i havent found one single site/page that list 1/4 the
options available.

>>Jean Tourrilhes' page is a good place to start.
>>http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Jean_Tourrilhes/Linux/

This is a helpful site.  I have had this bookmarked for a while now.

>>My reasons for switching to Managed mode now: There's a bad interaction
>>between firmware bugs (finger of blame points to Intersil I think) in
>>Ad-Hoc mode which, for jinxed people like me, drags the network throughput
>>down to 21 Kbyte/sec. Consumer-type AP's have greatly dropped in price:
>>Agere Orinoco AP-200 was US$ 160 last June, probably less now. Linksys
>>WAP-11 recently was $120, **cheaper** than a PCMCIA card and a
>>PCI<->PCMCIA
>>converter to put it in, for a desktop machine. And you can more easily put
>>the AP on a high shelf, avoiding metallic obstructions, which were a
>>problem in my house. You can also hook up the Linksys AP as a "wireless
>>bridge", but we didn't actually try that.

I have actually seen on the IWCONFIG man page that i would want Master to
act as an AP.  It shows more on
http://leaf-project.org/devel/jnilo/manpages/iwconfig.html


>>> I would like
>>> to setup my linux box as a firewall (iptables,
>>ipsec...freeswan, etc) and it
>>> doesnt give much info on how to do this...
>>
>>The real info on security is scattered in various man pages and FAQs, none
>>of which are really relevant to wireless. In my own setup I
>>assume that the
>>black hats are going to get onto my house network through my AP (or
>>Ad-Hoc), no matter how carefully I set it up, so my machines are able to
>>take care of themselves.

The firewall i am not conserned about for the wireless part of it, i just
want acces on my lan for wireless and have a gateway for it.

>>But if you use WEP and turn off convenience
>>features (like telling the WEP key to compatible firmware over
>>the aether -
>>"learn mode"), it can keep the local teenager from downloading MP3's over
>>your DSL connection. Also set up your DHCP to give an IP address only to
>>known MAC addresses, and similarly your firewall should pass only packets
>>from known MAC addresses. MAC can be spoofed, but likely the
>>local teenager
>>won't take the trouble to actually *read* a FAQ about how to set the
>>parameter on the wireless card.

Ye, i also know that the WEP keys are easy to spoof and fix, same for the
MAC.

>>> The info that i am looking for is the options for:
>>> NWID		Ignore.  Let the firmware set it.

Yes, it is the same as ESSID from what i have read.

>>> MODE		See above for my preferences.
>>> FREQ		1-1 correspondence with channel.  Channel
>>is easier to set.
>>> CHANNEL	Set this on the AP, in Managed mode.  Must be set
>>		explicitly in Ad-Hoc mode.  For efficient spectrum use at
>>		11 Mb/s, use 1, 6 or 11 (11 is not legal everywhere).
>>> SENS		Not sure what this is.

This info is on the link i gave above.

>>> RATE		Leave at default; cards will negotiate the
>>fastest rate.
>>> KEY		Your WEP key.  Set this explicitly on the AP and the card.
>>> RTS		Irrelevant at home, and many firmwares can't even do it.
>>> FRAG		Irrelevant at home; take the default.
>>> OWCONFIG	Not sure what this is.

Was meant to be IWCONFIG and not OWCONFIG.


>>> IWSPY		In Ad-Hoc mode, tells the driver and the
>>card which other
>>		card to report network quality statistics for.  Take the
>>		default in Managed mode -- the access point.
>>> IWPRIV	For engaging the obsolete Ad-Hoc Demo mode, and other wierd
>>		and wonderful effects that will probably mess you up.

Thanks
Rob