[2024-feb-29] Sad news: Eric Layton aka Nocturnal Slacker aka vtel57 passed away on Feb 26th, shortly after hospitalization. He was one of our Wiki's most prominent admins. He will be missed.
Differences
This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.
Next revision | Previous revisionNext revisionBoth sides next revision | ||
slackbook:wifi [2012/08/20 14:01 (UTC)] – created kookiemonster | slackbook:wifi [2012/09/17 01:22 (UTC)] – [rc.inet1.conf revisited] Added original text and formatting mfillpot | ||
---|---|---|---|
Line 3: | Line 3: | ||
===== iwconfig ===== | ===== iwconfig ===== | ||
- | Wireless networking is somewhat more complicated than traditional wired networking, and requires additional tools for setup. Slackware includes a diverse collection of wireless networking tools to allow you to configure your wireless network interface card (WNIC) at the most basic level. We won't cover everything here, but should give you a solid foundation to get up and running quickly. The first tool we are going to look at is iwconfig(8). When run without any argument, iwconfig displays the current wireless information on any and all NICs on your computer. | + | Wireless networking is somewhat more complicated than traditional wired |
+ | networking, and requires additional tools for setup. Slackware includes | ||
+ | a diverse collection of wireless networking tools to allow you to | ||
+ | configure your wireless network interface card (WNIC) at the most basic | ||
+ | level. We won't cover everything here, but should give you a solid | ||
+ | foundation to get up and running quickly. | ||
+ | to look at is **//iwconfig//**(8). When run without | ||
+ | any argument, | ||
+ | wireless information on any and all NICs on your computer. | ||
- | darkstar:~# iwconfig | ||
- | lo no wireless extensions. | ||
- | | ||
- | eth0 no wireless extensions. | ||
- | | ||
- | wmaster0 | ||
- | | ||
- | wlan0 IEEE 802.11abgn | ||
- | Mode: | ||
- | 00: | ||
- | Bit Rate=54 Mb/s | ||
- | Retry min limit: | ||
- | Encryption key:off | ||
- | Power Management: | ||
- | Link Quality=100/ | ||
- | Rx invalid nwid: | ||
- | Tx excessive retries: | ||
- | | ||
- | tun0 no wireless extensions. | ||
- | Unlike wired networks, wireless networks are " | + | < |
+ | darkstar:~# iwconfig | ||
+ | lo no wireless extensions. | ||
+ | |||
+ | eth0 no wireless extensions. | ||
+ | |||
+ | wmaster0 | ||
+ | |||
+ | wlan0 IEEE 802.11abgn | ||
+ | Mode: | ||
+ | 00: | ||
+ | Bit Rate=54 Mb/s | ||
+ | Retry min limit: | ||
+ | Encryption key:off | ||
+ | Power Management: | ||
+ | Link Quality=100/ | ||
+ | Rx invalid nwid: | ||
+ | Tx excessive retries: | ||
+ | |||
+ | tun0 no wireless extensions. | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | Unlike wired networks, wireless networks are //" | ||
+ | hard to define, and multiple networks may overlap one another. In order | ||
+ | to avoid confusion, each wireless network has (hopefully) unique | ||
+ | identifiers. The two most basic identifiers are the Extended Service | ||
+ | Set Identifier (ESSID) and the channel or frequency for radio | ||
+ | transmission. The ESSID is simply a name that identifies the wireless | ||
+ | network in question; you may have heard it referred to as the //" | ||
+ | name"// or something similar. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | Typical wireless networks operate on 11 different frequencies. In | ||
+ | order to connect to even the most basic wireless network, you will | ||
+ | have to setup these two pieces of information, | ||
+ | before setting up things like the WNIC's IP address. Here you can see | ||
+ | that my ESSID is set to //" | ||
+ | transmitting at 2.432 GHz. This is all that is required to connect to | ||
+ | an unencrypted wireless LAN. (For any of you out there expecting | ||
+ | to come to my house and use my unencrypted wireless, you should know | ||
+ | that you'll have to break a 2048-bit SSL key before the access point | ||
+ | will let you communicate with my LAN.) | ||
- | Typical wireless networks operate on 11 different frequencies. In order to connect to even the most basic wireless network, you will have to setup these two pieces of information, | + | < |
darkstar:~# iwconfig wlan0 essid nest \ | darkstar:~# iwconfig wlan0 essid nest \ | ||
- | freq 2.432G | + | freq 2.432G</ |
- | The [freq] and [channel] arguments control basically the same thing. You only need to use one. If you are unsure what frequency or channel to use, Slackware can usually figure this out for you. | + | |
+ | The //freq// and //channel// arguments control basically | ||
+ | the same thing. | ||
+ | frequency or channel to use, Slackware can usually figure this out for | ||
+ | you. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
darkstar:~# iwconfig wlan0 essid nest \ | darkstar:~# iwconfig wlan0 essid nest \ | ||
channel auto | channel auto | ||
+ | </ | ||
- | Now Slackware will attempt to connect to the strongest access point on the " | ||
- | ===== Wired Equivilant | + | Now Slackware will attempt to connect to the strongest access point on |
+ | the //" | ||
+ | ===== Wired Equivalent | ||
- | Wireless networking is by its very nature less secure than wired networking. Having your information travelling on the airwaves makes it highly susceptible to interception by third parties, so over the years a number of methods have been devised to make wireless networking more secure. The first was called Wired Equivilant Protection, or WEP for short, and fell far short of its goal. If you are still using WEP today, I encourage you to consider using WPA2 or some other form of stronger encryption. Attacks against WEP are trivial and take only minutes to perform. Unfortunately there are still access points configured for WEP, and you may need to connect to one from time to time. Connecting to WEP encrypted access points is fairly simple, particularly if you have the key in hexidecimal format. We'll need to pass the [key] argument along with the password in hexidecimal or ASCII format. If using an ASCII password, you'll need to prepend it with " | + | Wireless networking is by its very nature less secure than wired |
+ | networking. Having your information travelling on the airwaves makes | ||
+ | it highly susceptible to interception by third parties, so over the | ||
+ | years a number of methods have been devised to make wireless | ||
+ | networking more secure. | ||
+ | Protection, or WEP for short, and fell far short of its goal. If you | ||
+ | are still using WEP today, I encourage you to consider using WPA2 or | ||
+ | some other form of stronger encryption. Attacks against WEP are | ||
+ | trivial and take only minutes to perform. Unfortunately there are | ||
+ | still access points configured for WEP, and you may need to connect to | ||
+ | one from time to time. Connecting to WEP encrypted access points is | ||
+ | fairly simple, particularly if you have the key in hexidecimal | ||
+ | format. We'll need to pass the //key// argument along with the | ||
+ | password in hexidecimal or ASCII format. If using an ASCII password, | ||
+ | you'll need to prepend it with //" | ||
+ | speaking, hexidecimal format is preferred. | ||
- | darkstar:~# iwconfig wlan0 \ | ||
- | key cf80baf8bf01a160de540bfb1c | ||
- | darkstar:~# iwconfig wlan0 \ | ||
- | key s: | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | darkstar:~# iwconfig wlan0 \ | ||
+ | key cf80baf8bf01a160de540bfb1c | ||
+ | darkstar:~# iwconfig wlan0 \ | ||
+ | key s: | ||
+ | </ | ||
===== Wifi Protected Access ===== | ===== Wifi Protected Access ===== | ||
- | Wifi Protected Access (or WPA for short) was the successor for WEP that aimed to fix several problems with wireless encryption. Unfortunately, | + | Wifi Protected Access (or WPA for short) was the successor for WEP that |
+ | aimed to fix several problems with wireless encryption. Unfortunately, | ||
+ | WPA had some flaws as well. An update called WPA2 offers even stronger | ||
+ | protection. At this time, WPA2 is supported by nearly all wireless | ||
+ | network cards and access points, but some older devices may only | ||
+ | support WEP. If you need to secure your wireless network traffic, WPA2 | ||
+ | should be considered the minimum level of protection required. | ||
+ | Unfortunately, | ||
+ | WPA2 encryption on its own. For that, we need a helper daemon, | ||
+ | **//wpa_supplicant//**(8). | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | Unfortunately, | ||
+ | protected network; you'll have to edit | ||
+ | ''/ | ||
+ | editor. Here we will discuss the simplest form of WPA2 protection, the | ||
+ | Pre-Shared Key, or PSK for short. For details on setting up Slackware | ||
+ | to connect to more complicated WPA2 encrypted networks, see the man | ||
+ | page for '' | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | # / | ||
+ | # ======================== | ||
+ | # This line enables the use of wpa_cli which is used by rc.wireless | ||
+ | # if possible (to check for successful association) | ||
+ | ctrl_interface=/ | ||
+ | # By default, only root (group 0) may use wpa_cli | ||
+ | ctrl_interface_group=0 | ||
+ | eapol_version=1 | ||
+ | ap_scan=1 | ||
+ | fast_reauth=1 | ||
+ | # | ||
+ | |||
+ | # WPA protected network, supply your own ESSID and WPAPSK here: | ||
+ | network={ | ||
+ | scan_ssid=1 | ||
+ | ssid=" | ||
+ | key_mgmt=WPA-PSK | ||
+ | psk=" | ||
+ | } | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | The block of text we're interested in is the network block enclosed by | ||
+ | curly braces. | ||
+ | //" | ||
+ | passphrase"// | ||
+ | configured. | ||
+ | then obtain an IP address via DHCP or set a static address. | ||
+ | course, this is a lot of work; there must be an easier way to do this. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | <!-- not closing this yet /section --> | ||
+ | ==== rc.inet1.conf revisited ==== | ||
+ | |||
+ | Welcome back to '' | ||
+ | that in [[: | ||
+ | to automatically configure NICs whenever Slackware boots. | ||
+ | will use it to configure wifi as well. | ||
- | Unfortunately, | ||
- | # / | + | < |
- | # ======================== | + | |
- | # This line enables the use of wpa_cli which is used by rc.wireless | + | |
- | # if possible (to check for successful association) | + | |
- | ctrl_interface=/ | + | |
- | # By default, only root (group 0) may use wpa_cli | + | |
- | ctrl_interface_group=0 | + | |
- | eapol_version=1 | + | |
- | ap_scan=1 | + | |
- | fast_reauth=1 | + | |
- | #country=US | + | |
| | ||
- | # WPA protected network, supply your own ESSID and WPAPSK here: | + | If you're using WPA2, you'll still need to setup |
- | network={ | + | |
- | | + | |
- | ssid=" | + | |
- | key_mgmt=WPA-PSK | + | |
- | psk=" | + | |
- | } | + | |
- | The block of text we're interested in is the network block enclosed by curly braces. Here we have set the ssid for the network " | + | </ |
- | rc.inet1.conf revisited | + | |
- | Welcome back to rc.inet1.conf. You're recall | + | Recall |
+ | that correspond with it? The same hold true for wifi NICs, only they | ||
+ | have even more variables due to the added complexity of wireless | ||
+ | networking. | ||
- | < | ||
- | Recall that each NIC had a name or number that identified the variables that correspond with it? The same hold true for wifi NICs, only they have even more variables due to the added complexity of wireless networking. | + | < |
- | | + | # rc.inet1.conf (excert) |
- | # ====================== | + | # ====================== |
- | ## Example config information for wlan0. | + | ## Example config information for wlan0. |
- | ## in your info. (You may not need all of these for your wireless network) | + | ## in your info. (You may not need all of these for your wireless network) |
- | IFNAME[4]=" | + | IFNAME[4]=" |
- | IPADDR[4]="" | + | IPADDR[4]="" |
- | NETMASK[4]="" | + | NETMASK[4]="" |
- | USE_DHCP[4]=" | + | USE_DHCP[4]=" |
- | # | + | # |
- | # | + | # |
- | # | + | # |
- | # | + | # |
- | # | + | # |
- | WLAN_ESSID[4]=" | + | WLAN_ESSID[4]=" |
- | # | + | # |
- | # | + | # |
- | # | + | # |
- | # | + | # |
- | # | + | # |
- | # set EncrypType=TKIP | \ | + | # set EncrypType=TKIP | \ |
- | # set WPAPSK=96389dc66eaf7e6efd5b5523ae43c7925ff4df2f8b7099495192d44a774fda16" | + | # set WPAPSK=96389dc66eaf7e6efd5b5523ae43c7925ff4df2f8b7099495192d44a774fda16" |
- | WLAN_WPA[4]=" | + | WLAN_WPA[4]=" |
- | # | + | # |
+ | </ | ||
- | When we discussed wired ethernet, each n in the variable corresponded with the n in ethn. Here however, that no longer holds true. Notice that the variable IFNAME[4] has a value of wlan0. It is common for wireless cards to have an interface name other than ethn and that is reflected here. When rc.inet1.conf is read by the start-up scripts, Slackware knows to apply all these options to the wlan0 wifi NIC instead of the (probably non-existant) eth4 wired NIC. Many of the other options are the same. IP address information is added in exactly the same way we discussed for wired network cards in [[: | ||
- | To begin, WLAN_ESSID[n] and WLAN_CHANNEL[n] should be self-explainatory by now; they refer the the essid and frequency to use. WLAN_MODE[n] is either managed or ad-hoc. Anyone connecting | + | When we discussed wired ethernet, each //n// in the |
+ | variable corresponded with the //n// in | ||
+ | // | ||
+ | no longer holds true. Notice that the variable IFNAME[4] has a value | ||
+ | of //wlan0//. It is common for wireless cards to have an interface name | ||
+ | other than //ethn// and that is reflected here. | ||
+ | '' | ||
+ | Slackware knows to apply all these options | ||
+ | instead of the (probably non-existant) eth4 wired NIC. Many of the | ||
+ | other options are the same. IP address information | ||
+ | exactly the same way we discussed | ||
+ | some explanation. | ||
- | But wait, that's so much work! And what if I need to connect to multiple wireless networks? I take my laptop to work and school and need to seemlessly setup those wireless connections as soon as one is within range. Doing things this way is simply too much work. You're absolutely correct. | ||
+ | To begin, // | ||
+ | // | ||
+ | they refer the the essid and frequency to | ||
+ | use. // | ||
+ | **managed** or **ad-hoc**. | ||
+ | Anyone connecting to an access point will want to use managed mode. | ||
+ | // | ||
+ | to use WEP. // | ||
+ | variable that sets other variables inside itself. | ||
+ | // | ||
+ | tell Slackware what authentication mode, encryption type, and key to | ||
+ | use for WPA2 connections. | ||
+ | // | ||
+ | are mutually exclusive; you can't use both on the same interface. | ||
+ | you successfully configure all this, then Slackware will attempt to | ||
+ | connect to your wireless network as soon as the system boots. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | But wait, that's so much work! And what if I need to connect to | ||
+ | multiple wireless networks? | ||
+ | need to seemlessly setup those wireless connections as soon as one is | ||
+ | within range. | ||
+ | absolutely correct. | ||
===== Wicd ===== | ===== Wicd ===== | ||
Line 140: | Line 277: | ||
On the graphical front-end, options for different networks are available via the Preferences button adjacent to the ESSID listed. In the terminal client, the same options can be reached by highlighting the ESSID you wish to use and pressing the right arrow key, which opens a configuration page for that network. | On the graphical front-end, options for different networks are available via the Preferences button adjacent to the ESSID listed. In the terminal client, the same options can be reached by highlighting the ESSID you wish to use and pressing the right arrow key, which opens a configuration page for that network. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====== Chapter Navigation ====== | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Previous Chapter: [[slackbook: | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Next Chapter: [[slackbook: | ||
+ | ======Sources====== | ||
+ | |||
+ | * Original source: http:// | ||