wireless router information

English Network/Internet
1

I have a wired network set up with an old CPU running IPCop for firewall/router/content filtering purposes and I am trying to bring in a wireless router so I can use my laptop freely. I prefer if the wireless passes through IPCop as well, for system-wide content filtering.

{internet}->[DSL_modem]->[IPCop]->[switch]->[computers]

Is there a good source of documentation on the types of wireless security methods and which work best with Linux?

I see WPA, WEP, Wireless MAC Filtering,Encrypting, Passphrase, and other things.

It is a Linksys WRT54G2.

I am thinking of using MAC address filtering to only allow my laptop’s MAC address to have access but is that enough?

My neighbors have open wireless signals and I hope to keep from allowing mine to be open too.

I am very new to networking and it seems to not like me very much.

2

Hi
I use wpa with mac address filtering, but had to show my ssid to get
openSUSE 11 to connect (no issues with SLED or Ubuntu). With the wrt54g
you would need to also need to sort out port forwarding etc… Why not
look at a bridge instead. I use a WET54G which from memory can be setup
as an AP plugged into your switch. But the WAP54G is the AP version and
probably a better choice.

Also what ever you decide on, keep at least 2 channels of separation if
you can to decrease interference.

–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE 11.0 x86 Kernel 2.6.25.11-0.1-default
up 1 day 20:01, 2 users, load average: 0.19, 0.17, 0.24
GPU GeForce 6600 TE/6200 TE - Driver Version: 173.14.12

3

Malcolm wrote:
> I use wpa with mac address filtering, but had to show my ssid to get
> openSUSE 11 to connect (no issues with SLED or Ubuntu). With the wrt54g
> you would need to also need to sort out port forwarding etc… Why not
> look at a bridge instead. I use a WET54G which from memory can be setup
> as an AP plugged into your switch. But the WAP54G is the AP version and
> probably a better choice.
>
> Also what ever you decide on, keep at least 2 channels of separation if
> you can to decrease interference.

IMHO, MAC address filtering is so easy to defeat that it isn’t worth
the trouble. WEP is easily broken - it only takes 5 minutes, or less.
WPA can also be broken, but it takes a brute-force method. I’m told
the time to do so is prohibitively long if your passphrase has at
least 20 characters, and is not in a dictionary.

A 802.11b/g signal occupies 5 channels, thus somebody on channel 1
uses -1 to 3, someone on channel 6 uses 4 to 8, etc. That is the
reason that channels 1, 6, and 11 are recommended to reduce overlap
and interference.

Larry