WEP key accepted only with ifup

English Network/Internet
1

Hello,
Could anybody help me with NetworkManager?
I have OpenSUSE 11.3 and broadcom wifi module. By default network are managed by NetworkManager. Wifi works great on opened access points. But when i tried to connect to WEP access point my hexadecimal key rejected. When i used ifup instead of NetworkManager the same key has been accepted. But i won’t use ifup. Is it possible to fix?

2

Can I just ask
Is this KDE or Gnome

3

I thought WEP was hacked long ago and proven vulnerable.
So in my opinion should be better the CCMP encryption mode (AES-based sometimes called WPA2) (see Wi-Fi Protected Access - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia).

puzzled
pistazienfresser

4

It’s KDE and all available updates have been installed

5

Not for criticizing but I would take a wild guess: when I am on travel, often I have to adapt to the habits and settings of hosts that are neither foreseeable nor desired (but by necessity). As a matter of fact a “networkmanager” should handle all kinds of connections (since it was conceived for mobile computing on laptops). A viable solution to propose, in order to address your point, may be to use anyway a VPN connection when on travel and then the security of the access protocol is less important. (Always said “IF” the networkmanager down-root plugin is able to handle OpenVPN connects (not granted) or that kvpnc is able to change the default route (doesn’t do it currently in 11.1, KDE3.5), since a lot of users will find it tedious to set up openVPN by hand. And still this does not help the OP since he have to set up the connect. BTW, I had the same problem in Spain with all WEP based clients (hexadecimal). I recall there was a bug of networkmanager (at the time kde3) with handling the hexadecimal WEP access and a proposed solution for workaround (although at the time it didn’t work for me… @Trotski: Try to Google, it should be still possible to find this info.

6

I agree WEP is cappy

But try this. Install: plasmoid-networkmanagement
It will remove the kde4 networkmanager, but that’s fine
reboot and add the networkmanager widget to your panel. See if that works better for you.

But you may just be miss configuring WEP in NM. It needs the whole key not a pass phrase - that could be 128 bits of info or whatever the key is.
Can’t you switch to WPA?

7

Thanks stakanov, for pointing that out. I had no inttion of saying to trotski that he is “not allowed” to use that old ‘encyption’. I just want to poit out the risk. And VPN seems to be a good idea (after trotski gets any access at all…).

@trotski - Maybe you could test if it is just an problem of the knetworkmanager (paket: networkmanager_kde4 ?).
So it might be a good idea to test an alternative way to use the hidden programs “networkmanager” and “wpa_suplicant” like cnetworkmanger for the text-based mode or the graphical application based on the GNOME libery (packet: “NetworkManager-gnomer” )

Have a lot of luck (and than fun), trotski!

pistazienfresser

8

Yes, NetworkManager on 11.3 works with 128-bit WEP. I have not tested with
64-bit keys, but it should also work.

Have you entered the connection details using the Connection Manager from the
applet? On some versions, the key is not transferred back from the popup screen
to the key storage.

Does NM work for you with WPA/WPA2? If you have not tried that, it is possible
that the wallet is not properly setup.

Finally, you can see the logged messages in /var/log/NetworkManager.

9

I don’t want to use wallet because i won’t store my keys and passwords. Should i use the wallet obligatorily for WEP or WPA connections?

10

On 12/01/2010 01:06 AM, trotski wrote:
>
> lwfinger;2259756 Wrote:
>> it is possible
>> that the wallet is not properly setup.
>>
> I don’t want to use wallet because i won’t store my keys and passwords.
> Should i use the wallet obligatorily for WEP or WPA connections?

Only if you want it to work. If you don’t want to use NM and store passwords in
the wallet, then you must use ifup.

11

Thanks for help. network-manager plasmoid works well. Problem is solved

12

Great News