[Carmageddon]

Hey guys
I need some help to design my wireless lan...
I have 3 computers, and my neighbor another 2.
Her 2 are running XP.
at least one of mine will be running Linux.
the oldest one I have (p1 133mhz) I want to use as router/firewall for the network.

I want it to be connected on ethernet to cable modem, and on second ethernet to Access Point.
The other 4 will have pci wi-fi card or usb card. all must be compatible for b/g networks.

The gateway/router/firewall will run Linux distro called SmoothWall2 Express. its perfect for it. problem is, that it doesn't support wireless natively. thats why I was told to connect AP to it, and have it share i-net to all other 4 comps.
I also need it to make lan for those 4 comps, and not only share i-net.

I basically would like to go for Linksys/D-Link based system.
but I want it to be good quality, and not too expensive at the same time..

Would this design work? do I miss any components?
any ideas/suggesttions would be very much welcome!!

Thanks a lot.

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I'm not familiar with smoothwall, but your setup sounds fine if smoothwall will work with it. Good luck, come back with any other questions

-=jonnyrotten=-

[-=jonnyrotten=-]

I'm not familiar with smoothwall, but your setup sounds fine if smoothwall will work with it. Good luck, come back with any other questions

-=jonnyrotten=-

[raziel00]

HI Carmageddon

Personaly i would use Linksys, mine is a Linksys and god knows what network expirement i tried with it. The new models have alot of possibilites as in QoS without slowing down the network.

I have worked alot with Smooth Wall and its true that it wont support Wifi yet but its to come im sure.

But in any case you computer 133 Mhz wont be enough for this network, smoothwall operates alot of rules and demands alot of power to administer all the requests from all computers, i suggest having a stronger computer with alot of ram. If you get a better computer than your network scenario will work for sure.

I hope this helps, give us info for a followup.

[Carmageddon]

uhm what exactly equipment from Linksys you would recommend?
there is one important detail I forgot to mention.. I shop at the net, and therefore I need strong encryption (256+) but seems like not all stuff support it..
so what do u suggest? preferablly that it will work fine with linux..
about the comp, I may be able to find more ram for it .. atm with 1 comp and 1 cable modem its load is :
10:43pm up 14:21, 1 user, load average: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00
Memory:
Total Used Free Used % Shared Buffers Cached
Mem: 62892K 60140K 2752K 95% OK 28892K 13432K
Swap: 24088K 0K 24088K
0%
Total: 86980K 60140K 26840K
69%
well I guess I need a bit more ram.. 64mb additional should do fine for 4 clients, right?

[raziel00]

Yes that is a detail you forgot to mention those kind of equipement doest come cheap, but the important thing you need to check if the network scenarion you try to establish will work with WiFi on smoothwall.

So before you buy the WiFi router you better try with another one without encryption to see if its gonna work.

If you can or have time, draw and post an image of the network, and where do you want to put the WiFi technology. That way i can provide much better help, and well see the same diagram because in my head i see something but i dont think its the same as yours.

BTW, i am thinking of putting something similar together with 8 computers, so we can do followups quite easily.

Ciao

[Carmageddon]

as u can see, the server will be in the saloon, near tv and the cable connection.
her 2 comps are both running XP - so np here. she prefers USB wlan cards.
for my desktop I need pci card, and one which works under linux, since I work in many OSes.. windows and various linux distros.
I also need ALL the cards to support 256+ bit encryption.
I think in this configuration I save few bucks on router.. cause AP is cheaper, and it also works on ethernet -so wont need special linux driver. so I was told.. at least.

[raziel00]

OK so if i understand well

theres on connection from the net

cable modem -> smooth wall 2 -> X -> 2 xp dekstop wireless neighbor
-> you have 3 comps wireless

So you need something for X to give a connection right that would be compatible with smooth wall 2, right ?

So the abvious choice would a Access Point wireless, and for 256 Bit encryption WAP.

Ok i know a guy who has an access point from linksys, model WAP54G its about 160$ and compatible with most WiFi card, oh it can provide 256 Bit of encryption but not more.

He tells its very good never had a problem with it.

And technicaly with smooth wall you shouldnt have trouble since it would be the same reaction if it was a switch and distributes ip addresses i dont think there should be a difference.

But yet again, better to test first then buy the equipement.

By the way tell me if im in the right track, if its what your looking for.

Ciao

[Carmageddon]

small correction: X should link 4 computers, 3 desktops and 1 laptop.
but yeah.. and that linksys is 256bit encrytion? is tehre higher?
u sure tis that expensive?

EDIT: it isn't taht expensive.. about 60$ avarage price on ebay.

Edited by Carmageddon, 30 May 2005 - 10:38 AM.

[raziel00]

Ok so X you give 8 wireless connections, ok
sorry.

Yup that model that i saw and played with gives you 256 Kbit Wap encryption, and the price is from my local futur shop, but i wouldnt trust a bought router or whatever from ebay.

Just in case you know that little home made routers, switch and whatever or not made to last eternity, since electricty flows in and with certain electric cabling and where you leave you might not be safe from burst shots or shock so it might be that the wiring inside de AP might not be 100% well maintained. If the case is that its a used one your bying.

But hey it is alot and for 60$ it might be worth it.

Oh and for higher, its alot more and that kind of model comes a bit high the one i found that could be interesting is considered Small entreprise which normal stores dont sell.
Why do you need suck high encryption ?

[Carmageddon]

Only 4 comps beside server.
homemade router? didn't hear of this yet.. what is it? how do u make one?
BTw I found out that real router costs about same as AP.. so maybe I would take router instead of AP? the whole point is to save money.. but what for to have the old server , if for same money I can have full router?

[raziel00]

sorry i meant to say the routers made for home use, hehe

euh at some point yeah you should by a router alot more efficient then having an old comp and an AP hook together to do some networking job.

It all depends how much flexibility you want, as you know with the first idea you have alot more options for your network then a simple home use routers, althought some have interesting options embeded in.

it all comes down to if you want something simple or something with alot of possibilities.

your right theres interesting routers but they all stop at 128 bit encryption at the cost of 130$ or so, the rest of them go to a high price.

why do you need 256 kbit of encryption anyways ?

[Carmageddon]

Uhm what kind of advanced uses could I do with good router that I couldnt with AP?
And I need that strong encryption because I buy over net I need strongest encryption possible for that..

[raziel00]

well basicaly a standard AP does one thing gets a connection a gives it to others like a switch it has no control nothing. But a router you can add rules, restrictions, QoS, redirects, blocking ip, and since its wireless, controling channels, and all.
with the AP it could be hard cause some other device has to give these information, thats why i was saying to maybe smooth wall wasnt all that prepared yet.

And you know once a mathematition said that to break an encryption of 128 Bit you needed to have all the computers of the universe time (x) infinite time, to succeed into breaking the encryption.

And if your connection with net is encrypted and the site has ssl encryption your very secure i can assure you that.