Greg Before you take the leap into wireless, do your homework to make sure you want to go down that path. You may be challenged by a number of issues, and it can get expensive to deal with some of them ( antennas, security, etc..)
With that general caveat, my comments are inline with yours DATE: 05/05/2002 09:40:35SUBJECT: [leaf-user] Wireless and LAN bridge/hub? >I've got a mainly Windows network set up (non-NT and >non-2k or XP...all 9x. They're fairly stable.) However, >there's two groups, and they're on different ends of the >building. The type of network client is not too significant to this problem but the building layout and relative distances are critical. Please provide more details about distance, obstacles, type of building construction, etc.. >Both have their own hub/switch. (currently they're >switches, but I can change them to hubs, if for some reason, >that must be done for this to work.) The type of network device should have no impact on this. >The two groups need to be able to talk to each other, but running >a wire isn't an option due to various reasons, including aesthetic reasons. >We have therefore decided to create a wireless link between them. How fast does the link need to be to meet your requirements? Are you simply trying to share an internet connection, or are there two network workgroups that need to interact? If the distances are more than 100 feet, and/or there is any significant structure in between, wireless could become tricky to implement. Steel structures would be particularly difficult. If possible, borrow some wireless gear to test whether you can establish a link before comitting to a costly purchase. >I think I am correct in thinking that buying 2 Wireless Access Points >(one for each hub/switch) is not only expensive, but would not achieve >my goal. So I plan to buy 1 wireless access point, and 1 wireless >PCI card. Access point goes into uplink on one hub/switch, and on the other >end, I plan to have a LRP box that has the wireless card installed, with a >normal wire LAN card. I hope to run a LEAF distro on this box, and all it >would do is shunt all data fro eth0 to eth1 to the hub/switch, and from eth1 >to eth0 (which then goes to the access point which will take care of the rest.) You can use a "peer-to-peer" style wireless link directly between 2 LEAF devices, and avoid the access point entirely. Bridging vs. routing could be an obstacle. My impression is that bridging support in LEAF distros is kludgy, but i'm sure others on this list can speak to that issue. If you have to actually route traffic, it will complicate your life as far as Windows network browsing is concerned. Bering RC2 provides good support for PCMCIA and wireless devices, and I suggest you look at Bering as a starting point. I know it works... we are using it with Lucent/Avaya/Agere Orinoco wireless PCMCIA NICs. Selection of your wireless hardware will also be critical... not everything works as you might expect. Do your homework carefully (I can't stress that enough!!) Also, don't overlook the security issues... WEP is better than nothing, but it is not secure! You may require a VPN if your data is sensitive, and this will increase the processing requirements of your LEAF gateway. There are several good resources for information on wireless devices and linux, here is a good place to start: http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Jean_Tourrilhes/Linux/Wireless.html Good Luck! Henry _______________________________________________________________ Have big pipes? SourceForge.net is looking for download mirrors. We supply the hardware. You get the recognition. Email Us: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ leaf-user mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/leaf-user SR FAQ: http://leaf-project.org/pub/doc/docmanager/docid_1891.html
