WEP basic howto

User0x45 · 08-04-2008, 08:33 PM

Hello,

I have my desktop running Slack 12.1.

I bought a Cisco/Aironet 350 wireless LAN card for this machine. I now see several networks. All of which are unencrypted, except for my roommates DSL wireless router.

I have been connecting regularly with one. (like right now) but it is some random open network. My roommate has a DSL wireless router and she connects wirelessly with her iBook. The signal from her router is much stronger then the random net I'm connecting on, so I want to use her DSL wireless router. (and pay half of the monthly bill)

Her's is WEP encrypted.

To connect to this WEP encrytped rounter what do I need from her?

Is it simply a hex string, which I put in rc.wireless.conf? Or is there a username/password of some sort.

She isn't in the answering technical questions mode, I have to find out exactly what parameters I need, then go to her and get them for her. I'd like to understand the basics of connecting on an encrypted DSL router.

Your help, or direction to a howto, are much appreciated.

T3slider · 08-04-2008, 09:30 PM

I have never set up wireless networking in Slackware, so take what I say with a grain of salt. You need to edit /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1.conf (the #IFNAME[4]="wlan0" section) and add the options you need (like your encryption key). If you want an easier, graphical way of managing network connections, you could try wicd (you can find a SlackBuild at slackbuilds.org).

tommcd · 08-05-2008, 03:05 AM

In the wlan0 sextion of rc.inet1.conf fill in the line for ESSID and KEY. Umcomment (remove the # in front of the line) as well. Uncomment the line for DHCP. It should say yes to use DHCP. Then reboot and test it. See this from the Slack Book:
http://slackbook.org/html/book.html#AEN2044

Cheesesteak · 08-05-2008, 06:36 AM

User0x45,

I'd recommend changing the wireless encryption to your roommate from WEP to WPA. That is, of course, if all your hardware supports WPA.

A quick search for "WEP weaknesses" in Google will provide you with plenty of interesting reading material.

tommcd · 08-05-2008, 08:09 AM

User0x45,
Here is the wlan0 section from my rc.inet1.conf for reference. I also use WEP. I have edited out my essid and encryption key:

Code:

## Example config information for wlan0.  Uncomment the lines you need and fill
## in your info.  (You may not need all of these for your wireless network)
IFNAME[4]="wlan0"
#IPADDR[4]=""
#NETMASK[4]=""
USE_DHCP[4]="yes"
#DHCP_HOSTNAME[4]="icculus-wireless"
#DHCP_KEEPRESOLV[4]="yes"
#DHCP_KEEPNTP[4]="yes"
#DHCP_KEEPGW[4]="yes"
#DHCP_IPADDR[4]=""
WLAN_ESSID[4]=your_essid_here
WLAN_MODE[4]=Managed
WLAN_RATE[4]="54M auto"
WLAN_CHANNEL[4]="auto"
WLAN_KEY[4]="your_WEP_key_here"
##WLAN_IWPRIV[4]="set AuthMode=WPAPSK | set EncrypType=TKIP | set WPAPSK=96389dc
66eaf7e6efd5b5523ae43c7925ff4df2f8b7099495192d44a774fda16"
#WLAN_WPA[4]="wpa_supplicant"
#WLAN_WPADRIVER[4]="ndiswrapper"

that is about all you need for WEP. You don't need to uncomment every line. For DHCP all I have edited are essid and wlan_key. I also uncommented wlan__mode = managed, Wlan_rate = 54M,auto, and wlan0_channel = auto, but I left them as they were without changes.

Does your roommates DSL connect automatically on bootup, or does she type in a username and password to connect to the net. If she has to sign on with a username and password you will likely need the Roaring Penguin PPPoE to set this up in linux. See this thread, or do a search for pppoe in linux/slackware:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...ppoe+slackware
If your roommates DSL is automatically connected on bootup then you can likely ignore the pppoe stuff. Write back if you need more help.
WPA is more secure than WEP, if you are worried about "war drivers" freeloading on your internet connection, then look into WPA encryption. Here is a good guide for WPA (about half way down the page:
http://alien.slackbook.org/dokuwiki/...a%20encryption

dugan · 08-05-2008, 09:01 AM

Put the WEP key in rc.wireless.conf. I'd advise against putting it in rc.inet1.conf.

The reason is that Pat set the permissions on these files differently. By default, only the root can read rc.wireless.conf. However, any user can read rc.inet1.conf. Therefore, the encryption key should go in rc.wireless.conf and not rc.inet1.conf.

User0x45 · 08-05-2008, 04:06 PM

Thanks Dugan,

Quote:

Originally Posted by dugan

Put the WEP key in rc.wireless.conf....Therefore, the encryption key should go in rc.wireless.conf and not rc.inet1.conf.

My machine is already using DHCP (I'm on the net) and the ESSID set to 'any' is working though I'll set it specifically to her DSL's ESSID.

Is it really just editing rc.wireless.conf with a 'key'. Is the key a fixed length of ascii charecters?

If so, should be pretty easy. Everything works on an open network. I guess I'll add this key, get better throughput, and have half a monthly bill to pay. :-o

tommcd · 08-05-2008, 05:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by User0x45

Thanks Dugan,

My machine is already using DHCP (I'm on the net) and the ESSID set to 'any' is working though I'll set it specifically to her DSL's ESSID.

Is it really just editing rc.wireless.conf with a 'key'. Is the key a fixed length of ascii charecters?

Use whatever key your roommate uses to connect with her wireless. It should be in the DSL router's configuration.

User0x45 · 08-19-2008, 01:13 AM

I now have my housemate's key to the DSL router. The key is handwritten on a scrap of paper. It has (a zero, then a letter, lowercase x, then ten digits) in the ten digits part there are no letters, just digits. This suggests it is WEP/40, correct?

So I set rc.wireless.conf to (The actual KEY digits are different):

Code:

case "$HWADDR" in
##*)
##   INFO="generic listing"
##   ESSID="any"
##   ;;
# Cisco/Aironet 4800/3x0
00:0e:38:50:0e:f7)
    INFO="specific listing"
    ESSID="our_dsl_access_point_name"
    CHANNEL="11"
    KEY="0x9999999999"
    ;;
esac

It doesn't work. What happens is the exact same thing that happens if It is set to the generic(default):

Code:

case "$HWADDR" in
*)
   INFO="generic listing"
   ESSID="any"
   ;;
esac

It scans for, and finds one of the open/unencrypted networks in my area. And it connects.

Here is iwlist:

Code:

eth0      Scan completed :
          Cell 01 - Address: 00:13:10:42:DE:A2
                    ESSID:"1826"
                    Mode:Master
                    Frequency:2.437 GHz (Channel 6)
                    Quality=15/100  Signal level=-88 dBm  Noise level:-96 dBm
                    Encryption key:on
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s
                              24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
                    Extra:bcn_int=100
                    IE: WPA Version 1
                        Group Cipher : TKIP
                        Pairwise Ciphers (1) : TKIP
                        Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
          Cell 02 - Address: 00:0D:72:90:95:B1
                    ESSID:"our_dsl_access_point_name"
                    Mode:Master
                    Frequency:2.462 GHz (Channel 11)
                    Quality=39/100  Signal level=-76 dBm  Noise level:-96 dBm
                    Encryption key:on
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 22 Mb/s
                    Extra:bcn_int=100
          Cell 03 - Address: 00:1B:11:71:63:06
                    ESSID:"dlink"
                    Mode:Master
                    Frequency:2.427 GHz (Channel 4)
                    Quality=28/100  Signal level=-82 dBm  Noise level:-96 dBm
                    Encryption key:off
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s
                              9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s
                    Extra:bcn_int=100

It seems like my rc.wireless.conf settings are getting superceded. Any ideas? Is the format of the 'key' in my .conf file wrong? Should it be without the "0x" part. Is this a weird hex formatting?

Thanks.

tommcd · 08-19-2008, 11:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by User0x45

It seems like my rc.wireless.conf settings are getting superceded. Any ideas? Is the format of the 'key' in my .conf file wrong? Should it be without the "0x" part. Is this a weird hex formatting?

The key and the essid name can be obtained from the router's configuration. Ask your roommate to check the key against the key in the router's configuration page.

Then just put them in rc.inet1.conf and see if they work.
You can also try them from the terminal like this as root.

Code:

#ifcconfig    #this will show if wlan0 is up. if not, run
#ifconfig wlan0 up
#iwlist wlan0 scanning  #this will show the networks in your area including your roomates DSL.
#iwconfig wlan0 essid your_essid  #to associate your wlan0 to your DSL router
#iwconfig wlan0 key your_WEP_key  #to access the WEP protected DSL router.
#dhcpcd wlan0 #to get a DHCP address.

User0x45 · 08-21-2008, 04:15 AM

It worked. I used the terminal to get it up. Then correctly edited my rc.wireless.conf and it worked.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tommcd

You can also try them from the terminal like this as root.

Code:

#ifcconfig    #this will show if wlan0 is up. if not, run
#ifconfig wlan0 up
#iwlist wlan0 scanning  #this will show the networks in your area including your roomates DSL.
#iwconfig wlan0 essid your_essid  #to associate your wlan0 to your DSL router
#iwconfig wlan0 key your_WEP_key  #to access the WEP protected DSL router.
#dhcpcd wlan0 #to get a DHCP address.

"wlan0" gave an error at the terminal. I used wifi0, which worked.

As you all can probably see from the rc.wireless.conf file I posted in an early post, I put quote marks around the variables key, essid, and channel. They are not to be included. And, the key I had been given was of the format -- 0x9999999999 --

The initial -- 0x -- is incorrect. Just the trailing ten digits. So here below (modified for privacy sake) is my correct rc.wireless.conf

Code:

VERBOSE=1

case "$HWADDR" in

#*)
#   INFO="first listing"
#   ESSID="any"
#   ;;
#


# Cisco/Aironet 4800/3x0
00:0e:38:50:0e:*)
    INFO=second listing
    ESSID=my_roommates_dsl_router
    CHANNEL=11
    KEY=9999999999
    ;;

esac

Thank you all for the assistance.

User0x45 · 08-21-2008, 01:48 PM

I take back the 'Success' call.

Upon reboot my configuration isn't right. Once booted I can use the terminal with iwconfig commands to connect. I need to review my rc.inet1, rc.wireless.conf, and others to see where the clog is.

User0x45 · 11-01-2008, 11:22 PM

Well,

It all works beutifully....except.

Everytime I log in, I have to 'su', then run:

bash-3.1# /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1 restart

It then gets my IP. I exit from root back into my user account and all is well.

In which config script do I need to add the 'start' or 'restart' so that
this done upon initial boot up of the machine?

User0x45

T3slider · 11-01-2008, 11:45 PM

That shouldn't happen, ideally. /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1 should be executable (-rwxr-xr-x for root:root). An easy hack would be to add

Code:

/etc/rc.d/rc.inet1 restart

to /etc/rc.d/rc.local (create the file if it doesn't exist -- also, it should be executable). However, that should be considered a hack, and is not the best solution. There is likely something wrong with your system or your configuration that is requiring the interface to be restarted.

forum1793 · 11-02-2008, 04:30 PM

In your rc.inet1.conf, after USE_DHCP[4]="yes", add
DHCP_TIMEOUT[4]=2