Mac networking flakey

[freakalad]

Hi guys,

I run a small network of around 20 clients on an iBurst connection, managed by an IPCop proxy/firewall/gateway/DHCP/DNS server.
It's a mixed bag of Windoze, Linux, Mac's (10.5) & net printers.

The network as a whole is stable, both the wired & wireless.
I've recently added 2 dd-wrt flashed Linksys WRT54GL WiFi boxes to the mix, and all seems fine. So far, so good.

The trouble comes in with my MacBook Pro, when I try to connect via WiFi or cable. Other Linux & Windows boxes connect & run fine, but there seems to be a bug inherent to the Mac's.

Either it establishes a connection, but cannot send & receive traffic correctly, or just drops connections. This only happens on my MacBook (have a Linux Asus eeepc 701 sending a ping stream to my ISP's gateway next to me).
It has been suggested it could be a DNS issue. I've added my IPCop, ISP & OpenDNS as DNS servers, but makes little difference.
Due to a bug in OS/X, applications requiring a net connection become unstable if it cannot find a DNS, or establish a proper connection, in particular my Mozilla suite.

On a separate issue, I ave a client who has a small home WiFi network (Belkin MIMO AP) with XP & NT2000 machines. Unfortunately NT does not recognise 128-bit encryption, so I had to dumb-down the system to 64-bit. Great!
Only problem is Mac does not recognise anything below 128-bit.
So now I'm stuck with a paradox: exclude 128-bit Mac's or 64-bit NT's from the network. Obviously I can try & pawn off a XP on them, but NT works for them, so why rock the boat?

Any solutions?

 

[bwana]

OsX supports sub-128 bit encryption - try this if you're having difficulties with 64-bit WEP.
http://domster83.wordpress.com/2007/03/09/how-to-configure-wireless-with-64-bit-wep-on-mac-os-x/

I dont have any of the other networking problems you're facing so I probably wont be able to help you with those.

 

[freakalad]

Yip, tried that, but no joy.
Don't know if it only works for pre-10.5

Seems a bit of an oversight on Apple's behalf. Understand the need for enforcing tighter security, but backward compatibility's just as important.
Another alternative, that I've considered for some time, is scratching OS/X & installing Ubuntu. Would do this for several reasons.

 

[bwana]

Is it specifically 64bit WEP you're looking to do?

Have you tried $ followed by the hex key?

Solution

Many third-party wireless access points use a WEP key or a password entered either as a string of hexadecimal numbers or as five ASCII characters.

To connect Mac OS X to a third-party wireless access point that is configured to use WEP, format your password one of these two ways:
1. Hexadecimal - precede the string with a dollar sign ($). For example: $123456789a
2. ASCII - enclose the characters in double quotes ("). For example: "magic"

I guess its futile pointing out that people can crack WEP in seconds these days?

 

[freakalad]

Tried both 0x & the $ method. No luck.

I run WPA-PSK TKIP on my own network, but had to keep it to the lowest common denominator @ my client's site, due to backward compatibility restrictions.

 

[bwana]

Sorry - I'm out of ideas right now.

btw I have no problem accessing WEP networks with my MBP.

 

[freakalad]

Seems to be a DNS thing.
Could be problem specific to FF or thunderbird, or mixed AP hardware.
Seems to be OK now, but I'm not very happy with inconsistencies on my NW

 

[icyrus]

The dns issue happens to me as well occasionally when our iburst connection dies. Apps like safari and firefox stop resolving addresses. Its a pain in the ass and I guess has something to do with the dns cache.

Running this in a terminal:
dscacheutil -flushcache

Fixes the problem without having to restart the apps. I haven't figured out why this is happening yet.

 

[freakalad]

thanks. help a bit, but I'm battling fires on multiple fronts.
when it rains, it pours.

the recent spate of power trouble & heavy weather is causing serious headaches.
3 PC's & a few routers/ap's have popped in the span of 3 weeks.

know I should have had UPS's & surge arrests on all equipment, but I've done OK up to now. expensive lessons...