Wireless Networking 3 PC's together...

howardb

howardb

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Hi all,

I need a bit of advice on this - I have 3 office desktop PC's (not connected to the internet at all) that need to be networked together using a wireless network - what hardware do I need for this? I will be using the 54/108Mbps PCI 802.11g Wireless PCI Cards, but need to know if I can just buy 3, install them and connect up, or will I need a hub / access point / router too?

I've searched on Google, but all the scenarios include ADSL/DSL/Internet connections that would require a wireless access point, but none of them seem to hint towards a network without internet connection...

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

regards
HB
 
I've found just getting a wireless Access Point/Router is the easiest to get things going. Besides they're not that expensive [can get them below R500].

Then all PCs get their PCI cards and connect to the Router and then you have your network. Advantage, now anyone with a laptop/wirless device can ALSO just walk in and connect to the router and be on the network.

Plus if you DO eventually get internet, it's a matter of plugging your modem into the wireless router etc.

I don't know, i struggled quite a bit with trying to get a network going just with 3 wireless network cards and trying to do point-2-point etc.
 
Many thanks for the advice diabolus... will give it a try with the 3 x PCI Cards and 1 x Access Point... seems the way to go... :)
cheers,
HB
 
howardb - rememebr you are not going to get true 54/108mbit speeds with wireless. Wireless uses large overheads so generally devide the figure in half for a estimate
eg 54mbits you will get 24mbits or 3MBs
 
skydog said:
howardb - rememebr you are not going to get true 54/108mbit speeds with wireless. Wireless uses large overheads so generally devide the figure in half for a estimate
eg 54mbits you will get 24mbits or 3MBs
Click to expand...

... if he's lucky. Wireless speeds are pathetic and nowhere near what they're sold as. IIRC, there was a class action suit (in the USA, where else ;) ) against a wireless manufacturer because the speeds on their "54mbit" wireless products were so bad.
 
And please set up some security on your AP. Otherwise people will be able sit across the street of your office and download all your docs (or whatever you use). I would even limit the PC's that may connect via their MAC addresses, that way you know only your PC's connect.
 
Nod said:
<snip> I would even limit the PC's that may connect via their MAC addresses, that way you know only your PC's connect.
Click to expand...

MAC address filtering is not fool-proof. MAC addresses can quite easily be spoofed. Sure, it'll keep out the casual / inquisitve intruder but it's by no means a secure solution.
 
Many thanks for all the responses - much appreciated... I'm not too worried about the speeds at this stage as the data flow will not be a great amount - my main reason for using wireless (I would rather used wired) is we cannot route wires all over the home/office as it is a flat roof house so we are unable to route through the roof - also, the wife doesn't want cables laying everywhere... :D

@ Nod - will definately sort the security out once setup...
@ Beta - I might leave it open for a bit... :p
 
masticore said:
MAC address filtering is not fool-proof. MAC addresses can quite easily be spoofed. Sure, it'll keep out the casual / inquisitve intruder but it's by no means a secure solution.
Click to expand...

Maybe, but it will take a hell of a lot longer to hack into the network if you first have to figure out which MAC to use. I think (might be possible by sniffing the wireless network?)
 
Nod said:
Maybe, but it will take a hell of a lot longer to hack into the network if you first have to figure out which MAC to use. I think (might be possible by sniffing the wireless network?)
Click to expand...

You think correctly :)
Simply sniff whatever you can off the network and you'll find a MAC address.
 
I'm also extending my wired network with wireless soon and security is a big concern.

I was under the impression that MAC address filtering was pretty secure, but now that you mention it, it would be pretty easy to find a MAC address by examining a captured packet using ethereal.

Even in promiscuous mode though, you still have to be connected to the wireless network to be able to capture packets, right? Also, you can only connect to a secured wireless network if you have the passkey for that network, meaning you cannot capture packets without the passkey?

Are there any other settings that I should configure (besides WEP and MAC address filtering) to secure my wireless network?

I haven't bought my wireless router yet (planning on getting a Linksys WRT54GL), so I haven't had any first hand experience - please correct me if any of this is wrong :p

EDIT:
Sorry, I meant WPA, not WEP
 
Last edited:
A combination of WPA, MAC filtering and (of course) not broadcasting your SSID is pretty much the most you can do. All can be bypassed if someone REALLY wants to (pretty much anything can be bypassed given sufficient will and resources ;) ) ... but that's rather unlikely.
 
newb5000 said:
Even in promiscuous mode though, you still have to be connected to the wireless network to be able to capture packets, right?
Click to expand...

not true. you can capture all packets "in the air" with real software even if you are not associated to an AP.

you can even capture WEP and WPA packets but they are encrypted so you can t see the contents.

sit near a wifi hotspot and watch as pop3 passwords and the contents of the emails and http traffic fly past.... fun for the bored.

just use WPA with long passphase end of story!
ignore mac filtering, not broadcasting SSID, staic IPs yada yada

if you can use extra authentication like RADIUS but it because more complex
just use WPA.
 
Interesting stuff.

I read somewhere that because of the Linux firmware of the WRT54GL, people even got RADIUS authentication working with it.
That, however, is way beyond my level of knowledge and I'll have to leave it for when I have a free week or so to do the necessary research and experiments.

Thanks for the advice ;)
 
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