Re: compatible modes between wireless devices

Neill Massello <neillmassello@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

A wireless device may function as an ad hoc node, as a base station
client, or as a base station; but few devices are designed to do all
three. The Buffalo WLI-TX4-G54 can operate in client or ad hoc mode and
can handle all the current encryption methods, but it might need your
network's hexadecimal encryption key instead of a password.

This is a key point that I didn't understand. It looks as if the Buffalo
device will work with the Mac Mini's internal Airport Extreme, but I must
use encryption instead of passwords, which is a "good idea" (tm) anyway.

There are two basic kinds of wireless networks: infrastructure (or "base
station" or "managed") and ad hoc (or "computer to computer"). In an ad
hoc network, traffic flows directly and only between two nodes that want
to communicate with each other. It's a "mesh" topology without any
traffic forwarding -- not so much an actual "network" as a hubless,
routerless aggregation of equal nodes that use a common name and channel
to communicate with each other. As such, it's a poor method for sharing
an Internet connection.

When you say that an ad hoc network does not use forwarding, is that a
necessary condition, or just the common practice at the present time?
It surely seems possible, if messy. That's how the old UUCP system worked,
and it still does, so far as I know. Keeping the maps up to date was the
hard part, but I think that could be automated (at considerable cost).

I could add a switch, but the spaghetti is already quite formidable 8-)

I suggest one or both of the following books:

Take Control of Your AirPort Network
<http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/AirPort.html>;

The Wireless Networking Starter Kit
<http://www.wireless-starter-kit.com/book_details.html>.

Thank you, I'll check into them.

bob prohaska

.

Relevant Pages

  • RE: Wireless Security Notes and Findings (from this list and other places)
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    (Security-Basics)
  • Re: Lan Wifi Network
    ... >knowledge of computer network... ... a wireless user has gone away. ... client software to do the job. ... connection which can be timed. ...
    (alt.internet.wireless)
  • Re: Netgear WGPS606 <-> Netgear WGT624
    ... |>| A key principle of networking is to carefully plan the network first, ... It would have been just right had wireless ... | can't use a wireless client bridge as a wireless router. ... If I was wiring my house with coaxial ethernet, it would all be in one ...
    (alt.internet.wireless)
  • Automated wireless client penetration tool "hotspotter" released.
    ... During a wireless assessment for a customer some time ago, ... strange characteristic of the Microsoft Windows XP wireless client. ... for the EAP/TLS network, and a second for the "ANY" network, using an ... Automated penetration using Hotspotter ...
    (Bugtraq)
  • [Full-Disclosure] Automated wireless client penetration tool "hotspotter" released.
    ... During a wireless assessment for a customer some time ago, ... strange characteristic of the Microsoft Windows XP wireless client. ... for the EAP/TLS network, and a second for the "ANY" network, using an ... Automated penetration using Hotspotter ...
    (Full-Disclosure)