help needed setting up a router / access point

Santiago Gala sgala at hisitech.com
Mon Jul 7 19:02:08 EDT 2003


Scott Weisman escribió:
> Hello,
> 
> I've been lurking on this list for a while now, and reading up on how to use
> HostAP, and I finally got all the equipment to do what I need.
> 
> What I want to do is this:
> 
> * Mandrake 9.1 IBM Thinkpad i1400 series
> 
> * Alcatel Speed Touch USB ADSL modem
> 
> * Proxim RangeLAN card in HostAP mode
> 
> * Routing (NOT bridging) between USB modem (device ppp0) and HostAP
> 
> I got the notebook working properly after a couple of false starts. I then got
> the USB modem working. After that, I compiled and installed latest CVS
> snapshot (I guess that would be for 7/7/03) of HostAP, and that went without a
> hitch. This is where the trouble comes in.
> 
> 1. I read that I should use <make pccard EXTRA_FLAGS = "-DPRISM2_HOSTAPD">
> when compiling. Is this correct? What do I need hostapd for?
> 

The AP functionality goes into a user mode daemon. You can have it in 
the kernel also.

> 2. Every document or HOWTO I've found seems to focus on bridging. I want to
> route. I might be adding an ethernet interface at a later date, and so routing
> from the start is preferable.
> 

just do it.

> 3. I've found no information on any config files to permanently set things
> like ESSID, CHANNEL, etc. All HOWTO's just give iwconfig commands to issue to
> get up and running, but no permanent solution.
> 

try modinfo -p hostap_cs (or hostap_pci) for a way to setup the 
parameters in /etc/modules

In /etc/sysconfig there are ways to do it too.

> 4. iwconfig returns entries for wlan0 and wlan0ap. Is this correct?
> 

wlan0 is the network interface, wlan0ap is for communication with 
hostapd, not needed for managed or ad-hoc modes.

Mandrake 9.1 (2.4.21-0.18mdk, last update of kernel) has copies of the 
hostap modules in /lib/modules/2.4.21-0.18mdk/kernel/3rdparty/hostap/, 
but they are compiled to use hostapd, and I could not find a matching 
hostapd package in the updates, which means I had to erase them :-(

If you are using the last kernel and the laptop is just a client, you 
can do it with Mandrake out of the box. If you want AP functionalities, 
erase them and use your CVS distribution.

> 5. Once I get all this working, I want to setup PPTP layered over wlan0. Is
> this possible? How difficult will it be?
> 

wlan0 *is* ethernet. If your PPTP package can accept an interface name 
of "wlan0" you should have no problems. (there are packages out there 
who have compiled interface names :-( )


> Can someone help with these problems?

my 2 cents, I could be wrong in some points, since I wrote from my head.

Regards
-- 
Santiago Gala
High Sierra Technology, S.L. (http://hisitech.com)
http://memojo.com?page=SantiagoGalaBlog




More information about the HostAP mailing list