[ltp] Re: Managing network connections

[Daniel Pittman]

--=-=-=
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

Andr=E9 Wyrwa <a.wyrwa@gmx.de> writes:

>> Personally, I use wpa_supplicant and manually bring up/down the network.

[...]

>> wpa_supplicant manages the process of detecting and selecting networks
>> while running, and is good and competent.  It also supports any sort of
>> WPA style you could possible want, including the various "Enterprise" or
>> PKI based systems.
>
> Would you care writing a howto about that? I'd like to get some insight
> into this but it all seems to confusing at the start.

...er, I can give it a shot.  You will have to help with the bits that
are hard, though, because I have been doing Unix for too many years and
can't see them any more, I fear. :)

On Debian, at least, when you install the wpa_supplicant, it installs an
init script to start at boot.

This invokes the tool with the '-w <iface>' option to wait for the
interface to show up before doing anything.  On my machine this was
configured by the package at install time - it asked me.=20=20

The file /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf contains the configuration for the
networks, and has a million examples, but all you really need to do for
basic stuff is:

# This tells wpa_supplicant to chose the AP, rather than the driver.
ap_scan=3D1

# Higher priority means more desirable when selecting from available
# networks.
network=3D{
	ssid=3D"water"
	psk=3D"one two three"
}

network=3D{
	ssid=3D"rimspace"
	psk=3D"do you really think so?"
        priority=3D1
}



Then, configure 'wlan0' or whatever your Wireless network name is using
the standard tools.  I just use DHCP, because *every* wireless network I
talk to uses that.

If you have one that doesn't, use the distributions tools to select the
right configuration method.  Debian does mapping stuff in
/etc/network/interfaces, and that is a bit much of this short
introduction.


Then, finally, bring up the network manually.  For me 'sudo ifup wlan0'
is all it takes.  wpa_supplicant detects the network starting, does
authentication, and everything just works.


Er, this is really a very Unix way of doing things, though.  The KDE
network manager thing is probably a much nicer choice. :)

        Daniel

--=-=-=
Content-Type: application/pgp-signature

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.1 (GNU/Linux)

iD8DBQBDAdXqttyxN73O8xERAscNAJwLDIj5GrqZQNfVBtjVCE8cxB8NagCgr6vA
unH0KlUU+CcxguDlpcNWnhA=
=SxdY
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
--=-=-=--