170 likes | 243 Views
Thornbury U3A Computer Group Wireless Networking (Part 1) September 2006 Mike Farquhar. Wireless Networking. Define: Communicating between 2 or more computers without wires Networking – wireless or wires Why do we want or need to do it?. Why do we network computers ?.
E N D
Thornbury U3A Computer GroupWireless Networking(Part 1) September 2006 Mike Farquhar
Wireless Networking Define: Communicating between 2 or more computers without wires Networking – wireless or wires Why do we want or need to do it?
Why do we network computers ? To share resources: • Printers • A “server” to keep all your data in one place so that it is accessible anywhere (Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005) • Internet Connection – especially a Broadband Internet Connection • Broadband in this area at least comes in 2 main flavours • Cable (from Telewest – now part of NTL) • ADSL via your phone line (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) • Technically Cable is a better solution (separate circuit – no fiddly filtering)
Configuring Wireless networks • Infrastructure mode or Peer to Peer • Wireless network name or SSID • Channel. In Infrastructure mode all devices use the same channel.
Configuring Wireless Security - 1 • WPA – WiFi Protected Access • WPA PSK • WPA RADIUS • WEP – Wired Equivalent Privacy • 64 bits • 128 bits (stronger security) This requires a 26 hex digit key, normally generated by a passphrase) WEP is an older system but, at 128bit, is perfectly adequate for normal households.
Configuring Wireless Security - 2 • Each network card (of any sort) has an unique 12 digit (hexadecimal) address. • This is a world-wide standard and is called the MAC address (Media Access Control) • You can program your router to allow or restrict access based upon individual MAC addresses