Wireless Newbie

Hi Everyone! Please bear with me as i am kinda new to the whole wireless thing. I recently received my first laptop, which is a MacBook Pro, and am loving everything about it. I currently have Adelphia Cable access and was interested in setting up a wireless connection for my new laptop. I would also like the pc in my living room to be able to access it as, well as my g4 tower. What do i need to get started? I guess im kind of confused between the AirPort Express and the Airport Extreme stations. Im also concerned with privacy. Will, my next store neighbors, for instance be able to access the connection as well? Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

lawrenced, Welcome to the discussion area!
The AirPort Express and AirPort Extreme base station (AEBS) are very similar except for these differences:
56k modem for accessing dial up accounts: Yes-Extreme, No-Express
LAN port for non-wireless computers: Yes-Extreme, No-Express
External antenna port: Yes-Extreme, No-Express
Audio out: No-Extreme, Yes-Express
# of clients: 50-Extreme, 10-Express
In addition to those devices, any inexpensive 802.11b or 802.11g compliant wireless base station will work. However the AirPort Express and AEBS offer a USB port for a single compatible printer. You generally won't find this feature on other base stations.
You can connect the PC and G4 tower to the wireless base station via Ethernet if you don't want them to be wireless. That would eliminate the AirPort Express as a candidate.

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A wireless newbie

Can someone please recommend a good starting point (web site, etc) for a wireless newbie to get up to speed on the cisco wireless & aironet. Thanks

Hi Greg,
Here some good "getting started" Cisco docs (and link to a video) which might help. This is todays reading assignment :)
Wireless LAN Design Guide
http://www.cisco.com/web/about/ciscoitatwork/design_guides/dg-wlan.html
Wireless Site Survey FAQ
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/tech/tk722/tk809/technologies_q_and_a_item09186a00805e9a96.shtml
Understanding the Lightweight Access Point Protocol (LWAPP)
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/netsol/ns340/ns394/ns348/ns337/networking_solutions_white_paper0900aecd802c18ee.shtml
Deploying Cisco 440X Series Wireless LAN Controllers
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps6366/prod_technical_reference09186a00806cfa96.html
Cisco Wireless LAN Controller Configuration Guide, Release 4.0
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps6366/products_configuration_guide_book09186a00806b0077.html
WLC Video
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps6366/index.html
Lightweight Access Point FAQ
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps6306/products_qanda_item09186a00806a4da3.shtml
Lightweight AP (LAP) Registration to a Wireless LAN Controller (WLC)
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/tech/tk722/tk809/technologies_tech_note09186a00806c9e51.shtml
Here are some excellent overall scope ideas;
Deploying High Capacity Wireless LANs
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps6108/products_white_paper0900aecd8027a5f7.shtml
Cisco Deploys Wireless LAN Technology to Increase Productivity
http://www.cisco.com/web/about/ciscoitatwork/downloads/ciscoitatwork/pdf/Cisco_IT_Case_Study_WLAN_2004_print.pdf
Design Principles for Voice Over WLAN
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/netsol/ns340/ns394/ns348/networking_solutions_white_paper0900aecd804f1a46.shtml
Evaluating Interference in Wireless LANs: Recommended Practice
http://www.cisco.com/application/pdf/en/us/guest/products/wireless/c2072/cdccont_0900aecd80554f8b.pdf
I have attached some good "getting started" type Security docs) and would suggest having a good read of them. You may also want to engage your Cisco partner and Cisco SE to help you plan and implement this most important function of Wireless.
Wireless LAN Security White Paper
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/netsol/ns340/ns394/ns348/ns386/networking_solutions_white_paper09186a00800b469f.shtml
Five Steps to Securing Your Wireless LAN and Preventing Wireless Threats
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/netsol/ns340/ns394/ns348/ns386/networking_solutions_white_paper0900aecd8042e23b.shtml
WLAN Security considerations (Part of WLAN SRND Guide)
http://www.cisco.com/application/pdf/en/us/guest/netsol/ns178/c649/ccmigration_09186a00800d67eb.pdf
Wireless LAN Security Solution
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/netsol/ns339/ns395/ns176/ns178/netqa0900aecd801e3e59.html
Wireless - Compare Products and Solutions
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/wireless/products_category_buyers_guide.html
**Don't forget to check out the good books available from Cisco Press (link on this site)
Hope this helps! And best of luck.
Rob

Wireless Newbie Basics Help

I am totally new to wireless and havent got a clue how it works so .....ok this is the situation......
I have a G5IMAC and I am currently running BT Broadband from the telephone socket with an Ethernet cable that goes into the BT Voyager 205 ADSL Router and then into the back of my MAC.....everything going ok and running at a tidy 2mb speed.
Now............ I am moving house so I am thinking to myself, what is all this wireless about ..lets give it a go.
Virgin Media UK is running the Broadband into the new house so I will set up a new account with them.
What do I need to do?
I have an Aiport Card in the G5Imac already
Get a Wireless Router from them? Do you recommend any especially for MAC?
Do you just connect the Wireless Router into the telephone point and then sync it up with the MAC which has an Aiport Card in it?
Do I need to buy the Base Station or Airport Express?
I download quite a bit so what would give me the best download speed?
By using Wireless does the download speed decrease?
Can I run 2 computers with the Wireless Router ? A mac and a PC ?
I look forward to someones help on this as I woudl like to sort it out as soon as possible.
Cheers

Get a Wireless Router from them?
That is an option.
Do you just connect the Wireless Router into the telephone point and then sync it up with the MAC which has an Aiport Card in it?
Yes, if it is a combination modem/router.
Do I need to buy the Base Station or Airport Express?
No, any 802.11b/g compatible base station can be used.
By using Wireless does the download speed decrease?
Usually the wireless bandwidth exceeds the bandwidth provided by your ISP.
Can I run 2 computers with the Wireless Router ? A mac and a PC ?
Yes. This is a feature of any router (wired or wireless).

AirportExtreme as wireless router through DSL modem on PC - not working.

Hello all. I've searched through several forums trying to find something could answer my question, but nothing came of it. Hopefully you can help,
Our family has just recently purchased 2 new macbooks (love 'em!) and have been able to join our wirless network (linksys wireless-g 2.4ghz). A few days ago, we purchased the AEBS to replace the Linksys, however, I cannot for the life of me figure out how to make it work. The PC run windows XPSP2, using a basic DSL modem. I've tried various methods of connecting the AEBS to my computer/modem.
now, I read through the instructions to see that my PC must have a wireless card?
Am I correct in assuming that the DSL modem and the AEBS work together to put out a wireless signal, and from that, my PC uses this wireless card to connect to that?
I've tried doing a direct connection with my DSL modem and AEBS, where nothing is actually plugged into the computer. I use a USB wireless donlge thingy and it connects to the network hunky dory. However...no internet. The setup utility for the AEBS does everything all shiny but I am still not able to connect through my PC, or my macbooks. the MB's see the network, but no actual internet.
Is there a way to directly connec the AEBS to my computer and modem without a wireless card for my PC?
Thank you SO much everyones time!
A mac newbie and wireless newbie,
Ogo

In that case I would configure your network as follows.
DSL Modem -> WAN port of Airport Extreme Base Station
LAN Port of Airport Extreme Base Station -> Windows PC
The two MacBook Pros would join the network wirelessly.
Connecting a XP PC to a Airport Network via the LAN port of the AEBS
http://www.ifelix.co.uk/tech/1007.html
iFelix

Wireless Authentication/Security Design questions

Wireless newbie here...I was required to quicky stand up a wireless deployment at a new warehouse/office building. I have the basic network up and working. My remote AP's have associated with the 2106 in the main office and users can associate and authenticate with the 1130G AP's and can access the office network. I did the basic configs and am now looking to tighten up security. My questions are as follows:
1) The user clients are Dell Laptops with integrated wireless. They authenticate using LEAP..how do I migrate to EAP or do I need to. I have a Cisco ACS doing RADIUS authentication now.
2) Should I be using some kind of supplicant client on the laptops?
3) How do I filter mac's so rogue AP's and rogue clients cant try and associate.
4) Am I correct in assuming the connections between the 1130 AP's and 2106 are secured and if so do I need to tweak anything to tighten them up?
5) I have an AP in the main office building that I want to setup to detect rogue AP's. Do I have it associate as a regular AP and push some kind of policy to turn it into a detector?
I have attached a diagram to help explain. Any help would be appreciated.
v/r
Chad

1. LEAP is a form of EAP, so you must already have something terminating your EAP sessions. The WLC can do this to some extent, or ACS. Which one you chose will be based upon your requirements for manageability, scalability and feature-richness. I would suggest that PEAP-MSCHAPv2 provides a good balance of usability and security, and is significantly better than LEAP.
2. No, stick with Windows XP SP2 supplicant. This can be configured using domain policy (2k3 SP1 or better) and is pretty good. Just make sure your laptops have new Intel drivers on them. Dell in particular have been quite bad with sending out old drivers in the builds.
3. MAC authentication is now lergely regarded as a waste of time. It is so easy to spoof a MAC address it's ridiculous, and it's a fair amount of work for the admin(s).
4. The LWAPP tunnel encrypts all management / config / security related traffic between the AP and WLC, while user data is simply encapsulated in LWAPP, so it can potentially be read if packets are captured.
5. All APs will do rogue detection, don't really need to have dedicated APs unless you're REALLY paranoid. Main benefit is quicker detection, but drawback is that the 'detector' AP won't serve clients.
Regards,
Richard

Dumb question. Do I need to set up a wireless network for Apple TV?

Wireless newbie here. Recently purchased Apple TV... Trying to set it up and I don't see my wireless network available on the list... I have a built in Airport Extreme in my Mac Mini which I've never used before (or anything else wireless for that matter). I turned it on and I can see my MIni listed (and checked) under the computer to computer networks... Do I need to do something else? Thanks!

you have an airport extreme wireless card in your mac mini which lets you join a wireless network but you will need an airport express or airport extreme or other wireless router to actually create your wireless network... i.e. you don't go directly from mini to appleTV.. you need a wireless router between them.
Mac Mini <~~~~> Wireless router <~~~~> AppleTV
or you can also connect them with ethernet again through a router...

Restarting the computer and re-establishing the wireless connection

I am a wireless newbie. I just got a g router and established a secure wireless connection. When I restart the computer it seems like I have to reestablish the wireless connection with a wired connection before it will log me in to my wireless connection. Is this what happens? Also, now when I try to "view available wireless conncections" it has my SSID but since it's secured I need a password of some kind to access it. I don't recall signing up for a password so I don't know it. any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hi…I would suggest you to login in the router setup page from your wired computer, through internet explorer by typing in 192.168.1.1 in address bar > skip username and > enter admin as password. Click Wireless Tab > second sub Tab Wireless security, you will find your wireless network key or wireless password that you need to enter on our wireless computer while connecting to your wireless network. Once you get connected to your wireless network it will not ask you to enter your wireless security code or password even if you restart your computer.

What cables to use when connecting Airport Extreme and Windows XP?

I have a DSL modem and Airport Extreme. Right now I am getting Internet with the cable plugged into "Ethernet" and is connected to my computer. If I want to connect my Airport Extreme to my computer, where do I plug in everything?
Thank you for your help - I am a complete wireless newbie!

Jgreene19
You don't seem to be making much sense, please can you clarify your network and your computer.
You have a DSL modem with an Ethernet port?
Do you have an Airport Extreme Base Station?
What computer do you want to connect by Airport, your iMac listed in your profile (or as this is an Airport for Windows forum) a Windows PC?
Does this Windows PC have a wireless card or not?

WiSM - Managing AP's at remote sites

A quick wireless newbie question - I'm trying to sort out the design details using a WiSM. I have a new site and have budgeted a pair of 6513's with WiSM's. There are 9 branch offices that are going to be connected via 2821 routers over CSME and they need to provide Guest and Private wireless access. Do the remote sites need a WLAN controller module for the 2800? Or, can they still tunnel back to the WiSM for central management? What components are needed to achive "unified" wireless at the branch offices?
Thanks,
Greg

you can centrally contorl your LAP's from the WiSM. You can even use regualer LAP at those sites if you wish. The one problem that you can run into, is if the WAN drops, you will lose wireless at those sites. The way to get around that is to get LAP that support REAP/HREAP, and run them in local switching mode. This will allow the wireless to stay up, if the WAN drops, for local subnets only. Obviously any subnet that is across the WAN is unaccesable.
If you keep them in centralized switching mode, everything tunnels back to the controller, both corporate WLAN's and the guest, will go down if the WAN drops.

Cisco 1100 *basic* security

Just a quick question from a wireless newbie- how likely is it that someone from outside could get into a wireless network with only the following configured?
MAC address filtering with 3 specific MAC addresses of wireless devices in use.
Changed the default admin logon (of course) and the SSID. Set the AP to not broadcast the SSID.
No WEP or any other security. In this particular configuration, the potential for sniffing the Web-site traffic being broadcast isn't a big deal.
How easy is it to spoof one of the three specific MAC addresses (not knowing what they are) or to bypass MAC filtering altogether? Can the MAC be sniffed off the air?
Thank you!
Ken

With that configuration any basic 802.11 sniffer will get you the MAC addresses in a few seconds and then a savy user could changer their MAC address
While it is still pretty easy to find out the MAC address if you also add 128 bit WEP and MIC and TKIP then it will be very hard for the unauthorized user to pass any traffic on your network even with some of the more advance WEP crack tools

Airport Utility and Firewall Difficulties

I am running Windows 7 with a Time Capsule and Airport Express for NAS, wireless routing, and Airplay. The TC is connected to the Win 7 desktop via ethernet and we have a Vista laptop and iPhones which connect wirelessly to the network.
I also have a Webroot internet security program for antivirus and firewall which seems to be interfering with Airport Utility finding the TC and AE. If I disable the firewall and reboot, the devices appear in APutil. Windows Firewall is disabled and not used.
I have included the APutil.exe, APagent.exe, iTunes.exe, and a few other Apple executables in the security exceptions to allow their traffic but APutil still can't see the devices. The wireless internet connection still works but Airplay will not. Is there another Webroot setting I need to change?
Alternatively, would I still be protected if I shut off the Webroot firewall function and allowed the NAT Firewall in the Apple hardware to operate? Is there anything I need to do in the Airport Utility to make this happen?
Many thanks in advance from a wireless newbie.

iTunes uses UDP port 5353 to locate AirPort Express base stations that can be destinations for your AirTunes music stream. Make sure this port is allowed through your firewall.
The following link contains a list of all the ports tha apple uses with it's software.
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1629?viewlocale=en_US

Newbie wireless question (slightly off-topic)

I didn't want to post this here as it's not entirely an Airport-specific question. I posted this to the iBook forums, but nobody there has answered so my apologies if this is not welcome here. (Any moderators can remove it if that's the case.)
I've been using computers extensively for over a decade, but I'm a total newbie to wifi. I just set up a wireless network in my house and would appreciate some advice/feedback.
My main concerns are whether or not my network is reasonably secure. I know there is no such thing as perfect security, but I don't know if what I've done is good enough or not.
I don't have an Airport base station, but I do have a D-Link Airplus G and an Airport card in my iBook. I have WEP set up on the router and I have enabled MAC filtering, listing only my desktop and my iBook, excluding all others from the network.
I'm fairly certain that nobody in my neighborhood is going to get into my machines this way or be able to sniff my network data stream, but am I right in assuming that nobody can "piggyback" on my Internet connection too? Presumably, if everyone but my own machines are MAC-filtered and kept out, then the Internet connection is also protected. Is that how it works?

WEP and MAC filtering are better than nothing, but you can do better. These are my suggestions:
1. Use WPA with a pre-shared key (PSK) and TKIP encryption on your Netgear router, along with an alphanumeric passphrase of at least eight characters not found in any dictionary. The equivalent setting on your Mac is "WPA Personal". Unlike WEP security (which an expert can crack in under half an hour), WPA security is currently unhackable by any practical means as long as you use a non-dictionary passphrase. One last point - WPA security requires all your wireless Macs to be running MacOS 10.3 or newer.
2. MAC filtering is (these days) essentially useless as a wireless security method. Using "packet sniffing" of traffic on your wireless network to find out what MAC addresses are used by computers on your network, and a PC that allows its MAC address to be cloned so that it is identical to the MAC address of one your own wireless computers (which is possible with most PC wireless network adapters) even an amateur hacker can defeat MAC address filtering in minutes.
By the way - I don't think your posted message here is off topic. In my opinion, the Airport discussion forums are the best place to post any questions related to usage of wireless networks. Questions of this nature are virtually never specific to any Mac model.

Writing games for US wireless carriers - general newbie question

I am a newbie to kvm and j2me so excuse me if these question are very basic or if i'm asking the wrong questions.
I have been asked to quickly research writing games in java for US wireless carriers. Ideally I'd like to pick a carrier (e.g. Verizonwireless) and find out more about writing for them. How should I go about researching this?
My research so far has found:
General j2me info:
I did some initial searching in the forum and found that the following link will give me a basic guide to j2me:
http://access1.sun.com/SRDs/access1_srds.html.
If I look at the documentation for -
- Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME)
- Mobile Information Device Profile 1.0.1 (MIDP)
Is this still the best place to look at online?
Specific wireless carrier info:
I had no luck finding where I should look for information on specific
wireless carriers. Any suggestions? Also am I approaching this the right way or should I be looking at the specific java enabled mobile phones rather than the wireless carrier? Or is it a combination of the two?
Thanks for any help.

If the games are going to be networked then you should find out what type of network the carrier has (TDMA,CDMA,GSM with or without GPRS, etc. what bandwidths.... WAP or I-Mode). Regardless, you should be also concerned with what are the phones available on the carrier and what is their Java support.
shmoove

MacBook - Newbie: Need help on printing wirelessly to XP shared printer

MacBook - Newbie: Need help on printing to XP shared printer
Bear with me please. I read tons of articles on this but somehow as a newbie to MAC (girlfriends sick daughter), I am missing something. 10.5.2
Currently, she can print directly if we plug in the HP Deskjet printer directly via USB to the MACBook. No problem.
When we first got the MACBOOK I tried setting up the MACBOOK wirelessly to recognize the workgroup where the printer was attached via USB to the Windows XP PC. However it printed out garbage since I did not know there was a difference between XP printing and MAC (Gutenberg/gimp printing/drivers).
Now I know there is a difference.
But in reading various instructions, I no longer can find how to connect the MAC to the Windows workgroup. Note we do have a printer set up currently as USB-HP Deskjet on the Macbook (not sure I need to delete it yet).
I went to System Preferences on MACBOOK and clicked on printers, more printers. In the drop down box was CANON, APPLETALK, IP HP printing and Firewire. There was no WINDOWS selection as I saw in other online web instructions.
So not sure how to proceed to find a way to:
1. Connect to Windows workgroup (click on what exactly), step by step please!!
2. Add correct HP Deskjet 5490 printer (perhaps there is one with Gutenberg or perhaps I need Gutenprint-really not sure what I am talking about)
Thanks so much in advance. Fiancé's kid has had her cancer recur in a different place and someone was nice enough to buy her a MACBOOK as a gift.
Sincerely
Peter

ccarbery wrote:
OK...I figured it out...no need to reply. I noticed that there was another Protocol to use to set up the printer on the Mac, I was using LPD, so I switched it to HP Jet Direct-socket, and it prints fine...thanks. I am curious as to why LPD wouldn't work; if anyone has that answer I would like to know...thanks
Any chance of posting the Protocol you used to connect to your printer with your laptop? I'm have the exact same problem printing from my MB. Same error message "..is busy".

Establishing Wireless Connection (Newbie; lost at Square 1!)

I began researching wireless connections before I purchased my MacBook Pro and was told by several people that I had to purchase this or that - a router, a subscription to Verizon, etc., etc. When I set up my new MacBook Pro last night, I still didn't have a clue how I was going to do it, so when I was asked to designate my Internet connection, I just skipped it.
Today, two Apple/Mac salespeople told me I need to do virtually nothing, saying my wireless connection is already established. One of them showed me the wireless icon near the top right corner of my monitor screen. When I click on it, I see that "Airpot On" is grayed out (and therefore on).
Below that is a list of networks, following "No network selected" (also grayed out). The choices are linksys, linksysSES46485, MandaNet, RC5011, ThePADD and "Other."
I clicked all of the choices, but most required a password. Are these services/companies that I have to subscribe to before I can get a password?
I'm confused by the number of combinations - Airport vs Bluetooth vs Ethernet X all the various networks that are listed.
I don't understand any of this. Can someone point me to an illustrated tutorial that can guide me through the process step by step?
Thanks.

David,
Man you aren't kidding about being a "newbie!"
Yes, let's start from square one.... You Macbook Pro comes equipped with the ability to connect to a wireless network using the 802.11a/b/g wireless standard (Apple calls this standard "Airport"). These "networks" are created by a wireless router. What you are seeing in the Airport menu are various wireless networks, doubtless owned by your neighbors, that are in range of your MBP. Your neighbors wisely chose to secure their networks with passwords. You, not knowing those passwords, cannot connect to the internet via their networks.
A wireless router does 2 things, normally:
1) It connects all of the computers you own in a network that allows the transfer of information between connected computers. This is called "sharing."
2) If you have a broadband connection to the internet, it acts as a gateway to the internet for all the connected computers.
There are several types of "broadband" internet connection, but the two most common to "consumers" are DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) and cable. DSL operates over your existing phone line, but it will only be available to you if your phone provider has built the infrastructure to accommodate it into the phone lines in your area. Check with your phone company.
Cable internet service is typically a bit faster than DSL. This service is provided over your existing cable TV lines. Obviously, cable must be available in your area in order to subscribe to this service.
Once you have determined which of the two infrastructures (DSL or cable) are available to you, you must choose a service provider. For example, cable is available to me, and that is what I use. It is provided to me through Brighthouse cable, but they are only the "go-between." Earthlink is my "service provider," but I could also choose to use Roadrunner or AOL. In any case, Brighthouse provides my connection, and the bill is included with my Brighthouse cable TV invoice.
Whether you go with cable or DSL, you will be provided with some type of modem. This modem will connect to your cable to provide internet access, and to the computers in your house either wirelessly, or via wired ethernet (your MBP also has an ethernet port for a "wired" connection).
If you wish to only use a dial-up internet service, you must purchase a USB dial-up modem. Since most people are connecting to the internet via wireless networks, Apple opted to do away with internal dial-up modems. The USB dial-up modem is very small, and rather inexpensive. This modem will allow you to connect to the internet via whatever existing dial-up service you currently have.
Scott

Wireless Newbie

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