Linux Unwired [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

5.3 Configuring Access Points

While many of the manufacturers we've covered allow
their wireless equipment to be configured through a web or telnet
interface, this is not an option for Orinoco or Apple access points.
However, there are two options for configuring Orinoco access
points under Linux and at least one option for Apple AirPort
configuration.

5.3.1 Orinoco CLI Proxy

Orinoco provides a program it calls the CLI Proxy. It's
available at http://www.proxim.com/support/all/orinoco/software/dl2002_orinoco_apcli_117_linuxl.
If you look at the accompanying README file,
there appears to be support from Orinoco for this product.

The release notes and program are from 2002 and have not been updated
in a while. The system requirements state that the program runs under
Red Hat Linux 6.1 or similar systems. We were able to successfully
install and run the package on both Red Hat 9 and Debian Woody
distributions.

To install the CLI Proxy, download the .tgz file
from the Orinoco web site. The help notes suggest unpacking it in the
/opt directory, but that's not
necessary. The package can be unpacked in any location that makes
sense for your filesystem. For our purposes, we'll
assume you're using /opt.
You'll need 1.5 MB of disk space for installation.

To unpack, execute the following command as root:

tar xzvf clili117.tar.gz

The package is a compiled binary with no source, so at this point all
you can do is execute the program with the command
/opt/cliproxy/cliproxy. You'll
see this prompt:

[CLI]>

First, read through the HTML documentation that is installed with the
program in the /opt/cliproxy/Help directory.

The program works by downloading a configuration from an Orinoco
access point on your local subnet. The program makes use of broadcast
traffic, so your Linux box must be on the same physical network as
the access point for it to work. You can also open a local
configuration file. This is done through the use of the
configure command. Saving the file is accomplished
by writing the file to disk or writing it to the access point, and is
done by issuing the command write.

The interface is very similar to Cisco IOS, along with tab-completion
of commands and the use of the ? key to find
context sensitive help. For example, show ? gives
you all of the options to the show command.

Once you have opened a configuration for editing, you can modify any
of the access point features available, from the wireless interface
to TCP/IP options to setting up bridging. The Orinoco access points
have a pretty broad set of features.

The software ships with default configuration files for the Orinoco
AP-1000 and AP-500, which you can open and modify to fit your needs.

5.3.2 Airport/RG-1000 Configurator

Jon Sevy of Drexel
University has built a Java-based configuration program for the
Apple
AirPort and the Orinoco
RG-1000 access point. He also has
versions of this program for the newer AirPort models with two
Ethernet ports and the AirPort Extreme 802.11g model. The software
can be downloaded from http://edge.mcs.drexel.edu/GICL/people/sevy/airport/#Configurator.

There are versions for Unix as well as MacOS 9, Mac OS X, and
Windows. You need a Java 1.2-compliant runtime engine (JRE). The
latest versions of Java for many platforms can be downloaded from Sun
Microsystems at http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.

Once you've downloaded the Configurator, unpack it
in a directory of your choice and run the program using this command
line:

java -jar AirportConfigurator.jar

When Java starts, it executes the Java Archive (JAR) code, which will
result in Figure 5-3.

Figure 5-3. Java AirPort/RG-1000 Configurator main screen

If you're familiar with either the Orinoco
configuration programs available for Windows or the FreeBase
configuration software written to configure an Apple AirPort from
Windows, this screen is very familiar.

As you can see, you have the option to discover compatible devices on
your network or to specify the IP address of a device you wish to
configure. Configuration is handled through a series of tabs, giving
you options for wireless and wired network settings, bridging, DHCP,
and a whole host of advanced settings.