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Hack 12 BSS Versus IBSS

BSS/Master/AP/Infrastructure/IBSS/Ad-Hoc/Peer-to-Peer:
these all refer to 802.11b operating modes, but what does it all
mean?

802.11b
[Hack #3]) defines two possible (and mutually
exclusive) radio modes that stations can use to intercommunicate.
Those modes are BSS and
IBSS.

BSS stands for Basic Service
Set. In this operating mode, one station (the
BSS master, usually a piece of hardware called an
access point) acts as a gateway between the
wireless and a wired (likely Ethernet) backbone. Before gaining
access to the wired network,
wireless clients (also called BSS
clients) must first establish communications with an
access point within range. Once the AP has authenticated the wireless
client, it allows packets to flow between the client and the attached
wired network, either routing traffic at Layer 3, or acting as a true
Layer 2 bridge. A related term, Extended Service Set
(ESS), refers to a physical subnet that
contains more than one access point (AP). In this sort of
arrangement, the APs can communicate with each other to allow
authenticated clients to "roam"
between them, handing off IP information as the clients move about.
Note that (as of this writing) there are no APs that allow
roaming across networks
separated by a router.

IBSS (Independent
Basic Service Set) is frequently referred to as

Ad-Hoc or
Peer-to-Peer mode. In this mode, no hardware AP is required. Any
network node that is within range of any other can communicate if
both nodes agree on a few basic parameters. If one of those peers
also has a wired connection to another network, it can provide access
to that network.

Note that an 802.11b radio must be set to work in either BSS or IBSS
mode, but cannot work in both simultaneously. Also, BSS Masters (that
is, APs) cannot speak to each other over the air without using WDS or
some other tricky mechanism. Both BSS and IBSS support

shared-key
WEP encryption, for what it's worth (see [Hack #87]
and the rest of Chapter 7).

Generally speaking, most 802.11b networks consist of one or more BSS
Master devices (like a hardware access point, or a general purpose
computer running the Host
AP driver as seen in [Hack #57]) and
several BSS clients (laptops, handhelds, etc.). Ad-Hoc networks, on
the other hand, are handy for setting up a
point-to-point connection between two fixed
devices, or if a couple of laptops need to exchange files and there
is no other wireless network present.

In the early days
of 802.11b, many manufacturers implemented their own version of
Ad-Hoc mode, sometimes referred to as
Peer-to-Peer or Ad-Hoc Demo mode. Such
devices could only communicate with each other and
weren't compatible with true IBSS mode. Recent
firmware updates have helped IBSS mode interoperability quite a bit,
but not all cards can communicate with each other when speaking IBSS.
Generally, any client device can talk to any access point regardless
of the manufacturer, provided that both are certified to speak
802.11b.