Quick Links
Apple Newton
LAN and WAN
Internet & UNIX
MS Windows
Mac OS X
Wireless
Home
Wireless Stuff
Hints
I setup WPA "personal mode" (preshared or WPA-PSK) with TKIP at home on a
Cisco Aironet 1200 access point for use with my PowerBook. I also hooked up
a Dell 1300 USB B/G wireless adapter to a PC and it works like a champ. The
main difference I noticed with WPA over WEP is that it takes ~45 seconds or
so to associate to the AP. WPA-2 looks interesting but only certain versions
of the Cisco 1200 support it.
I initially purchased an AIR-AP1220B-A-K9 and upgraded to a G radio
(AIR-MP21G-A-K9). A newer version of the A radio (AIR-RM21A-A-K9 - dual
integrated antennas or AIR-RM22A-A-K9 - dual RP.TNC connnectors) must be
present for WPA-2 to work (semi-forklift upgrade). Here's Cisco's statements
about
Wi-Fi Protected Access, WPA2 AND IEEE 802.11I.
In case you are not aware, wireless encryption other than WPA or WPA-2
can be compromised, many with minimal effort. Even WPA is susceptible to
dictionary attacks - so use a convoluted and 20+ character preshared key for
WPA personal mode. WPA uses TKIP and WPA-2 is the new 802.11i
standard that uses AES-CCMP. Here is Cisco's own words regarding
AP 1200 AES-CCMP compatibility (requires CCO login). Also, here's a
complete guide to
Aironet AP 1200 options.
Implementing Cisco 1200 AP's? If so, you may want to review the
Upgrade Cisco Aironet AP1200 to IOS
information on Cisco's Web site in advance. The original VxWorks command line
and GUI interfaces are quite unfriendly. Note: the (somewhat convoluted) upgrade
process works, however I was unable to install the latest version of AP 1200
IOS code without doing an
archive download of the software. When I tried updating via tftp, the
transfer kept aborting 1/2 way through (yes, I tried half duplex, 10 Mbps, etc.
with no luck).
The 27 January 2004
AirPort version 3.3 software update that Apple posted was the first version
compatible with WPA.
Links
Default SSIDs
If you are having trouble deciding which wirleless card to buy, check out
this detailed
list.
Below are three articles that are
worth reading (particularly if you are planning a wireless deployment or
trying to shore up an existing one):
The Wireless Office: Getting It Right
Keeping Your Wireless Network Secure
Using With OS X, Linux and Windows XP
Return to my Home page