Project WifiGateway
From Frederick Chapleau Wiki
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Great, but ... why?
Just to know how it works, and, I wanted to extend by wifi network between more than two floor.
So, I replace my old WRT54g, and replaced it by a WRT150N. After that, I replace the WRT150N with the latest WRT310N. After replacing it, I just remembered my old WRT54g, and I wondered if it can be usefull to extend it. And yes, there is a mode named repeater bridge. Yes, that's what I want because the client bridge is not answering my need. The client bridge is when you want to remotely connect wired device to a wireless network. The repeater bridge is a WIFI access point connected Wifi to another Wifi network.
So, let's start!
Requirements
Hardware Requirements
2 Wifi router, I used a Linksys WRT310N (802.11n router) and a Linksys WRT54g v6.0 as the extension.
A linux gateway, I used a small Pentium 2 server, installed with Fedora Core 8. The only requirements is that it should be compatible with PHP5.
Software Requirements
I used DD-WRT, v2.4. Check the installation instruction and the Supported Devices section to see if you devices are compatible.
Installation
For my installation, I didn't want free wifi client to access my network and my internet connection thru the 802.11n network, so I secured my primary gateway, and configured security on the first virtual interface so that the second gateway is accessing securely the network, and that the free Wifi is accessing the 802.11b network.
Secondly, I configured the first gateway using Wifidog. A Montreal initiative for the 'ile sans fils' network, and really well implemented.
Wifi Installation
For my WRT310N, I installed it using the Broadcom Generic Release, check the newsgroup about how to install it User Groups
For the WRT54g device, there is really a bunch of instructions, and a bunch version, so check very carefully, and install it.
This is not a TCP/IP 101 course. So to continue this installation, I assumed that the 'master' Wifi Access Point is configured correctly.
The next step is realy nicely described on the DD-WRT wiki, check it out
Wifidog Installation
The Wifidog Installation was a little harder, but not because of the installation instruction, only because of the installation step on Fedora Core 8.
Here are the installation instruction from the Wifidog website, for the Auth-Server
Conclusion
This installaion is really working fine, and Wifidog is a nice gateway, that is using ping request compared to popups for keep alive. This type of installation can be configured to use an authentication server on the internet. So, it is a great implementation for company who have multiple sites, and want a single authentication point.
