Not having a clue what I'm trying to do is probably my problem! I'm not very good with 'paint', but have tried. It really isn't supposed to like like a mutant smiley face  :-. What I am trying to do is have Wireless clients authenticated through the captive portal (I have set up IAS on my domain controller, and pointed the captive portal at it, with shared secrets). When authenticated, I want them to use WAN as default gateway and access resources on LAN. Does any of that even make sense?? I hope so. I would like to use WPA as well, but the wl-330g does not support its use with a RADIUS server, and as it's the access point, not pfSense, I guess I can't use pfSense's WPA support? [image: Network.JPG] [image: Network.JPG_thumb] [image: Network.JPG_thumb]

It all depends on how you use it, like if you run in "pure-g" mode there is no need for this. In general one would like CTS/RTS if you run in mixed mode (b/g) in most other scenarios you would have it "off". What protection mode does is prefixing each OFDM data frame with a request to send/clear to send (RTS/CTS) complimentary code keying (CCK) frame sequence. The duration fields of the RTS and CTS frames should allow the IEEE 802.11b node to correctly set its network allocation vector and avoid collisions with the subsequent OFDM frames. CTS to self wil lhave the effect of a 802.11g node telling a 802.11b node that it is going to transmit. Basically this is used as a collision avoidence, since the G node can talk to a b node in DSSS but a B node can not understand OFDM. Also note that Protection mode has a performance penalty because of overhead.

That is correct, the soldering for highpower cards was a older mod iirc.

I tried with TKIP and the i works. Tanks

Ok , excellent thanks.

fyi: EMP-8602 is detected and functioning again in the 04-06-06 pfSense snapshot… http://www.pfsense.com/~sullrich/RELENG_1_SNAPSHOT_04-06-2006/pfSense.img.gz Thanks, -Pete

8021.x is not fully supported in the current version. It will be in 1.1. If you want the support you need to hardcode the values in the hostapd.conf. The hostapd.conf is generated int the wireless section in /etc/inc/interfaces.inc. If you want the config to be generated correctly for 802.1x on reboot or other changes you will need to hardcode your settings in /etc/inc/interfaces.inc. And no, the captive portal radius config will not work with EAP afaik.

no I didn't touch the DHCP setup at all, I just setup the opt2 (wireless) to static IP 192.168.2.1 /24 and expected that my client would be able to connect with a static IP 192.168.2.5 (unchanged from when it worked with v. 0.88). the client said it connected and the siglan is 100%, and in the pfsense system log I could see  " <mac address="">associated" and " <mac address="">authenticated", but now when I look again it also says " <mac address="">WPA: group key handshake completed (WPA)".  I don't recall seeing that in the log when I used the static IP?</mac></mac></mac>

Which Version of pfSense are you running? In case it's not http://pfsense.com/~sullrich/RELENG_1_SNAPSHOT_03-26-2006/ please upgrade. pfSense is synced against the freebsd 6.1 tree frequently and there might be newer driver or HAL versions that possible will fix the problem. There are also some improvements at the wireless interface menu (like only showing valid channels for your card in the dropdown). Also try rebooting after you changed the settings. I have encountered some issues with atheros cards being in a somehow invalid state after changing settings. As far as we have diagnosed them they seem to be driver related so there is nothing we can do about this atm other than to wait for a driver that fixes it.

I have not measured it with an RF power meter, but it seems to me that the txpower attribute of the cisco a/b/g card is : 2 txpower units ~ 1dB Had measured the cisco LMC 352 PCI card and found the reception index (0-100%) to be related with the RX input power, expressed in dBm, in the following  proportion : 2% units ~ 1 dBm. Linearity from 10% to 90%, if I recall correctly, was within +/- 1,5 dB. So, if you need it displayed in mW you have to do the log -> linear conversion. What is easy to include in pfSense, is the RSSI to RX dBm conversion for the Atheros cards. It just takes a subtraction for it RSSI - 95 = RX input in dBm. Example : RSSI = 35 -> Rx = -60dBm Read it in a paper, but I can verify it also if you deside to include this option in a future release.

If you are looking for the best wireless support then you should go for a atheros based card. see http://madwifi.org/wiki/Compatibility for a card listing that should work with pfSense.

Fast frames/compression/bursting/XR? Is any of the features above implemented in the BSD atheros drivers? http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/cvsweb.cgi/src/sys/contrib/dev/ath/ah.h HAL_CAP_COMPRESSION     = 12,   /* hardware supports compression / HAL_CAP_BURST           = 13,   / hardware supports packet bursting / HAL_CAP_FASTFRAME       = 14,   / hardware supoprts fast frames / HAL_CAP_XR              = 21,   / hardware has XR support  */

This is normally caused because of a recognized region setting. Try to change the regionsetting of the card, it will normally fix this.

AFAIK, the linux driver has the same HAL if it's the normal madwifi driver. The madwifi-ng driver is different iirc.

It's easiest to assign the interface via the webgui. Go to interfaces>assign. Then add the [+] icon. It will add an OPTx interface. Hit save and go to Interfaces>OPTx (the one you just assigned). There you'll find all the wireless settings. If you want to do it from the shell answer no to the vlan question and assign the wireless interface just the way you assigned other interfaces too. Then do the configuration of the parameters like described above.

OK.  Well now that you know what version I am using would you like me to post some log or something?  I'm not sure where to go from here.  I would really like to use this feature and all of you keep saying that it is possible but for some reason I am unable to make it work. And your right that this SHOULD be simple and very possible, considering that off the shelf wireless routers do it all the time. All I want is this:  (a recap just to make sure we are all on the same page) Specs on Box running pfSense: –--------------------------------------------------------------------- AMD Thunderbird 900megahertz 768 megs of memory ATI All-In-Wonder 128 Pro Video Card (overkill but this box was not origionally a router) 5-10gig Hard Drive (Can't remember size) 3 - 10/100 NIC's 1 - B/G Wireless Card CD Drive Floppy Drive Current Setup: Internet:  Charter Cable Modem - 1 Dynamic IP Address WAN:  10/100 Wired NIC - DHCP for IP from Internet LAN:  10/100 Wired NIC - 192.168.1.1/24 - Connected to multiple switches for the many wired computers. OPT1(Server):  10/100 Wired NIC - Disabled at this time.  May be used in future as a DMZ. OPT2(Wireless):  Foxconn (Ral) B/G Wireless NIC - 192.168.2.1/23 DHCP server is turned on for the LAN & Wireless connections. Traffic Shaping is turned on for LAN. Squid Proxy package is installed and running. Dynamic DNS is sending WAN IP to DYNDNS service. ==LAN Internet === WAN==|pfSense|                                             ==WIRELESS What I want: LAN & Wireless to both be on 192.168.1.1/24 range. Single DHCP server to hand out addresses for both LAN & Wireless All other features that are currently running to keep running.  (Though I could live without traffic shaper if necessary) This machine should be able to handle being the Firewall / Router / Wireless Access Point / Squid Proxy What I DON'T want: Turn off any of the firewall features.  This is my only firewall between me and the net and I don't plan to add another one. Conclusion: The whole point of this thread (and the prior support ticket) is that due to how things are currently setup, in order for you to browse a computer on the wireless network you must know the IP address of the computer.  (Of course the opposite is true as well) You cannot just type in the machine name like you would for a computer on the LAN.  I just want the internal network to be able to talk to each other. I have tried rules.  I have tried bridging.  I've tried a combo of both.  I've tried just putting them on the same subnet but giving them different IP ranges in the DHCP servers. Nothing works. I am a FreeBSD / Linux NOOB.  I know PC's rinning windows or even dos like the back of my hand and have been building and maintaining said computers since I was like 12.  If someone knows the steps I need to follow in order to fix my problem PLEASE let me know.  I would like a step by step solution if possible.  What I am trying to avoid is instructions for something else that is simmilar and you want me to figure out how to modify them to fix my problem.  (aka Transparent Bridge on WAN ???  I'm sorry but that pdf file made no sense and did not seem to have anything to do with my problem)  Maybe I'm being dense / stupid.  It's possible.  Just please explain. Thank you all for your help!

WDS is not supported afaik. WDS is in general somewhat vendor specific and there is no standard for WDS. (the wifi alliance has what can be refered to as the defacto standard for WDS, but this is still not considered a full standard) You could mail the freebsd-mobile mailinglist for more info.