WiFi Question

t_enriquez

Hello Everyone,

I have an issue where our CAT5 lines have been damaged and I need to provide temp service from one location to another. What I would like to do is use an existing WiFi AP and connect to the AP through a WiFi interface on a pfsense box. From there, I want the LAN side of the pfsense box to use the WiFi to get services on the same LAN, keeping the original IP addresses.

The WiFi AP covers the affected office. I have 2.1-RC0 (i386) installed on a computer with the WAN as iwn0 and the lan side as re0.

Is this possible?

Regards,

Tony

wallabybob

@t_enriquez:

Is this possible?

I can't think of any reason why it wouldn't work, provided signal quality was adequate.

Have you tried it?

kejianshi

I decided not to install a wifi card on my pfsense box here at home because I think its cheaper and easier to simply install a NIC card and plug an AP into that than to install wireless directly on the pfsense box. If you want the AP on the same LAN subnet as everyone else, just plug it into the same switch that everyone else is on.

My preference for wireless AP was to load DDWRT onto an old E1000 linksys router and then turn off the firewall, DHCP server etc and WAN and to give it a static IP outside the DHCP range of the pfsense box. This setup will also allow you to use the linksys router as a switch and wireless AP on the same subnet as the rest of your LAN.

Then you can use a second E1000 with DDWRT as a client to the first one. This will give you up to 5 ethernet ports on the same subnet as the rest of your LAN connected wireless with no double NATing or anything.

This is a good cheap way to build a wireless bridge for your network and to end up with a heap of extra physical LAN ports on both ends.

If you want it to work faster, use a E2000s (or the equivalent) in wireless N mode. Then you will have gigabit lan on both sides, but still limited to wireless N speeds between any two computers on seperate ends of this wireless bridge.

t_enriquez

@wallabybob:

@t_enriquez:

Is this possible?

I can't think of any reason why it wouldn't work, provided signal quality was adequate.

Have you tried it?

I could not figure out how connect the pfsense wifi card to the existing AP. iwn0 is setup as the WAN interface.

kejianshi

I prefer using ethernet > wireless AP / Client, but if your problem is that your wireless card is being shown as WAN rather than LAN or OPT(#) or something, just go into your assign interfaces menu and assign it to whatever you like. Now, here is the thing. I think its going to want its own subnet just like any NIC card would unless you bridge it to your LAN interface. Its an aweful lot of fuss to have wireless in the box rather than outside it.

But… This might get you going right direction if you just MUST use wireless inside pfsense.

http://doc.pfsense.org/smiller/add_wifi_interface/Add_WiFi_Interface.htm

wallabybob

@t_enriquez:

I could not figure out how connect the pfsense wifi card to the existing AP. iwn0 is setup as the WAN interface.

I presume you mean configure rather than connect.
On the Interfaces -> WAN page in the Network-specific wireless configuration set the Mode to Infrastructure (to connect to an existing AP), set the SSID to the WiFi network name configured in the AP and set the encryption parameters (if used) to match what is set in the AP (encryption mode, password etc).

The General Configuration parameters should be set the same as you would set for a wired interface.

wallabybob

@kejianshi:

if your problem is that your wireless card is being shown as WAN

My reading of the original post is that is what is required as a temporary replacement for a damaged wired link. I suspect this is a "get something working quickly with what is already available" problem rather than a "what is the optimum way of putting a WiFi access point on a network with pfSense present" question.

kejianshi

I think you are probably correct.

t_enriquez

That is correct. This is a temp solution with already available resources.

t_enriquez

Thanks for all of the replies. I finally have the WiFi "configured" correctly. I tried to "bridge" the two interfaces and it looks like my WiFi adapter will not work.

I'll have to make a few changes to the devices to use the WiFi through the pfsense box.

FYI, the computer is a Foxconn nT-i1200-0H0WBNA.

Thanks again for the replies

t_enriquez

@t_enriquez:

Thanks for all of the replies. I finally have the WiFi "configured" correctly. I tried to "bridge" the two interfaces and it looks like my WiFi adapter will not work.

I'll have to make a few changes to the devices to use the WiFi through the pfsense box.

FYI, the computer is a Foxconn nT-i1200-0H0WBNA.

Thanks again for the replies

The error when trying to create the bridge was:

The following input errors were detected:

Bridging a wireless interface is only possible in hostap mode.

wallabybob

@t_enriquez:

The error when trying to create the bridge was:

The following input errors were detected:

Bridging a wireless interface is only possible in hostap mode.

I don't know the reason for that restriction. Why do you need to bridge?

stan-qaz

I'd really lean to external wireless extenders.

Cheap $60, not so fast: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833127294

More $120 pretty fast: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA0SF0BV4130

I use a 1525 in bridge mode to get my Ethernet to a printer and a backup drive sitting in a spot that it would be hard to get cables to. It runs for months on end with no hassles and recovers from power outages with no problems. Other brands might work better but I got the DAP really cheap.

t_enriquez

@wallabybob:

@t_enriquez:

The error when trying to create the bridge was:

The following input errors were detected:

Bridging a wireless interface is only possible in hostap mode.

I don't know the reason for that restriction. Why do you need to bridge?

I need to bridge to keep the lan segment the same on both sides.

t_enriquez

@stan-qaz:

I'd really lean to external wireless extenders.

Cheap $60, not so fast: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833127294

More $120 pretty fast: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA0SF0BV4130

I use a 1525 in bridge mode to get my Ethernet to a printer and a backup drive sitting in a spot that it would be hard to get cables to. It runs for months on end with no hassles and recovers from power outages with no problems. Other brands might work better but I got the DAP really cheap.

Thanks for the reply. I'll check them out if we can't run the new cable right away.