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Networking

Discussion in 'Technical Board' started by Nettdata, Dec 1, 2009.

  1. Binary

    Binary
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    First off, why are you running wireless B if all of your APs are wireless G capable? There's a giant bottleneck. Wireless B is, optimally, 11 Mbps. But, of course, wireless signals degrade and you won't get optimal performance.

    Secondly, get rid of WEP. It can be cracked in seconds. Implement WPA or (better) WPA2. There may be infrastructure reasons why you can't do that, I'm just making a recommendation.

    Third, if the bottleneck is that noticeable, you don't need anything fancy. Just stick a large file on the server and time download times from different areas on the network. Seriously, unless you're doing high performance network tuning for things like VOIP that are super sensitive to latency, all you need is rough estimates to look for spikes or dips in performance. Download a large file, time it, and while doing so use the Windows Task Manager to monitor your network utilization. That'll give you a good metric. The other thing you can measure is latency by pinging the remote server.

    Last, most wireless infrastructure modes (where you expand wireless networks by creating wireless bridges that connect back to the primary AP) halve your network speeds. The device has to be using its radio to both accept data from the client and transmit it back to the server. If it's possible, run Cat5 to the bridges and connect them all to a switch rather than using a wireless infrastructure.

    Oh, and while I'm sure this is probably the least of your issues, it's still worthwhile: install NetStumbler on a laptop, or use an iPhone app, or something and check the channels of your surrounding wireless networks. If they're all using channel 6, switch to something else.
     
  2. snobes

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    Verizon Hotspot set up/wireless network card.

    I'm looking to dump my DSL and use my hot spot app for my internet. I'd like a wireless USB, for cheep but not suck. It uses WPA/WPA2 if that helps and the PC's are running Windows XP.

    Thanks
     
  3. ssycko

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    So due to silliness at the time of install (me not being there) the router at my house has been installed in the worst possible location- on the corner the furthest away from anything that uses wireless, including my computer in my room upstairs. The long and short of it is, I need some way to increase the power/extend the range of the wireless signal so that it works, as moving the router is out of the question at this point.

    I scoured the internet and found two solutions, replace the antenna or use a repeater. Now apparently placing a repeater in the appropriate place would be too much of an eyesore unless "we put it inside a cabinet," so right now I'm looking to find an antenna to see how well it does with this problem. The router I have is an Actiontec MI424WR, it comes with the Verizon FIOS package. The router uses a RP SMA connector, and comes with a 7 db omni-directional antenna. Now, I've read that there are antennae that broadcast in just one direction, so called "hi-gain" antenna, and while they exist I've yet to find any that work on routers. All I've found is "hi-gain omni-directional" antennae that claim to extend the range of the router by 100%, all while being 7 dB or less. I've only found one that's higher, at 8 dB, but still omni and that extra dB probably won't do much.

    Am I going about this wrong? Is there some special suppository of these mythical directional antennae that I'm not aware of? Or is there any easier way to go about this?
     
  4. Whatthe...

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    I've got a problem with a cellular modem on a remote site and touch screen that's behind the modem.

    Problem:
    I want to be able to remotely update the user program in the touch screen. The programming software uses port 9999 for project transfer. The cellular modem I"m using has reserved this port. I've spoken to the modem manufacturer. Their response was the linux shell they use on the modem reserves that port for something. They don't know what for, it's just reserved and there's nothing they can do about it.

    The touch screen manufacturer can't change the port that project transfers use. The engineer I spoke with went through the .ini files and there's nothing configurable in them.

    Anyone know of any software that I could use to redirect the traffic to say port 9990 and then I can redirect it back to 9999 with the port forwarding in the cell modem? Could I do this with another router on my end? Or am I looking for another modem manufacturer?
     
  5. 6PPC

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    Just found out I am implementing IP V6 on a DSLAM for one of my clients. Last time I read up on V6, it was still being called IPng. I don't want to read through dozens of RFC's. I need a crash course, a good book that describes the protocol and its services.

    I searched around on amazon.com and there are 100's of books. Can someone recommend a book or two? I know IP V4 inside and out, so I don't need a general TCP/IP Networking book, just how the V6 protocols works (ARP, IP, DHCP, IGMP, routing. etc).
     
  6. Dyson004

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    I'm hoping some of the more knowledgeable board members can help me out here.

    This is my situation. I currently live in a campus apartment. My building has a T1 connection, but unfortunately, there is only one ethernet port in my room. I just recently lucked out and managed to snag a netbook and a wireless laser printer for super cheap. Now, I have a desktop PC, a laptop PC, a netbook, my Xbox 360, and my wireless printer.

    I would like to be able to print from any of my computers to my printer wirelessly, as well as have my desktop and my Xbox 360 on wired connections. I've done a bit of googling and I see 3 different solutions:

    1.) Set up a switch, but this limits you to one IP address and one device at a time.

    2.) Set up a PC as a server and use it to create my own LAN.

    3.) Set up a router. Connect the router to the wall, and then connect the other devices via router.

    Which route would you recommend? Is there anything I need to be cognizant of as I set this thing up? I read that if I did go with the router, I would have to make sure I use dynamic IPs in a range that's not being used by my university. Thoughts?
     
  7. 6PPC

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    I would do option 3, get a wired/wireless router and run NAT. That way, you burn one IP address on the uplink side and both your wired and wireless devices will be NAT clients on the downlink side. I assume the network connection to your room is ethernet? If so, you need an ethernet to ethernet + wireless router.

    PM me if you have questions.
     
  8. Kratos

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    I've taken on the responsibility (because I'm incredibly fed up with our current ISP) of investigating a new ISP for my condo building. We have 120 units in our building, have fiber run from our DMARC (in the basement) to floors 3 and 6 where we have equipment rooms that then branch off ethernet to each unit. My condo is in downtown St. Paul. We're a couple blocks from a MOE provider thtat has a good reputation. My question: how much bandwidth should we need? Are we looking at a DS3? Would MOE suffice? Any other info would be great.

    Some background: we're paying $60/unit for our DirecTV (lowest package) and internet right now. That's pretty cheap, but for an MDU I'd expect we can get something better for that price. The biggest issue we have right now is that the internet is very unreliable, and I think it's not even from peak usage; we'll have downtimes at really random times.
     
  9. Pow

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    Late reply - I had something more detailed written out but I lost it.

    I would go with the MetroE. Not only will you get better performance, but your ability to scale your bandwidth to your needs is going to far surpass a DS3 circuit. Most people don't go with MetroE simply because it's not available. Take a look at the price of a MetroE circuit vs DS3 for equivalent bandwidth. Also realize that you can expect your bandwidth requirements for the complex to go up, and a DS3 isn't going to scale up, unless you add another circuit.
     
  10. rei

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    I've never really tried to set up SSH prior to now

    On the plus side I have a mac, which means its one click to get rolling, on the down side I have a crappy ISP-provided router I can't get rid of as its built in to my modem.

    I'm not really sure even where to start with this

    I have ssh set up on my mac, and can access it through its local ip (192.168.0.1:22) through my other machines (and phone) through my house. I'm curious how I'd access it properly remotely as obviously entering myouterfacingip:22 doesn't work.
     
  11. Nettdata

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    Your router/firewall has to be told what internal IP address to route the ssh traffic (port 22 default) to. It's usually called "application or special networking or port forwarding" in your firewall config.

    Basically, you say "port 22 on the public/outside IP goes to port 22 on this one specific IP address internally". That internal address is your mac. And be sure that your mac always has the same internal IP. Either set it up manually/statically, or use a reserved DHCP IP address for it.

    Confused yet? It gets better...


    Now, a bit of advice here... not that it'll help ALL that much... but I'd HIGHLY recommend that you NOT use the default port of 22 on the outside/public IP address.

    Set up something like 6022 or something... anything that you'll remember, and is higher than 1024.

    Why? There are a shit-ton of scripts loose on the interweb that do nothing but go through and port scan/test IP addresses in a methodical manner. A full port scan of an IP isn't done that often, because it takes a long time, so most scripts go looking for specific ports. 22 is guaranteed to be one that is tested. By changing it to something that isn't the default you help to reduce your probes a little bit. Security through obscurity, if you will.

    And ensure that root cannot log into the ssh server... lock it down to a single nonprivileged user that has no data or docs or anything.

    Personally, I'd just use the "back to my mac" from Apple... it'd be easier for you, and you wouldn't have to open up access to your mac to the internet.
     
  12. rei

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    Already got the mac given a static IP.

    My router doesn't seem to want to map port 22 out to anything, so switching port would be good - what's the best way to change the port on my mac? I can probably figure it out from my router perspective.
     
  13. Nettdata

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    Just leave your mac port as it is... the outside port and inside port don't have to be the same.

    Just add a route in your firewall that says external IP port 6022 goes to internal IP port 22.
     
  14. $100T2

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    I have a Dell XPS M1530 laptop. I have a Dell Wireless 3300 adaptor thing connected to my Dell 2330d laserjet printer.

    Up until today, it would print wirelessly. However, if the laptop got rebooted, I would have to reinstall the printer. Now, when I go to reinstall the printer, the computer can't "find" it. I've done all the typical "I have no clue what I'm doing" things such as rebooting the computer, turning off everything and turning it back on, turning off the wireless router (it's a Belkin N-something), etc, and it still won't work.

    What the fuck?
     
  15. BadBrains

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    Did you verify if the printer was available on the network? Make sure it's getting an IP address, which you should be able to do from the settings on the front panel of the printer.

    If it is pulling an IP and is available on the network, you can try manually installing it by creating a TCP/IP port and entering the IP address. But first, make sure it's actually on the network.
     
  16. $100T2

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    When I look for it on my network, it doesn't show up. It used to, but now it doesn't. I don't know why.
     
  17. thabucmaster

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    It's possible that it lost its network configuration. You might want to try to plug it in via USB and run the installation/configuration utility again to reset the wireless settings on it.
     
  18. Frebis

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    I think it is also possible that you accidently hid the SSID.
     
  19. thabucmaster

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    Perhaps, but unlikely. I don't think the printer is broadcasting an SSID, but rather connecting to his wireless network. He could do a rudimentary check to see if the printer is connected to the network by logging into his wireless router and checking to see what devices are connected. He could then verify that the MAC address of the printer is one of the connections.

    I'd say the easiest thing to do would be what I recommended. Just reconfigure the printer and be done with it. You might want to see about setting the printer to its factory defaults prior to doing that, though.
     
  20. cargasm66

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    Can I put 2 wireless routers on one network? I have a WDTV Live box in my entertainment center, but the router/modem is across the house in the office. I need a way to connect it to the Internet, and it only has an ethernet port (no built in WiFi). How would I configure the router in the living room? Thanks!