Today I received a new WRT54GL (Linksys Wireless Router). Upon setting the thing up to take the place of my old access point, MN-700 (Microsoft Wireless Router), I found that there are a couple of annoying quirks to this type of router:
- 1. If it’s supposed to be a bridging device, don’t use the WAN port. This is by far the worst design flaw I’ve seen. If I select router vs. gateway (which are the only options I received) I expect the WAN port to get bridged into the 4-port switch. This is not the case, and caused me an hour of headaches.
- 2. Is a shared key necessary for RADIUS authentication (I’m researching this one, but it seems a little paranoid)?
Otherwise, the thing is incredible. I can be on the far side of my house in the basement, and only get as low as approximately 50% connection status for wireless. I also have a couple of new to do items:
1. Set up a local LDAP for user authentication, and set up pam properly (thank goodness I’ve done this before).
2. Get FreeRadius running, and hooked into the LDAP server.
3. Set up the new WRT54GL (Linksys Wireless Router) to work with the RADIUS server for authentication.
4. Look into IPSec, and see if it is feasible for communication encryption once the RADIUS authentication is over.