WPA with Fedora 4

Mr_Oz · 02-18-2006, 10:15 AM

Does anybosy have any information on step by step on how to get WPA working on Fedora 4? Will it be built in in 5?

accessrichard · 02-18-2006, 11:27 AM

My ndiswrapper and wpa_supplicant howto for wpa

It is always a good idea to have wireless security by enabling WPA or WPA2. In order to do this obtain an application called the wpa_supplicant which can be downloaded here
http://hostap.epitest.fi/wpa_supplicant

I have had problems with the latest stable version which was 0.3.9 and had to go with the latest developement version wpa_supplicant-0.4.5.tar.gz. Likewise for different versions of ndiswrapper. After extracting wpa_supplicant create a .config file with the following options to get it to work with the ndiswrapper and then make it and copy the appropriate files into their correct directory.

Code:

[root@localhost rpms]# tar -xvzf wpa_supplicant-0.4.5.tar.gz
[root@localhost rpms]# cd wpa_supplicant-0.4.5
[root@localhost wpa_supplicant]# CONFIG_DRIVER_NDISWRAPPER=y > .config
[root@localhost wpa_supplicant]# CONFIG_CTRL_IFACE=y >> .config
[root@localhost wpa_supplicant]# make
[root@localhost wpa_supplicant]# cp wpa_cli wpa_supplicant wpa_passphrase 
                                    /usr/local/bin/

Now make a configuration file with the appropriate security settings in /etc/. Mine reads as follows for a WPA TKIP configuration.

Code:

[root@localhost wpa_supplicant-0.4.5]# nano /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant # for wpa_cli support

network={
  ssid="joeshmoe" #Access Point name
  psk="mySecret"  #My WPA password (plaintext or encrypted)
  key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
  proto=WPA
  pairwise=TKIP
  group=TKIP
}

Now see if things are working. It is important that you configure the access point before you start wpa_supplicant.

Code:

[root@localhost ~]# iwconfig wlan0 essid any
[root@localhost ~]# ifconfig wlan0 up
[root@localhost ~]# wpa_supplicant -Dndiswrapper 
                    -iwlan0 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -Bw
[root@localhost ~]# dhclient wlan0

If there are any errors, replace the wpa_supplicant option -Bw with -dd and try to debug the output to find the problem.

Now automate this process by issueing the command

Code:

[root@localhost root]# echo "/usr/local/bin/wpa_supplicant -Dndiswrapper 
                                       -iwlan0 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -Bw" >>  
                                       /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifup-wireless

If something goes wrong get ethereal, run tethereal in a shell, if the AP does not reply to your DHCP Discover with an Offer, then there is probably a problem with your encryption method.

Hopefully this will help, I create notes on everything I do and this was copy and pasted from that.

Dr_Death_UAE · 02-18-2006, 03:57 PM

Hi,
just download wpa_supplicant.rpm from :
http://rpm.pbone.net/index.php3/stat....i386.rpm.html

it will Required libc.so.6, download it also.

then just creat a file /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf

write in side it :

network={
ssid="your_network_name"
psk="your_wireless_key"
}

then run this command:

wpa_supplicant -D (your wireless driver type) -i (your wireless interface) -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf

EX: wpa_supplicant -D ipw -i eth1 -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf

then run the dhcp client for your ethernet.

dhclient eth1

Mr_Oz · 02-19-2006, 05:38 PM

Thanks guys for the help! It is working just great!

Thank again!