demystify Knetwork manager please?

lindylex · 05-01-2008, 08:44 PM

Please help me demystify Knetwork manager please?

What would the command look like to login into a wireless network? I use Knetwork manager and it logs into my unsecured and secured network easily but I would like to know what would be the command string to do it from terminal.

This is what I have tried so far.

unsecured network

iwconfig wlan0 essid "libre" mode Managed commit
dhclient wlan0

iwconfig wlan0 essid "libre" mode Managed commit
dhclient wlan0

--------------------
Secured

iwconfig wlan0 key [1] 0123456789 essid "mediaserver" mode Managed commit
iwconfig wlan0 key open 0123456789 essid "mediaserver" mode Managed commit
iwconfig wlan0 key 0123456789 essid "mediaserver" mode Managed commit
iwconfig wlan0 essid "mediaserver" key 0123456789 mode Managed commit
iwconfig wlan0 key "0123456789" essid "mediaserver" mode Managed commit

All of the above commands I did
dhclient wlan0
After.

None of the commands from above worked, but some how Knetwork manager can login and this intrigues me. With the secured network I feed Knetwork manager the key and it logs into that router with no problems.

What networks are available?

This is the command I used.

iwlist scanning

Code:

lo        Interface doesn't support scanning.

eth1      Interface doesn't support scanning.

Warning: Driver for device wlan0 has been compiled with version 22
of Wireless Extension, while this program supports up to version 20.
Some things may be broken...

wlan0     Scan completed :
          Cell 01 - Address: 00:11:50:CF:38:14
                    ESSID:"libre"
                    Protocol:IEEE 802.11b
                    Mode:Managed
                    Frequency:2.412 GHz (Channel 1)
                    Quality:100/100  Signal level:-29 dBm  Noise level:-96 dBm
                    Encryption key:off
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s
                    Extra:bcn_int=100
                    Extra:atim=0
          Cell 02 - Address: 00:14:BF:F3:13:60
                    ESSID:"Samson WLAN"
                    Protocol:IEEE 802.11b
                    Mode:Managed
                    Frequency:2.437 GHz (Channel 6)
                    Quality:23/100  Signal level:-81 dBm  Noise level:-96 dBm
                    Encryption key:on
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s
                              24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
                    Extra:bcn_int=100
                    Extra:atim=0
          Cell 03 - Address: 00:13:10:10:47:A4
                    ESSID:"mediaserver"
                    Protocol:IEEE 802.11b
                    Mode:Managed
                    Frequency:2.437 GHz (Channel 6)
                    Quality:67/100  Signal level:-53 dBm  Noise level:-96 dBm
                    Encryption key:on
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s
                              24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
                    Extra:bcn_int=100
                    Extra:atim=0
          Cell 04 - Address: 00:1D:7E:19:45:03
                    ESSID:"natalie"
                    Protocol:IEEE 802.11b
                    Mode:Managed
                    Frequency:2.437 GHz (Channel 6)
                    Quality:20/100  Signal level:-83 dBm  Noise level:-96 dBm
                    Encryption key:on
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s
                              24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
                    Extra:bcn_int=100
                    Extra:atim=0
                    IE: WPA Version 1
                        Group Cipher : TKIP
                        Pairwise Ciphers (1) : TKIP
                        Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
          Cell 05 - Address: 00:17:3F:83:7C:C4
                    ESSID:"charmaine"
                    Protocol:IEEE 802.11b
                    Mode:Managed
                    Frequency:2.437 GHz (Channel 6)
                    Quality:20/100  Signal level:-83 dBm  Noise level:-96 dBm
                    Encryption key:on
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s
                    Extra:bcn_int=100
                    Extra:atim=0

defined interface

This is the command I used.

cat /etc/network/interfaces

Code:

# This file describes the network interfaces available on your system
# and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5).

# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

# The primary network interface
allow-hotplug eth1
iface eth1 inet dhcp

Hangdog42 · 05-02-2008, 07:32 AM

Personally, I would take it one step at time instead of trying to do everything on one line. Also, I don't believe that ending with "commit" is required, and in fact it might be screwing things up. So try doing the iwconfig commands one at a time, and post any errors you see. When you're done (or just frustrated) post the output of iwconfig and lets see where you are.

Quote:

dhclient wlan0

You never say what distro you're using, and there may be alternatives to dhclient that work better. The ifup command is a frequently used one as is dhcpcd. Again, if you see any errors, post them. Also have a look in your log files (/var/log/messages, /var/log/syslog and the output of dmesg) to see if dhclient (or whatever dhcp client you use) is leaving any clues as to what is going wrong.

lindylex · 05-03-2008, 12:11 AM

Hangdog42, I am using Debian Etch 4.0.

Hangdog42 · 05-03-2008, 06:59 AM

OK, I think Debian uses ifup, so try that first.

lindylex · 05-03-2008, 07:55 AM

Hangdog42,

I could not post all the output so here is a link to it.

www.mo-de.net/wireless

When did you want me to use that comand ifup?

This is what I get when i try to use it.

# ifup wlan0
Ignoring unknown interface wlan0=wlan0.

I think you might want me to use something like this instead.

iwconfig wlan0 up

Is this what you had in mind? To bring the wireless card up? Is there a specific order for execting these command?

i.e.

key, essid etc. or essid, key etc.

Thanks, Lex

Hangdog42 · 05-03-2008, 08:22 AM

OK, lets back up and take this one step at a time. First off, once you've tried to configure your card, what is the output of iwconfig? Unless the card is configured for your network, nothing else that follows will work, so lets get that straightened out first.

lindylex · 05-03-2008, 09:28 AM

Hangdog42, I dissabled Knetwork manager just to make sure it was not connecting to my "libre" network. This is what I did below.

No luck with joining "mediaserver" if I enter the key in Knetworkmanager everything goes fine and it can log in. I want to know what are the series of commands it is doing to make this happen. This should be very simple.

DarkMan:/home/share/wireless# iwconfig wlan0 essid "mediaserver"
DarkMan:/home/share/wireless# iwconfig wlan0 key open 0000000000
DarkMan:/home/share/wireless# iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.

eth1 no wireless extensions.

Warning: Driver for device wlan0 has been compiled with version 22
of Wireless Extension, while this program supports up to version 20.
Some things may be broken...

wlan0 IEEE 802.11b ESSID:"libre"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.412 GHz Access Point: 00:11:50:CF:38:14
Bit Rate=11 Mb/s
RTS thr=1600 B Fragment thr=2344 B
Encryption key

ff
Power Management

ff
Link Quality:0 Signal level:0 Noise level:0
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

This is a series of command I just tried.

# ifconfig wlan0 up
# iwconfig wlan0 essid "mediaserver"
# iwconfig wlan0 key open 0000000000
# iwconfig wlan0 mode Managed
# dhclient wlan0

and

# ifconfig wlan0 up
# iwconfig wlan0 essid "mediaserver"
# iwconfig wlan0 key open 0000000000
# iwconfig wlan0 mode Managed
# iwconfig wlan0 commit
# dhclient wlan0

Hangdog42 · 05-03-2008, 04:08 PM

Quote:

Warning: Driver for device wlan0 has been compiled with version 22
of Wireless Extension, while this program supports up to version 20.
Some things may be broken...

I haven't seen this one for a bit. Basically your wireless tools package is out of date, and may be the cause of some of your misery. What distro are you using and what driver are you using for your wireless card?

Quote:

wlan0 IEEE 802.11b ESSID:"libre"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.412 GHz Access Point: 00:11:50:CF:38:14
Bit Rate=11 Mb/s
RTS thr=1600 B Fragment thr=2344 B
Encryption keyff
Power Managementff
Link Quality:0 Signal level:0 Noise level:0
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

I'm guessing that the info for the libre network is in some config file somewhere and that is why your card is being configured for that. Coupled with the wireless tools problem, this could be why you can't reset.

lindylex · 05-03-2008, 04:54 PM

"I haven't seen this one for a bit. Basically your wireless tools package is out of date, and may be the cause of some of your misery. What distro are you using and what driver are you using for your wireless card?"

I use Debian Ethc 4.0. The drivers that I am using are suggested from the ndiswrapper site for the following.

01:04.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless LAN 2100 3B Mini PCI Adapter (rev 04)

"I'm guessing that the info for the libre network is in some config file somewhere"

Maybe Knetworkmanger has written something some where but I am unsure of this. What can do is reboot with the network manger disabled and run a test.

Again Hangdog42 or anyone reaqding this, the impetus behind this inquiry is to learn I do not have a problem getting on-line.

I am trying to figure out what commands Knetworkmanger uses to get on-line.

"Coupled with the wireless tools problem, this could be why you can't reset." This is not that credible because the G.U.I. can do it. The secrect is to discover what might be the problem or series of command to accomplish what the G.U.I. is doing. Debian Etch updated uses wireless-tools package version 28-1.

To resolve the following error would be nice but I am unsure how to go about this.

"Warning: Driver for device wlan0 has been compiled with version 22
of Wireless Extension, while this program supports up to version 20.
Some things may be broken..."

Hangdog42 · 05-04-2008, 07:26 AM

Quote:

Again Hangdog42 or anyone reaqding this, the impetus behind this inquiry is to learn I do not have a problem getting on-line.

Ah, sorry, I thought you were having trouble connecting to anything besides the libre network. That acutally makes this conversation a bit simpler.

Quote:

I am trying to figure out what commands Knetworkmanger uses to get on-line.

Most GUI front-ends are taking advantage of normal console commands. I haven't looked at the code of Knetworkmanager, but I suspect they are using iwconfig, ifconfg and probably ifup. Of course they may have also written protocols to directly configure the card. You might drop the developers an email and see if they answer.

Quote:

This is not that credible because the G.U.I. can do it.

If Knetworkmanager uses routines that bypass iwconfig, then it might be a credible explanation of why it works, but not iwconfig. Again, you'll have to either look at the code or ask the knetworkmanager developers.

Quote:

The drivers that I am using are suggested from the ndiswrapper site for the following.

01:04.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless LAN 2100 3B Mini PCI Adapter (rev 04)

Um, ndiswrapper is actually a poor choice for this card. Intel is one of the few good guys in the Linux wireless world in that they write their own drivers. In fact the driver is part of the kernel as of 2.6.24 and all you need to do is add firmware. You'll want to keep this in mind because if you switch to a kernel that has ipw2100 built in, then it will conflict with ndiswrapper and cause all sorts of havoc.