Hardware

Welcome to our quick hardware guide. There are many different brands and models of hardware
commonly used to make a good network, such a large number of choices makes it impossible for us to
document each and every one. The examples shown here are good representatives of devices of their
type and are included so that the reader can get an idea of what they might look like.

Ethernet Cables

Ethernet or network cables connect computers and other devices together to

communicate with each other. This type of network is often referred to as an
ethernet or wired network. The computer must have an ethernet card (also called a
network card, Network Interface Card or NIC for short) which the network cable
plugs into. They are particularly usefull in wireless networks for connecting to
devices such as access points for their initial configuration.

Ethernet or Network Card

Network cards (also called an ethernet card, Network Interface Card or NIC for
short) are used to connect computers to wired or ethernet networks. A network
cable is plugged into a network card installed on the computer and the other end of
the cable is plugged into a switch or similar device so that the computer can
communicate with other computers and devices. Most computers and laptops have
one built into them however if your computer doesnt have one a network card such
as the one to the left can be installed in the majority of cases.

Network Switch

Switches are used in conjunction with network cables to join multiple

computers and devices (such as wireless access points) together so that they
may communicate. One end of the network cable is connected to the switch
and the other is plugged into the computers network card. The computer can
then communicate with any other computer or device plugged into the switch.

Wireless Network Cards

Wireless network cards are used to connect computers to wireless networks.

Wireless networks allow computers and devices to communicate with each other
without being physically connected by wires, instead they communicate using radio
waves. The current trend is for mobile computers (laptops, pda's etc) to have
wireless cards built into them however desktop computers tend to be lagging behind
in this respect and most desktops will need to have a wireless card installed.

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 Access Point/Bridge

Access Points or AP's are the wireless equivelent of an ethernet switch.

Although computers can talk directly to each other (called an ad-hoc wireless
network) access points allow computers or devices to connect to them as clients
(called an infrastructure wireless network) so that they may communicate with
each other. Access Points generally have a single ethernet connection so that
the wireless network (wlan) can be joined to a wired or ethernet network. In this
role the AP may be often referred to as a bridge.

Wireless Routers

Wireless Routers are much like access points however they generally perform
additional tasks as well. For example, the Asus router pictured here has 5 ethernet
ports (not visible), 4 are used as a switch and the 5th is used as a WAN port (Wide
Area Network, generally the internet). The WAN port is usually connected to a cable
or DSL modem. The router then distributes the internet from the WAN port to
computers on the wireless network as well as any plugged into the switch via
ethernet. Generally the WAN port is protected by a firewall which protects the
computers connected to the router from direct attacks from the internet.

Wireless ADSL Modem

The ADSL modem pictured here has its own built in wireless access point. ADSL is
the most common form of broadband internet and the objective of most people
building a wireless network is of course to share a common internet connection
between multiple computers or to connect a computer or several computers to the
internet in a location where network cabling is undesirable or not possible. ADSL
modems with built in wireless access points are a viable and easy option when all
the computers that require the internet connection are within range of its radio.

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IP Addresses

IP addresses or "all those numbers" arent anywhere near as frightening as

they may first appear. In this section we will examine the essentials of IP
addresses and how to use them. An IP address is a number used to
identify a computer when it is connected to a network. We could consider it
to be very much like a street address for a house or building, after all if you
dont have a street address the postman would find it hard to deliver your
mail, wouldnt he? Packets of data find their way in a similar fashion. An IP
address is a group of four numbers seperated by dots, for example
10.0.0.1 or 192.168.1.1. Using our street address comparison we could
think of the format of the address as city.town.street.housenumber . Figure
1 is an example of a simple local area network (or LAN). There are three
computers connected to each other via network cables and a switch. Note
that the IP addresses for these machines are different by one on the very
last number (the "housenumber"). The first is 192.168.1.1, the second 192.168.1.2 and so on if necessary
to the limit of 254 addresses. These computers are on the same network and as such are able to
communicate with each other. If one of the computers were changed to 192.168.200.1 it would no longer
be able to see the other computers and communicate with them.

On the internet IP addresses are assigned to servers so that things like email and web sites work
properly. For these servers to work properly they must have unique IP addresses, ones that are not used
anywhere else in the entire world. Because of this there are special ranges of IP's that are designated for
use in places like private LAN's (Local Area Networks) such as we intend to build. They are:

10.0.0.0 – 10.255.255.255
172.16.0.0 – 172.31.255.255
192.168.0.0 – 192.168.255.255
169.254.0.0 – 169.254.255.255

When configuring the IP address on most devices you will likely be

asked for a subnet mask or netmask. Subnetting is a way of deciding
how many IP addresses will be on your network. The subnet mask
used almost exclusively on this website will be 255.255.255.0 which
means in our above example that we can use every address
between 192.168.1.1 and 192.168.1.254 and they will be part of the
same network and able to see each other. As subnetting is
unnecessary in the average home or small office network we shall
not enter into any further explanation of it and its many uses.

Another option that most computers or devices ask for is a gateway or

default gateway in their configuration. Some devices may also refer to it as
the router address. What the device really wants to know is which address
on the network should it send requests for data that is outside of your local
area network. Figure 2 has the computers IP address as 192.168.1.2. If it
needs to connect to any computer on your LAN it will simply transmit and
receive the data, knowing that any computer that has an address of
192.168.1.1 - 192.168.1.254 will be connected locally and if its switched on

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and working it will be listening. If it has to get data from outside the LAN (from any other address) it will
send the request to the default gateway instead, which in this example is 192.168.1.1. The default
gateway will be a device such as an ADSL or cable modem that will provide a connection to other
networks such as the internet.

The final IP address configuration option you will commonly encounter is the DNS server or domain name
server address. DNS is the process by which human friendly names such as www.diywireless.com are
converted into IP addresses so that the computer can request the data it requires in a method it
understands. When you type www.diywireless.com into your web browser (say internet explorer) your
computer will query a DNS server, usually your internet service providers, and ask it what the IP address
of www.diywireless.com is. The DNS server will reply with the appropriate IP address and your computer
will then be able to ask its gateway for the required information, in this case this website. Nameservers
are usually specified by their IP address and if your computer doesnt have at least one specified you wont
go far on the internet. If you dont know your internet service providers DNS server addresses contact
them and ask them, they should be quite happy to tell you what they are.

So we have learnt the four things that are required to configure IP address settings for most computers
and devices. IP address, subnet mask, gateway and nameserver address are all most things need to
actually communicate over your network and beyond. What if you had lots of computers and had to
configure them all? There is an easier way! If we look at figure 2 we can see an option to obtain an IP
address automatically and also obtain nameserver addresses automatically. This is achieved by dhcp
(Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol). Instead of configuring each PC manually we can use a dhcp
server to provide each computer its address instead. DHCP servers are built into most routers and access
points. The tutorials section includes some examples of configuring a DHCP server but essentially all the
server needs to know is the range of addresses it should hand out (eg 192.168.1.50 - 100), the subnet
mask, the gateway address and the name server address. Sound Familiar? To avoid problems you
should make sure that only one dhcp server runs on each network.

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Securing your Wireless Network

With wireless networking security should always be the first and foremost consideration. The convenience
of being able to move around with a laptop in the home or office has one trade off, your wireless network
and its clients are broadcasting not only data to themselves but also to anybody else within range too.
The solution is to encrypt the traffic on your network so that others may not be able to join your network
and use its resources. The statistics vary from source to source but overall approximately 70% of wireless
networks are not encrypted, 25% are encrypted using WEP and the remaining 5% or so use WPA. When
I first read these statistics I was critical so I took it upon myself to drive around the suburb I live in with a
laptop and a USB wireless adapter. Out of the 6 wireless networks I found 3 of them were open (or
unencrypted) networks. With 2 of them I was surfing the net at someone elses expense in seconds. Now
this story is not designed to frighten the reader away from wireless networks but to illustrate why security
is and should remain an essential element to consider during their configuration.

The design of your network can also be a vital part of its security. Do destop machines on an ethernet
network need to exchange data with clients on your wireless network as an example? If the answer is no
then a firewall between the two networks will prevent unathorised access to your network shares or
printers. An internet connection can be shared between the two networks without them being able to
communicate with each other and having them on seperate IP address ranges will do much to protect
vital data.

Wireless encryption sounds difficult and technical to do however configuration of wireless encryption is a
snap and requires no real understanding of cryptography whatsoever. The two types of commonly used
encryption in a home or small office environment are WEP (Wired Equivalence Protection) or WPA (Wi-Fi
Protected Access).

WEP is an older form of encryption and several tools have surfaced recently that have made it possible to
break WEP encryption in a remarkably short period of time. To use WEP the access points and all clients
connecting to it must use the same encryption key, a hexadecimal number (charactors 0-9 and A-F) either
10 charactors long for 64 bit WEP or 26 charactors long for 128 bit WEP. WEP may be your only option if
your access point or device is a little on the older side, however it is still a far better option than having an
open network and will keep passers by and amataeur hackers out of your network.

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WPA and its successor WPA2 are more modern methods of encrypting a wireless network. There are
many ways that WPA can be configured but for the home or office the most suitable method is to use a
Pre-Shared Key (PSK). A preshared key is simply a password between 8 and 63 charactors long that is
typed into the computer or devices configuration and supplied on connecting to the network. There are
two types of encryption that may be used with WPA-PSK, AES and TKIP. TKIP is mainly used with WPA
and AES with WPA2. Configuring your access point to do both will accommodate older devices more
readily. WPA with a preshared key is the preferred method of encryption and is considered to be far more
secure than WEP.

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Device Configuration

Every device or computer that will connect to your wireless network will
need some degree of configuration. Access points or wireless bridges in
particular are given settings at the factory that will allow you to access
its administration interface so that it may be configured. An unfortunate
byproduct of this is that most of these devices will also work straight out
of the box and a fair percentage of them will eventually end up being yet
another unsecured wireless network to be hijacked by freeloaders. To
use an access point with no encryption, default configuration and
default administration password is a recipe to finding yourself locked out
of your own network and/or possibly getting a surprising internet bill.
Restoring the devices factory defaults and reconfiguring it will be your only good option.

Almost all wireless devices have a factory default button and this may come to be your friend in the event
of a mistake or misconfiguration. The factory default button is usually a small switch located on the back
of a device and is most often accessable through a small hole that requires a thin object like a paper clip
to press. Different devices may prefer to be reset in different ways but generally the button is depressed
while the device is on for 5-30 seconds and then power is cycled (turned off and on) on the device. This
will remove any settings that you may have configured and restore them to the ones the device had when
it left the factory.

When you first open the box on your brand new wireless router or similar toy resist the temptation to
throw the manual away. Keep all of the manuals and documentation in a safe place, you may need to
refer to them at some point. Some manufacturers will often include a "quickstart guide" which contains
usefull information such as IP address and administration username and password. Even professionals
keep these handy.

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Most wireless access points, routers and other devices are configured by a web interface similar to figure
1. A web interface is really just a web page that is found on the actual device that you can change options
on to configure the device to your requirements. So the very first step is to connect your computer via an
ethernet cable or wirelessly to the device you are about to configure. Ethernet is my personal choice for
device configuration as it is arguably slightly harder to lock yourself out of an ethernet connection. Once
you have connected the device physically to your computer open up your web browser (internet explorer,
firefox, safari or similar) and consult your devices manual or quickstart guide to find out what its IP
address is (you did read basic networking - ip addresses, right?) and what its default username and
password are. Say for example the default IP is 192.168.1.1, the username was admin and the password
was password you would set your computers IP address to be 192.168.1.2 and type into your browser
http://192.168.1.1. After a few seconds a pop up box will appear prompting you to type in the username
and password. Once these are entered, usually followed by clicking the ok button a web page should
appear that will have the configuration options for the device, this is usually called an administration or
admin interface. If you type in the username and password and the device rejects it make sure you are
typing it in exactly as it appears in the manual. If this doesnt work try factory resetting the device and try
again.

Configuring a PC or laptop for wireless is of course slightly different where all of the settings are changed
within your computers control panel inside network connections or network and sharing centre. Our
tutorial section includes instructions on how to set up wired and wireless connections on both Windows
XP and Vista.

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