[[PageOutline]]

= Goal =
This page will attempt to guide a user through setting up a wireless connection (both as an AP and as a STA)


[=#wireless]
= Wireless Info =
Our product uses the compat-wireless driver set which provides the most recent drivers from [http://wireless.kernel.org/ linux-wireless] backwards-compatible with older kernel versions.  The following packages are required or at least recommended for wireless:
 * iw (recommended) - the [http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Documentation/iw iw] tool for interfacing with modern mac80211 based wireless drivers
 * wireless-tools (deprecated) - the old toolset for interfacing with legacy wireless drivers (somewhat backwards compatible)
 * hostap-daemon - (required for AP mode) the [http://hostap.epitest.fi/hostapd/ hostapd] background daemon app required for AP configuration
 * wpa-supplicant - (required for client (STA) mode with encryption) the [http://hostap.epitest.fi/wpa_supplicant/ wpa-supplicant] daemon/app required for client (STA) configuration when using encryption

See also:
 * [wiki:wireless#WirelessConfigurationStandardLinux Standard Linux Wireless Configuration Commands]


[=#wireless-sta]
= client configuration (STA) =

== Using wpa_passphrase/wpa_supplicant ==
In order to connect to a network with WPA encryption, you must use the wpa_supplicant application.  First you must generate a configuration file which is often made easy with the {{{wpa_passphrase}}} application. Then, you must use {{{wpa_supplicant}}} to connect to the network and finally you can configure an IP address (static or dynamic if the AP is running DHCP).  The netbase package provides tools such as ifup/ifdown and a config file /etc/network/interfaces that can configure network on startup.

Example:
1. edit /etc/network/interfaces and edit/add the following to configure wlan0 on boot wpa_supplicant:
{{{
# Wireless interfaces
auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
        wireless_mode managed
        wireless_essid any
        #wpa-driver wext
        wpa-driver nl80211 # New software makes use of nl80211 over wext!
        wpa-conf /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
}}}
  * this causes the network interface to be automatically configured on boot (auto wlan), use dhcp for IP address configuration, and run in client mode using wpa supplicant to manage the authentication/encryption keys
1. configure wpa_supplicant to connect to SSID 'testssid' with no key management.
{{{
network={
        scan_ssid=1
        ssid="testssid"
        key_mgmt=NONE
}
}}}
 Or with key management:
{{{
network={
        scan_ssid=1
        ssid="MYSSID"
        proto=WPA
        key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
        psk="MYWPAPASSCODE"
}
}}}
 You can also generate the wpa_supplicant.conf file using a tool called {{{wpa_passphrase}}}. Below is an example usage:
{{{
root@ventana:~# wpa_passphrase MYSSID MYWPAPASSCODE
network={
        ssid="MYSSID"
        #psk="MYWPAPASSCODE"
        psk=82207641ae13124ee6dc8fd2642605ac52a17405263b0b3203ee5cdb826d700d
}
root@ventana:~# wpa_passphrase MYSSID MYWPAPASSCODE > /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
}}}
1. To start manually:
{{{
killall wpa_supplicant
wpa_supplicant -i wlan0 -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -B
}}}
 * To start automatically:
 Just reboot! The {{{/etc/network/interfaces}}} file we touched above will configure wlan0 to automatically come up with the given options. If you have issues with this, please see the [#Troubleshooting] section below.


[=#wireless-ap]
= Access Point configuration (AP) =
For more information on access point configuration, see [wiki:wireless/wifi#AccessPointConfigurationAP wireless/wifi].