Wireless Networking in Ryerson

Most of Ryerson (with the exception of the third floor) is now covered by wireless ethernet, using the 802.11b and 802.11g standards. We are part of the University's wireless system, which requires users to have a valid CNET ID and password. Any wireless card that supports the 802.11b protocol should work on the University's wireless network.

This documentation assumes you have a wireless card and driver installed in your laptop.

Overview

To use the University's wireless network, you must configure your machine's wireless interface to use dhcp, and set your essid to uchicago. To connect to the internet, you must first start a browser, which should automatically send you to a login page. Once you login with your cnet ID and password, you will be connected to the internet, and can then use other services, such as ssh and scp

Configuring under Windows

  1. Press the Start button, then Control Panels
  2. Click Network and Internet Connections or Network Connections
  3. Click Wireless Connections and then Properties.
  4. Under the General tab, click Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and then click Properties.
  5. Make sure Obtain an IP address automatically and Obtain DNS server address automatically are selected.
  6. Click OK to close this window.
  7. Click the Wireless Networks tab, select uchicago
  8. If uchicago is not listed:
    • Click add
    • Enter Network Name (SSID): uchicago
    • Data encryption (WEP Enabled) should be unchecked
    • Network Authentication (Shared mode) should be unchecked
    • This is a computer-to-computer network should be unchecked
    • Click OK until all windows are closed.
  9. Start a web browser. It should ask for your CNET id and password.

Configuring under Mac OS-X

  1. In System Preferences select network
  2. Show: AirPort
  3. Under the TCP/IP tab, configure: Using DHCP
  4. Under the AirPort tab, you can "Join network with best signal" or specify uchicago
  5. If all is well, an IP Address and other numbers should appear.
  6. Click Apply Now
  7. Start a web browser. It should ask for your CNET id and password.

Configuring under Linux

You must set your wireless ethernet interface to use dhcp and use an essid of uchicago

Different distributions of Linux use different configuration files. Here is a Linux DHCP Mini Howto with detailed instructions for a variety of Linux distributions.

RedHat

RedHat provides GUI network configuration tools, such as neat. For detailed instructions on how to use these tools, read the Network Configuration section of the Customization Guide in the RedHat User Manual for your RedHat version.

General Linux Instructions

Boot into linux with network enabled, otherwise start network with:
/etc/rc.d/init.d/network start
Now type ifconfig. This will list all your network devices. You should see an lo which refers to your local loopback device. You should also see an eth0 and/or eth1. If you have both, then one of them is your wired ethernet card, and the other is your wireless card. From the details you see, you should figure out which is which. Henceforth I assume that your wireless card is eth1.
  1. iwconfig eth1
  2. Make a note of what is listed under ESSID
  3. Edit /etc/pcmcia/wireless.opts, (In debian: /etc/etc/network/interfaces) and search for the block which has ESSID="the value reported by iwconfig", and make the following changes.
    • ESSID="uchicago"
    • MODE="Normal IEEE"
    • KEY="off"
  4. /etc/rc.d/init.d/network stop
  5. /etc/rc.d/init.d/network start
  6. ifconfig eth0 down
  7. ifconfig eth1 up
  8. ifconfig eth1

Now the information about eth1 should include an IP address. If so, proceed to the authentication step. If this doesn't seem to work, check if you have configured the eth1 device. Confirm that you have the /etc/sysconfig/networking/devices/ifcfg-eth1. If present, you should be done. Try to start/stop the network, and bring up eth1 again.

Connecting to the Internet

To use the wireless network, you must:

  • Use DHCP
  • Set the SSID to uchicago
  • Have a valid CNET ID and password
  • Run a browser
The connection should stay active until your laptop goes out of range or is shut down, rebooted, or put to sleep.

Note on Encryption: The CNET authentication system requires that your browser support 128-bit encryption, i.e. IE 5.5+ or Netscape 4.76+. If you have Windows 2000 installed, then you need to install the Windows 2000 High Encryption Pack as well.

If you experience problems with the wireless network, you can check these pages to see if there is documented downtime: