Some simple wireless questions

Archived from groups: (More info?)

"tooly" <rdh11@bellsouth.net> wrote in message
news:l4fbc.144$tT3.17@bignews6.bellsouth.net...
> 1. Should "ssid" be the same name as one's hardwired LAN workgroup name to
> be able to interface with that network [connected to a combo
ethernet/wireless router].
> [never have been clear on this point]

No, they need not be the same. SSID is recommended to be something very hard
to guess.

> 2. to utilize WEP "a passphrase" or "a wep key in hexadecimal format"
needs
> to be entered. For some
> reason my brain has no picture of what this means. A passphrase, like
> 'Simon Says"? A wep key in
> hexadecimal format...I'm afraid I've forgotten what little I knew of morse
> code and hexadecimal format. Can
> anyone 'color' a picture for me using crayons? Would AAAA be a good wep
> key? How about AAAAAAAA?

If you are talking about static WEP, use 26 hexadecimanl characters to
create it. For example, 12b34e09f81c27eeb2daa23456
So basically it contains numbers from 0 to 9 and alphabets a,b,c,d,e,f
26 hexadecimal characters gives you 104 bit length WEP key, add 24 bits of
IV to it which is automatically performed, you have a 128 bit length WEP
key.

HTH

Archived from groups: (More info?)

"Kalyan Sannedhi" <nospam@spamstopper.com> wrote in message
news:c4k0o9$2j2p3u$1@ID-225230.news.uni-berlin.de...
> "tooly" <rdh11@bellsouth.net> wrote in message
> news:l4fbc.144$tT3.17@bignews6.bellsouth.net...
> > 1. Should "ssid" be the same name as one's hardwired LAN workgroup name
to
> > be able to interface with that network [connected to a combo
> ethernet/wireless router].
> > [never have been clear on this point]
>
> No, they need not be the same. SSID is recommended to be something very
hard
> to guess.

SSID is just the name of your network. Nothing to do with Lan workgroup, and
it is not used for security. It really doesn't matter at all what you call
your network, but you should change it from the default if for no other
reason than to avoid broadcasting the same network name as your neighbor who
also forgot to change from the default. Some routers have a "disable SSID
broadcast" feature, which if selected will cause the router not to announce
the network name, as it normally does every few seconds. This is an attempt
to secure your network by hiding it. The theory is that if the router
doesn't announce the name, strangers with hacking gear won't know it's
there. In practice, the minute you use your net, any stranger with hacking
gear knows your net is there, and can figure out your SSID. Doesn't hurt the
average use to enable this feature, but you shouldn't think it really
provides any security.

>
> > 2. to utilize WEP "a passphrase" or "a wep key in hexadecimal format"
> needs
> > to be entered. For some
> > reason my brain has no picture of what this means. A passphrase, like
> > 'Simon Says"? A wep key in
> > hexadecimal format...I'm afraid I've forgotten what little I knew of
morse
> > code and hexadecimal format. Can
> > anyone 'color' a picture for me using crayons? Would AAAA be a good wep
> > key? How about AAAAAAAA?
>
> If you are talking about static WEP, use 26 hexadecimanl characters to
> create it. For example, 12b34e09f81c27eeb2daa23456
> So basically it contains numbers from 0 to 9 and alphabets a,b,c,d,e,f
> 26 hexadecimal characters gives you 104 bit length WEP key, add 24 bits of
> IV to it which is automatically performed, you have a 128 bit length WEP
> key.

"Passphrase" is a string of bytes to which the system adds 3 bytes it
generates, to make a WEP key. The string of bytes can usually be specified
either as a string of text characters (each character's ASCII representation
is used as a byte value), or as a string of hexadecimal byte values. The
length of the passphrase is determined by the length of the key, which is
usually configurable. The usual options are:

40 bit (this is the same as 64 bit) - uses a 5-character ASCII (10-character
hex) key
128 bit (uses 13-character ASCII (26-character hex) key
152 bit (uses 16-character ASCII (32-character hex) key

>
> HTH
>
>