'Dummy' needs some help

[dgullmes]

Firstly, I have NO experience with 802.11. I have limited experience with wired LAN. I am a Financial Advisor, after all...not a network administrator!!!

My company is in the process of replacing all of our laptops.

Our new ones come with a wireless (a/b/g) card in them.

My current (wired) usage scenario is this:
Laptop connects to LAN (no server) in office
LAN connects to WAN to get to servers at HO.
When in my personal office, this works fine.
I spend considerable time in our conference room, however.
where I have no access to network resources.

What I want to know is...
Can I connect a wireless hub/router/etc to an open plug on
the LAN, configure the wireless card to our network settings,
and then maintain network access when I am in the conf.
room?

Speed is important, but I won't be far from the router. Only one other person will have wireless capabilities, the rest of the office will not be able to use this system, so the traffic will be minimal.

Which spec (a/b/g) should I use? I am thinking about 'a' with its speed and aparent reliability...any thoughts?

Thanks in advance for helping out this 'dummy'

[jatkins679]

Originally posted by dgullmes
What I want to know is...
Can I connect a wireless hub/router/etc to an open plug on
the LAN, configure the wireless card to our network settings,
and then maintain network access when I am in the conf.
room?


Repeat after me: 'I shall install no networking equipment at work without prior authorization and assistance from proper IT personnel.' Now hit yourself with a rolled-up newspaper and rub your own nose in something vile found on the floor.

Seriously, NEVER attach ANY networking device to your work network without prior authorization. That's a very good way to get yanked into your boss' office for a hastily-called meeting with him/her and an angry IT person.

An ill-configured AP attached to any network is an invitation to be hacked and hacked a whole lot easier than any other way imaginable. If nothing else, it's a possible invitation to have your own computer hacked. But more importantly it circumvents whatever security measures your company has set up for its wired network and everything in it. If you're in financial advising, I guess I don't have to remind you how dire a situation that would be if network security and thus client data were compromised.

And it isn't as if your IT people cannot or probably will not find out because they very well may. If they're doing their jobs, they WILL find out. They don't need to be sniffing around wirlessly to do that, either; network logs are probably enough to figure out at least where the intrusion was and when... which is enough to lead to you.

I can't say it any more bluntly: don't do it. You are asking for nothing but trouble and to end up in the ill-will of many IT people at your workplace. I don't know how your company works, but at some places that would be a firing offense... the first time. Just don't do it.

Call your IT people and have them in on your idea and let them figure out what (if anything) needs to be done. Be prepared for them to give a big ol' thumbs down, though. WLAN are something a lot of businesses want nothing of, at least not yet. Or they may have very good reasons for not wanting WLAN connectivity in a conference room or at least not in that fashion. But don't even think about trying what you have broached here. Attaching unauthorized network devices to a network is an administrator's nightmare and makes needless work for them.... and could be a HUGE discipline problem for you.

[mvario]

Originally posted by dgullmes
...
Can I connect a wireless hub/router/etc to an open plug on
the LAN, configure the wireless card to our network settings,
and then maintain network access when I am in the conf.
room?

Speed is important, but I won't be far from the router. Only one other person will have wireless capabilities, the rest of the office will not be able to use this system, so the traffic will be minimal.

Which spec (a/b/g) should I use? I am thinking about 'a' with its speed and aparent reliability...any thoughts?

If it isn't blocked by obstructions I would use .11a and disable .11b and .11g on the cards and access point. Very few if any hacker tools work on .11a. If you really want to go stealth get an Orinoco AP-600 and an SMC a/b/g card and use UNII 3 frequencies only.

If they are new laptops hopefully they'll have Windows XP which supports WPA. Get an AP that supports WPA and use it. Much more secure than WEP.

[dgullmes]

Thanks for being concerned about my career, jatkins679!!

Don't worry, I intend on discussing this with HO prior to implementing anything, I just wanted to have a little more knowledge prior to proceeding. If it simply won't work, then I won't pursue it.

It sounds like it should work, and I had initially thought that 'a' spec would be the best choice.

Unfortunately, the only 'IT' pesonell we have are thousands of miles away, so there is no one here to work with. Also, any one that I can get on the phone is lacking in useful knowledge... they're just really good at reading a help manual!

Any other thoughts or ideas??

[jatkins679]

Originally posted by dgullmes
Thanks for being concerned about my career, jatkins679!!

Don't worry, I intend on discussing this with HO prior to implementing anything, I just wanted to have a little more knowledge prior to proceeding. If it simply won't work, then I won't pursue it.

It sounds like it should work, and I had initially thought that 'a' spec would be the best choice.

Unfortunately, the only 'IT' pesonell we have are thousands of miles away, so there is no one here to work with. Also, any one that I can get on the phone is lacking in useful knowledge... they're just really good at reading a help manual!

Personally, I would stay away from 11a. Yes, its has more throughput than 11b. But you can't use any 11a equipment with 11b/g equipment and 11g is where the market appears to be heading. IMHO, 11a equipment will probably go legacy a lot eariler than 11b/g stuff.

On the plus side of 11a for you, it has less range than 11b/g. Since you're only looking at covering a conference room, this might desirable. On the minus side, visitors to your conference room are less likely to have 11a capability than 11b/g. 11b is still the WiFi king and probably will be for quite awhile just due to market penetration. I would suggest that unless there is a real need to shuttle huge files (like Photoshop files) back and forth quite often, my clients should probably go with 11b barring some other pressing need.

While your IT personnel on the phone might not know ('poop') from shinola, you can bet the people on the back-end of all of that (the ones who don't answer the help line phones) are much more interested in what you want to do. If they know what they're doing, they'll have to be involved since they should have port security enabled on their switches, which would effectively shut down your AP without setting it up correctly on the switch.

In any case, I would try to get those people involved because eventually you'll probably need their help in getting your AP networked. But don't be surprised that IT people where you work don't have much knowledge or even interest in WiFI stuff. That isn't all that unusual even among networking people.

Good luck!

[dgullmes]

Their are only 2 people that we want to have access to this system. Visitors will NOT be able to use it, by design.

The short range of 11a does appeal to me, alleviating some of my security concerns.

What I am really trying to do is create a wireless 'repeater' type system that just eliminates the wires, nothing else. If I ran a 30 ft cat5 cable accross the boardroom, I would achieve the result I am looking for. This, unfortunately, is not cosmetically appealing, and trying to get a wire under the floor is impossible, being as it is concrete.

Any other ideas??