SISSA-WiFi Linux configuration guide

Configuration guide to the SISSA-WiFi Wireless Network, using the default tools and drivers of generic Linux distribution.



a) Operating as root, open a terminal window;

  • stop the network-manager service by typing the command: service network-manager stop
  • and verify that your wireless network interface card is properly installed using the command: iwconfig

If, as a result of the previous command, “ no wireless extensions ” are available, you need to install the driver for your wireless card before continuing with this guide.
Otherwise you should see complete information about your wireless network interface card. In the following example the wireless network interface card is eth1, but yours could be wlan0, ath0

Please note: in this guide in the examples it is always used eth1 as wireless network interface card.

Example of iwconfig command output:

lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

eth1      unassociated  ESSID:"g\xC6isQ\xFFJ\xEC)\xCD\xBA\xAB\..." Nickname:"ipw2100"
          Mode:Managed  Channel=0  Access Point: Not-Associated   
          Bit Rate:0 kb/s   Tx-Power:16 dBm   
          Retry short limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality:0  Signal level:0  Noise level:0
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:1   Missed beacon:0

b) Activate your wireless network interface card, type the command:
ifconfig eth1 up

c) Check your wireless network interface card status using the command:
ifconfig eth1
In the second line output you should see UP before BROADCAST.

d) To see the list of all available networks, type the command:
iwlist eth1 scan
If you are in a SISSA access point range, you will be able to see a line with: ESSID: “ SISSA-WiFi ”

e) Using your preferred text editor, create the /etc/wpa_supplicant/SISSA-WiFi.wpa_supplicant.conf configuration file and insert the following lines:

ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
ctrl_interface_group=0


network={
      ssid="SISSA-WiFi"
      key_mgmt=WPA-EAP
      proto=RSN WPA
      pairwise=CCMP TKIP
      group=CCMP TKIP
      eap=PEAP
      identity="yourSISSAusername"
      password="yourSISSApassword"
      phase2="auth=MSCHAPV2" 
   }

Please note: insert your SISSA username and your SISSA password in the identity and password fields.

f) Run the following command in order to activate the wpa_supplicant daemon (please note there in a “ -i ” after wpa_supplicant):
wpa_supplicant -i eth1 -c /etc/wpa_supplicant/SISSA-WiFi.wpa_supplicant.conf

g) OPEN A NEW TERMINAL WINDOW. To check the correct status of wpa_supplicant daemon, run the following commands:
wpa_cli
……. then inside wpa_cli program, type:
status

Please check the value of the following parameters:

wpa_state=COMPLETED
Supplicant PAE state=AUTHENTICATED
suppPortStatus=Authorized
EAP state=SUCCESS

h) Maintain the wpa_cli program active (do not close this window) until you wish to close the SISSA-WiFi connection.

i) OPEN ANOTHER TERMINAL WINDOW. If all the paramenters are correct, you have to configure, if necessary, upper layer TCP/IP protocol DHCP to lease a dynamic IP address using the command:
dhclient eth1
Now you will be able to use the SISSA-WiFi wireless connection.

l) To close the wireless connection:
in a terminal window type: dhclient -r eth1
then in the terminal window where wpa_cli program is active, type: logoff



In the future, to open a SISSA-WiFi wireless connection, type the commands:
wpa_supplicant -i eth1 -c /etc/wpa_supplicant/SISSA-WiFi.wpa_supplicant.conf
dhclient eth1

To close the SISSA-WiFi wireless connection, type the command:
dhclient -r eth1
and then in the terminal window previously used to start wpa_supplicant daemon, type in the same time:
< CTRL > and “ c ” to stop wpa_supplicant daemon.

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