LAN reconfiguration and WL-500gx

[mumdigau]

Hi,

first time to post here. Seems to be a very active group!


Till now, my LAN connects through a WLAN router/switch (D-Link 614+) and a DSL-modem to the Internet.

I now want to replace this router by WL-500gx in order to

1. achieve performance increase (move from 11 to 54 Mbps)

2. map FTP-accounts on an external USB HDD attached to WL-500gx as drives in the Windows XP Pro LAN-clients.

3. Additionally, I want to add a new Windows-client on which the Intrusion Detection Software (IDS) SNORT is scanning the whole incoming WAN-traffic for possible hacker attacks that might have passed the router's firewall. So the new IDS-workstation must be placed before the packages are being switched to their destination clients. (The IDS-station will only stay locally, so no WAN connect is necessary.)


There are some questions left to me, even though I've read through many, many threads. Perhaps I can find some help here.

1. is clear.

As to 2. (main reason for me to choose WL-500gx, as routers with fileserver functionality are rare):

a) Is it sufficient to flash one of the recent customized firmware versions of Oleg to achieve mapping as described above (including getting a drive letter assigned which you do not get if you take Windows XP Pro's network mapping feature for ftp-sites), or do I have to go (in addition) for external software (e. g. Webdrive)?

b) Will those mapped files and folders be exclusive for one Windows-client at a time, or can other clients map them, too (concurrent read/write/erase access)?

c) Can the mapping being done by a script which either runs when the Windows-client is booting or later on demand?

As to 3., adding the IDS-workstation at the correct location within the LAN seems to be easy if there would be no WLAN-clients: connect a hub's upload link to one of the router's LAN ports, and attach all Windows-clients and the IDS-workstation to the hub. Then the IDS-workstation should have access to all WLAN- and LAN-traffic.

But there are two wireless Windows-clients in my LAN, and the IDS-Workstation should be connected wireless, as well:

a) Where to connect the WLAN-clients and the IDS-workstation to? (All to WL-500gx? Then the IDS-workstation probably will not "see" the WAN-traffic of the cable connected Windows-clients attached to the hub. WLAN-clients to WL-500gx and the IDS-station behind the hub? Then the IDS-station probably will not "see" the WLAN-clients' traffic. So all WLAN-stations behind the hub? On the same AP, or WLAN-clients on one and the IDS-worksation on another AP?)

b) If I can't use the AP of WL-500gx for my target configuration, which static routes do I have to confiure, if any?


I apologize for the long wording, but I wanted to be as precise as I can.

Many thanks in advance for any help and advice.

mumdigau


P.S. BTW, WL-500gx is neither shown on ASUS German nor Netherlands' webpage. So where to get it?

[Styno]

2a: Yes, custom firmwares have SAMBA (see www.samba.org)
2b: Yes, but you should not expect pentium like performance
2c: Yes, with 'net use ....' commands this can be done

3: I would suggest you run kismet on the router itself. There is no network management port on the router.

[mumdigau]

Hi Styno,

thx for your reply. Your answer is somewhat short, as if addressed to an expert. Be aware that I've seldom dealt with Linux in the past, so my knowledge here is very, very basic. Therefore allow me to ask for some more
details.

ad 2: I) Does Samba automatically starts when the router is being started, or do the daemons have to be started manually?
II) Can the file mapping been done with the configuration utility of Oleg's firmware, or must this be done directly in Samba?
III) How do I configure Samba from a Windows-client?
IV) Is SWAT part of the Samba implementation in Oleg's firmware (because SWAT offers a Web browser interface for configuring Samba - very helpful for novices)?
V) When Samba is used, is the read-only-restriction for NTFS partitions still valid (as it is for the official firmware)?

ad 3: To use Kismet (2nd layer IDS to my knowlewdge whereas SNORT is 3rd layer) on the router itself is an interesting idea. There are some concerns:
I) Is there enough memory left to run Kismet on the router?
II) How do I manage that Kismet grasps the packages just at that moment when they have passed the router'sfirewall?
III) IDS software collect all information in (huge) databases, so I believe Kismet, too. Where to place Kismet's database?
Whatever your answers are regarding Kismet, it will be a long way for me to establish a stable and well working configuration without expert support.

Coming back to my original idea using a wireless SNORT-workstation, I could imagine the following config would do what I want:

DSL-modem
|
|
WL500gx
|
|
hub -- cable-connected clients
| |
| AP -- wireless clients
|
AP -- wireless SNORT-workstation


Do you think the following config is better (with relation to collisions on the net)?

DSL-modem
|
|
WL500gx
|
|
hub
| |
| WLAN router/switch -- wireless and cable-connected clients
|
AP -- wireless SNORT-workstation

Do I have to define static routes for WL500gx?

Perhaps you see an even simpler config.

Finally, I'm still looking for an Internet shop where to buy WL500gx. Do you have a link for me?

Best regards

mumdigau

[Styno]

ad 2: I) Does Samba automatically starts when the router is being started, or do the daemons have to be started manually?
Please search this forum (especially the HOWTO section) and read wl500g.dyndns.org. These -basic- questions have been answered -many- times before.


II) Can the file mapping been done with the configuration utility of Oleg's firmware, or must this be done directly in Samba?With newer firmwares the webinterface can help, on all firmwares you can configure it using VI. See my first answer.


III) How do I configure Samba from a Windows-client?Use putty telnet client and VI or newer firmwares.


IV) Is SWAT part of the Samba implementation in Oleg's firmware (because SWAT offers a Web browser interface for configuring Samba - very helpful for novices)?Using a webinterface is allways easier then using telnet and VI, so: yes.

For you questions on SNORT: I don't have experience with it. I've just read a few things here and there. Thats why I suggested Kismet: I thought is was SNORT like.

There is a WIKI (wiki.wl500g.info) page on running Kismet on the wl-500g, also there are some topics on Kismet in this forum. Please use the search for that.