Web hosting e commerce - Understanding Wireless Networks Wireless LANs are most appropriate
Understanding Wireless Networks Wireless LANs are most appropriate in environments where wires are impractical. Despite some challenges relating to security and interference, a wireless LAN provides several advantages: You don’t have to run wires in places that are hard to reach. In many cases, a single wireless LAN can extend your network throughout a building or to another building without the need for wires between all nodes. For the price of a wireless card, you can save the expense of wires, hubs (the air is your hub), and wall repairs (to fix the holes from pulling through wires). You can freely move computers around within the transmission range that your environment allows (with distances limited by such variables as antenna power, obstacles, and rates of transmission). Although several different wireless networking standards exist, this chapter focuses on the installation of relatively low-cost, standard IEEE 802.11b wireless networking equipment. An 802.11b wireless network uses space in the spectrum available to the public (in other words, you use space in the air for which no special license is required). The 802.11b standard is often referred to as the Wi-Fi, or Wireless Fidelity, standard. An 802.11b network is characterized by the following: Provides transmission rates of up to 11 Mbps. Transmission rates can also be set (or auto-detected) to 5.5, 2, and 1 Mbps. Uses the 2.4-GHz band of the spectrum. Microwave ovens and some high-end mobile phones also use the 2.4-GHz band. (Check local regulations if you are setting up an 802.11b network outside the United States.) To reduce congestion, 14 separate channels have been made available within the 2.4-GHz range. Allows transmission over distances as short as a desktop away to as long as several miles away (using special antennas). Greater distances can be gained at lower transmission speeds. Makes connections between multiple clients or clients and a base station (usually referred to as an access point). On the clients, the wireless LAN cards to run in Ad hoc mode, while the base station uses Managed mode. Note The Orinoco card, as well as other wireless network cards supported in Linux, cannot act as an access point because it does not do bridging. Bridging allows a node to receive a frame from one node and forward it to another node without changing the first node’s MAC address. A wireless LAN card in Linux, however, can communicate with an access point by running in Managed mode and indicating the MAC address of the access point. Other 802.11 standards exist (such as 802.11a which can operate at higher speeds), but for the most part, wireless equipment manufacturers have rallied around the 802.11b standard. Wireless cards and other equipment certified Wi-Fi (802.11b) compatible by the Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (WECA) should be able to communicate with each other.
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