Andy's RADIUS Server project

[airbornflght]

Ok, I'm gonna make this my little journal of working my way through this project. Hopefully it materializes into something usable. What I'm attempted to accomplish is piece together a system and then configure a working radius server to authenticate wireless sessions. Mainly because I'm bored and want to play with it. Secondly because my fraternity is wanting to go wireless soon (within the next year) and they are looking to me for advice. And if I can get this working halfway decently they will give me a budget to build an actual system and buy access points.

Reason for RADIUS? From what I've read RADIUS authentication can be highly effective and a whole lot harder to crack, especially when coupled with WPA2. Most of this stems from the fact thta most wireless networks around this town, including both greek houses and private houses, are unsecured. For instance, I walked to the corner with a friends laptop, and 15 unsecured networks were visible to me without any digging. Some that came up were secured with WEP, which many know to be inferior and capable to be cracked in mere minutes. Only one of the connections was secured with WPA-PSK.

Right now I'm still in the shopping phase. I still have to get all of the required components before I can start setting the server up. Updates to come when I get the stuff.

Things Needed:
Motherboard
Processor
Ram
Hard Drive
NIC


Things Collected:
Case
PSU
Access Point

[kryyst]

http://www.freeradius.org/

[Park_7677]

OpenWRT has a FreeRADIUS package that can be used on the router itself. That way there's no need for a separate PC to manage RADIUS. Also, the RADIUS server can be configured to use MySQL as a database (which also can be installed on the router itself) so managing users should be fairly simple once the system is in place.

Of course if you're going to have the router do all of that make sure it's a beefed up one. Find a WRT54GS (pre-4.0) with 32 MB of memory and 8 MB flash. Or... a WRTSL54GS. This router also has 32 MB memory and 8 MB flash but also has a USB port on the back you can plug in a flash drive for extra storage useful for a database of users.

[kryyst]

I wouldn't suggest stressing a WRTG router in this configuration, they are good in a home network environment but shouldn't be used, especially under this kind of load for any duration with any expected reliability.

[GrayFox]

Netgear pro ap's would be the best bet.

[airbornflght]

that's what I'm looking at

Our internet went down last night, and I spent this morning getting it back up. I think the linksys BEFSR11 is flaking out on me. It's working for now but has access issues. I'm looking for a new router that is decently priced.. These guys don't like to spend money. We are just on a static ip so it was easier to set the router up then I though, all I needed was ip, gateway, dns, and subnet.

It goes fiber - transceiver - switch(because of backward pinout on transceiver) - router - 48port switch - 48port switch

I've got some major work ahead of me. I tried to find the ethernet line to my room in the network closet. They are in no order... and some of them aren't even labeled. It would go: 104-215-214-124-108-blank-213. Not to mention they are just saging everywhere. The rack is handbuilt from plywood. OMG!!! I'm pretty much a perfectionist and going up there and trying to work just pissed me off. I couldn't find anything I needed and I was having to trace lines with my hands...

Does anyone know of any websites that I could go through and take a crash course in intermediate networking. I understand the basics and the general theory, but it'd be helpful to get a thorough understanding of the subject matter. Things I don't understand are subnets, vlans, and anything that has to do with subnets!! The only thing I know about a subnet is that it was made because they ran out of addresses...