Illinois - Wireless Networking

RE: WiFi - a standard service now?

2009-11-06T01:10:31Z

I would say most definitely. Especially for the younger generation its vital, at least to keep them interested.

RE: Re: Captive Portal Software

2009-10-10T23:04:14Z

Hi
We at the are looking at setting up a captive portal at the IPL, which would also integrate with Evergreen so that users would also be required to authenticate with their library card, or purchased temporary password.

I can probably create the integration piece with Evergreen, however this is all housed off site, and i've only found basic help with evergreen.

I know the Calgary public library has an excellent system which authenticates against the library card limits the session to a specific period.

If anyone has any leads please let me know as currently our Wireless acccess point is a free for all, unsecured gateway.

Rob

RE: Re: Captive Portal Software

2009-08-27T15:55:19Z

anyone have more recent information?
-jackie

Wireless Access

2005-05-19T15:30:56Z

I posted in the Networking & Security -- Wireless -- Wireless Security thread some links to articles about wireless security that may be of interest to those of us working on implementing wireless access. Here is the link to that thread:

http://www.webjunction.org/wireless

Bandwidth management software

2009-02-24T00:57:05Z

Does any of the libraries use Cymphonix or other Bandwidth management software e.g. Blue Socket? We switched from T1 line to Fiber Optics with 5 Mbpl. We have 32 hardwired Internet computers and wireless access using the same Fiber Optics line. However, we have problem with the bandwidith. Often time, I have to unplug the wireless port during the afternoon. I plan to buy the Network Composer DC20, 5 Mpbs for 100 nodes (licenses). I am not sure if the licenses are sufficient since I have no clue how many users with the wireless.

RE: Re: Open source wireless hotspot software

2009-01-05T18:11:56Z

Chris Knight:

We have been using this since September and so far it works pretty well. There have been some minor issues, but I am very pleased with ZoneCD. We switched to the premium service (www.publicip.com) for $85 per year and I like it much better than the free one. The price is very reasonable in my opinion. We did try out the free service (www.publicip.net) and it worked well, but the premium service is easier to use and offers web based configuration.

I've been messing around with ZoneCD and when I run a closed session, the users are booted every 10 minutes and they have to log back in. Would you have any solutions or has this happened to you?

RE: WiFi - a standard service now?

2008-10-19T05:18:25Z

Hello--

Maybe. We've had it in Waterloo and Cedar Falls for about 2 years with a major upgrade last winter. In our state we have 543 public libraries--400 of which have service populations of <2500--which means that many can't quite figure out how to do it. I've been asked to do some training, but just don't have the time.

WiFi capacity

2008-10-18T21:44:48Z

Hello--

I'm on the verge of buying stuff for a 24 notebook training lab. I want to run them from a WiFi AP controlled by PublicIP software. What's likely to happen if I use ZoneCD to control an 802.11N AP? Will 24 users overwhelm it? I'm thinking that the ZoneCD product shouldn't care, but I'm concerned about through put.

Maybe my real question is, what minimum WiFi AP specification should I look for when buying an AP to support 24 simultaneous users?

Thanks

--mike dargan

Problems with Wireless Router

2008-08-28T20:43:34Z

We have a constant problem with our Netgear wireless router losing connection to Internet and have to reset it. This involves turning off the router, then turning off the DSL modem, and restarting them in reverse order. Are other libriaries having this problem? Any suggestions will be appreciated!

WiFi - a standard service now?

2008-08-05T13:31:05Z

Is WiFi now considered a necessary service by most libraries, especially public libraries?

Re: Free wireless thru a proxy

2008-06-07T01:28:13Z

Do you have a budget for the WAPs? If so, how much could you spend? Or would you be interested in one of the managed services, such as Sputnik, Less Networks, or something similar that would charge a monthly fee?

Do you need to do this for some sort of authentication or is it for content filtering reasons?

If it is for content filtering, there are solutions like the FortiGate wireless platforms that can be centrally managed and also do content filtering at the WAP level, so you would not need to send it through the proxy.

How comfortable are you with installing a custom solution? For example, would you be willing to load a customized version of WAP software on to a Linksys WAP to get a custom set of features that might allow you to do this?

I have been searching and searching and the closest I get to finding a solution involves the custom option but before I do additional research I wondered whether there were constraints to possible solutions.

Re: Wireless access problems with Vista

2008-04-02T19:25:17Z

In my experience of working with wireless there are usually options in the wireless router itself that allow you to set the method in which IP addresses are distributed (usually through a protocol called DHCP (Dynamic Host Control Protocol) that gives the computer an IP address upon connection to the wireless network. And usually along with the IP address information, you usually get assigned the DNS server IP addresses that the computer should use. The Domain Name Servers (DNS) take website names (i.e. www.cnn.com) and "translate" them into IP addresses so that the computers can communicate in numbers since that is what they speak.

If for some reason the Vista computers are not accepting the DNS server addresses from the wireless router, then that could be the problem. In past versions of Windows you could look at the IP address configuration by opening the command prompt window and typing "ipconfig /all" (without the quotes). This would show you the current IP address and DNS server address. If there is no DNS server address, then you will definitely not see any web sites.

The ping utility that your patron uses is able to test to see whether there is an active connection between two points on the network. You can also use another utility called traceroute (for trace route) that, yep, traces the route of your data packets from your computer to its destination. If it does not reach its destination, then it gives you an error message.

Here is a handout with screen shots that shows you how to use traceroute on Windows Vista:

http://www.qwest.com/internethelp/opsystems/pdf/16019_Vista_TraceRoute.pdf

I have a Linksys wireless router at home and have hooked two Vista Home Premium systems to it with wireless cards and did not have to do anything different in my recollection from the Windows XP machines to get it to work, but with all the additional security that Vista has versus XP, it might be possible that there are settings that you have to adjust in the wireless configuration to get it to accept the DNS addresses automatically, but everything I have read so far does not lead me to believe that is the case here.

I would attempt to compare the out put of the "ipconfig /all" command on a working XP machine that you have and a non-working Vista machine the next time that someone comes in. This would help pinpoint if there are any differences between the two setups.

Here are some directions with screen shots that show how to set up the networking in Vista to accept the IP and DNS addresses automatically:

http://www.svwireless.com/Support/linksys_VistaPC.html

Hope this helped at least a little bit....

Wireless access problems with Vista

2008-04-02T14:09:02Z

I apologize ahead of time if my question seems naive or stupid, but I'm fairly uninformed about wireless/networking. We have wireless via our local cable company in our small library system.

Patrons have begun coming in with new Vista computers. Many (perhaps all?) are having great trouble connecting to our wireless. Some can not get logged in (this is usually a popup issue and I've figured out how to get around it), but others seem able to log in fine. (Patrons are issued username and password on a per-session basis at the circ desk). However, once logged in, they are unable to get any web page to load.

One fairly savvy patron told me that he had pinged the server and was not getting domain name resolution. Does this sound like a problem with the WIRELESS, or a problem with the VISTA computer?

I've had other patrons come in at other times with older XP computers and have no problems connecting... so I'm baffled. My Mac (OSX) also has no problem connecting.

Any suggestions?

Free wireless thru a proxy

2008-01-09T04:32:40Z

Hi there
I am wanting to provide free wireless access to anyone wanting to use it, at a large number of Libraries in New Zealand.
We are currently rolling out free internet access on desktop PC's in these libraries, but would now like to offer wifi access points in these libraries.
Getting wifi into these libraries is the easy part, but getting this traffic to go through the same proxy server that the desktop PC's go through seems to be the tricky part.
I have used PublicIP software before, but it has an issue with 'double proxying' HTTPS traffic, and requires installing a dedicated PC at every location.

Does anyone know of a WiFi access point, that will push all its traffic though a proxy server, and would love it to provide wireless printing also.

thanks in advance

Re: Captive Portal Software

2007-09-19T13:07:58Z

Hi Chrisabo,

Thanks for the reply! I will bring this up with my tech guy and go from there.

-Bobby

Re: Captive Portal Software

2007-09-19T01:26:18Z

Welcome to WebJunction!

One place you can look is this other thread on WJ -
http://webjunction.org/forums/click.jspa?messageID=37852#37852

It contains responses from the LibWireless news group that has lots of great resources and is hosted here at WJ also. Here is a link to the newsgroup with a focus on the discussion of the splash pages:
http://search.gmane.org/?query=splash+page&group=gmane.network.wireless.libwireless.general

I would say that the most common free product that I have heard of being used is the ZoneCD product.

http://www.publicip.net/zonecd/what.php

There are so many options here it is often hard to answer this type of question. Much of it depends on your budget, if you or someone else wants to do a little mucking around, you can usually get something set up for free or no cost. And there are also lots of hosted services like Sputnik Express (http://www.sputnik.com/products/snet/sputniknet_express.html) that offer some additional options for free depending on the model of your access point.

Hope this helps, but let us know if you have other questions or specific constraints and people will chime in with further suggestions.

Captive Portal Software

2007-09-19T00:13:25Z

Hello,

I'm a little new to this so please forgive any mistakes. Our library currently offers free wi-fi access to any individual with a lap-top whether they are a patron or not. It's a great service we're happy to provide, however we have been looking into implementing a captive portal so that our wi-fi users are aware of and will have to comply with our Internet Policy. It would also be nice to get usage statistics and we are also toying with the idea of asking for an email address to send a short survey about patron satisfaction with our wi-fi service. Of course we don't want to make the process too complicated and possibly turn away users.

My question is this: Does anyone know of any Captive Portal software that is easy to implement and affordable (preferably free) or does anyone have any experience trying to use this in their library or both?

Thanks for the help.

Bobby
Musser Public Library
www.muscatinelibrary.us

Conflict with 3M security gates?

2007-04-26T13:20:08Z

We're having sporadic trouble with our 3M security gates. The repair guy is here, and I can hear him trying to tell our director that the radiation from our WiFi system might be interfering with the magnetic-based security system. Has anyone heard of this happening, or does is sound fishy?

Thanks!

Wireless LAN security myths that won't die - George Ou - ZDNet

2007-03-27T15:23:16Z

This is an important item. Read the full text by
clicking on the link below to see the list and detailed explanations.
 
<A href="http://blogs.zdnet.com/Ou/?p=454&tag=nl.e622">Wireless LAN security myths that wont die | George Ou | ZDNet.com</A>:

"It's been two years since I wrote 'The six dumbest ways to secure a wireless LAN,' and it's probably been one of my more successful blog entries ever, with two flashes on Digg. Since that time, I've written a free electronic book on enterprise wireless LAN security for anyone to use and download from TechRepublic. Since it has been two years, I'm going to update the information with more defined categories and better explain why they're so bad from an ROI (return on investment) and
security perspective." 
<a href="http://technorati.com/">Technorati</a> tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/security" rel="tag">security</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/wi-fi" rel="tag">wi-fi</a>

Re: Wireless Security

2007-03-14T14:55:14Z

Article: "Promiscuous laptops"

By Robert Vamosi
Senior editor, CNET Reviews
March 9, 2007

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-3513_7-6714777-1.html

From the article:

"Laptops now outsell desktops, and more and more locations are offering free public Wi-Fi networks. Yet there are no formal recommendations on how one should secure a wireless laptop on a public wireless network. Case in point: A few weeks ago, I attended the RSA Conference 2007 and shortly afterward saw a press release from AirDefense.net regarding the number of laptops--at a security conference, mind you--that weren't connecting to the official public wireless network. What's interesting is that most of the wireless laptop security information I've seen is at best vague, including some of my own tips. Here's my take on some known problems with wireless laptop security and some suggested solutions. I welcome any other tips you might have."