BT Home Hub with an existing network

Discussion in 'Wireless' started by Fergal1982, Sep 22, 2006.

  1. Fergal1982

    Fergal1982 Petabyte Poster

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    Good Evening guys.

    I've recently upgraded to an 8MB broadband connection with bt. as part of the package, they threw in their BT home hub. So, being practical i thought i could hook it up to my existing router (netgear DG384 (i think - definately netgear anyway)) and provide my network with a WAP.

    Currently my netgear is acting as my DNS, DHCP, and connection to the big bad world, so i need to shut down these functions within the Hub.

    Has anyone had any dealings with doing just this? and can you talk me through what you did? I've tried to connect to the site the manual tells you to use to log into the hub (bthomehub.home), but am just getting a page cannot be displayed error.

    Thanks
    Fergal
     
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  2. Bluerinse
    Honorary Member

    Bluerinse Exabyte Poster

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    Have you tried entering the hubs ip address in your browser instead of it's name?
     
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  3. Fergal1982

    Fergal1982 Petabyte Poster

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    i tried that. didnt work. its weird. if i connect directly to the hub and separate it from the network (and install their software), i can connect to the hub. But as soon as it connects to the netgear router it seems to become invisible (doesnt appear in the routers 'attached devices' list). It still functions as a WAP, you just cant see it directly.

    Its no major thing i suppose. the netgear seems to be retaining the DHCP and DNS control, and internet access works. Luckily for me the home hub has a builtin WEP key which is (apparently) unique to the unit (or as unique as a random generator can make it, given how many units they will likely make).

    I'd like to make it not broadcast the SSID but with the WEP i can live with it.

    Fergal
     
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  4. Bluerinse
    Honorary Member

    Bluerinse Exabyte Poster

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    Fergal, you should read the article I link to in this thead

    Then you need not concern yourself about the SSID and worry more about the WEP :biggrin
     
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  5. Fergal1982

    Fergal1982 Petabyte Poster

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    ok.... then the next question becomes. can i configure how the home hub authenticates? and how?

    Im thinking that WPA seems to be the best solution, but i have no idea what the hub accepts. any ideas?

    Fergal
     
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  6. GmanUK

    GmanUK Byte Poster

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    Hi Fergal

    Firstly, I would disable DHCP on the WAP and connect it directly to your wired router, but remember to give the WAP a static private IP within the subnet of your wired router. With the WAP you could also input the IP of the wired router into the DNS server field...meaning it would forward all DNS requests.

    Secondly, with regards to you not being able to access the WAP, have you created assigned IP's on your PC's/Laptops or do you definately use auto assign IP with DHCP? The reason for saying this is that you may not be able to see the WAP if you are on a different subnet/IP range.

    Thirdly, when trying to configure the WAP, are you connecting using a wired connection or doing it wirelessly?..best way is to configure the WAP hard wired first before using the WAP function.

    Lastly, can you post the BT hubs make/version, we can then check the spec's with regards to the WPA config. If it supports WPA2 with AES and so does your PCI card then this will probably be the best bet (but can tend to slow down traffic between the PC and hub) To configure the authentication between your WAP and PC/Laptop would depend on the software used on the PC/Laptop. The WAP config should be quite straight forward but needs to be done within the browser connected to the device. A good site to get your WPA 63 character keys is here. Just select the 63 character/504 bits and click generate WPA key. You can get software for this but it works just the same!
     
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  7. Fergal1982

    Fergal1982 Petabyte Poster

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    ok, i know ive posted these issues far and wide, but im going to bring it back into here.

    Some of you may be aware that i was having a problem where my BT home hub (which ive set as a wireless access point) was going rogue with the DHCP.

    I've finally managed to get that switched off (managed to find the setting), so that should hopefully be fine (time will tell).

    I've also found that i can telnet into the hub, and that it has a wide variety of settings, the most obvious of which seems to be a wireless security options. the list includes wpa, and wpa-psk (im not sure which is better here, although the wpa list includes wpa2 and more it seems). but im not sure how to set it up. ill post you the output from the help features:

    Code:
    {admin}[wireless secmode]=>help wpa
    Configure WPA settings.
    Syntax : wpa [radiuskey = <quoted string>] [rekeysec = <number{0-86400}>]
                 [radiusip = <ip-address>] [radiusport = <number{0-65535}>]
                 [radiussto = <number{1800-172800}>]
                 [version = <{WPA|WPA2|WPA+WPA2}>]
    
    Parameters :
       [radiuskey = <quoted string>]
         Radius key.
       [rekeysec = <number{0-86400}>]
         Rekey interval
       [radiusip = <ip-address>]
         Radius server ip
       [radiusport = <number{0-65535}>]
         Radius server port
       [radiussto = <number{1800-172800}>]
         Radius Session Timeout
       [version = <{WPA|WPA2|WPA+WPA2}>]
         wpa version
    
    {admin}[wireless secmode]=>
    any help setting this up would be much appreciated.

    thanks guys.

    Fergal
     
    Certifications: ITIL Foundation; MCTS: Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2010, Administration
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  8. GmanUK

    GmanUK Byte Poster

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    Hi Fergal

    I just need you to clarify why you need to administer your AP using the telnet protocol? I presume due to this being a BT AP that there is a browser console....I would try getting in with that rather than trying to telnet.
     
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  9. Fergal1982

    Fergal1982 Petabyte Poster

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    mainly because it just seems to be sooo much easier to administer through telnet than through their gui, which im finding is not user friendly, and i swear there isnt half these options on it.
     
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  10. Fergal1982

    Fergal1982 Petabyte Poster

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    ok ok. i just managed to find this area on the page (mutter). but my question still stands really. its asking for:

    WPA radius IP
    WPA Radius Port
    WPA Radius Key
    and whether to use WPA/WPA2/WPA+WPA2 - (presumeably 1 & 2 together is best)

    but i just dont understand what its asking for in these cases?
     
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  11. GmanUK

    GmanUK Byte Poster

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    OK....I will leave this to someone else who will pop on by i'm sure. I honestly think that if you just want to secure your AP to WPA2 AES level then I would do just that, using the login console......if you are doing this so you can take the AP apart (not physically!!) and learn the ins and outs of it then fair enough!! But remember...if you are going to use this for your main setup and not a test setup....be careful...there is a time and a place :blink
     
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  12. GmanUK

    GmanUK Byte Poster

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    You need to use WPA Radius Key (this is the 63 characters) and WPA2.....but only WPA2 if your PCI card has this option as well.

    What hub is it?..the version.....
     
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  13. Fergal1982

    Fergal1982 Petabyte Poster

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    Its the BT Home Hub (that in itself seems to be the model number to be honest). BT's new wireless router (blah blah). neither the back of the hub, nor the box list a specific model number
     
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  14. GmanUK

    GmanUK Byte Poster

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  15. Fergal1982

    Fergal1982 Petabyte Poster

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    bingo. although ignore the phone, i didnt buy one
     
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  16. GmanUK

    GmanUK Byte Poster

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    OK....does the following mean anything?

    ------------
    as admin by clicking Advanced>continue to Advanced>switch to another user. The login is admin, and the password is admin
    Click on Home Network

    Click on Interfaces

    Click on WLAN

    Click Configure from overhead menu
    ------------

    I have never configured the homehub...so trying to scratch around the net!!
     
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  17. Fergal1982

    Fergal1982 Petabyte Poster

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    its kinda in the right direction yes. I've found the section where i can change to WPA or WPA-PSK (shared Key apparently. for non-enterprise environments).

    Looking at this, am i going to have to configure one of my servers as a RADIUS server to set up WPA???

    I have a screenshot of the relevant config page, if i can figure out how to upload the attachment to certforums:rolleyes: . think ive sorted it.... View attachment 496
     
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  18. GmanUK

    GmanUK Byte Poster

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    OK...so now after finding out which AP you are trying to access and looking in to it......NOW I understand why you were trying to telnet into it!! Wow...alot of people out there (including I.T. professionals) I have found this site which looks like it takes you through changing the WPA settings, among other things using telnet. Ouch!! :eek:
     
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  19. GmanUK

    GmanUK Byte Poster

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    No..not radius if you can select the 'use WPA-PSK encryption' this does in deed mean Shared Key....Pre-Shared Key to be exact. This means that you place the same key in to both devices.

    If you select the WPA-PSK..does that change any of the boxes below?
     
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  20. Fergal1982

    Fergal1982 Petabyte Poster

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