Network setup...

[Dr Mordrid]

MMM : WZC is not enabled by default when installing off my XP CD. I have to start the service then set to Automatic as described above....

[Paddy]

It was enabled automatically on my slipstreamed SP2

[Paddy]

hmm... Most people seem to be complaining about WZC stating that it causes interferrence with the linksys software. I can't find information about the Dell drivers. I've just remembered that the baby monitor is on 2.4GHz. I'm sure that won't help...

[MultimediaMan]

Don't be afraid to change the channel of the AP....this can sometimes help tremendously.

The Doc may have a *.sif file somewhere on his CD which can be used to customize a default installation.

[Paddy]

My WiFi AP is on green and inaccessable from the internet.
I have enabled the MAC address filter so that only my mahcines can connect.
Do I need to enable wireless encryption or disable SSID broadcast?

[degrub]

definitely disable the SSID broadcast. Then enable 128bit encryption.

Any device running on 2.4 GHz will interfere. How badly depends on location and distance. Microwave, portable phones, baby monitor will all knock out the wireless. i had to switch my phones to 5.8 GHz to stop shutting my wireless down. And they were 5 meters apart. CRTs can also interfere if close enough, as can flourescent lamps.

[MultimediaMan]

If you have another machine to use as a Smoothie, do try the Blue mod (you'll need 4 NICs)... neuter your WRT54G by shutting off DHCP and all MAC filtering - leave encryption on, however. This way you will be able to set up rules from Blue to Green and Blue to Red, etc... This is what I do at home.

[Paddy]

I am trying different channels they all give me 54mbps when there is no load, but if i stress the connection it drops to 10mbps!!!!! This is with a apparently excellent signal.

I'm gonna try moving the router but it is only 5M away now.
My walls are plasterboard so there should be minimal interferrance.

I can't change the channel of my phones and i dont know what they are on....

Channel 1 6 and 11 are supposed to be best, but I also have an 12 and 13...

Oh, I'm happy with my smoothie build. It would be nice to have some QoS for bittorrent, but I don't want to kill the build

[Whirl-Secret]

I haven't read the whole thread, just this page. It seems you are expecting wireless to work well... big mistake!

I think I've posted on murc before about this, but basically any wireless config will give a sustained throughput of 10-30% of advertised speed, and probably more often 10% than 30%.

So 54 / 8 / 5 is probably just over 1MB / sec that you will get, even under good conditions. Then there's the dropouts and general failures.

Good for checking emails on a laptop. Not good for streaming or copying video files over.

[Paddy]

Right... I've moved the router closer to my PC.

I am getting the following information from the Linksys utility.
Tx rate: 54mbps
Rx rate: 11mpbs
Noise level -93dbm
signal strength -38dbm

Both the strength and quality indicators are maxed. I am using WPA-AES on channel 11 and it seems to be the most stable so far.

I'm a tad concerned about the receive rate of only 11mbs. Not sure what I can do to change that...

[Paddy]

grrr.. sending data through the connection changes all the transmit/receive rate readings... On sending a 4GB file across the network i am now getting a steady 54mbps T/R
Noise -93
Signal -43

I guess that will have to do.

[Whirl-Secret]

Do a ctrl-alt-del (to get to the task manager) and look at the networking tab to see the real transfer rate, when sending / receiving a large file.

Remember that wireless networking works like a hub, not a switch (so every client connected will slow down the system) and that any connected 11b devices will drag the whole network down to 11b or similar speeds, regardless of whether the rest is 11g or not.

[Paddy]

MMM:
I have installed the smoothwall superkernal and QoS, but I am having trouble configuring it.
I've seen the thread on the smoothie forums, but before I post there, I was wondering if you could post/im/email me a jpeg of your qos setup so I have some base rules to copy.

I understand that it limits upload so I will need to install it on pppo (red) for upload and eth0 for download. The whole naming convention still confuses me. Does it really matter what I call each rule?

The idea is to maximise throuput for client access to my webserver whilst limiting bittorrent for when i'm idle.

Cheers matey.