Next message: KRushing: "Re: [WinMac] Cisco Aeronet and Apple Airport"
> My question to the Win-Mac list is this: does anyone on the list
> have experience with attempting to make compatible Sysco Aeronet
> wireless with Apple Airport?
Hi Kit. First of all, let's be clear here. You're talking about
Cisco Aironet, right? Because Sysco is a company that makes cafeteria
supplies. (And whose stock is *far* less volatile than that of the
network equipment manufacturer. :)
Anyways, found an article that discusses the proprietary system that
Cisco uses for security in its 350 models:
http://www.networkcomputing.com/1203/1203sp1.html
Basically, it rotates WEP keys, and generates them more securely.
And here's Cisco's "response to researchers" which spins their
incompatible system as a security "feature":
http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/cc/pd/witc/ao350ap/prodlit/1281_pp.htm
As i recall, the 340 series of Cisco access points had an 802.11b
compatibility mode that could be turned on. i imagine that the newer
access points should also be able to use this feature to make them
work with AirPort and other non-Cisco cards.
But they'll probably tell you that they don't want to run in
compatible mode because they want to use Cisco's proprietary security.
Oh well, at least the Cisco cards have Mac drivers. That's more than
you can say for most of the other 802.11b cards out there.
Annoyingly, this means that everybody will have to buy Cisco cards,
which cost 2-3 times more than any of the other cards out there. But
hey, you're at a University, so you probably get 'em for cheap.
But it also means that any visiting researchers will have to buy or
borrow a card, even if they already have an 802.11b card. Basically,
administrators are locking themselves into buying from *one* vendor.
The idea of standards is that it promotes competition, and you get
better quality and at lower prices.
But oh well. Security *is* an issue, since standard WEP can be broken
so easily (see http://airsnort.sourceforge.net), but it can be dealt
with by using standard VPN clients on top of a WEP-less network.
--
Darryl Lee <lee@darryl.com> | Bore yourself silly: <http://www.darryl.com>
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: Tue Aug 21 2001 - 10:42:53 PDT