wireless firewall help needed . . .

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless (More info?)

Hello gurus. I have a Dell Inspiron laptop hooked up to a Comcast
cable modem with only one jack. I use Cisco VPN to tunnel into my
company's network when I'm working at home, and turn it off when I'm
just surfing. I would like to be able to do the following:

1. Connect two laptops (Dell Inspiron and Dell Latitude) to the modem
via wireless
2. Set up a hardware firewall

It seems straightforward to get a hardwire firewall/router to connect
two laptops via Ethernet cables. The question is how wireless fits
into it. I note that most of the wireless kits at my local computer
store did not specify 'firewall' in the name of the product. The
salesperson said it was 'built in' to all the wireless kits but I am
not sure she knew what she was talking about.

Here are my questions:

1. Let's say CM stands for cable modem, FR for hardware
firewall/router, W for wireless, and L1 and L2 for the laptops. Could
you set it up like this:

CM -> FR -> W -> L1,L2

Or would setting up FR be overkill? Does wireless provide adequate
firewall protection so you could just do:

CM -> W -> L1,L2

2. Can L1 use VPN to access my company's internal network while L2
does not?

3. Any recommendation for which Wireless kit to buy? I haven't a clue.

Thanks for your help!!!

Lance

 

[Wes]

Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless (More info?)

On Sun, 22 Aug 2004 10:09:24 -0700, lashdown wrote:

> Hello gurus. I have a Dell Inspiron laptop hooked up to a Comcast cable
> modem with only one jack. I use Cisco VPN to tunnel into my company's
> network when I'm working at home, and turn it off when I'm just surfing. I
> would like to be able to do the following:
>
> 1. Connect two laptops (Dell Inspiron and Dell Latitude) to the modem via
> wireless
> 2. Set up a hardware firewall
>
> It seems straightforward to get a hardwire firewall/router to connect two
> laptops via Ethernet cables. The question is how wireless fits into it. I
> note that most of the wireless kits at my local computer store did not
> specify 'firewall' in the name of the product. The salesperson said it was
> 'built in' to all the wireless kits but I am not sure she knew what she
> was talking about.
>
> Here are my questions:
>
> 1. Let's say CM stands for cable modem, FR for hardware firewall/router, W
> for wireless, and L1 and L2 for the laptops. Could you set it up like
> this:
>
> CM -> FR -> W -> L1,L2
>
> Or would setting up FR be overkill? Does wireless provide adequate
> firewall protection so you could just do:
>
> CM -> W -> L1,L2
>
> 2. Can L1 use VPN to access my company's internal network while L2 does
> not?
>
> 3. Any recommendation for which Wireless kit to buy? I haven't a clue.
>
> Thanks for your help!!!
>
> Lance


Lance,

What the saleswoman was probably referring to was that anything that's an
end-user wireless "router" is probably a NAT router (NAT = network address
translation). The way NAT works is that the router gets a 'real' IP
address (one that's usable on the internet) and passes out internal IPs to
any computers that connect to it (including wireless). The router does
translations between the internal addresses and it's own external address.

In regards to that, a NAT router is an extremely effective firewall
without any additional configuration. (Why? Because there's no direct
path to any of your computers from the internet.) Therefore, anything
listed as a "router" will have firewalling built in. If not explicitly,
than as a side effect of how the technology works.

So typically, you buy an ethernet switch + router + wireless. You can
also buy just an ethernet switch + router, but then you have to have a
separate wireless access point. If it's just an Access Point, then it's
just an ethernet bridge and won't have any firewalling.


1) Normal setups look like: CM --> R --> Comp1, Comp2, Comp3, etc
where CM = Cable MOdem, R = NAT Router, and the right-most arrow is
either wired or wireless.

2) Should work fine.

3) I personally dislike Linksys and suggest any Netgear "Metal Box"
equipment. Netgear Plastic Box stuff doesn't tend to be as good. Having
said that...

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=33-122-011&depa=0

Is nice and cheap : )


Wes

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless (More info?)

Wes: Your answer was very helpful. Thanks very much! I just want to
make sure I understand correctly:

>
>
> 1) Normal setups look like: CM --> R --> Comp1, Comp2, Comp3, etc
> where CM = Cable MOdem, R = NAT Router, and the right-most arrow is
> either wired or wireless.
>

> http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=33-122-011&depa=0
>

So on this setup I would do:

CM -- ethernet cable --> NetGear Wireless Router -- wireless --> C1,
C2, etc.

I would just need to buy Wireless cards for each laptop.

That correct?

Thanks again,

Lance
>
> Wes

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless (More info?)

Wes:

Hello. One last question. Newegg shows 12 newgear routers:

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=33-122-011&depa=0

If I wanted to get a more robust model, which would you recommend? Thanks,
Lance

 

[Walker]

Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless (More info?)

"lashdown" <lashdown@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:4b08f5bf.0408231158.4371b0af@posting.google.com...
> Wes: Your answer was very helpful. Thanks very much! I just want to
> make sure I understand correctly:
>
> >
> >
> > 1) Normal setups look like: CM --> R --> Comp1, Comp2, Comp3, etc
> > where CM = Cable MOdem, R = NAT Router, and the right-most arrow is
> > either wired or wireless.
> >
>
> >
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=33-122-011&depa=0
> >
>
> So on this setup I would do:
>
> CM -- ethernet cable --> NetGear Wireless Router -- wireless --> C1,
> C2, etc.
>
> I would just need to buy Wireless cards for each laptop.
>
> That correct?

Yes, exactly. One thing needs to be considered is the security problem. You
should at least
enable the WEP key and change it periodically.

>
> Thanks again,
>
> Lance
> >
> > Wes