Re: Wireless network w/ SBS

In article <OCCdKfJ$GHA.2300@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, rkircher@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
says...

A revised doc? Now you tell me after I spent my afternoon going over your
current doc and configuring my server. ;-)

Not to worry - the updates are minor for your situation.

I have a AP due tomorrow that
should work and if I can get it to work I'm just going to go that way.

Good choice - I think you will be pleased with the result.

BUT, I am now confused. Using my current equipment and WPA PSK I can't get
my wireless card to acquire an IP address until after the user is logged on.
I assume that the key is stored within the users profile and isn't passed to
the AP until after the user logs in. But if I read you post correctly you
are saying that I should be able to set it up so the key is passed before
the user logs on and therefore acquire an IP and gain access to pre logged
in things like GP?

What am I missing.

OK, even though you expect to go the RADIUS route, let's pursue this a bit in
case it might help others. You will need to bear with me. I have not used a
non-RADIUS wireless configuration with an SBS network for almost 2 years. I
still use WPA-PSK with my peer-to-peer network clients. But in those cases a
wireless router is providing DHCP services. Router-based DHCP is possible but
not recommended with SBS. It can be a bit tricky to set up and is not as
manageable as using SBS DHCP.

First, if this is a 2-NIC SBS, the WAP _must_ be connected to the LAN-side, not
to the Internet-side. If you are using a wireless router rather than a true
WAP, you must disable DHCP on the router and you must NOT use its "WAN" or
"Internet" Ethernet jack, only the LAN jack(s).

From here on, all of the steps apply to the wireless PC(s), not the server.

If there is a wireless NIC utility, verify it is configured to "Use Windows to
configure my wireless network" or something similar. The exact wording and
location varies by vendor, so you may need to poke around a little. You may
need to restart the computer for this change to be effective.

Verify the Windows "Wireless Zero Configuration" service is set to a startup
type of "Automatic" and is started.

In "Network Connections," open the Properties page of the wireless NIC and
click the "Wireless Networks" tab. Verify "Use Windows to configure my
wireless network settings" is checked. Under "Preferred networks" click the
SSID of the WAP servicing your SBS network. If necessary, click the [Move up]
button until it is at the top. (While not strictly required, consider removing
other SSIDs for now.) With your SSID selected, click [Properties].

On the Authentication tab, everything may be greyed-out. But "Authenticate as
computer when computer information is available" should be checked.

On the Connection tab, "Connect when this network is in range" should be
checked.

[OK] as needed to close all the boxes. Restart the computer. When you login,
see if normal startup processing occurs. Please report back your results!

-- Owen Williams [SBS MVP]
.