BrutallyHackRedhat9WirelessNicConfigs

This HOWTO is more of a cry for help than a help document. I tried using redhat's redhat-config-network tool and also redhat-config-network-druid to set up my pcmcia linksys wireless nic and failed miserably, so I hacked around in /etc/sysconfig until it worked. I would very much like for somebody to tell me how this was supposed to be done, but I'll tell you how I did it:

First, check what your wireless nic is called. If you have only that nic, it's probably eth0. Near everybody including me has a builtin wired nic today, so that might be eth0 and the wireless is eth1 (my case.) To check,

$ su
# iwconfig eth1       # (or eth0)

If you get something like

eth0      no wireless extensions.

Then that's not your wireless nic :) Anyway, once you know what it is,

$ su
# redhat-config-network

Look for your wireless nic. Mine was called eth1, and it did not seem to be recognized as a wireless nic. If it is seen as wireless (it has a little box with radio wave thingies icon) then disregard the rest of this because redhat-config-network is actually working properly. If it sees it as a little green circuit board creature like your wired nic, continue.

Click 'new', then 'Wireless connection', then 'Forward'. Select your card from the list. Click 'Forward'. If you're at dartmouth you want 'Managed', 'Specified', and in the text box the dartmouth SSID. I'm going to check on whether it's ok for me to post that here before I do. Click 'Forward' again. 'Automatically obtain IP settings with dhcp' and set your hostname to something cool. (Most likely ".kiewit.dartmouth.edu" will be added to what you pick.) Check 'Automatically obtain DNS information'. Click 'Forward' then 'Apply'. You now have a bogus eth1:1 or eth0:1 device that I don't know what to do with, so we are going to hack it into something useful. File->Quit and choose to save the settings.

From now on I'm going to assume your wireless nic is eth1 and the alias for it is eth1:1. Adjust appropriately.

$ su
# cd /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts
# mv ifcfg-eth1\:1 ifcfg-eth1
# vi ifcfg-eth1

Now change These two lines (they aren't consecutive in the file)

DEVICE=eth1:1
ONBOOT=no

to these:

DEVICE=eth1
ONBOOT=yes

Now save and exit from your editor and say:

# cp ifcfg-eth1 /etc/sysconfig/networking/profiles/default
# rm /etc/sysconfig/networking/profiles/default/ifcfg-eth1\:1
# /etc/init.d/network restart

If you are a lucky man or woman, your wireless nic will start and you are online. Now start the brain damaged graphical configurator again:

# redhat-config-network

Click on the stupid eth1:1 alias and hit the delete button on the top. Confirm and exit, saving changes. You should now be ready to go.

This is absolutely not the way redhat is supposed to work. Somebody please tell me the right way or just change this page to reflect the right way.

AlexFerguson - 20 Apr 2003