# WPA-PSK Wireless on RHEL5, How?



## Swiftmind (Jun 4, 2007)

Not sure if this should go in networking, but here it is...

Hello.

I got a laptop running Red Hat EL 5 running a 2.6.18-53.el5 kernel. It has the Intel PRO/Wireless 2915ABG Wireless card which uses Ipw2200 driver. After two long days of searching/trying I still can not get this laptop to connect to the company's wireless router. The network manager GUI and command line commands all fail. I must be missing something. I been searching all over the place and doing all sorts of stuff with wpa_supplicant, network confs, etc. If someone can help me out or point me to where i can find it, I will be grateful. I may be just doing something in the wrong order...

Stuff installed for the card:
ipw2200 Version: 1.2.0
ipw2200 firmware v 3.0
Ieee802.11, was already installed with the system

wpa_supplicant v0.4.8

The wireless card is detected and it does see two routers, here is the one I need to connect too.
Iwlist Report on router:
Cell 02 - Address: a mac address
ESSID:"GUESTS"
Protocol:IEEE 802.11bg
Mode:Master
Channel:1
Encryption keyn
Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s
11 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s
48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
Quality=77/100 Signal level=-52 dBm 
IE: WPA Version 1
Group Cipher : TKIP 
Pairwise Ciphers (1) : TKIP 
Authentication Suites (1) : PSK 
Extra: Last beacon: 16ms ago

/etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf file:
ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
ctrl_interface_group=rd

network={
ssid="GUESTS"
key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
proto=WPA
psk="*"
pairwise=TKIP CCMP
group=TKIP CCMP WEP104 WEP40
priority=5
}

/etc/sysconf/wpa_supplicant file:
# wlan0 and wifi0
# INTERFACES="-iwlan0 -iwifi0"
# wireless card is on eth1
INTERFACES="-ieth1"
# ndiswrapper and prism
# DRIVERS="-Dndiswrapper -Dprism"
# Driver for card is ipw2200, uses wext
DRIVERS="-Dwext"

/etc/sysconfig/networking/devices/ifcfg-eth1:
# Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 2915ABG Network Connection
DEVICE=eth1
ONBOOT=yes
BOOTPROTO=dhcp
HWADDR=a mac address
NETMASK=
DHCP_HOSTNAME=
IPADDR=
DOMAIN=
TYPE=Wireless
USERCTL=yes
IPV6INIT=no
PEERDNS=yes
ESSID=
CHANNEL=1
MODE=Managed
RATE=Auto

I tried using the network manager, it sees the wireless networks and detects that it is a WPA encryption but login always fails. I am typing the passphrase into the login prompt in normal ascii form, its not in hex/encrypted. 

I did a bunch of stuff with wpa_supplicant, the iwX commands and ifX commands. But no results were noticed.

If any other information is needed, just ask. 
Thanks.


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## TRS-80 vet (Jun 18, 2005)

There's a very good how-to here:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=202834&highlight=LEAP

the OP'er frequents the thread for responses...


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## Swiftmind (Jun 4, 2007)

Thanks for your post. That does look like a nice guide. But I am using Red Hat. I tried to follow it but the guide mentions editing the file /etc/networking/interfaces. But in my Red Hat I do not have a /etc/networking directory. I did a search for the file interfaces in /etc/ but nothing came up except under CUPS which is for printing. 

Any idea where this file may be under RHEL 5? Maybe it is a different name?


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## TRS-80 vet (Jun 18, 2005)

Hi swift...

No, I don't know where your interfaces file is, but I'm sure there is one. 

Try sending a PM to the thread OP'er, try googling the file for RHat, and start a new thread here. 

Did you search your own machine for 'interfaces' files?


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## TRS-80 vet (Jun 18, 2005)

In red hat this file is /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 and you would put this in it:

CODE


```
DEVICE=eth0
BOOTPROTO=static
ONBOOT=yes
IPADDR=192.168.1.10
NETMASK=255.255.255.0
GATEWAY=192.168.1.1
```
Found this here:
http://www.iceteks.com/forums/archive/t/3298/

Your values probably will be different...


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