expo/expoweb
1
0
Fork 0
mirror of https://expo.survex.com/repositories/expoweb/.git/ synced 2024-11-24 08:11:55 +00:00
Code Issues Packages Projects Releases Wiki Activity

netconfig

Browse Source
This commit is contained in:
Philip Sargent 2023-03-27 01:53:57 +01:00 committed by Wookey
parent cf3b6c23e7
commit 79bfed457f
4 changed files with 52 additions and 9 deletions
Show Stats Download Patch File Download Diff File Expand all files Collapse all files

7
css/main2.css
View File

@ -484,6 +484,13 @@ var { # to match <code> but inline when documenting systems
#font-style: normal;
background-color: #eee;
}
/* added 2020-04-24 by Philip Sargent */
samp { # to match <code> not in italics
font-family: monospace;
font-size: 0.9em;
font-weight: bold;
background-color: #eee;
}
/*Narrow screens support*/
/*Added 2019-02-22 by Radost Waszkiewicz

48
handbook/computing/netconfig.html
View File

@ -33,12 +33,12 @@ still upright and have not been knocked sideways.
<h3>The Gasthof Wifi</h3>
<p>The Gasthof WiFi - which you can use if you are close enough - is "StaudnGast" and has no WiFi password but there is a login webpage. It allocates IP addresses in the range 192.168.2.x etc. The antenna is now on the first-floor balcony within sight of the tatty hut window. You can get the password from the Gasthof front desk, or during expo it is usally written on the whiteboard in the potato hut. In the scripts published in this handbook we use the word GASTSECRET instead of the real password.
<p>The Gasthof WiFi - which you can use if you are close enough - is "StaudnGast" and has no WiFi password but there is a login webpage. It allocates IP addresses in the range <samp>192.168.2.x</samp> etc. The antenna is now on the first-floor balcony within sight of the tatty hut window. You can get the password from the Gasthof front desk, or during expo it is usally written on the whiteboard in the potato hut. In the scripts published in this handbook we use the word GASTSECRET instead of the real password.
<p>If you are not actively using the internet, the Gasthof system will close the connection and you will have to re-login again, typing the password into the login page.
<h3>The Potato hut Wifi</h3>
<p>The potato hut WiFi has <a href="https://www.howtogeek.com/334935/what-is-an-ssid-or-service-set-identifier/">SSID</a> "tattyhut" with our usual cavey:beery password. Like almost every other wifi anywhere it is running DHCP and allocating IP addresses to your device.
<p>The DHCP system is issuing IP4 addresses of the form 192.168.1.x where x is a number between 11 and 199 with a lifetime of 48 hours.
<p>The DHCP system is issuing IP4 addresses of the form <samp>192.168.1.x</samp> where x is a number between 11 and 199 with a lifetime of 48 hours.
<p>The <em>Expo laptops</em> acquire a dynamic local address of this form, as does any other laptop or phone connecting to this wifi.
<h3>How it works - in words</h3>
@ -56,11 +56,45 @@ that the netbook does not connect to any network except the StaudnGast wifi netw
reconnect' checkbox for the "StaudnGast" network.
<h4>Netgear WNDR4000</h4>
<p>The Netgear ethernet/wifi hub holds the radio transceievr that provides the wifi coverage inside the potato hut.
It is configured using its web control panel.
<hr />
<p>The Netgear ethernet/wifi hub holds the radio transceiver that provides the wifi coverage inside the potato hut.
It is configured using its web control panel. It has an <a href="https://manualmachine.com/netgear/wndr4000/816208-user-manual/">online manual</a> but it needs no configuration at all during expo. Just turn it on at the beginning of expo and off again at the end.
<h4>IP6</h4>
<p>While you can use 5Ghz wifi and IP6 to connect within the hut, there is no IP6 connectivity to the external internet. Sorry. We are dependent on the Gasthof system for this.
<h3>4 different 'networks'</h3>
<p>To understand how the network is configured, you need to realise that we have to manage these different 'networks':
<ul>
<li><samp>192.168.2.x</samp> The Gasthof wifi network
<li><samp>192.168.1.x</samp> The potato hut wifi network
<li><samp>10.0.x.y</samp> The network on the short bit of cable connecting the netbook with the Netgear box.
<li>The network on the longer length of cable connecting the Netgear box with the <var>expo laptop</var> (and sometimes the printer).
</ul>
We bridge the hut wifi with the hut ethernet cable to the <var>expo laptop</var> so they are both <samp>192.168.1.x</samp>, but this is a matter of choice. This is configured in the netbook config files.
<h4>Where the DNS happens</h4>
<p> DNS is what connects a computer name (such as <var>expo.survex.com</var>) with an internet address (such as <samp>78.129.164.125</samp>). To make the internet work, we need to tell every laptop and phone where to find a DNS nameserver, or what machine to ask in order to get DNS queries forwarded to a DNS nameserver.
<p>The DNS configuration happens in the netbook. The Netgear box just forwards DNS queries to the netbook, and tells laptops connected to the hut wifi to use that too.
<h4>Where the DHCP happens</h4>
<p>DHCP is what decides what the <samp>x</samp> is when the wifi issues an address that a laptop must use when it connects to the wifi as <samp>192.168.1.x</samp>.
<p>We have done this in two different ways:
<ul>
<li>2017-2019 : in the netbook.
<li>2022 : in the Netgear box.
</ul>
<p>The benefit of doing it in the Netgear box is that you get to play with a graphical web interface not text files.
<p>The benefit of doing it in the netbook is that all the configuration is in the same place, and you only have to learn one way of doing things instead of having to use text files <em>and</em> a web interface. Aslo, by making the Netgear box completely dumb, it is swap-replaceable if it dies with no reconfiguration required.
<h4>Static addresses</h4>
<p>The netbook has two interfaces: the Alfa wifi antenna (which has an address issud by the Gasthof wifi system), and its ethernet cable socket which is configured to have the address <samp>10.0.1.2</samp>.
<p>The Netgear box has its yellow ethernet cable socket set to the address <samp>10.0.1.1</samp>. The four other ethernet sockets are all on the address range <samp>192.168.1.x</samp> and the wifi network interface is set to <samp>192.168.1.1</samp> on the same network range.
<strike>
<p>The Acer Aspire One ("tclaspire3") is on a static address <a href="http://192.168.1.100/">192.168.1.100</a> on WiFi but <a href="http://192.168.200.100/">192.168.200.100</a> on the ethernet cable.
<p>Because the netbook is on a different network from the laptops connecting to the hut wifi, you can't directly login to the netbook using <var>ssh</var> to the IP address (ssh expo@10.0.1.2), but you can using its name, so <var> ssh expo@tclaspire3.potatohut</var> should work if everything has been configured correctly.
This is the address to use for configuring it using ssh when everything else has failed. So to manage the
connection to the Gasthof WiFi you would use
<pre>
@ -94,7 +128,7 @@ the Gasthof. We continued with the wifi service in the hut but now it also conne
<p>In 2022 Wifi reception from the Gasthof was very poor. The connection script was improved so that dropped connections were restored more quickly. However the basic bandwidth with a cheap antenna was not enough.
<p>In 2023 a new Wifi device (the Alfa) should restore decent connectivity. We hope this will improve everything to how it was in 2019. However this Alfa has proved to be a right bastard to find the right drivers for. Wookey has had to be inventive in using an Ubuntu PPA to make it work with the Acer Aspire 1.
<p>Also during winter 2023/23 Wookey upgraded the operating system on the Acer Aspire 1 netbook from whatever Linpus ancient Debian it had been running to a decently almost-modern Debian distribution. This required much coaxing. As of 26 March, it is still a couple of Debian versions behind where we would want it to be.
<p>Also during winter 2023/23 Wookey upgraded the operating system on the Acer Aspire One netbook from whatever ancient Debian it had been running to a decently almost-modern Debian distribution. This required much coaxing. As of 26 March, it is still a couple of Debian versions behind where we would want it to be.
<h4>History of the scripts</h4>
<p>The structure of the system was created by Wookey in 2013 who used the fakenet principle and the netbook to run training sessions for the Cave Survey Group in the UK. [This is why the script has an extra level of parameter setting that might seem necessary: it has 'csg' and 'expo' options, but the two configurations have diverged so much over the years that this is merely a fossil.]

BIN
handbook/i/laptop-icon.jpg Normal file
View File

Binary file not shown.
Side by Side

After

Width:  |  Height:  |  Size: 16 KiB

6
handbook/l/hut-cables.html
View File

@ -35,7 +35,7 @@
<li>Powerbrick for R61 Thinkpad (Aziraphale)
<li>Powerbrick for <a href="../i/wndr4000.jpg">Netgear WNDR4000</a> wifi/ethernet device
</ol>
<p>The Acer Aspire One 1 (tclaspire3) and Dell E4200 (Crowley) each have internal, built-in wifi, but we do not use these and they are turned off (with a physical sliding-switch on the case) to reduce confusion.
<p>The Acer Aspire One (tclaspire3) and Dell E4200 (Crowley) each have internal, built-in wifi, but we do not use these and they are turned off (with a physical sliding-switch on the case) to reduce confusion.
<p>Aziraphale also has an ethernet socket and can be connected by ethernet cable to the network if convenient and if within-hut wifi is congested.
<p>The mains power plugs are illustrated with 2 pins for clarity, but they are all 3-pin UK-style pugs in reality.
@ -46,10 +46,12 @@
</figure>
</div>
<ul>
<li>The ethernet cable to the Asus Aspire One 1 blue netbook (tclAspire One3) goes into the yellow ethernet socket on its own.
<li>The ethernet cable to the Asus Aspire One blue netbook (tclaspire3) goes into the yellow ethernet socket on its own.
<li>The cable to the expo laptop Crowley (and to Aziraphale and the printer if you want) go into any of the block of 4 ethernet sockets in a row together.
<li>We do not plug anything into the USB socket.
</ul>
<h3 id="network">Networking Software - configuration nerding</h3>
<p>This is now described on <a href="netconfig.html">a separate page</a>.
<hr />
Go back to
<a href="/handbook/computing/computer.html#network">Basecamp computers</a>.