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hmm, well it looks like the only firmware that is broadly supported (at least from 5 minutes of digging around) is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenWrt]OpenWrt, and that doesn't list the web interface as a strong point.
I totally flaked on the brain dump [I blame gencon for that  ]
I will try and get on that this weekend.
-Terry
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"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy
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I don't know that I'll bother, either, Chris, but I like the idea that I have the option should I ever need it.
Terry, thanks in advance for whatever help you end up providing!
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
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I'm not going to get into specifics on anything here, as I have no desire to write pages and pages on this topic unprompted. This is just a surface level
overview of what I can remember at the time.
1) change the default password on the device. This should be the first thing you do after plugging the device in. Because yes, there are malicious programs out
there that know and will try the default passwords for the popular network gateways.
2) turn off remote management (allowing anyone on the net to pound on the router guessing passwords all day long is bad).
3) Firmware upgrade
I don't know what version of firmware shipped on the device, but according to linksys's website the current version is 1.00.01.17
4) Change the SSID to something meaningful rather than the default.
5) mac address filtering: Only useful to prevent casual snooping. provides no real security.
6) Wireless security:
WEP is laughable
WPA is ok
WPA2 or best
The longer the passphrase the better. It doesn't have to be insane, but mixing case, letters, numbers, and symbols is a good thing. Dictionary words are
bad.
7) UPnP
While useful, I think the general lack of transparency (what is currently changed, when are changes reverted, and who has change rights) render it far more of
a security concern that it is worth. Unless you absolutely need it, don't turn it on. The fact that an infected device can use this to pwn your entire
network is a bad thing
8) Positioning of the antenna: they should be parallel (as close as you can get to exact), and vertical. If you expect to leave this in an area where they
might get knocked around, cutting a stabilizer out of paper is a good idea.
9) wireless B/G/N: select the maximum setting that all your wireless devices can operate with (probably G) and set it to that.
Most residential devices do a poor job of handling mixed mode settings and will slow everyone down to the lowest common denominator.
10) Selecting a wireless channel:
Technically there are 11 channels you can choose from. Realistically there only 3 of those are useful: 1, 6, 11
Bleeding and low quality electronics render the rest worthless. Depending on how densely populated your area is, you may have other wireless signals in your
area. If you do, you should be able to see the channels they operate on when you select a wireless network on your laptop. Chose the one that is not used (or
has the weakest interference).
And once you the settings like you want them, make a backup of the configuration, this will save pain and suffering later on if you have to reset the device.
See anything else in the setup that confuses/interests you? They are cramming more features into these boxes every day and I fully expect to have missed
something.
Anyone else think I missed something (or got something completely wrong)?
I've poked at the documentation for OpenWRT some more, and unless you know exactly what you want to do ahead of time that the current firmware doesn't
support, I wouldn't recommend it. I like the tomato firmware because it has more features with a better UI. OpenWRT definitely has more features than the
standard firmware, but the UI leaves much to be desired.
-Terry
-----
"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
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Terry, thank you. I knew some of those, but not all. When I set the router up tonight, I'll have a local copy of that posting open and available through the entire process.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
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Okay, router is installed, and I checked off all ten points as I went through the setup process. Linksys definitely makes the installation and configuration
incredibly easy now, compared to my first Linksys router -- the animated guide that starts from "put the antennas on" and walks you step by step
through the basic setup was perfect for me. The network's live, both of us can access it, and I've even got the ports configured on the firewall to do
COX.
Now I just have to figure out how to make our two PCs mutually visible to each other.
Oh, and buy that nice 500 GB drive ($90 at BJ's Warehouse Store) to act as a network server.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
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I disagree on the antenna orientation, marginally. Yes, keep them parallel, but remember that each dipole has a radiation pattern of a torus around each one.
(good picture here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dipole_antenna)
Depending on *where* in your house the device is, you can get more effective coverage by realizing right above and right below it's at its weakest.
But that's minor. I've only come upon two situations where that's come up.
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Re: PC visibility -- I assume you're running Windows on both, in which case, they'll likely only become visible to each other *in your network browser*
if you do some things that, frankly, are somewhat less that secure. But chances are they can see each other just fine by computer name and IP address as-is --
they just won't share files or anything unless you explicitly set that up.
I don't want to post a huge long step-by-step that tells you things you may already know, so I'll hold off for now.  If you're having trouble
getting them to talk to each other, feel free to ping me here or wherever and I can assist.
--sofaspud
-- "Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs
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I haven't gone to work on the problem, yet, Spud, but I will probably jump on it tomorrow night. The main reason I have to do it now is a nasty little gotcha I just ran into with the WRT160NL. It's got this feature called "Storage Link" -- the box and the docs trumpet that there's a USB port on the back and the router will automatically recognize storage devices plugged into it and turn them into network storage/servers. So I said, cool, there's this Verbatim 500-gig USB drive on sale for $90 at the local BJ's. I run over there tonight, get the drive, get home, plug it in... and the router can't see it. No matter what I do, the router can't see it.
So I finally end up going through the help topics on the Linksys website. And lo and behold, it turns out that this storage link only supports 12 or 16 different devices -- not types of devices, devices -- from only 3 or 4 manufacturers. Naturally, this is not mentioned anywhere in the documentation that comes with the router. And naturally, Verbatim is not one of those manufacturers, and by obvious extension, our nice new half-terabyte drive isn't one of those devices.
So in order to have a central file server for our network -- unless I want to try to return the open package to BJ's and try to explain to the minimum-wage clerk why I'm doing so -- I need to set it up on the desktop and share it out.
If I don't come across as being growling mad about this, it's only because I've got half a pint of my latest homebrew in me and my alcohol tolerance is low enough that it's actually mildly sedating me.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
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That's assinine. Not surprised, though, Cisco is really trying to get into the sotrage space - both enterprise and cosnumer level - so it makes sense
they'd start shenanigans like this.
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Oh, dear. That's ... that's ridiculous. I've got a Linksys network storage device in my setup, and it has two USB2.0 ports built into it. I've had various USB hard drives and memory dongles plugged into those ports with no problems. Thus, I know that Linksys knows how to put a generic USB port in a network device. There's no excuse for them limiting the USB port on the router that way.
If I was you, I'd open a trouble ticket with Linksys. It might not do any good, but at least they'll know you're unhappy with the current state of affairs...
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
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