Local wi-fi network

This article has been retained as a historical document. It is not up-to-date and the formatting may be lacking. Use the information herein with caution.

These instructions cover setting up, configuring and connecting to a private local wi-fi network.

The Router

These instructions are specifically for a Linksys WRT310N Wireless-N Gigabit Router. Setting up other Linksys wi-fi routers should be very similar. For other brands of routers, the set up should be similar.

198.168.1.1 is the default IP address used by Linksys routers. We will use 198.168.1.100 for the IP address of the WeBWorK laptop server (maybe running off a flash memory drive).

192.168.0.1 is the default IP address usually used by D-Link and Netgear brands and 192.168.2.1 is the default IP address for SMC and Belkin brands. These IP addresses can be changed but if you have a router with a default IP address different than 198.168.1.1, it is probably best to keep the default and to adjust the IP addresses in these instructions accordingly.

Configure the router

1. You can configure the router from any computer. You do not need to install any software, e.g. you do not need to use the CD that comes with the router
2. Connect the ethernet cable from your computer to port 1 on the router (actually you can use any port) and power up the router
3. Open a browser and connect to http://192.168.1.1
4. You will be required to enter a User Name and Password. For the WRT310N and most Linksys routers the default User Name is empty (i.e. just leave the box empty) and the default Password is "admin". See e.g. http://compnetworking.about.com/od/routers/qt/linksys_passwds.htm which comes up when you google "default linksys username and password"
5. Click on Administration in the upper row
   1. Click on Management in the lower row. Then enter "WeBWorK3" for the Router Password
   2. Click Save Setting. You will have to log in again with the new password
6. Click on Wireless in the upper row
   1. Click on on Basic Wireless Settings in the lower row. For the Configuration View select Manual and then enter "testwww" for the Network Name (SSID)
   2. Click on on Wireless Security in the lower row. Enter "WeBWorK2WeBWorK2" for the Passphrase
   3. Click Save Setting
7. Click on Applications & Gaming in the upper row
   1. Click on on Single Port Forwarding in the lower row. On the 6th row (the first non Application Name row), under External Port enter 80, under Internal Port enter 80, under Protocol keep Both, under To IP Address enter 100 (so that the full To IP Address is 192.168.1.100
   2. Click Save Setting

The WeBWorK Server

Your WeBWorK server will probably be a laptop and may be running off of a flash memory drive. Regardless, you have configure networking (if it hasn't been pre-configured) so that it communicates with the wi-fi router.

Configure WeBWorK server networking

1. Connect the ethernet cable from your laptop (or whatever you are using as your WeBWorK server) to port 1 on router (actually you can use any port)
2. We will use a static IP address. In order to set a static IP address on your WeBWorK server, follow the directions Installing_from_WW2.4.9_Ubuntu10.04.2LTS_Vanilla_LiveDVD#Setting_up_networking_using_a_static_IP_address
3. You only have to do steps 1-5 in the first paragraph. Once you get to "Next enter the IP address(es) of your DNS server(s)separated by spaces. You need to enter at least one DNS server" stop reading and quit. We don't need name servers, host names, etc.
4. Set the IP address to 192.168.1.100
5. Set the Netmask to 255.255.255.0
6. Set the Gateway to 192.168.1.1

Then

1. Click Apply
2. Enter <wwadmin password> and click Authenticate

Note that by default if a computer has networking set up by DHCP, the first computer connected to the router is assigned to IP address 192.168.1.100 so setting up a static IP address may not be required. However, it is recommended to do so and I have not tested using DHCP. You can find out what ip address your server is using by running the command: ifconfig in a terminal window and then in the eth0 section looking at inet addr:

Pre-configured Loaner Wi-Fi Router

We have a Linksys WRT310N Wireless-N Gigabit Router available for loan (contact Arnie Pizer) which can be used when presenting a WeBWorK Demo Workshop. This router was set up following the above instructions. It has the following settings:

1. To do administrative tasks, connect a computer to the router by ethernet, open a browser and connect to http://192.168.1.1
2. User Name: is empty (i.e. just leave the box empty)
3. Password: WeBWorK3
4. Network Name (SSID): testwww
5. Network security key: WeBWorK2WeBWorK2
6. All wi-fi httpd requests will be forwarded to IP address 192.168.1.100

You should not have to change any settings on the router. If all else fails, reset the router to the factory setting and then reconfigure it following the above instructions. There are two ways to reset the Router’s factory defaults. Either press and hold the Reset Button for approximately five seconds, or restore the defaults from Administration > Factory Defaults in the Router’s web-based utility. Please do not do this unless absolutely necessary.

Pre-configured Live USB Flash Memory Drive Networking

The Pre-configured Live USB Flash Memory Drives (and the .iso file from which they were built) have networking configured following the above instructions. They have the following settings:

1. IP address: 192.168.1.100
2. Netmask: 255.255.255.0
3. Gateway: 192.168.1.1

If there is any question, you can find out the ip address a Ubuntu system is using by running the command ifconfig in a terminal window and then looking at the inet addr setting for eth0.

Connecting to the Private Local Wi-Fi Network

1. Using a wi-fi enabled laptop, connect to the wf-fi network named testwww and use WeBWorK2WeBWorK2 for the required security key
2. Open a browser and connect to the URL: http://192.168.1.100
3. You should see "IT Works!"
4. To access WeBWorK, connect to the URL: http://192.168.1.100/webwork2