Pages

Monday, May 18, 2009

How to configure Ubuntu 8.10 / 9.04 for 802.1x WPA TKIP environment

IIUM wireless environment implement WPA authentication and TKIP encryption. The overall using 802.1x authentication method which deploy protected EAP (PEAP) using EAP token. User database stored in a Radius server by using FreeRadius running on FreeBSD platform. 


One of my user said, before upgrading his Ubuntu 8.10, he was using Ubuntu Hardy Heron 8.04. The previous Ubuntu is running well. Once he upgrade it to Ubuntu 8.10, he cannot get connected to our secure wireless environment anymore. 

Hmmmmm... while other user with other stardard OS e.g Windows XP, Mac OS and Windows Vista doesn't have any problem, so I suspect, the WPA configuration in Ubuntu 8.10 something need to change drastically. It seems like doesn't works well in a secured wireless environment. 

We have tried and yes, it does not work with IIUM wireless campus. I tried to switch to fedora 10, but the result is still the same. Then we tried to migrate to knoppix, my best linux distro ever, but still not working and become more worst when knoppix cannot detect Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG device. We dont want to use ndiswrapper since it finally could corrupt my entire OS. FYI, Suse linux will work smoothly with IIUM wireless.