wep key index in examples of section 29.3 in handbook

[Krishna Mohan Gundu]

Hi Marc,

At the outset let me just say that I understand the perspective of
your argument. However I still feel there is room for improvement in
the document.

>> 1) A novice would not know that WEP access points can use any of the
>> four keys it uses for encryption and that all these keys have to be
>> set correctly. I got to know this only after reading the wikipedia
>> page on WEP at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wired_Equivalent_Privacy .
>> Further that most access points only use one key and I believe the
>> index of this key is mostly 1. This discussion could be added to some
>> subsection.
>
> But if we read this section we have:
>
> ---
> WEP can be set up with ifconfig:
>
> # ifconfig ath0 ssid my_net wepmode on weptxkey 3 wepkey 3:0x3456789012 \
>        inet 192.168.1.100 netmask 255.255.255.0
>
>        - The weptxkey means which WEP key will be used in the
>          transmission. Here we used the third key. This must match the
>          setting in the access point.
> ---
> Regarding the reason why we used an example with the third key and not
> the default 1, it's to push people to really check their config to make
> sure what key they use.

I did read this note. My wireless router configuration has no mention
of different keys. It simply takes a key for encryption. So I was
immediately thrown off this key business. Third key did not make any
sense to me. The fact that some access points have provision for only
one key is not clear from any documentation. Probably it helps here if
a note like this is added

"Some access points take only one key, in which case use 1 for key index"

>> 2) The above discussion can be deemed to be too technical to be
>> included in the document. However changing the wep key index from 3 to
>> 1 would save many more novices like me hours of searching, reading,
>> agony etc.
>>
>
> The same will happen for people who have a config with a different key
> from the number 1 :)

In this case, I believe people will be aware of the fact that access
points use multiple keys. If they have configured the router
themselves, they will be aware that for some reason they have chosen
such and such keys.

cheers,
Krishna.