802.11 Security

Chapter 12. Building a FreeBSD Gateway

The previous chapter examined building a Linux based gateway. Building a FreeBSD gateway for a wireless network is very similar. This chapter will examine the steps to set up a FreeBSD gateway comparable in function and behavior to the Linux gateway already described. The example network architecture we will be using in this chapter is the same as in the previous chapter.

Unlike with Linux, network interfaces have different names based on the type of hardware. Throughout this chapter, we will use dc0, dc1, and dc2 as the network interfaces. These correspond to the common Netgear and Linksys cards sold in most stores. Replace these with the names you have created for the three interfaces.

Building the Gateway

The first step is to install the operating system and configure it to provide the necessary services. The installation should be minimal as possible. Any unnecessary services and programs that are installed only increase the risk that one of the programs on the gateway may be vulnerable. Do not install the X Windows System or any of the optional applications.

It is important to install the development tools and the system source code. After installation, you will need to recompile the kernel and the new versions of several services might need to be downloaded and compiled, so the development tools will be necessary. The ports collection along with the cvsup utility will be helpful in installing and updating services too, so it might be a ...