[LUGSB] Questions about Wolfienet

Tue Apr 12 14:48:11 EDT 2011

Dear Jan et al:

The man page for dhclient.conf has very helpful documentation on the
timeout settings for dhclient. I examined the default settings for
dhclient and they turn out to be extraordinarily conservative. The
default retry interval is 60 seconds. Coincidentally, the default
timeout is also 60 seconds. The implication is that with the default
settings, your computer will only make 1 attempt to talk to the DHCP
server and if there is a collision that blocks that communication
attempt, your system won't make a second attempt. When you are in a
crowded environment, then the consequence is that you can spend half
an hour (as some of us have done) before you get a connection.

To fix this, I lowered the retry interval in "/etc/dhcp/dhclient.conf"
to 3 seconds from 60 seconds. I have done some initial testing and the
result seems promising. I encourage anyone with this problem to give
it a try and reply with whether or not it worked.

Yours truly,
Richard Yao

On Mon, Apr 4, 2011 at 3:46 PM, Jan Kasiak <j.kasiak at gmail.com> wrote:
> Yeah - possibly. Network manager by default associates and then asks
> for dhcp. If dhcp doesn't work, then you lose your connection and have
> to re-associate. There is an option in nm to not require dhcp in the
> connection...but it didn't want to work for me.
>
> -Jan
>
> On Mon, Apr 4, 2011 at 3:33 PM, Ehtesh Choudhury <merlockmagus at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Funny how we all top-post. It's fine if you guys don't get it to work either
>> -- I was just looking for a reliable solution. It's not like I absolutely
>> need Linux on my laptop anyway, since I just need a Linux environment.
>>
>> To Jan:
>> so you're saying associating with wpa_supplicant and connecting manually is
>> more reliable?
>>
>> To Richard:
>> I don't think recompiling the kernel would solve this issue. Heart of the
>> problem would be wpa_supplicant, NetworkManager (nm-applet) and its
>> variants, and maybe the wireless drivers (in my case -- ath9k).
>>
>> On Sun, Apr 3, 2011 at 12:03 PM, Richard Yao <ryao at ic.sunysb.edu> wrote:
>>>
>>> For reference purposes so that we can get some sort of idea of what is
>>> happening, where has everyone had problems and what hardware are all
>>> of you using?
>>>
>>> I have had issues connecting with my laptop on the 5th floor of the
>>> library where the Confucius Institute Chinese Language classes are
>>> held. I have an Intel 3945ABG Wi-Fi card. I am running Gentoo Linux,
>>> with Linux 2.6.37.4, Network Manager 0.8.2-r10, and K Network Manager
>>> 4.4.0_p20110204. I checked the traffic with Wireshark and about a
>>> thousand ARPs were in the air in any given minute.
>>>
>>> For the record, I know that my kernel is out of date. Compiling a more
>>> recent kernel is on my mental to do list.
>>>
>>> Yours truly,
>>> Richard Yao
>>>
>>> On Sun, Apr 3, 2011 at 11:39 AM, Jan Kasiak <j.kasiak at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> > I've had major issues as well (archlinux + networkmanager), although a
>>> > lot of it depends on the location.
>>> > Tony recommends using wpa_supplicant to associate with the network,
>>> > and then just manually run dhcp.
>>> >
>>> > -Jan
>>> >
>>> > On Sun, Apr 3, 2011 at 11:36 AM, luke mladek <lmladek771 at gmail.com>
>>> > wrote:
>>> >> Ive had extreme difficulty with random disconnections over wolfie net
>>> >> secure. Im using ubuntu 10.Something.    Everythings properly
>>> >> configured. No
>>> >> problem on any home networks or home routers either or hardline. Just
>>> >> the
>>> >> wolfie net secure wifi.
>>> >>
>>> >> On Apr 3, 2011 10:07 AM, "Richard Yao" <ryao at ic.sunysb.edu> wrote:
>>> >>> Try installing wireshark, get into a situation where this is common
>>> >>> and then watch the log to see the traffic before the disconnect.
>>> >>>
>>> >>> On Sun, Apr 3, 2011 at 9:40 AM, Yibin L <lyb46 at hotmail.com> wrote:
>>> >>>> Usually I need to restart network-manager several times if not lucky.
>>> >>>> I
>>> >>>> am
>>> >>>> using Ubuntu.
>>> >>>> Thanks,
>>> >>>> Yibin
>>> >>>>
>>> >>>> On Sun, Apr 3, 2011 at 4:51 AM, Ehtesh Choudhury
>>> >>>> <merlockmagus at gmail.com>
>>> >>>> wrote:
>>> >>>>>
>>> >>>>> Do you guys have trouble sustaining a steady connection with
>>> >>>>> Wolfienet-Secure/Open? I've been having trouble on and off -- I've
>>> >>>>> had
>>> >>>>> much
>>> >>>>> better success with my friends' routers and the wired connection
>>> >>>>> (well,
>>> >>>>> obviously). Just wondering, is all.
>>> >>>>>
>>> >>>>> _______________________________________________
>>> >>>>> lugsb mailing list
>>> >>>>> lugsb at fsl.cs.sunysb.edu
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>>> >>>>> http://www.fsl.cs.sunysb.edu/mailman/listinfo/lugsb
>>> >>>>
>>> >>>>
>>> >>>>
>>> >>>> --
>>> >>>> Yibin Lin
>>> >>>> Computer Science Dept.,
>>> >>>> Stony Brook University
>>> >>>>
>>> >>>>
>>> >>>>
>>> >>>> _______________________________________________
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