Ubuntu server 12.04: netgear wireless dongle setup

[Toxic Tom]

I am trying to setup a lamp server to work with a netgear wireless dongle I have. Ubuntu has recognized the dongle and it's logical name is wlan0. I'm not sure how to connect it to a network. The ubuntu server has come up in the dhcp server area of my router software (although I'm not sure if that is from using it with a wired connection earlier). I am trying to access my server through openSSH (already installed) from another device. This has been my only way of telling if the server is connected to the internet. Is there another way to tell? Also there is no server software installed yet, only openSSH.

[chili555]

Your wireless is not going to connect to anything until you tell it what secure network you want to connect to and the encryption key. The usual way in a server not running a windowing manager and not running Network Manager, is to configure /etc/network/interfaces something like this:
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet static
address 192.168.1.108
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.168.1.1
wpa-ssid mynetwork
wpa-psk mysecretkey
dns-nameservers 8.8.8.8 8.9.192.whateverThen reload:
sudo ifdown wlan0 && sudo ifup wlan0Check:
ping -c3 www.google.com

[Toxic Tom]

Thanks for your help, although my network has a wep key, do you have to write something different if you have a wep key?

[chili555]

Thanks for your help, although my network has a wep key, do you have to write something different if you have a wep key?Yes; you log on to your router and change it to WPA2. WEP is about as secure as putting your credit card in a shoebox on the front porch. If, however, you love to live on the wild side, try this:
auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet static
address 192.168.1.108
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.168.1.1
wireless-essid mynetwork
wireless-key mysecretkey
dns-nameservers 8.8.8.8 8.9.192.whatever

[Toxic Tom]

Also what do I put in the DNS name servers bit?

[chili555]

What are the DNS nameservers on other computers on the network? You can safely use Google's service 8.8.8.8 and/or the router's IP address; something like 192.168.1.1.

Make sure the static IP address is outside the address range used in the router. In the attached example, the DHCP server assigns up to 50 addresses starting at 192.168.1.100. Therefor, the first static IP address I suggest you use is 192.168.1.151.

[Toxic Tom]

Thanks so much for your help! Now I'll test it! :)

[Toxic Tom]

It's still not working. The light on the dongle has lit up, the result of sudo lshw -C network says link=yes but the ping just isn't working! unknown host www.google.com although it works fine with the wired connection.

So what do I do now?

[Toxic Tom]

Also, every so often I get the error "ieee80211 phy0 invalid plcp cck rate (0)" with a different number code before it each time...?

[Toxic Tom]

Now I can see my Ubuntu server in the list of wireless clients in my router software (now I changed the static ip to dhcp, not ideal though!)

[chili555]

Now I can see my Ubuntu server in the list of wireless clients in my router software (now I changed the static ip to dhcp, not ideal though!)And will it connect? If so, please post:
ifconfig
route -nDid you change to DHCP like this?
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp

[Toxic Tom]

Did you change to DHCP like this?
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp

Yeah I did. I still can't seem to ping though, even using dhcp.

[chili555]

Rats! I made a mistake. It should be:
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
wireless-essid mynetwork
wireless-key mysecretkey
dns-nameservers 8.8.8.8 8.9.192.whateverIs that what you did? If not, please amend and then do:
sudo ifdown wlan0 && sudo ifup wlan0You ought to see dhclient ask for an IP address and get one or not. If not, we ought to see informative messages.

[Toxic Tom]

Yep that's what I did. I don't really wanna use dhcp though, I wanna have a static ip!
The assigned ips on my router go up to 192.168.1.200 so I set it to 192.168.1.201 so why won't it work?

[chili555]

When it's temporarily set to DHCP, what are the messages, errors, warnings, etc. when you:
sudo ifdown wlan0 && sudo ifup wlan0

[Toxic Tom]

If wlan0 is already up then it just says ssh stop/waiting ssh start/running. But if wlan0 is down before I do it it says "RNETLINK answers: No such process ssh stop/waiting ssh start/running" and the wireless dongle flashes few different colours before settling on blue.

EDIT: that's what happens when I try to use static. When using dhcp, I get the second result every time, without the RNETLINK error.

EDIT2: aha dhcp works now!! Just need to get static working.

[chili555]

EDIT2: aha dhcp works now!! Just need to get static working.Excellent! Check your IP address, gateway, etc. with:
ifconfig
route -nThen adapt the settings to static and restart the interface:
sudo ifdown wlan0 && sudo ifup wlan0Working now?

[Toxic Tom]

Result of ifconfig:

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:40 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:40 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:3160 (3.1 KB) TX bytes:3160 (3.1 KB)

wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:22:3f:0e:eb:84
inet addr:192.168.1.14 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::222:3fff:fe0e:eb84/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:16466 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:429 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:923461 (923.4 KB) TX bytes:70380 (70.3 KB)

Result of route -n:

Kernel IP routing table
Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use Iface
0.0.0.0 192.168.1.1 0.0.0.0 UG 100 0 0 wlan0
192.168.1.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0 wlan0

What do I do now?

[chili555]

You've confirmed the IP range and gateway. I suggest you amend the interfaces file:
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet static
address 192.168.1.201
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.168.1.1
wireless-essid mynetwork
wireless-key mysecretkey
dns-nameservers 8.8.8.8 192.168.1.1Now restart the interface:
sudo ifdown wlan0 && sudo ifup wlan0You will probably get no confirmations if there is no error or warning. Then check:
ping -c3 www.google.comIf you get ping returns, you're all set.

[Toxic Tom]

It's all setup and working now! Thanks for your help!

[chili555]

Great work! Please use thread tools at the top and mark Solved. The searchers setting up their servers will appreciate your help.

[Toxic Tom]

Now my wireless dongle keeps switching itself off after a period of inactivity. Is there anything I can do about this?

[chili555]

Please run:
iwconfigWhat does it say about power management? If we can turn it off and it helps, we can make it permanent.
sudo iwconfig wlan0 power off

[Toxic Tom]

Result of iwconfig:

lo no wireless extensions.

wlan0 IEEE 802.11abgn ESSID:"OrangeED9600"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.462 GHz Access Point: 00:01:E3:ED:96:02
Bit Rate=36 Mb/s Tx-Power=27 dBm
Retry long limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Power Management:off
Link Quality=70/70 Signal level=-39 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:4 Missed beacon:0

eth0 no wireless extensions.
Power management appears to be off

[chili555]

Is your computer suspending after a period of inactivity? Can you check your power settings? Please see attached.

[Toxic Tom]

How can I check that from terminal?

[chili555]

How can I check that from terminal?Hmmm, I forgot...a server on a laptop. Let's look at this from another viewpoint. Let's ask the system to reload the wireless driver on resume:
sudo vim /etc/pm/config.d/configSince you are running a server, you do know vim, right?? Right?

Add one line:
SUSPEND_MODULES="###"Substitute your actual wireless driver. Find out with:
sudo lshw -C networkHere's an example from my computer:
*-network
description: Wireless interface
product: Centrino Advanced-N 6200
vendor: Intel Corporation
<snip>
logical name: wlan0
version: 35
<snip>
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=iwlwifi driverversion=3.2.0-25-generic-pae firmware=9.221.4.1 build 25532 ip=192.168.1.108 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11abgn
So if I were writing the file, I'd substitute iwlwifi above.

Proofread, save and close vim. After a reboot, you will probably be all set.

[Toxic Tom]

It's not a laptop, it's a desktop pc and no I don't know vim :P

I'll give that stuff a go though, thanks!

[Toxic Tom]

I don't have a file called /etc/pm/config.d/config

What can I do about that?

[chili555]

The intent here is that you are writing the file from scratch as I outlined.

[Toxic Tom]

Ok now, I have created that file with the content you told me to put in it, it should be up and running now!

[Toxic Tom]

It's all working now! Thanks for the help!