Table of Contents
Wireless functionality is available for selected wireless cards. SmallWall supports (almost) all Atheros-based 802.11a/b/g cards as well (and some Ralink cards too) and offers more capabilities, such as enhanced encryption, using the SmallWall as an access point, and the capability to use a Radius server for authentication.
Some of the SmallWall wireless features include:
support for wi and ath wireless cards
support for 802.11b/g/a
channel selection from 1 to 14
support for hostap, BSS ad IBSS modes
enable/ disable wireless interface
SSID and hidden SSID
64bit or 128bit WEP encryption for ASCII or hexadecimal digits
Bridging with another Ethernet interface if using hostap mode
WPA and WPA2 encryption using PSK and Enterprise mode (in hostap mode)
AES/CCMP and TKIP ciphers
WPA Radius server parameters
A Wireless Distribution System (WDS) is currently not supported.
That all said, SmallWall makes for a poor AP. The backend, hostAP, is very limited in the hardware and the features it supports, and FreeBSD support of the latest chipsets is not as good as it could be. Add to that the fact that SmallWall takes some time to move to the latest FreeBSD, and you have very limited support for hardware, and features. If wireless is important, call one of the optional interfaces "WiFi" and connect a switch with some commercial grade APs on it. You will get MUCH better performance, with a lot less trouble. It is also the only way to support the latest standards, like dual band 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac.
The default SmallWall configuration includes a LAN and WAN interface. If you have an installed wireless card you will have to add the interface manually. Below are the steps needed to install this interface using the web interface of your SmallWall device.
Log into the web interface of your SmallWall device
Click the + symbol at the bottom right of the Interface Assignment table
Click on the drop down list and select a wireless interface (if no wireless cards are shown then either your wireless card is not correctly installed or it is not compatible with SmallWall.
Click the save button (your new wireless interface will appear under the Interfaces menu item of the web interface)
Reboot your SmallWall firewall for the changes to take effect
Click the new wireless interface (probably named OPT1) and make your desired wireless configuration.