Big Blue wants to show you how to setup a wireless ISP with Linux.
Setting up a wireless Internet Service provider (WISP) for your office or neighborhood doesn't have to be a taxing or expensive ordeal. If you build your network from easy-to-buy equipment and use Linux™, you can use the power of shell scripts to make network management easy. This article gives you the tips and scripts you need.
It's simple to create a small, wireless network with an off-the-shelf wireless router. But providing industrial-strength wireless connectivity to an office, apartment building, or neighborhood is different. After you've done that, you're running a wireless Internet service provider (WISP). And to run a WISP you need to be able to answer questions like these:
* How good is my connectivity to the Internet right now?
* Which clients are associated to the network right now, and how good is their connectivity?
* Do I have adequate bandwidth for peak demand?
* Which clients associated recently, and how active were they?
* Which clients have solid connectivity and which are marginal?
* Do clients have many transmission errors and retries?
* Are upgraded versions of installed software packages available?
* Are big files taking up too much space?
* How can I simplify client administration?
In this article, you'll learn how to use Linux scripts to answer all of these questions. But before you can get started, you'll need to set up the server to run the show.
