[MLB-WIRELESS] D-Link DWL 900+ Firmware

[Jason Tedesco]

Last night I downloaded the v2.5 firmware of the .au site for the Dlink 900+ and upgraded my AP.  This is loaded with some really cool new features, although that's not what this E-Mail is about.

With the firmware you get a windows client Dlink AP manager v2.5 (as to be used with an AP running 2.5) I clicked on the Dlink firmware update tab, and there was a list of AP's running v2.5 and in another pane above Dlink AP's that where running a firmware below v2.5.  I clicked on an AP that was running v2.2 and hit the upgrade button.  To my surprise it flashed this AP without asking for a username or password.  Pretty scary if you ask me, you could flash and factory default the 900+ AP's with very little effort.  

Anyone else experience anything like this?  I might play around with it a bit more this week.

Jason

-----Original Message-----
From: Craig Sanders [mailto:cas at taz.net.au]
Sent: Monday, 13 January 2003 12:47 PM
To: Craig Mead
Cc: melbwireless at wireless.org.au
Subject: Re: [MLB-WIRELESS] D-Link DWL 900+ Firmware


On Mon, Jan 13, 2003 at 12:30:23PM +1100, Craig Mead wrote:
> | ps: one thing that really annoys me about the firmware upgrade is the
> | fact that it completely resets the dlink's configuration.  everything is
> | reset to default, including IP address.  this is broken, and can lead to
> | an unreachable dlink AP if, e.g., you have the dlink on a non-default IP
> | address (say 10.10.48.114) and you are unable to change/add IP addresses
> | to the router that the AP is connected to.
> |
> | the same thing happened when i upgraded to 2.3 a while back.
> 
> uuummm, what firmware doesn't reset to default config? All of the AP's
> Ive used (Dlink, Cisco, Senao) all do this....it's part of the process
> as far as I knew. 

that doesn't make it right.  

it may be something that's impossible to fix, in which case, i can live
with it.  

or it may just be something that the manufacturers never thought of,
assuming that everyone would leave the AP on the default IP address
(which is a bad assumption, and a bad thing to encourage too).


> If you want, export the settings, then upgrade and re-import. Might
> not get you around the IP issue cause you'll need to be able to
> connect to it before you can send. 

it's simpler to just reconfigure the whole thing.  IP address, DHCP
settings, syslog settings, etc.  only takes a few minutes.  it's just an
annoyance that it is even necessary.


> There is the DLink application on the CD/Website tho that allows you
> to connect to ANY Dlink AP on the wired network without it being on

this is only of use to people who have MS Windows machines. 



> | another serious flaw with the dlink AP is the extensive use of
> | javascript for submit buttons etc. this make it impossible to configure
> | with a text-mode browser like lynx.  bad idea.  stupid, in fact.  what's
> | wrong with standard buttons?
> |
> | i had to install mozilla and a bunch of X & gnome stuff on my firewall
> | so i could run a javascript-enabled browser in an ssh session (with X
> | forwarding) just to reconfigure my AP.  that should not have been
> | necessary.
> 
> .....i thought u *nix users were all about a challenge!!!!

nope.  *nix users use unix because they want a system that works, as
opposed to a heap of junk that is neither a system nor working.

btw, installing mozilla wasn't particularly difficult or time-consuming
it took about 3 minutes with "apt-get install mozilla".  the point is
that it shouldn't have been necessary.  it was possible to make the http
interface work with any browser, so it should have been done. javascript
should *never* be a mandatory part of any web application, especially
the configuration pages for a networking device.  javascript is OK to
enhance sites for browsers that support it, but the site should still
work for non-js browsers.


craig

-- 
craig sanders <cas at taz.net.au>

Fabricati Diem, PVNC.
 -- motto of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch

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