I have been asked by several people about the wireless access at the
NMR Center.  First of all, let me reiterate that setting up wireless
access points of your own is officially forbidden by partners
networking policy.  So to are any wired hubs or switchs. I know many
of you have being using both wireless access points and switchs and
hubs anyway.  The word is that some day Partners will start
shutting down wall ports where they find these rogue devices.

The Martinos Center has paid to have official Partners wireless access 
points installed at our three major conference room locations in CNY149. 
These are the Chessler Library, CSRL (i.e. south central), and the new 2nd 
floor conference room area.  We also have one installed in the CNY75 
conference room. If you are not near enough to one of these to get a good 
signal, then you are out of luck.  But contact us if you want 
Partners to install an access point in your area for about $1600.

When your laptop lists the available wireless networks, those that start 
with 'PHSWIFI' identify internal (inside the firewall) networks.  The one 
listed as PHSPIAGUEST is the guest network (outside the firewall).

I.  EASY WIRELESS ACCESS (but outside the firewall)

  Most wireless access points in Parnters now have an additial
  Guest/Patient SSID you can connect to called PHSPIAGUEST.  These
  work like the ones you find in hotels and airports.  You open your
  web browser and try to go anywhere but are redirected to a
  registration page.  It is free.  YOu just need to agree to the use
  terms.  Then you are on the net, but outside the Partners firewall.
  So have you to ssh to gate/entry/door just like from home.  IF you
  have to access internal Partners resources directly, you will have
  to use the LEAP method outlined below.

  The SSID for this Guest/Patient network is generally PHSPIAGUEST

II. COMPLEX WIRELESS ACCESS (inside the firewall)

Connection to the PHSWIFI access points requires two things:


   (1) a Partners account (username and passwd) <- NOT YOUR MARTINOS ACCOUNT
   (2) a wireless adapter that supports LEAP (a proprietary Cisco
 	encryption and access protocol)

The (1) requirement basically prevents any vistors from using the
service and the (2) requirement prevents all but a few users from being
able to use the builtin wireless adapters they have in their laptops.

All recently produced Apple, Dell and Lenovo laptops we have seen can do 
LEAP. Most, but not all laptops that claim Centrino can do LEAP.  You have 
to check your own laptops documentation.  If it does not do LEAP, the only 
option is to buy a Cisco Aironet PC card or USB wireless adapter that does 
to LEAP.

Connections instructions for the three configs we see a lot of are below
but every laptop is different:

  (a) Apple Powerbooks with Airport 3.0 or higher

 	On the upper toolbar toward the right side you will see an icon
 	that looks like signal field lines emitting upwards.  Click on
 	that icon.  You should see the wireless networks availabe listed.
 	Pick the one starting with 'phssid' and a dialog will come up.
 	Choose LEAP for the connection mechanism.  You will then have
 	to enter your Partners username and password.  Then you should
 	be connected.

        If you don't get LEAP as an option, go to "Other Networks"
        instead, type in "phssid2002" (or whatever you saw in the list)
        and then you should have the chance to choose LEAP as an option

  (b) Dell's with TrueMobile 1300 or higher

 	Go to Start -> Settings -> Control Panel and open the Truemobile
 	wireless Utility.  Follow the directions on the page

 	http://support.ap.dell.com/docs/network/p44970/en/setup.htm

 	taking node of the section "Configuring a Network for LEAP Support"

	Another good page is 

	http://www.helpdesk.coloradocollege.edu/wireless/delltruemobile.htm

	Just note you need to use your Partners account in Partners domain


  (c) IBM T40 series with a 2200BG wireless adapater

	LEAP connections are setup with the IBM Access Connections 
	program.

	You may need to download the latest IBM Access Connections

	http://www.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-4ZLNJB

	This should also update the network driver and a few other things.

	Then run IBM Access connection and go through the Wizard for 
	creating a profile.  You have to do this for each PHS access
	point (i.e. phssid* network you find).  Make sure to choose LEAP
	for the authentication

RANDOM NOTES:

  If you are asked about encryption mechanisim, choose CKIP