Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: wifi in common house

[Hmortensen [at] gmail.com (hmortensen]

Hi Debbie,

We, like you, are still in the planning stages of our Internet infrastructure. 
We plan on having internet throughout our community both through wifi in common 
spaces and wired Ethernet. We will be relying on a number of technologies to 
make all of this work properly. The challenge here being that of support of the 
system. 

Our system uses a name server to provide logins to the system. This gives us 
login security on the network. The wifi uses a radius server to validate wifi 
access through the name server. Guest access is provide in the common house on 
a separate router on a separate part of the LAN. Why all the security? Because 
we want to allow people to opt out, and the Internet in many ways is a scary 
place.

We are also planning on running a VoIP telephony server to provide home phone 
service and free long distance to residents who want to participate. 

Maintenance and troubleshooting will be done by a team working with our expert 
and from detailed documentation and written recovery procedures practised 
regularly.

Are we taking a risk using all this technology, definitely. Are we mitigating 
that risk, yes. Can we afford to leave our network unsecured (urban setting) ? 
No

I hope this gives some grist for the mill,

Henning Mortensen
Prairie Spruce Commons (beginning construction 2015, fingers crossed)
Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada