wireless bridge w/encryption?

[blu-Z8efaSeK1ezqlBn2x/YWAg at public.gmane.org (Edward Ned Harvey)]

> From: discuss-bounces-mNDKBlG2WHs at public.gmane.org [mailto:discuss-bounces-mNDKBlG2WHs at public.gmane.org] On Behalf
> Of R. Luoma
> 
> I would like to set up a wireless bridge between
> two wired networks in my house.
> I am finding almost too much and not completely consistent
> flood of information in my web-searches.
> 
> "dd-wrt" has been mentioned several times on this list,
> though there seems to be a wide variety of hardware
> support (or not supported, depending on the whims of
> manufacturers).
> 
> I would appreciate:
>   - recommendations on what hardware is currently available
>   - do people recommend "dd-wrt"?
>   - if so, how do I avoid "bricking"?
>   - what encryption options are available?
>   - anything else regarding wireless bridges that I should know?

You can basically do whatever you want, and it's mostly straightforward.
The biggest complication is if you're trying to use some cheap commodity
access point / router... they typically keep releasing newer and cheaper
more trimmed down versions of their hardware, and as such, they become
progressively less and less stable.

If you have any machines already connected on these disparate wired
networks, you might find it's simply more reliable to enable the connection
using standard desktop wifi adapters through the OS instead of trying to get
some cheap bridging access points.

One more thing ... Since a bridge is actually an extension of the local
ethernet ... You've got a fast network on each side, separated by a slow
network in between, you could end up causing some weird behavior, since
applications and drivers etc generally assume the local network is a flat
network.  You might have better reliability if you configure the two
networks to be separate networks, and then just enable routing between them.
Because broadcast traffic doesn't traverse a router, and nobody assumes the
other side of a router is the same speed as the local side of the router,
etc.  I think using a router instead of a bridge will be more reliable for
you.

If you want encryption, you could then do a basic point-to-point VPN between
the two sites.  Just another option.