Bringing non-802.1X devices onto an 802.1X network

[Tall_Paul]

Hi all

 

First post, so please be gentle!

 

Wireless network access here is controlled through 802.1X and certificates, which has worked really well up until now when we (well me) have purchased a lot of HP Pavilion DM1's that cannot see our 802.1X network.

 

After much troubleshooting I am wondering if the NIC's that are in these laptops do not support 802.1X (which is great). I've rang HP but no-one there seems to know.

 

We can't put 802.1X compliant dongles into them as the kids will wreck them, so the solution can't involve those.

 

So has anyone here done anything like this? Essentially what I need to do is bring these laptops onto our wireless network so they can authenticate through Active Directory.

 

Many thanks

 

Paul

[gshaw]

In worst case scenario sometimes you can swap the wi-fi card inside the laptop for an Intel version which will wok, probably a last resort though...

[Tall_Paul]

In worst case scenario sometimes you can swap the wi-fi card inside the laptop for an Intel version which will wok, probably a last resort though...

 

I've already tried swapping it for a card from a HP Mini 5101 and it wouldn't boot past the BIOS, saying the card was not supported.

 

Which was great!

[jamesfed]

What hardware/software do you use to provide your 802.1x auth?

 

Some options I have seen can whitelist a MAC address - not suggested though as people could in theory spoof a MAC address of one of the dm1s and get onto your network.

[Tall_Paul]

We use a Network Policy Server with certificates on all the clients. Works fine, but not if the clients don't support 802.1X.

 

I've seen about the MAC whitelisting too, but wondered how other schools interfaced wireless devices with their AD?

 

I'm in an unfortunate position where we are a new build (one of the last schools under BSF) who had a lot of money spent on their infrastructure. Unfortunately the previous ICT manager, and the contractors who built the network, left virtually no documentation about how any of it was put together. Hence problems like this occur (and don't get me started on trying to get the blasted things to build with SCCM!)

[Tall_Paul]

Just a quick update. This is now up with level 3 support at HP, and I've ordered a Solwise USB NIC to see if that cures the problem (or at least isolates it).