[B.A.T.M.A.N.] updated README

[B.A.T.M.A.N.] updated README

[Marek Lindner]

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Hey,

Andrew pointed out that our README would need a little bit of love. I spent 
some time to get the text into a decent shape. I attached the full file for a 
review. Let me know if you find anything.  :)

Cheers,
Marek

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[state: 03-05-2010]

BATMAN-ADV
----------

Batman advanced is a new approach to wireless networking which does no longer
operate on the IP basis. Unlike the batman daemon, which exchanges
information using UDP packets and sets routing tables, batman-advanced operates
on ISO/OSI Layer 2 only and uses and routes (or better: bridges) Ethernet
Frames. It emulates a virtual network switch of all nodes participating.
Therefore all nodes appear to be link local, thus all higher operating
protocols won't be affected by any changes within the network. You can run
almost any protocol above batman advanced, prominent examples are: IPv4, IPv6,
DHCP, IPX.

Batman advanced was implemented as a Linux kernel driver to reduce the overhead
to a minimum. It does not depend on any (other) network driver, and can be used
on wifi as well as ethernet lan, vpn, etc ... (anything with ethernet-style
layer 2). It compiles against and should work with Linux 2.6.20 - 2.6.33.
Supporting older versions is not planned, but it's probably easy to backport it.
If you work on a backport, feel free to contact us.  :-)


COMPILE
-------
To compile against your currently installed kernel, just type:

# make

if you want to compile against some other kernel, use:

# make KERNELPATH=/path/to/kernel


CONFIGURATION
-------------

Load the batman-adv module into your kernel:

# insmod batman-adv.ko

The module is now waiting for activation. You must add some interfaces on which
batman can operate. After loading the module batman advanced will scan your
systems interfaces to search for compatible interfaces. Once found, it will
create subfolders in the /sys directories of each supported interface, e.g.

# ls /sys/class/net/eth0/batman_adv/

If an interface does not have the "batman_adv" subfolder it probably is not
supported. Not supported interfaces are: loopback, non-ethernet and batman's
own interfaces.

Note: After the module was loaded it will continuously watch for new interfaces
to verify the compatibility. There is no need to reload the module if you plug
your USB wifi adapter into your machine after batman advanced was initially
loaded.

To activate a given interface simply write "bat0" into its "mesh_iface" file
inside the batman_adv subfolder:

# echo bat0 > /sys/class/net/eth0/batman_adv/mesh_iface

Repeat this step for all interfaces you wish to add.
Now batman starts using/broadcasting on this/these interface(s).

By reading the "iface_status" file you can check its status:

# cat /sys/class/net/eth0/batman_adv/iface_status

To deactivate an interface you have to write "none" into its "mesh_iface" file:

# echo none > /sys/class/net/eth0/batman_adv/mesh_iface


All mesh wide settings can be found in batman's own interface folder:

# ls /sys/class/net/bat0/mesh/

Some of the files contain all sort of status information regarding the mesh
network. For exmaple, you can view the table of originators (mesh participants)
with:

# cat /sys/class/net/bat0/mesh/originators

Other files allow to change batman's behaviour to better fit your requirements.
For instance, you can check the current originator interval (value in
milliseconds which determines how often batman sends its broadcast packets):

# cat /sys/class/net/bat0/mesh/orig_interval

and also change its value:

# echo 3000 > /sys/class/net/bat0/mesh/orig_interval

In very mobile scenarios, you might want to adjust the originator interval to a
lower value. This will make the mesh more responsive to topology changes, but
will also increase the overhead.


USAGE
-----

To make use of your newly created mesh, batman advanced provides a new
interface "bat0" which you should use from this point on. All interfaces added
to batman advanced are not relevant any longer because batman handles them for
you. Basically, one "hands over" the data by using the batman interface and
batman will make sure it reaches its destination.

The "bat0" interface can be used like any other regular interface. It needs an
IP address which can be either statically configured or dynamically (by using
DHCP or similar services):

# NodeA: ifconfig bat0 192.168.0.1 up
# NodeB: ifconfig bat0 192.168.0.2 up
# NodeB: ping 192.168.0.1

Note: In order to avoid problems remove all IP addresses previously assigned to
interfaces now used by batman advanced, e.g.

# ifconfig eth0 0.0.0.0


VISUALIZATION
-------------

If you want topology visualization, at least one mesh node must be configured
as VIS-server:

# echo "server" > /sys/class/net/bat0/mesh/vis_mode

Each node is either configured as "server" or as "client" (default: "client").
Clients send their topology data to the server next to them, and server
synchronize with other servers. If there is no server configured (default)
within the mesh, no topology information will be transmitted. With these
"synchronizing servers", there can be 1 or more vis servers sharing the same
(or at least very similar) data.

When configured as server, you can get a topology snapshot of your mesh:

# cat /sys/class/net/bat0/mesh/vis_data

This raw output is intended to be easily parsable and convertable with other
tools. Have a look at the batctl README if you want a vis output in dot or json
format for instance and how those outputs could then be visualised in an image.

The raw format consists of comma seperated values per entry where each entry is
giving information about a certain source interface. Each entry can/has to have
the following values:
-> "mac" -> mac address of an originator's source interface
           (each line begins with it)
-> "TQ mac value" -> src mac's link quality towards mac address of a neighbor
                     originator's interface which is being used for routing
-> "HNA mac" -> HNA announced by source mac
-> "PRIMARY" -> this is a primary interface
-> "SEC mac" -> secondary mac address of source (requires preceeding PRIMARY)

The TQ value has a range from 4 to 255 with 255 being the best.
The HNA entries are showing which hosts are connected to the mesh via bat0
or being bridged into the mesh network.
The PRIMARY/SEC values are only applied on primary interfaces


LOGGING/DEBUGGING
-----------------

All error messages, warnings and information messages are sent to the kernel
log. Depending on your operating system distribution this can be read in one of
a number of ways. Try using the commands: dmesg, logread, or looking in the
files /var/log/kern.log or /var/log/syslog. All batman-adv messages are
prefixed with "batman-adv:" So to see just these messages try

# dmesg | grep batman-adv

When investigating problems with your mesh network it is sometimes necessary to
see more detail debug messages. This must be enabled when compiling the
batman-adv module. When building batman-adv as part of kernel, use
"make menuconfig" and enable the option "B.A.T.M.A.N. debugging". When
compiling outside of the kernel tree it is necessary to edit the file
Makefile.kbuild and uncomment the line

#EXTRA_CFLAGS += -DCONFIG_BATMAN_ADV_DEBUG

The additional debug output is by default disabled. It can be enabled either at
kernel modules load time or during run time. To enable debug output at module
load time, add the module parameter debug=<value>.
<value> can take one of four values.

0 - All debug output disabled
1 - Enable messages related to routing / flooding / broadcasting
2 - Enable route or hna added / changed / deleted
3 - Enable all messages

e.g.

# modprobe batman-adv debug=2

will load the module and enable debug messages for when routes or HNAs change.

The debug output can also be changed at runtime using the file
/sys/module/batman-adv/parameters/debug. e.g.

# echo 2 > /sys/module/batman-adv/parameters/debug

enables debug messages for when routes or HNAs

The debug output is sent to the kernel logs. So try dmesg, logread, etc to see
the debug messages.


BATCTL
------

As batman advanced operates on layer 2 all hosts participating in the virtual
switch are completely transparent for all  protocols above layer 2. Therefore
the common diagnosis tools do not work as expected. To overcome these problems
batctl was created. At the  moment the  batctl contains ping, traceroute,
tcpdump and interfaces to the kernel module settings.

For more information, please see the manpage (man batctl).

batctl is available on http://www.open-mesh.org/


CONTACT
-------

Please send us comments, experiences, questions, anything :)

IRC:             #batman on irc.freenode.org
Mailing-list:    b.a.t.m.a.n@open-mesh.net
(optional subscription at https://lists.open-mesh.org/mm/listinfo/b.a.t.m.a.n)

You can also contact the Authors:

Marek Lindner <lindner_marek@yahoo.de>
Simon Wunderlich <siwu@hrz.tu-chemnitz.de>

Re: [B.A.T.M.A.N.] updated README

[Sven Eckelmann]

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Marek Lindner wrote:
> Hey,
> 
> Andrew pointed out that our README would need a little bit of love. I spent
> some time to get the text into a decent shape. I attached the full file for
> a review. Let me know if you find anything.  :)

Sounds good, but noticed some small typos:

 * exmaple -> example
 * seperated -> separated
 * preceeding -> preceding

And maybe you should increase "Linux 2.6.20" to "Linux 2.6.21" with your 
newest backporting efforts.

Best regards,
	Sven

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Re: [B.A.T.M.A.N.] updated README

[RHS Linux User]

Hi All,

   I wonder if a brief explanation of how TQ is determined belongs here
too?

   warm regards,
   Wiz


On Mon, 3 May 2010, Marek Lindner wrote:

> 
> Hey,
> 
> Andrew pointed out that our README would need a little bit of love. I spent 
> some time to get the text into a decent shape. I attached the full file for a 
> review. Let me know if you find anything.  :)
> 
> Cheers,
> Marek
> 

Re: [B.A.T.M.A.N.] updated README

[Marek Lindner]

Hi,

>    I wonder if a brief explanation of how TQ is determined belongs here
> too?

I find it quite hard write a short paragraph about the TQ stuff, since I either 
end up simplifying the whole matter or writing too much text. On top of that, 
I'm not so sure what the casual reader would expect to find in the README 
regarding the routing algo. Maybe you could draft something and we go from 
there ?

Cheers,
Marek

Re: [B.A.T.M.A.N.] updated README

[Marek Lindner]

Hi,

> Sounds good, but noticed some small typos:

thanks! I corrected them on my end. 
Can any native English speaker check the text and give us her/his blessing ? 


> And maybe you should increase "Linux 2.6.20" to "Linux 2.6.21" with your
> newest backporting efforts.

I kept the "Linux 2.6.20" in the hope that the recent patches would also make 
our code work on this old release. I just did not test it. Do we have reason 
to believe that it won't work ?

Regards,
Marek

Re: [B.A.T.M.A.N.] updated README

[Sven Eckelmann]

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Marek Lindner wrote:
> > And maybe you should increase "Linux 2.6.20" to "Linux 2.6.21" with your
> > newest backporting efforts.
> 
> I kept the "Linux 2.6.20" in the hope that the recent patches would also
> make our code work on this old release. I just did not test it. Do we have
> reason to believe that it won't work ?

Yes, I tested it some days ago and some structs changed in a way we would have 
problems to support them. Unless you have reasons that we need to support them 
I would keep that as exercise for the interested reader.

Best regards,
	Sven

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Re: [B.A.T.M.A.N.] updated README

[Andrew Lunn]

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On Mon, May 03, 2010 at 09:33:38AM +0800, Marek Lindner wrote:
> 
> Hey,
> 
> Andrew pointed out that our README would need a little bit of love. I spent 
> some time to get the text into a decent shape. I attached the full file for a 
> review. Let me know if you find anything.  :)

Hi Marek

I reviewed it and made some changes. There are also some suggestion
inside [ ] marks.

       Andrew

[-- Attachment #2: README --]
[-- Type: text/plain, Size: 8963 bytes --]

[state: 03-05-2010]

BATMAN-ADV
----------

Batman advanced is a new approach to wireless networking which no
longer operate on the IP level. Unlike the batman daemon, which
exchanges information using UDP packets and sets entries in routing
tables, batman-advanced operates on ISO/OSI Layer 2. It uses and
routes (or better: bridges) Ethernet Frames. It emulates a virtual
network switch containing all of the participating nodes.  Therefore
all nodes appear to be link local to each other. All protocols
operating at higher won't be affected by any changes within the mesh
network. You can run almost any protocol above batman advanced,
prominent examples are: IPv4, IPv6, DHCP and IPX.

Batman advanced is implemented as a Linux kernel driver, so reducing
the overheads to a minimum. It does not depend on any (other) network
driver, and can be used on wifi as well as ethernet lan, vpn, etc
... (anything with ethernet-style layer 2). It compiles against and
should work with Linux 2.6.20 - 2.6.33.  Supporting older versions is
not planned, but it's probably easy to backport it.  If you work on a
backport, feel free to contact us.  :-)


COMPILE
-------
To compile against your currently installed kernel, just type:

# make

if you want to compile against some other kernel, use:

# make KERNELPATH=/path/to/kernel


CONFIGURATION
-------------

Load the batman-adv module into your kernel:

# insmod batman-adv.ko

The module is now waiting for activation. You must add some interfaces
on which batman can operate. After loading the module batman advanced
will scan your systems interfaces to search for compatible
interfaces. Once found, it will create subfolders in the /sys
directories for each supported interface, e.g.

# ls /sys/class/net/eth0/batman_adv/

[Might be nice to show the output here]

If an interface does not have the "batman_adv" subfolder it probably is not
supported. Not supported interfaces are: loopback, non-ethernet and batman's
own interfaces.

Note: After the module is loaded it will continuously watch for new
interfaces to verify the compatibility. There is no need to reload the
module if you plug your USB wifi adapter into your machine after
batman advanced was initially loaded.

To activate a given interface simply write "bat0" into its
"mesh_iface" file inside the batman_adv subfolder:

# echo bat0 > /sys/class/net/eth0/batman_adv/mesh_iface

Repeat this step for all interfaces you wish to add.
Now batman starts using/broadcasting on this/these interface(s).

By reading the "iface_status" file you can check its status:

# cat /sys/class/net/eth0/batman_adv/iface_status

[Might be nice to show the contents of the file]

To deactivate an interface you have to write "none" into its
"mesh_iface" file:

# echo none > /sys/class/net/eth0/batman_adv/mesh_iface


All mesh wide settings can be found in batman's own interface folder:

# ls /sys/class/net/bat0/mesh/

[Might be nice to list the files]

Some of the files contain all sort of status information regarding the
mesh network. For example, you can view the table of originators (mesh
participants) with:

# cat /sys/class/net/bat0/mesh/originators

Other files allow to change batman's behaviour to better fit your
requirements.  For instance, you can check the current originator
interval (value in milliseconds which determines how often batman
sends its broadcast packets):

# cat /sys/class/net/bat0/mesh/orig_interval

[Might be nice to show the contents of the file]

and also change its value:

# echo 3000 > /sys/class/net/bat0/mesh/orig_interval

In very mobile scenarios, you might want to adjust the originator
interval to a lower value. This will make the mesh more responsive to
topology changes, but will also increase the overhead.


USAGE
-----

To make use of your newly created mesh, batman advanced provides a new
interface "bat0" which you should use from this point on. All
interfaces added to batman advanced are not relevant any longer
because batman handles them for you. Basically, one "hands over" the
data by using the batman interface and batman will make sure it
reaches its destination.

The "bat0" interface can be used like any other regular interface. It
needs an IP address which can be either statically configured or
dynamically (by using DHCP or similar services):

# NodeA: ifconfig bat0 192.168.0.1 up
# NodeB: ifconfig bat0 192.168.0.2 up
# NodeB: ping 192.168.0.1

Note: In order to avoid problems remove all IP addresses previously
assigned to interfaces now used by batman advanced, e.g.

# ifconfig eth0 0.0.0.0


VISUALIZATION
-------------

If you want topology visualization, at least one mesh node must be
configured as VIS-server:

# echo "server" > /sys/class/net/bat0/mesh/vis_mode

Each node is either configured as "server" or as "client" (default:
"client").  Clients send their topology data to the server next to
them, and servers synchronize with other servers. If there is no
server configured (default) within the mesh, no topology information
will be transmitted. With these "synchronizing servers", there can be
1 or more vis servers sharing the same (or at least very similar)
data.

When configured as server, you can get a topology snapshot of your
mesh:

# cat /sys/class/net/bat0/mesh/vis_data

This raw output is intended to be easily parsable and convertible with
other tools. Have a look at the batctl README if you want a vis output
in dot or json format for instance and how those outputs could then be
visualised in an image.

The raw format consists of comma separated values per entry where each
entry is giving information about a certain source interface. Each
entry can/has to have the following values:
-> "mac" -> mac address of an originator's source interface
           (each line begins with it)
-> "TQ mac value" -> src mac's link quality towards mac address of a
                     neighbor originator's interface which is being
                     used for routing
-> "HNA mac" -> HNA announced by source mac
-> "PRIMARY" -> this is a primary interface
-> "SEC mac" -> secondary mac address of source (requires preceding
                PRIMARY)

The TQ value has a range from 4 to 255 with 255 being the best.
The HNA entries are showing which hosts are connected to the mesh via
bat0 or being bridged into the mesh network.
The PRIMARY/SEC values are only applied on primary interfaces


LOGGING/DEBUGGING
-----------------

All error messages, warnings and information messages are sent to the
kernel log. Depending on your operating system distribution this can
be read in one of a number of ways. Try using the commands: dmesg,
logread, or looking in the files /var/log/kern.log or
/var/log/syslog. All batman-adv messages are prefixed with
"batman-adv:" So to see just these messages try

# dmesg | grep batman-adv

When investigating problems with your mesh network it is sometimes
necessary to see more detail debug messages. This must be enabled when
compiling the batman-adv module. When building batman-adv as part of
kernel, use "make menuconfig" and enable the option
"B.A.T.M.A.N. debugging". When compiling outside of the kernel tree it
is necessary to edit the file Makefile.kbuild and uncomment the line

#EXTRA_CFLAGS += -DCONFIG_BATMAN_ADV_DEBUG

The additional debug output is by default disabled. It can be enabled
either at kernel modules load time or during run time. To enable debug
output at module load time, add the module parameter debug=<value>.
<value> can take one of four values.

0 - All debug output disabled
1 - Enable messages related to routing / flooding / broadcasting
2 - Enable route or hna added / changed / deleted
3 - Enable all messages

e.g.

# modprobe batman-adv debug=2

will load the module and enable debug messages for when routes or HNAs
change.

The debug output can also be changed at run time using the file
/sys/module/batman-adv/parameters/debug. e.g.

# echo 2 > /sys/module/batman-adv/parameters/debug

enables debug messages for when routes or HNAs

The debug output is sent to the kernel logs. So try dmesg, logread,
etc to see the debug messages.


BATCTL
------

As batman advanced operates on layer 2 all hosts participating in the
virtual switch are completely transparent for all protocols above
layer 2. Therefore the common diagnosis tools do not work as
expected. To overcome these problems batctl was created. At the moment
the batctl contains ping, traceroute, tcpdump and interfaces to the
kernel module settings.

For more information, please see the manpage (man batctl).

batctl is available on http://www.open-mesh.org/


CONTACT
-------

Please send us comments, experiences, questions, anything :)

IRC:             #batman on irc.freenode.org
Mailing-list:    b.a.t.m.a.n@open-mesh.net
(optional subscription at https://lists.open-mesh.org/mm/listinfo/b.a.t.m.a.n)

You can also contact the Authors:

Marek Lindner <lindner_marek@yahoo.de>
Simon Wunderlich <siwu@hrz.tu-chemnitz.de>

Re: [B.A.T.M.A.N.] updated README

[RHS Linux User]

Hi Marek,

   Alas, I don't know enough about how it works to be of much help.

   I *DO* have it running on a pair of Meraki minis with villagetelco
software. Seems to work *VERY* well.

   I always seem to be looking for a real-time quality monitor so I can
adjust antennas, check range, watch radios change by themselves, etc. 
i.e.- A real-time chart recorder widget. Thus my suggestion. 

   Congratulations to all :).

   warm regards,
   Wiz

On Mon, 3 May 2010, Marek Lindner wrote:

> 
> Hi,
> 
> >    I wonder if a brief explanation of how TQ is determined belongs here
> > too?
> 
> I find it quite hard write a short paragraph about the TQ stuff, since I either 
> end up simplifying the whole matter or writing too much text. On top of that, 
> I'm not so sure what the casual reader would expect to find in the README 
> regarding the routing algo. Maybe you could draft something and we go from 
> there ?
> 
> Cheers,
> Marek
> 

Re: [B.A.T.M.A.N.] updated README

[Marek Lindner]

Hi,

> I reviewed it and made some changes. There are also some suggestion
> inside [ ] marks.

thanks for all the input so far. 

Changelog:
* typos found by Sven and Andrew corrected
* some output added as suggested by Andrew
* increased "Linux 2.6.20" to "Linux 2.6.21" since we don't support 2.6.20 at 
this moment
* piped the README through nroff to get a consistent look & feel

The file is in the repos now.

Cheers,
Marek

Re: [B.A.T.M.A.N.] real-time link monitor (was: updated README)

[Marek Lindner]

Hi,

>    I *DO* have it running on a pair of Meraki minis with villagetelco
> software. Seems to work *VERY* well.

glad to hear that !


>    I always seem to be looking for a real-time quality monitor so I can
> adjust antennas, check range, watch radios change by themselves, etc.
> i.e.- A real-time chart recorder widget. Thus my suggestion.

You are not the first one with such a feature request but let me point out that 
batman is not the right tool for the job. If you want to finetune antennas 
batman is way too slow and imprecise, since all it does is measuring packet 
loss within a certain time frame. Deriving antenna directions from that is 
more magic than real sience.

I'd rather suggest a tool like "horst" (Highly Optimized Radio Scanning Tool - 
http://br1.einfach.org/tech/horst/) which hooks into your wifi driver to 
retrieve real-time data about the link quality to your neighbors. Of course, 
such a tool is highly dependend on the wifi driver and probably does not 
support all the drivers in the world but I'm sure it can be extended.

Regards,
Marek

Re: [B.A.T.M.A.N.] updated README

[Andrew Lunn]

Hi Marek

> * piped the README through nroff to get a consistent look & feel

It looks like this stage made use of UTF-8, or some sort of extended
character set:

vpn,  etc ... (anything with ethernet<E2><80><90>style layer 2). It compiles
against and should work with Linux 2.6.21 <E2><80><90>  2.6.33.   Supporting
older versions is not planned, but it<E2><80><99>s probably easy to backport

I don't have a locale set, being an English speaker and not needing
umlauts, accents, etc. I guess most embedded systems also don't have
locale support.

Could we have a 7-bit clean README?

      Thanks
	Andrew

Re: [B.A.T.M.A.N.] updated README

[Marek Lindner]

On Tuesday 04 May 2010 13:14:36 Andrew Lunn wrote:
> It looks like this stage made use of UTF-8, or some sort of extended
> character set:
> 
> vpn,  etc ... (anything with ethernet<E2><80><90>style layer 2). It
> compiles against and should work with Linux 2.6.21
> <E2><80><90>  2.6.33.   Supporting older versions is not planned, but
> it<E2><80><99>s probably easy to backport

Ok, just committed a utf8 stripped version. You are probably right: nroff added 
them.


> I don't have a locale set, being an English speaker and not needing
> umlauts, accents, etc. I guess most embedded systems also don't have
> locale support.

Well, I don't think people would go through the hassle of copying the README 
onto a router to read it over the serial console.  ;-)

Cheers,
Marek

Re: [B.A.T.M.A.N.] real-time link monitor (was: updated README)

[Antonio Quartulli]

On mar, mag 04, 2010 at 09:59:43 +0800, Marek Lindner wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> >    I *DO* have it running on a pair of Meraki minis with villagetelco
> > software. Seems to work *VERY* well.
> 
> glad to hear that !
> 
> 
> >    I always seem to be looking for a real-time quality monitor so I can
> > adjust antennas, check range, watch radios change by themselves, etc.
> > i.e.- A real-time chart recorder widget. Thus my suggestion.
> 
> You are not the first one with such a feature request but let me point out that 
> batman is not the right tool for the job. If you want to finetune antennas 
> batman is way too slow and imprecise, since all it does is measuring packet 
> loss within a certain time frame. Deriving antenna directions from that is 
> more magic than real sience.
> 
> I'd rather suggest a tool like "horst" (Highly Optimized Radio Scanning Tool - 
> http://br1.einfach.org/tech/horst/) which hooks into your wifi driver to 
> retrieve real-time data about the link quality to your neighbors. Of course, 
> such a tool is highly dependend on the wifi driver and probably does not 
> support all the drivers in the world but I'm sure it can be extended.

Hi, thank you very much for your suggestion!
It is very usefull here! :)


> 
> Regards,
> Marek