Re: [B.A.T.M.A.N.] Help in setting up mesh test bed using qemu - BATMAN adv

[Ufo <ufo@rund.freifunk.net>]

Testing batman-adv in virtual maschines on laptops is the most complex 
and non-realistic way to start with mesh-networking. So its a nice, very 
demanding student thing.

its much more easier to buy some (more than 2!!) cheap wifi-routers! 
they have proper wifi, more than one ethernet-interface (!) and there 
are many openwrt/lede mesh firmwares with a well-configured batman-adv. 
after that, the next step could be to try to couple your first laptop 
into that mesh. starting with nothing but laptops seems to be too 
"versatile".

if you are unfamiliar with qemu and virtualization your should first try 
to install ubuntu or windows in a virtual machine. please use 
"virt-manager", a graphical interface for that.

unfortunatly the mentioned "stable" openwrt was forced to use a very old 
batman-adv version from 2014. So you might use trunk firmware, and use 
LEDE instead of Openwrt, to have a proper system.

http://ftp.halifax.rwth-aachen.de/lede/snapshots/targets/x86/generic/lede-x86-generic-combined-ext4.img.gz





On 04.10.2016 12:11, Kaushik N P wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Thank you 'rise.net' for the suggestion. It has given me some ideas,
> but what I hoped to do was to run the laptop with OpenWRT working with
> Batman adv like a router. This would enable me in creating a more
> extensive network without having to buy more routers itself and
> hopefully provide me with a more versatile network to work on. I will
> ofcourse be experimenting more along your steps, but I hope to get the
> QEMU set up and running on my system.
>
> If any one has more info on the QEMU setup, pls do contact.
>
>
> Thanks and Regards,
>
> Kaushik NP
> General Secretary, Computer Society
> Team IEEE UVCE,
> 3rd Year Undergraduate Student,
> University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering,
> Bangalore, IN
>
>
> On Mon, Oct 3, 2016 at 10:38 PM,  <leftbydefault@riseup.net> wrote:
>> Hello Kaushik
>>
>> On 2016-10-03 19:44, Kaushik N P wrote:
>>> Hello,
>>>
>>> What I hope to find is:-
>>>
>>> Another documentation maybe for setting up, or confirmation for
>>> setting up (because I can't tell sometimes if the instructions have
>>> been followed correctly).
>>
>> I have no experience in simulating or emulating batman-adv, but I have
>> experience
>> in compiling openwrt from source along with batman-adv and batctl. I can
>> help you with that. batman-adv is built as a kernel module and so it is
>> included by default in Linux kernels >= 2.x. You have mentioned that you are
>> using Linux based operating system, I hope by now, you should be running
>> Linux kernel 4.x. If you want to play around with batman-adv for sometime
>> before emulating, you can use two three Linux based laptops with WiFi
>> interface cards that support IBSS (adhoc mode).
>>
>> You can check that using
>>
>>      iw list | grep IBSS
>>
>> if the command returned something like
>> Device supports RSN-IBSS.
>>                   * IBSS
>>
>> then your Wireless NIC can be switched to ad-hoc mode. We have a bash shell
>> script that does it automatically for you. You can find the script and
>> terminal cast in the following links.
>>
>>   1. https://github.com/PYMeshnet/scripts
>>   2. https://asciinema.org/a/38575
>>
>>> Clarification for my doubt regarding the different types of OpenWRT
>>> images (like Kamikaze, Chaos Calmer, Attitude Adjustment,etc), what do
>>> they do and which one I should use for working with standard Batman
>>> adv setup.
>>
>> Chaos Calmer (15.x) is the recent stable release of OpenWRT firmware.
>> 'Kamikaze, Altitude Adjustment, etc.,' are just different names given to
>> different versions of OpenWRT releases. OpenWRT are meant to be the
>> operating system for routers and modems. Depending on the configuration of
>> devices, some versions may be supported and some may not be supported on
>> certain routers and modems.
>>
>> Since you are trying to create a virtual environment, I think should go with
>> Chaos Calmer. (again I have no experience either with creating a virtual
>> environment for OpenWRT nor for batman-adv).
>>
>>
>>> Confirmation method to see if qemu having OpenWRT is setup in my
>>> system - as now I have a setup in terminal which says
>>>
>>> BusyBox v1.24.2 () built-in shell (ash)
>>>
>>> //Says OpenWrt below
>>>    _______                     ________        __
>>>   |            | .-----.-----.-----.|  |  |  |.----.|  |_
>>>   |     -      | |  _  |  -__|    ||  |  |  ||   _||   _|
>>>   |_______| |  __|____|__|__||________||__|  |____|
>>>                  |__| W I R E L E S S   F R E E D O M
>>>   -----------------------------------------------------
>>>   DESIGNATED DRIVER (Bleeding Edge, 49928)
>>>   -----------------------------------------------------
>>>    * 2 oz. Orange Juice         Combine all juices in a
>>>    * 2 oz. Pineapple Juice      tall glass filled with
>>>    * 2 oz. Grapefruit Juice     ice, stir well.
>>>    * 2 oz. Cranberry Juice
>>>   -----------------------------------------------------
>>> root@OpenWrt:/# [   13.897119] smsc911x smsc911x.0 eth0: SMSC911x/921x
>>> identified at 0xf0b40000, IRQ: 60
>>> [   13.934741] device eth0 entered promiscuous mode
>>> [   13.978166] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): br-lan: link is not ready
>>> [   15.762764] br-lan: port 1(eth0) entered forwarding state
>>> [   15.764526] br-lan: port 1(eth0) entered forwarding state
>>> [   15.802643] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): br-lan: link becomes ready
>>> [   17.762480] br-lan: port 1(eth0) entered forwarding state
>>> root@OpenWrt:/#
>>>
>>>
>>> I have more doubts, but hopefully, I will get some answers to them
>>> from the above questions itself.
>>> Hope to hear soon!!!
>>>
>>> Thanks and Regards,
>>>
>>> Kaushik NP
>>> LI | Tw | FB
>>> SAP Ambassador,
>>> General Secretary, Computer Society
>>> Team IEEE UVCE,
>>> 3rd Year Undergraduate Student,
>>> University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering,
>>> Bangalore, IN
>>