Re: How to connect specifying the BSSID?

[James Prestwood <prestwoj@gmail.com>]

Hi Kentaro,

On 3/3/24 8:31 PM, Kentaro Yamaguchi wrote:
> Dear iwd users and developers,
>
> With mesh, I would like to check whether it is faster to connect
> directly to the child device or the parent device.
> Therefore, please tell me how to connect using iwd from the client and
> specifying the BSSID.
>
> According to the comment made 5 years ago at the link below, there is
> no way to connect by specifying the BSSID.
> This has been answered, but is the situation still the same?
> https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=237074&p=5

Yes IWD connections are SSID based and IWD chooses the best BSS based on 
how it ranks.

For testing IWD does have a "developer mode" which lets you connect to 
BSSID's specifically but this mode isn't something meant for 
general/production use. But if you only want to test one vs the other 
you could use it:

# Start IWD in developer mode (-E)
iwd -E
# Scan first (developer mode doesn't autoconnect)
iwctl station wlan0 scan
iwctl debug wlan0 get-networks
iwctl wlan0 connect <bssid>

Thanks,

James

>
> I tried the following, but I was unable to connect due to an error.
> I know that using wpa_supplicant as the Network Manager backend will
> work. However, in that case I would like to use IWD because I have
> problems with 6GHz connectivity.
>
> 1. Specify iwd as wifi.backend of NetworkManager and restart.
> 2. nmcli device wifi connect [SSID] password [Password]
> 3. nmcli connection down [SSID]
> 4. nmcil connection modify [SSID] wifi.bssid [BSSID]
> 5. nmcli connection up [SSID]
>
> Error (from journal log)
> -------------------------------------
> Mar 01 16:38:48 livazplusNetworkManager[1408]: <info>
> [1709278728.5365] device (wlp4s0): Activation: starting connection
> 'Buf-MLO' (019cd427-8f11-4c84-9625-db03895b510b)
> Mar 01 16:38:48 livazplus NetworkManager[1408]: <info>
> [1709278728.5367] device (wlp4s0): state change: disconnected ->
> prepare (reason 'none', sys-iface-state: 'managed')
> Mar 01 16:38:48 livazplus NetworkManager[1408]: <info>
> [1709278728.5370] device (wlp4s0): state change: prepare -> failed
> (reason 'none', sys-iface-state: 'managed')
> Mar 01 16:38:48 livazplus NetworkManager[1408]: <warn>
> [1709278728.5374] device (wlp4s0): Activation: failed for connection
> 'Buf-MLO'
>
> My environment is below.
> --------------------------------------
> Lubuntu 23.10
> Kernel 6.7.6
> IWD 2.8
> NetworkManager 1.44.2
> Intel BE200
> [    5.297551] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: TLV_FW_FSEQ_VERSION: FSEQ
> Version: 0.0.4.125
> [    5.302086] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: loaded firmware version
> 86.fb5c9aeb.0 gl-c0-fm-c0-86.ucode op_mode iwlmvm
> [    5.764947] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: loaded PNVM version 8443a58d
> --------------------------------------
>
> Thanks in advance!
> Kentaro Yamaguchi
>