how to setup a wireless bridge (wds) without iwpriv?

how to setup a wireless bridge (wds) without iwpriv?

[Alfonso Fiore]

Hi,

I have an ALIX board running voyage 0.8.0 (based on Debian 6.0.3
"Squeeze" - kernel 3.0.0)

Since wireless on my PC doesn't work properly, I'd like to create a
wireless bridge to allow a PC to get an IP address from the wireless
network without NAT.

(ISP wireless router - 192.168.1.1) <---wireless---> (ALIX setup as
bridge) <---wired---> (PC - 192.168.1.x)

If I connect to the wireless with wpa_supplicant and then try to
bridge eth0 and wlan0, I get an error.
Googleing I realized I need to set up wds (Wireless distribution system).

But all examples I can find for wds require the usage of iwpriv (to
handle WPA) but I can't on my system:

# iwpriv wlan0
wlan0     no private ioctls.

So my question is:

*** how can I setup a wds bridge using WPA between wireless (in
managed mode) and the wired interface? ***

thank you,
alfonso

Re: how to setup a wireless bridge (wds) without iwpriv?

[Daniel Glöckner]

Hi Alfonso,

On Thu, Feb 02, 2012 at 07:22:30PM +0100, Alfonso Fiore wrote:
> Since wireless on my PC doesn't work properly, I'd like to create a
> wireless bridge to allow a PC to get an IP address from the wireless
> network without NAT.
> 
> (ISP wireless router - 192.168.1.1) <---wireless---> (ALIX setup as
> bridge) <---wired---> (PC - 192.168.1.x)

I use proxy ARP to achieve this with WPA:

route add -net 192.168.1.0/25 dev wlan0
route add -net 192.168.1.128/25 dev eth0
echo 1 >/proc/sys/net/ipv4/conf/wlan0/proxy_arp
echo 1 >/proc/sys/net/ipv4/conf/eth0/proxy_arp
echo 1 >/proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward

But it only works if you know beforehand on which interface your ALIX
will see an IP address. You could run the DHCP server on your ALIX to
make it more deterministic.

  Daniel

Re: how to setup a wireless bridge (wds) without iwpriv?

[Alfonso Fiore]

Hi Daniel,

thanks a lot, it worked like a charm! (not true, please read till the end)

A recap for my memory and for others looking to achieve the same thing
(feel free to correct any mistakes).

As far as I saw, the PC won't work with DHCP, so manually set an IP in
the right range.
This is my topology:
(ISP wireless router - 192.168.100.254) <---wireless---> (ALIX setup
as bridge) <---wired---> (PC - 192.168.100.100)

remember to set both the IP and the DNS in the PC. The PC netmask is
not affected by the setup, so keep 255.255.255.0.

Then on the ALIX, use this /etc/network/interfaces:

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
        address 0.0.0.0
        netmask 255.255.255.255
auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
        wpa-driver wext
        wpa-ssid <<Your_AP_SSID_Here>>
        wpa-psk <<cleartext_password>>
        wpa-key-mgmt WPA-PSK
        wpa-pairwise TKIP
        wpa-group CCMP TKIP
        wpa-proto RSN
        wireless-mode Managed
        post-up route del -net 192.168.100.0 netmask 255.255.255.0
        post-up route add -net 192.168.100.128 netmask 255.255.255.128 dev wlan0
        post-up route add -net 192.168.100.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 dev eth0

then add to your /etc/rc.local:

echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/conf/eth0/proxy_arp
echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/conf/wlan0/proxy_arp
echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward

and you are good to go!

Ok this is just plain silly now. I did all the tests and the PC was
running perfect. Way faster than I expected (12Mbit/sec with
speedtest.net). I rebooted the ALIX to test the config files and it
worked. Then I disconnected and moved the ALIX box close to the PC,
disconnected "half" of the cables between ALIX and the PC (for the
test I was using 2 cables connected with an RJ45 extender) and run the
test again. It's super slow (speedtest.net can't measure it). I
rebooted the PC, the DSL router and the ALIX several times. I moved
again the ALIX near my laptop and I got 4Mbit/sec from the PC (but not
12Mbit). The router is less than 3 meters away, no walls in between.
During the tests the ALIX was 1 meter from the DSL router.
I also tried to switch off the TV (the only source of electromagnetic
pollution I can think of) but it doesn't change results.
I tried to put the ALIX on the PC case and on a wood table (thinking
about some problem due to the metal PC case).
I feel cursed.

thanks again,
alfonso

On Thu, Feb 2, 2012 at 8:29 PM, Daniel Glöckner <daniel-gl@gmx.net> wrote:
> Hi Alfonso,
>
> On Thu, Feb 02, 2012 at 07:22:30PM +0100, Alfonso Fiore wrote:
>> Since wireless on my PC doesn't work properly, I'd like to create a
>> wireless bridge to allow a PC to get an IP address from the wireless
>> network without NAT.
>>
>> (ISP wireless router - 192.168.1.1) <---wireless---> (ALIX setup as
>> bridge) <---wired---> (PC - 192.168.1.x)
>
> I use proxy ARP to achieve this with WPA:
>
> route add -net 192.168.1.0/25 dev wlan0
> route add -net 192.168.1.128/25 dev eth0
> echo 1 >/proc/sys/net/ipv4/conf/wlan0/proxy_arp
> echo 1 >/proc/sys/net/ipv4/conf/eth0/proxy_arp
> echo 1 >/proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward
>
> But it only works if you know beforehand on which interface your ALIX
> will see an IP address. You could run the DHCP server on your ALIX to
> make it more deterministic.
>
>  Daniel

Re: how to setup a wireless bridge (wds) without iwpriv?

[Alfonso Fiore]

Hi,

I found a mistake in my configuration:

>        post-up route add -net 192.168.100.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 dev eth0

should be

post-up route add -net 192.168.100.0 netmask 255.255.255.128 dev eth0

But that was not the reason for the problem. The reason was that I
have quite a big source of wireless noise that I didn't think of:
Mimi Qube 2.4 GHz WiFi Speaker

Now with the ALIX on top of the PC I get 12 MBit/sec.

But obviously now that I found the source of problem, my wireless
works just fine. It only gets to 6MBit/sec, so I will prob keep using
the ALIX...

Yes I know. Quite silly.

Is there a way to make these two wireless devices work together? which
two channels create less interference?

thanks again,
alfonso

On Fri, Feb 3, 2012 at 4:16 AM, Alfonso Fiore <alfonso.fiore@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Daniel,
>
> thanks a lot, it worked like a charm! (not true, please read till the end)
>
> A recap for my memory and for others looking to achieve the same thing
> (feel free to correct any mistakes).
>
> As far as I saw, the PC won't work with DHCP, so manually set an IP in
> the right range.
> This is my topology:
> (ISP wireless router - 192.168.100.254) <---wireless---> (ALIX setup
> as bridge) <---wired---> (PC - 192.168.100.100)
>
> remember to set both the IP and the DNS in the PC. The PC netmask is
> not affected by the setup, so keep 255.255.255.0.
>
> Then on the ALIX, use this /etc/network/interfaces:
>
> auto lo
> iface lo inet loopback
> auto eth0
> iface eth0 inet static
>        address 0.0.0.0
>        netmask 255.255.255.255
> auto wlan0
> iface wlan0 inet dhcp
>        wpa-driver wext
>        wpa-ssid <<Your_AP_SSID_Here>>
>        wpa-psk <<cleartext_password>>
>        wpa-key-mgmt WPA-PSK
>        wpa-pairwise TKIP
>        wpa-group CCMP TKIP
>        wpa-proto RSN
>        wireless-mode Managed
>        post-up route del -net 192.168.100.0 netmask 255.255.255.0
>        post-up route add -net 192.168.100.128 netmask 255.255.255.128 dev wlan0
>        post-up route add -net 192.168.100.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 dev eth0
>
> then add to your /etc/rc.local:
>
> echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/conf/eth0/proxy_arp
> echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/conf/wlan0/proxy_arp
> echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward
>
> and you are good to go!
>
> Ok this is just plain silly now. I did all the tests and the PC was
> running perfect. Way faster than I expected (12Mbit/sec with
> speedtest.net). I rebooted the ALIX to test the config files and it
> worked. Then I disconnected and moved the ALIX box close to the PC,
> disconnected "half" of the cables between ALIX and the PC (for the
> test I was using 2 cables connected with an RJ45 extender) and run the
> test again. It's super slow (speedtest.net can't measure it). I
> rebooted the PC, the DSL router and the ALIX several times. I moved
> again the ALIX near my laptop and I got 4Mbit/sec from the PC (but not
> 12Mbit). The router is less than 3 meters away, no walls in between.
> During the tests the ALIX was 1 meter from the DSL router.
> I also tried to switch off the TV (the only source of electromagnetic
> pollution I can think of) but it doesn't change results.
> I tried to put the ALIX on the PC case and on a wood table (thinking
> about some problem due to the metal PC case).
> I feel cursed.
>
> thanks again,
> alfonso
>
> On Thu, Feb 2, 2012 at 8:29 PM, Daniel Glöckner <daniel-gl@gmx.net> wrote:
>> Hi Alfonso,
>>
>> On Thu, Feb 02, 2012 at 07:22:30PM +0100, Alfonso Fiore wrote:
>>> Since wireless on my PC doesn't work properly, I'd like to create a
>>> wireless bridge to allow a PC to get an IP address from the wireless
>>> network without NAT.
>>>
>>> (ISP wireless router - 192.168.1.1) <---wireless---> (ALIX setup as
>>> bridge) <---wired---> (PC - 192.168.1.x)
>>
>> I use proxy ARP to achieve this with WPA:
>>
>> route add -net 192.168.1.0/25 dev wlan0
>> route add -net 192.168.1.128/25 dev eth0
>> echo 1 >/proc/sys/net/ipv4/conf/wlan0/proxy_arp
>> echo 1 >/proc/sys/net/ipv4/conf/eth0/proxy_arp
>> echo 1 >/proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward
>>
>> But it only works if you know beforehand on which interface your ALIX
>> will see an IP address. You could run the DHCP server on your ALIX to
>> make it more deterministic.
>>
>>  Daniel