Widy/Access Point

Widy as an Access Point

Step by step:

1. Get access point on and broadcasting

2. Connect to access point from another computer

3. DHCP server on Widy, successfully assigning IP addresses

4. Everyone getting on the wifi network can get a DHCP lease

5. Reproduce from scratch. Luci interface, clear out, start from square one, have DHCP config file in a repo somewhere, widy repo, multi clients communicate via network

Getting Access Point On and Broadcasting

To get the access point on and broadcasting:

OpenWrt - click interfaces

Create OpenWrts mode master

Do some other stuff

Set interface type to "Static" - this is important

Then you can set a static IP address (I used 10.0.0.1)

Subnet mask (255.255.255.0)

Gateway 10.0.0.1

That's it, then I saved my changes.

When I disconnected, then reconnected, to the OpenWrt access point network, I got an IPv4 address, and it showed up in the DHCP leases list on the OpenWrt Luci web interface.

Test Connection to Access Point

The next step is to successfully connect to the access point.

One way you can troubleshoot this process, or at least monitor it to make sure it goes as planned, is to connect to the Widy via ethernet, and run tcpdump to monitor the wireless network interface. Then, connect to the OpenWrt wireless network with another computer, and watch the packet traffic that passes through the wireless network interface. You should see some DHCP requests and BOOTP requests, which is the new computer that is connecting to the wireless network getting an IP address.

$ tcpdump -i wlan0
09:10:46.662109 00:21:6a:07:17:14 (oui Unknown) > Broadcast Null Unnumbered, xid, Flags [Response], length 6: 01 00
09:10:46.663583 EAPOL key (3) v2, len 95
09:10:46.672735 EAPOL key (3) v1, len 117
09:10:46.674190 EAPOL key (3) v2, len 151
09:10:46.677946 EAPOL key (3) v1, len 95
09:10:46.699734 IP6 :: > ff02::16: HBH ICMP6, multicast listener report v2, 1 group record(s), length 28
09:10:46.699917 IP6 :: > ff02::16: HBH ICMP6, multicast listener report v2, 1 group record(s), length 28
09:10:46.745280 IP 0.0.0.0.bootpc > 255.255.255.255.bootps: BOOTP/DHCP, Request from 00:21:6a:07:17:14 (oui Unknown), length 300
09:10:46.745457 IP 0.0.0.0.bootpc > 255.255.255.255.bootps: BOOTP/DHCP, Request from 00:21:6a:07:17:14 (oui Unknown), length 300
09:10:46.748579 IP 10.0.0.1.bootps > morpheus.lan.bootpc: BOOTP/DHCP, Reply, length 307
09:10:46.766606 IP morpheus.lan > 224.0.0.22: igmp v3 report, 1 group record(s)
09:10:46.766770 IP morpheus.lan > 224.0.0.22: igmp v3 report, 1 group record(s)
09:10:47.019375 IP morpheus.lan.mdns > 224.0.0.251.mdns: 0 [4q] [7n] ANY (QM)? morpheus._udisks-ssh._tcp.local. ANY (QM)? morpheus.local. ANY (QM)? 228.0.0.10.in-addr.arpa. ANY (QM)? morpheus [00:21:6a:07:17:14]._workstation._tcp.local. (262)
09:10:47.019499 IP morpheus.lan.mdns > 224.0.0.251.mdns: 0 [4q] [7n] ANY (QM)? morpheus._udisks-ssh._tcp.local. ANY (QM)? morpheus.local. ANY (QM)? 228.0.0.10.in-addr.arpa. ANY (QM)? morpheus [00:21:6a:07:17:14]._workstation._tcp.local. (262)
09:10:47.060955 IP morpheus.lan.mdns > 224.0.0.251.mdns: 0*- [0q] 4/0/0 PTR _udisks-ssh._tcp.local., PTR morpheus [00:21:6a:07:17:14]._workstation._tcp.local., PTR _workstation._tcp.local., PTR morpheus._udisks-ssh._tcp.local. (164)
09:10:47.061073 IP morpheus.lan.mdns > 224.0.0.251.mdns: 0*- [0q] 4/0/0 PTR _udisks-ssh._tcp.local., PTR morpheus [00:21:6a:07:17:14]._workstation._tcp.local., PTR _workstation._tcp.local., PTR morpheus._udisks-ssh._tcp.local. (164)

Check that you have gotten an IP address by running ifconfig from the connecting client.

DHCP Server

Detials of how the dhcp server works on openwrt

can't figure out how to do this command-line only, because none of the config files seem to have any effect.

the web interface, however, is a nice and quick way to do this.

we'll have to figure out how to do this command-line only, because this widy does not start up the wireless network by default, and cannot be controlled with the three-position slider switch or the system's startup mechanism.

the to-do list with this widy keeps growing, as functionality keeps not-working.

Everyone Gets a Lease

Make sure that everyone can connect to the Widy router and receive an IP address and a DHCP lease. The Widy should be successfully handing out IP addresses.

Reproduce from Scratch

Luci interface, clear out, start from square one, have DHCP config file in a repo somewhere (widy repo), multiple clients communicating via the network.

Basic Setup

Start by plugging in the Widy router to the computer via the Ethernet cable. Your computer should be assigned an IP address like 192.168.1.109. Now the Widy router and its web interface (Luci) should be available by typing 192.168.1.1 into your browser.

The first page you'll see is the login page. Start by logging in with your root username and password.

Set Up the AP Interface

Now click Network > Interfaces. You should see this page:

Create a new interface:

Call it wrtwifi (or whatever you want) - this is the name the connection will be given in Unix, not the AP's BSSID that will be broadcast. Associate it with your wireless network interface wlan0 (you may need to add a custom interface if you don't have a wlan0 interface listed).

The next step is to set up the DHCP settings, and govern how IP addresses will be handed out. When configuring the wireless access point, you will set the IP address of the access point, as well as the subnet mask and other details. You should probably stick to 192.168.{0,1}.X and 10.{0,1}.{0,1}.X as your IP address namespaces - if your network is large enough to need subnets, it probably carries enough traffic to need a beefier router.

Now save the changes. Those will be applied and the page will be updated LIVE:

Double-Check Associated Clients

Now it's time to double-check that our wireless network can, in fact, receive new clients. Click Network > Wifi, then check the "Associated Stations" list - this is a list of clients connected to the wireless access point.

Note that the associated station that is listed is just the direct ethernet connection that we have - nothing to get excited about.

Next, we connect to the freshly-created wireless network, either from the same computer, or from a different computer. Here, I connect to the OpenWrts wireless network, served up by my Widy AP:

And finally, the payoff - we can see the newly-connected station.