From owner-freebsd-mobile@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Feb 27 22:11:28 2008 Return-Path: Delivered-To: mobile@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 33D021065670 for ; Wed, 27 Feb 2008 22:11:28 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from SRS0=de9150bb05792cebfe33317a01f73a3e8bf4e69f=624=es.net=oberman@es.net) Received: from postal1.es.net (postal4.es.net [IPv6:2001:400:6000:1::66]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1F05B8FC24 for ; Wed, 27 Feb 2008 22:11:26 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from SRS0=de9150bb05792cebfe33317a01f73a3e8bf4e69f=624=es.net=oberman@es.net) Received: from ptavv.es.net (ptavv.es.net [198.128.4.29]) by postal4.es.net (Postal Node 4) with ESMTP (SSL) id HYM20525; Wed, 27 Feb 2008 14:11:25 -0800 Received: from ptavv.es.net (ptavv.es.net [127.0.0.1]) by ptavv.es.net (Tachyon Server) with ESMTP id A630D4500E; Wed, 27 Feb 2008 14:11:24 -0800 (PST) To: Tobias Roth In-Reply-To: Your message of "Wed, 27 Feb 2008 11:36:48 +0100." <47C53D40.8070604@fsck.ch> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/signed; boundary="==_Exmh_1204150284_87848P"; micalg=pgp-sha1; protocol="application/pgp-signature" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2008 14:11:24 -0800 From: "Kevin Oberman" Message-Id: <20080227221124.A630D4500E@ptavv.es.net> X-Sender-IP: 198.128.4.29 X-Sender-Domain: es.net X-Recipent: ;; X-Sender: X-To_Name: Tobias Roth X-To_Domain: fsck.ch X-To: Tobias Roth X-To_Email: freebsd.lists@fsck.ch X-To_Alias: freebsd.lists Cc: mobile@freebsd.org Subject: Re: wpa_supplicant keeps de- and reassociating X-BeenThere: freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Mobile computing with FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2008 22:11:28 -0000 --==_Exmh_1204150284_87848P Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline > Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2008 11:36:48 +0100 > From: Tobias Roth > Sender: owner-freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org > > Hi > > I see the following when I connect to the universitys wlan with > 7.0-PRERELEASE and if_ath0: > > I associate to a wlan using wpa_supplicant. There are several base > stations for the same network around. First-time association works a bit > slow but otherwise well, but then, after a while (quite frequently), > something initiates a rescan, and the connections drops for some time. > The laptops position was not changed during that time. > > Then, most of the time, things fix themselves and the interface > reassociates, but this can take sme time. If I issue "ifconfig ath0" a > few times during one of those dropouts, I can see different channels > being tried, and also sometimes my ssid is shown, sometimes no ssid is > shown during scanning. > > Questions: > > 1) what is causing these deassociate/scan/reassociate cycles? Background scans are causing it. They should not, but I have seen it a lot. I only see it when I travel and am in a location where there are multiple APs. > 2) why is it unsetting the ssid, when I explicitly set it in wpa_conf? I assume you mean wpa_supplicant.conf, but I don't know why. I know that I see it on my Atheros 5212. I have some guesses, but I have been unable to confirm anything. I suspect that it is if the BG scan completes and did not see the current AP, even if the current AP is active. It may also be that a different AP is stronger when the scan takes place. I can only troubleshoot this on occasion when I am someplace where I get several APs...usually at a conference, so I may not get a chance to collect information any time soon. > 2) how can I stop this (i.e. keep the current connection after initial > association? ifconfig ath0 -bgscan (as superuser) after the initial association has completed successfully. (I could probably do it by putting "-bgscan" im the ifconfig_ath0 line in my rc.conf.local. This would have a negative impact on roaming, though, so it is not the ideal solution, just one that works fairly well. Something is simply interacting badly between the wpa_supplicant and the background scans, but tracking it down will be a real pain! Still using profile.sh! -- R. Kevin Oberman, Network Engineer Energy Sciences Network (ESnet) Ernest O. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) E-mail: oberman@es.net Phone: +1 510 486-8634 Key fingerprint:059B 2DDF 031C 9BA3 14A4 EADA 927D EBB3 987B 3751 --==_Exmh_1204150284_87848P Content-Type: application/pgp-signature -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.8 (FreeBSD) Comment: Exmh version 2.5 06/03/2002 iD8DBQFHxeAMkn3rs5h7N1ERAn+qAJ9M7RiYxvHj+FXxubY6mZQq4KzztgCeM6t2 9AanMEluUpHNfzeZWE8Hvaw= =AEg6 -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --==_Exmh_1204150284_87848P--