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Date:      Wed, 16 Oct 2013 11:40:23 -0600
From:      John Nielsen <lists@jnielsen.net>
To:        =?iso-8859-1?Q?Ulrich_Sp=F6rlein?= <uspoerlein@gmail.com>
Cc:        wireless@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: Why does ath(4) suck, and what else to buy?
Message-ID:  <1B911791-BC03-4740-BD2B-4060BB0C5FFB@jnielsen.net>
In-Reply-To: <CAJ9axoRQP4OqgOtqTvhRZgNimz-Ori5eMcw9iS_B60kjthHUag@mail.gmail.com>
References:  <CAJ9axoRQP4OqgOtqTvhRZgNimz-Ori5eMcw9iS_B60kjthHUag@mail.gmail.com>

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On Oct 16, 2013, at 11:29 AM, Ulrich Sp=F6rlein <uspoerlein@gmail.com> =
wrote:

> Hey, I'm running this small -CURRENT box as router/AP and it has a
> miniPCI ath(4) card that typically works fine, it only reports the
> occasional
>=20
> ath0: stuck beacon; resetting (bmiss count 4)
>=20
> not sure if that is problematic, the wifi used to work fine. If that
> message is harmless, maybe it should not be printed. But that's not
> what I'm here for. I've tried setting up a 2nd wlan device and run
> hostapd on it for a guest SSID for house guests, etc.
>=20
> So I created wlan2 next to wlan0, ran an exact copy of the
> hostapd.conf (except different SSID and PSK) and that made lots of
> phones/tablets have trouble connecting or staying connected (wlan2 is
> bridged to the same bridge as wlan0 and the wired interfaces, so
> DHCP/DNS/routes are unlikely to be the problem).
>=20
> It looks like this:
>=20
> ath0: <Atheros 9280> mem 0xe0a00000-0xe0a0ffff irq 17 at device 0.0 on =
pci4
> ath0: AR9280 mac 128.2 RF5133 phy 13.0
> ath0: 2GHz radio: 0x0000; 5GHz radio: 0x00c0
>=20
>=20
> /etc/rc.conf:
>=20
> cloned_interfaces=3D"bridge0"
> autobridge_interfaces=3D"bridge0"
> autobridge_bridge0=3D"port* wlan0 wlan2"
>=20
> wlans_ath0=3D"wlan0 wlan2"
> create_args_wlan0=3D"wlanmode hostap country DE authmode wpa"
> ifconfig_wlan0=3D"ssid COYOTE mode 11g pureg up"
> create_args_wlan2=3D"wlanmode hostap country DE authmode wpa"
> ifconfig_wlan2=3D"ssid COYOTE_GUEST mode 11g pureg up"
>=20
>=20
> Haven't rebooted, so I've brought up wlan2 by hand:
>=20
> root@coyote:~# ifconfig wlan2 create wlandev ath0 wlanmode hostap
> country DE authmode wpa
> ifconfig: SIOCS80211: Device busy
> Exit 1
> root@coyote:~# ifconfig wlan2
> wlan2: flags=3D8943<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,PROMISC,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST>
> metric 0 mtu 1500
>        ether 68:a3:c4:51:44:99
>        inet6 fe80::6aa3:c4ff:fe51:4499%wlan2 prefixlen 64 tentative =
scopeid 0xd
>        nd6 options=3D29<PERFORMNUD,IFDISABLED,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
>        media: IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet autoselect mode 11g =
<hostap>
>        status: running
>        ssid COYOTE_GUEST channel 8 (2447 MHz 11g) bssid =
68:a3:c4:51:44:99
>        regdomain ETSI country DE indoor ecm authmode 802.1x privacy =
MIXED
>        deftxkey UNDEF txpower 30 scanvalid 60 pureg protmode CTS wme =
burst
>        dtimperiod 1 -dfs
>=20
> and it also magically got added to bridge0.
>=20
> root@coyote:~# /etc/rc.d/hostapd start wlan2
> Starting hostapd.
> Configuration file: /etc/hostapd-wlan2.conf
> Using interface wlan2 with hwaddr 68:a3:c4:51:44:99 and ssid =
"COYOTE_GUEST"
>=20
> root@coyote:~# egrep -v '^#|^$|passphrase' /etc/hostapd-wlan2.conf
> interface=3Dwlan2
> driver=3Dbsd
> logger_syslog=3D-1
> logger_syslog_level=3D3
> logger_stdout=3D-1
> logger_stdout_level=3D2
> debug=3D1
> dump_file=3D/tmp/hostapd-wlan2.dump
> ctrl_interface=3D/var/run/hostapd-wlan2
> ctrl_interface_group=3Dwheel
> ssid=3DCOYOTE_GUEST
> country_code=3DDE
> hw_mode=3Dg
> macaddr_acl=3D0
> auth_algs=3D1
> wme_enabled=3D1
> wpa=3D2
> wpa_key_mgmt=3DWPA-PSK
> wpa_pairwise=3DCCMP
>=20
> and that's when the trouble starts to appear, dmesg now get's funny
> messages like:
>=20
> wlan2: Ethernet address: 68:a3:c4:51:44:99
> wlan2: promiscuous mode enabled
> ath0: stuck beacon; resetting (bmiss count 4)
> ath0: stuck beacon; resetting (bmiss count 0)
> ath0: ath_transmit: sc_inreset_cnt > 0; bailing
> ath0: ath_tx_should_swq_frame: 50:46:5d:21:16:df: Node is asleep;
> sending mgmt (type=3D0, subtype=3D176)
> ath0: ath_tx_should_swq_frame: 38:e7:d8:69:c0:6e: Node is asleep;
> sending mgmt (type=3D0, subtype=3D176)
> ath0: ath_tx_should_swq_frame: b4:07:f9:e8:8f:8e: Node is asleep;
> sending mgmt (type=3D0, subtype=3D176)
> ath0: ath_node_recv_pspoll: 38:e7:d8:69:c0:6e: not in powersave?
> ath0: ath_tx_node_wakeup: an=3D0xfffffe0126489000: node was already =
awake
> ath0: ath_node_recv_pspoll: b4:07:f9:e8:8f:8e: not in powersave?
> ath0: ath_tx_node_wakeup: an=3D0xfffffe001e413000: node was already =
awake
> ath0: ath_node_recv_pspoll: b4:07:f9:e8:8f:8e: not in powersave?
> ath0: ath_node_recv_pspoll: b4:07:f9:e8:8f:8e: not in powersave?
> ath0: ath_node_recv_pspoll: b4:07:f9:e8:8f:8e: not in powersave?
> ath0: ath_tx_node_wakeup: an=3D0xfffffe0088add000: node was already =
awake
>=20
>=20
> Looking at some Android devices, they see that SSID as "Secured with
> WEP", so no WPA2 :/ An oldish HTC Desire won't even see that SSID.
> Neither will a Ubuntu laptop. Can someone unstupid me? Do I need a
> wlanbssid override for wlan2?
>=20
> Now that it is in this state, the first devices fail to
> re-authenticate (on wlan0) with this AP. Guess I'll tear down wlan2
> again.

Do wlan0 and wlan2 have different MAC addresses? They need to. You could =
try adding the "bssid" flag to create_args_wlan2; that's supposed to =
make a unique MAC for you based on the hardware's real MAC. However last =
time I tried it (it's been a while) with my hardware it didn't work. So =
alternatively, you can add "wlanaddr aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff" to =
create_args_wlan2 (substituting a better MAC, of course).

> The second part of my question is related to buying recommendations
> for 5GHz USB wlan fobs that work solid as an AP (and virtual AP) under
> FreeBSD. Not all of my equipment can to 5GHz, so I need a dual-band
> solution (with VAPs for the 2.4GHz band). What do people use around
> here, what works solidly?
>=20
> Cheers,
> Uli
> _______________________________________________
> freebsd-wireless@freebsd.org mailing list
> http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-wireless
> To unsubscribe, send any mail to =
"freebsd-wireless-unsubscribe@freebsd.org"
>=20




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