Arch Linux

allevil669

Member

Registered: 2013-05-23

Posts: 30

Having issues with setting up hostapd...

Hi all. I'm not 100% sure this is where this question should go, so if it isn't, please let me know.

Ok, onto my question...

I'm trying to repurpose a few old computers and parts I recently acquired... One as a router, one as a WiFi access point. I have the router set up and working rather well... iptables, dnsmasq... All working as expected. The issue I'm having is with the machine I'm trying to convert into a WiFi access point. I'm not able to properly bridge the wlan0 and the eth0 devices, and have WiFi machines connect and get an IP address. I have installed, and I think configured hostapd correctly... But, at this time, I can't even e 100% certain about that.

Nearly all of the resources I have found talk about making a WiFi access point and router out of a single machine, so they're not a lot of help with my two machine solution. If anyone could point me in the right direction, I'd be really grateful.

ewaller

Administrator

From: Pasadena, CA

Registered: 2009-07-13

Posts: 19,771

Re: Having issues with setting up hostapd...

You have seen these articles, right?  Do they answer the mail?

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/So … cess_point
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Router

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allevil669

Member

Registered: 2013-05-23

Posts: 30

Re: Having issues with setting up hostapd...

You have seen these articles, right?  Do they answer the mail?

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/So … cess_point
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Router

Yes. I've read both of those articles multiple times. The "Arch as a router" article was quite helpful in getting one of the machines set up. The "Software access point" article... Well, I just must be missing something. I have:

• Checked the wireless card for AP functionality

• Made sure that the hostapd.conf file is correct

• Made sure that the Ethernet card can connect, and get a dynamic address from the router

• Made sure that the wireless card can connect to the wireless hotspot my phone can put out

I'm really quite confused about the bridging setup. I know that I must create a bridge, in this case called br0 that has the Ethernet interface added to it, because hostapd adds the wireless interface itself(?) I'm using netctl for that task. I'm not sure how I should set up the bridge's IP address. Should it be static? Is DHCP ok for it? Every time I tried to bridge the two connections, the machine loses all connectvity, and while hostapd says it's up and running, no WiFi enabled computers can find the SSID I set in hostapd.conf.

I'm just so turned around right now. It feels like either I, or the wiki page on Software access point is missing something on this process.

allevil669

Member

Registered: 2013-05-23

Posts: 30

Re: Having issues with setting up hostapd...

Just some more info for anyone wanting any.

Netctl bridge profile:

Description="WAN To WLAN Bridge"
Interface=br0
Connection=bridge
BindsToInterfaces=(enp0s3)
IP=static
Address=('10.0.0.10/24')
Gateway='10.0.0.1'
DNS=('10.0.0.1')
SkipForwardingDelay=yes

Hostapd.conf:

ssid=TestingSSIDDoNotConnect
wpa_passphrase=000000000
interface=wlp0s11u1
bridge=br0
auth_algs=3
channel=7
driver=nl80211
hw_mode=g
logger_stdout=-1
logger_stdout_level=2
max_num_sta=5
rsn_pairwise=CCMP
wpa=2
wpa_key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
wpa_pairwise=TKIP CCMP

The process I use to get this started:

netctl start bridge

This does activate the bridge connection on enp0s3. Hostapd is supposed to add wlp0s11u1 itself. At this point, the AP has connection to the internet via the router.

systemctl start hostapd.service

This appears to start hostapd. The SSID of the AP shows up when I scan for it. Also, at this point, the AP loses it's connection to the router, and the outside world. Like enp0s3 has gone down. This is part of the problem, I think, because the router has the DHCP/DNS server on it. If I run:

hostapd /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf

I get:

Configuration file: /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf
Using interface wlp0s11u1 with hwaddr 00:18:39:0b:8d:1b and ssid "TestingSSIDDoNotConnect"
wlp0s11u1: interface state UNINITIALIZED->ENABLED
wlp0s11u1: AP_ENABLED

Like I said, at this point, the machine acting as an AP no longer can communicate with other machines on the network, like enp0s3 has gone down. When I then try to connect with my phone's WiFi, I get these messages...

wlp0s11u1: STA d4:0b:1a:a8:e7:26 IEEE 802.11: authenticated
wlp0s11u1: STA d4:0b:1a:a8:e7:26 IEEE 802.11: associated (aid 1)
wlp0s11u1: AP-STA-CONNECTED d4:0b:1a:a8:e7:26
wlp0s11u1: STA d4:0b:1a:a8:e7:26 RADIUS: starting accounting session AC9EDB8C-000000000
wlp0s11u1: STA d4:0b:1a:a8:e7:26 WPA: pairwise key handshake completed (RSN)

This will repeat itself until such time as I get a timeout message. I hope this extra info is useful.

Thank you for your time.