Connecting non-batman nodes to a mesh network
Hi All,
I want to ask for your advice about a batman problem I am facing. I have a mesh network of custom build embedded Linux devices. The devices have only network one interface and this is the Wi-Fi that is used by batman. So far the mesh is running OK, but at some point I need to be able to connect with a laptop (non-Linux) to the network and access some of the devices via its IP address. I tried simply connecting to the adhoc network and setting a static IP to my laptop. I have managed to do that, but I can't access the nodes from the mesh.
I read the instruction for mixing with non-batman devices by bridging the bat0 interface with the "non-batman" interface, but as far as I understand that applies to systems with at least 2 network interfaces e.g one for batman nodes and one for the non-batman. So my question is - can I mix non-batman and batman nodes when I have only one network interface on the batman nodes? If yes, then how?
Thanks in advance.
Best regards,
Panayot
P.S
I am using batman-adv 2011.2.0, because I can't cross compile the latest version against the kernel I use on the devices - 2.6.28. Also I don't use batctl.
Quoted 11 lines · Panayot Daskalov
Quoted 11 lines
Hi All,
I want to ask for your advice about a batman problem I am facing. I have a mesh network of custom build embedded Linux devices. The devices have only network one interface and this is the Wi-Fi that is used by batman. So far the mesh is running OK, but at some point I need to be able to connect with a laptop (non-Linux) to the network and access some of the devices via its IP address. I tried simply connecting to the adhoc network and setting a static IP to my laptop. I have managed to do that, but I can't access the nodes from the mesh.
Quoted 7 lines
Quoted 6 lines
I read the instruction for mixing with non-batman devices by bridging the bat0 interface with the "non-batman" interface, but as far as I understand that applies to systems with at least 2 network interfaces e.g one for batman nodes and one for the non-batman. So my question is - can I mix non-batman and batman nodes when I have only one network interface on the batman nodes? If yes, then how?
Hi Panayot,
you are right: you need two "interfaces" in order to let clients connect to the mesh. However (if you want to use wifi interfaces only) you can also create "virtual interaces" using the same "real interface". This feature is available depending on the wifi driver you are using. If you are using madwifi or one of the new mac80211 drivers (not all support it), this technique should be feasiable without introducing many problems :)
For instance, what driver are you using?
Cheers,
Signature · 4 lines
Antonio Quartulli ..each of us alone is worth nothing.. Ernesto "Che" Guevara ☭
Hi Antonio,
thanks for the prompt reply!
The devices have either RTL8188SU or RTL8188CUS chipsets from Realtek. Drivers can be found here -
http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/downloadsView.aspx?Langid=1&PNid=48&PFid=48&Level=5&Conn=4&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false&Downloads=true#RTL8188SU <http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/downloadsView.aspx?Langid=1&PNid=48&PFid=48&Level=5&Conn=4&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false&Downloads=true#RTL8188SU>
May be they are mac80211 compatible, but I am not sure. Can you give me an example of creating a virtual interface so I can try?
Thanks.
Best regards,
Panayot
Quoted 31 lines · Antonio Quartulli
Quoted 11 lines · Panayot Daskalov
Quoted 11 lines
Hi All,
I want to ask for your advice about a batman problem I am facing. I have a mesh network of custom build embedded Linux devices. The devices have only network one interface and this is the Wi-Fi that is used by batman. So far the mesh is running OK, but at some point I need to be able to connect with a laptop (non-Linux) to the network and access some of the devices via its IP address. I tried simply connecting to the adhoc network and setting a static IP to my laptop. I have managed to do that, but I can't access the nodes from the mesh.
Quoted 6 lines
Quoted 6 lines
I read the instruction for mixing with non-batman devices by bridging the bat0 interface with the "non-batman" interface, but as far as I understand that applies to systems with at least 2 network interfaces e.g one for batman nodes and one for the non-batman. So my question is - can I mix non-batman and batman nodes when I have only one network interface on the batman nodes? If yes, then how?
Hi Panayot,
you are right: you need two "interfaces" in order to let clients connect to the mesh. However (if you want to use wifi interfaces only) you can also create "virtual interaces" using the same "real interface". This feature is available depending on the wifi driver you are using. If you are using madwifi or one of the new mac80211 drivers (not all support it), this technique should be feasiable without introducing many problems :)
For instance, what driver are you using?
Cheers,
Hi,
Quoted 9 lines
The devices have either RTL8188SU or RTL8188CUS chipsets from Realtek. Drivers can be found here -
http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/downloadsView.aspx?Langid=1&PNid=48&PFi
d=48&Level=5&Conn=4&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false&Downloads=true#RTL8188SU
<http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/downloadsView.aspx?Langid=1&PNid=48&P
Fid=48&Level=5&Conn=4&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false&Downloads=true#RTL8188SU>May be they are mac80211 compatible, but I am not sure. Can you give me an example of creating a virtual interface so I can try?
the keywords you want to search for are: multi VAP, multi SSID & mac80211 iw A few links that came out of that search:
http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers
http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Documentation/iw
I somehow doubt that the Realtek chip supports the mac80211 infrastructure. You might want to switch to the mac80211 driver for your chip. Not all chips support multi VAPs though.
Note: This mailing list is about batman and not so much about how to setup / configure your wifi driver or what features it supports.
I extended our FAQ with your question. Thanks for bringing it up.
Cheers,
Marek
Hi,
thank you all for the valuable help.
It appears that the official drivers for those chipsets do not support mac80211 and I can't make virtual interfaces with them. So I had to take TP WR740N router, put OpenWrt + batman-adv on it and make it the entry point to the mesh network. That didn't go without problems, but at the end it worked.
BTW - the instructions on the web site about installing batman-adv on OpenWrt are outdated and didn't work for me. I have installed batman just doing - /opkg update && opkg install kmod-batman-adv/.
Best regards,
Panayot
Quoted 27 lines · Marek Lindner
Hi,
Quoted 9 lines
The devices have either RTL8188SU or RTL8188CUS chipsets from Realtek. Drivers can be found here -
http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/downloadsView.aspx?Langid=1&PNid=48&PFi
d=48&Level=5&Conn=4&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false&Downloads=true#RTL8188SU
<http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/downloadsView.aspx?Langid=1&PNid=48&P
Fid=48&Level=5&Conn=4&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false&Downloads=true#RTL8188SU>May be they are mac80211 compatible, but I am not sure. Can you give me an example of creating a virtual interface so I can try?
the keywords you want to search for are: multi VAP, multi SSID& mac80211 iw A few links that came out of that search:
http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers
http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Documentation/iwI somehow doubt that the Realtek chip supports the mac80211 infrastructure. You might want to switch to the mac80211 driver for your chip. Not all chips support multi VAPs though.
Note: This mailing list is about batman and not so much about how to setup / configure your wifi driver or what features it supports.
I extended our FAQ with your question. Thanks for bringing it up.
Cheers,
Marek
Hi,
Quoted 5 lines
It appears that the official drivers for those chipsets do not support mac80211 and I can't make virtual interfaces with them. So I had to take TP WR740N router, put OpenWrt + batman-adv on it and make it the entry point to the mesh network. That didn't go without problems, but at the end it worked.
great!
Quoted 3 lines
BTW - the instructions on the web site about installing batman-adv on OpenWrt are outdated and didn't work for me. I have installed batman just doing - /opkg update && opkg install kmod-batman-adv/.
What exactly are you referring to ? What page / which instruction ?
Regards,
Marek
Hi,
I was referring to this link http://www.open-mesh.org/wiki/batman-adv/Openwrt-quick-install, but as I can see it has been removed. Probably because it was outdated. Funny because I remember reading it couple of days ago. Anyway it seems that there is no problem now, so please disregard my comment.
Best regards,
Panayot
Quoted 17 lines · Marek Lindner
Hi,
Quoted 5 lines
It appears that the official drivers for those chipsets do not support mac80211 and I can't make virtual interfaces with them. So I had to take TP WR740N router, put OpenWrt + batman-adv on it and make it the entry point to the mesh network. That didn't go without problems, but at the end it worked.
great!
Quoted 3 lines
BTW - the instructions on the web site about installing batman-adv on OpenWrt are outdated and didn't work for me. I have installed batman just doing - /opkg update&& opkg install kmod-batman-adv/.
What exactly are you referring to ? What page / which instruction ?
Regards,
Marek
Quoted 5 lines · On Thursday, November 24, 2011 20:25:56 Panayot Daskalov wrote:
I was referring to this link
http://www.open-mesh.org/wiki/batman-adv/Openwrt-quick-install, but as I can see it has been removed. Probably because it was outdated. Funny because I remember reading it couple of days ago. Anyway it seems that there is no problem now, so please disregard my comment.
AFAIK we never had a page there. Are you talking about:
http://www.open-mesh.org/wiki/batman-adv/Quick-start-guide ?
Regards,
Marek