ath10k mesh mode#
Refer this link for IEEE 802.11s (Mesh Networking) introduction.https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/en/developers/Documentation/ieee80211/802.11s
ath10k supports mesh BSS (MBSS) in raw-mode since Sep/2015 (commit id:b6c7bafa7d4b1398cce93e4af0a48603919fa933) and in native Wi-Fi mode sinceNov/2015 (commit id: bb58b89c5ea1006c93270fd2e667ab72312bf7ab).
Firmware must have “raw-mode” feature flag to use MBSS in raw-mode and“mfp-support” feature flag to use MBSS with security.
Bring up Mesh Point (MP)#
There are 2 manners to bring up MP which are using “iw” and “wpa_supplicant”.
iw does MLME in kernelspace while wpa_supplicant does it in userspace.iw is simple and quick to verify MP working because it doesn’t requireany other utilities, but cannot be used for secured mode due to lack ofSAE support.
Contrarily wpa_supplicant may be a bit complex comparing to iw, howeverit is good to use with security.
Setup open Mesh Point using iw#
In this example we will configure a MP to use an open Mesh network. TheMP will automatically peer with others that are using same configuration(mesh ID and channel).
Create a new MP interface “mesh0”.
iw phy phy0 interface add mesh0 type mp
Confirm that the new interface created as MP.
iw mesh0 infoInterface mesh0 type mesh point
Configure channel information.
iw dev mesh0 set freq 5745 80 5775
If you need, you can change interface’s MAC address.
ifconfig mesh0 hw ether $MAC_ADDRESS
Assign an IP and bring up MP.
ifconfig mesh0 192.168.1.10
Join a Mesh network. “mesh-ath10k” is Mesh ID which can be maximum of 32 bytes long.
iw dev mesh0 mesh join mesh-ath10k
Verify peer link status
iw mesh0 station dumpStation 8c:fd:f0:00:b3:66 (on mesh0) inactive time: 30 ms rx bytes: 50768 rx packets: 665 tx bytes: 1103 tx packets: 12 tx retries: 0 tx failed: 0 signal: -11 dBm signal avg: -11 dBm Toffset: 25721647444 us tx bitrate: 6.0 MBit/s rx bitrate: 1170.0 MBit/s VHT-MCS 8 80MHz short GI VHT-NSS 3 mesh llid: 2393 mesh plid: 40952 mesh plink: ESTAB mesh local PS mode: ACTIVE mesh peer PS mode: ACTIVE mesh non-peer PS mode: ACTIVE authorized: yes authenticated: yes preamble: long WMM/WME: yes MFP: no TDLS peer: no connected time: 328 seconds
Setup Mesh Point using wpa_suppliant#
Both of open MP and secured MP can be brought up using wpa_supplicant.This section will instruct the steps to both of open and secured MPsetup.
Create a new MP interface “mesh0”.
iw phy phy0 interface add mesh0 type mp
Assign an IP and bring up MP.
ifconfig mesh0 192.168.1.10
Create a wpa_supplicant.conf file and configure Mesh information.
* ssid: mesh ID* mode=5: mesh mode* key_mgmt=NONE: open Mesh* key_mgmt=SAE: secured Mesh* user_mpm=1: MPM on userspace
ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicantuser_mpm=1network={ ssid="mesh-ath10k" mode=5 frequency= 5745 key_mgmt=NONE}To configure secured MP, set key_mgmt to SAE and add psk value
…key_mgmt=SAEpsk=”123456789a”…
The wpa_supplicant requires the ieee80211w to be set to non-zero value to have secured mesh operating properly if both patches “mac80211: Encrypt “Group addressed privacy” action frames” and “ath10k: fix group privacy action frame decryption for qca4019” are not available.
…ieee80211w=1…
Run wpa_supplicant
wpa_supplicant -D nl80211 -i mesh0 -c wpa_supplicant.conf –B
Verify peer link status
iw mesh0 station dumpStation 8c:fd:f0:00:b3:66 (on mesh0) inactive time: 120 ms rx bytes: 34743 rx packets: 457 tx bytes: 958 tx packets: 11 tx retries: 0 tx failed: 0 signal: -24 dBm signal avg: -24 dBm Toffset: 77320999230 us tx bitrate: 6.0 MBit/s rx bitrate: 975.0 MBit/s VHT-MCS 7 80MHz short GI VHT-NSS 3 mesh llid: 0 mesh plid: 0 mesh plink: ESTAB mesh local PS mode: ACTIVE mesh peer PS mode: ACTIVE mesh non-peer PS mode: ACTIVE authorized: yes authenticated: yes preamble: long WMM/WME: yes MFP: no TDLS peer: no connected time: 224 seconds