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pfSense users/developers:
I am contemplating to put together a pfSense router and was wondering about what support for 802.11r/k/v might exist if pfSense is loaded onto a router that is inclusive of an 802.11 WiFi network card.
I realize that if I plugged 802.11r/k/v APs into pfSense on the LAN side, that everything would likely be fine. I am asking this as I am thinking it would be nice to have a WiFi card in the pfSense router to get a 3rd AP with 802.11r on my network. Granted, cheap routers that can run a current version of OpenWRT with 802.11r capability are not hard to find either.
Thanks in advance.
Stuart
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S stephenw10 moved this topic from General pfSense Questions on
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Possibly.
I've never seen it tried but as I understand it the functionality should be there in hostapd.
There are no GUI options for it. I would only attempt that as a project.
Steve
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stephenw,
Is it possible to request this as a new feature?
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I does look like we build hostap with those options enabled:
https://github.com/pfsense/FreeBSD-src/blob/devel-12/contrib/wpa/hostapd/defconfig#L150
https://github.com/pfsense/FreeBSD-src/blob/devel-12/contrib/wpa/hostapd/defconfig#L160That might be all that's required.
You can add a feature requests here: https://redmine.pfsense.org/
It's likely to be extremely low priority though.Attempting to configure it manually to prove it works first is what I would do there.
Steve
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@stephenw10 said in IEEE 802.11r/k/v support:
little bit off topic, but it would be so cool to see smaller Netgate boxes with built in wifi.
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It's possible to add wifi but the current support for hardware in FreeBSD is such that it's not worth it for most use cases.
Steve
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stephenw,
I am a bit confused by your response to the off-topic poster. It sounds like you are saying that FreeBSD does a poor job of supporting WiFi cards in general and I have to admit I find that a rather interesting assertion to make as that has never been my understanding, disambiguation would be well appreciated.
Stuart
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Yes, exactly that.
There is no support in FreeBSD for 802.11AC. The best you can do is 802.11N with a 3x3 card so usually somewhere in the 300Mbps range if you're lucky.Steve
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stephenw,
Ah, in that case I understand. I am definitely a Linux expert and by no means a FreeBSD expert. I just understood that the two kernels were on par with each in terms of hardware support, apparently that is an incorrect understanding on my part, one I am glad to understand fully now.
Generally speaking, plugging an AP that supports and manages 802.11r into a pfSense based router is not a huge deal and if support for 802.11 is week I understand. Are there any recommended 802.11N cards that work and you'd think could possible function with 802.11r?
Stuart
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It depends what you are putting it in but a later Atheros based 3x3 card is about the best you can do. So for example I have here a Sparklan WPEA-127N. It works pretty good but I still mostly use it just to test the wifi components in pfSense.
Steve