Atheros AR9580 and AR9582 pcie from Mikrotik?

[stephenw10]

Both would likely work but the 9580 is listed:
https://github.com/pfsense/FreeBSD-src/blob/devel-12/sys/dev/ath/ath_hal/ah.c#L186

I would not spend much though an external AP is better in almost every way.

Steve

[daemonix]

@stephenw10 thanks, i have everything. Cisco APs etc. this is a backup system.

[stephenw10]

I'm using a Sparklan WPEA-127N which I believe is about the best supported card type you can use in pfSense. It's AR9380 based. Works great for my use, which is low.

Steve

[daemonix]

@stephenw10 Any special configuration that I need to RTFM?

Cards seem to work ok but Im not sure if I need extra configuration on the AP side.

5g - R11e-5HnD
ath0@pci0:1:0:0:        class=0x028000 card=0xd01419b6 chip=0x0033168c rev=0x01 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'Qualcomm Atheros'
    device     = 'AR958x 802.11abgn Wireless Network Adapter'
    class      = network

2g - R11e-2HPnD
ath1@pci0:5:0:0:        class=0x028000 card=0xd01619b6 chip=0x0033168c rev=0x01 hdr=0x00
        vendor     = 'Qualcomm Atheros'
        device     = 'AR958x 802.11abgn Wireless Network Adapter'
        class      = network

ath0_wlan0: flags=8943<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,PROMISC,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
        description: OPT4_WLAN5G
        ether 4c:5e:0c:10:01:ca
        inet6 fe80::4e5e:cff:fe10:1ca%ath0_wlan0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x8
        groups: wlan
        ssid lou5 channel 157 (5785 MHz 11a ht/40+) bssid 4c:5e:0c:10:01:ca
        regdomain FCC country US anywhere ecm authmode WPA2/802.11i -wps -tsn
        privacy MIXED deftxkey 3
        AES-CCM 2:128-bit
        AES-CCM 3:128-bit powersavemode OFF powersavesleep 100 txpower 1
        txpowmax 50.0 -dotd rtsthreshold 2346 fragthreshold 2346 bmiss 7
        11a     ucast NONE    mgmt  6 Mb/s mcast  6 Mb/s maxretry 6
        11na    ucast NONE    mgmt  6 Mb/s mcast  6 Mb/s maxretry 6
        scanvalid 60 -bgscan bgscanintvl 300 bgscanidle 250
        roam:11a     rssi    7dBm rate 12 Mb/s
        roam:11na    rssi    7dBm  MCS  1   
        -pureg protmode OFF ht htcompat ampdu ampdulimit 64k ampdudensity 8
        amsdu shortgi htprotmode RTSCTS -puren -smps -rifs stbc ldpc -uapsd
        -vht -vht40 -vht80 -vht160 -vht80p80 -wme burst -dwds -hidessid
        -apbridge dtimperiod 1 doth -dfs inact bintval 100
        parent interface: ath0
        media: IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet autoselect mode 11na <hostap>
        status: running
        nd6 options=21<PERFORMNUD,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
        
ath1_wlan0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
        description: OPT5_WLAN2G
        ether 74:4d:28:36:bc:8c
        inet6 fe80::764d:28ff:fe36:bc8c%ath1_wlan0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x9
        inet 192.168.66.26 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.66.255
        groups: wlan
        ssid LittleW channel 9 (2452 MHz 11g ht/20) bssid 00:2a:10:cf:3b:10
        regdomain FCC country US anywhere ecm authmode WPA2/802.11i -wps -tsn
        privacy ON deftxkey UNDEF
        AES-CCM 2:128-bit powersavemode OFF powersavesleep 100 txpower 6
        txpowmax 50.0 -dotd rtsthreshold 2346 fragthreshold 2346 bmiss 7
        11b     ucast NONE    mgmt  1 Mb/s mcast  1 Mb/s maxretry 6
        11g     ucast NONE    mgmt  1 Mb/s mcast  1 Mb/s maxretry 6
        11ng    ucast NONE    mgmt  1 Mb/s mcast  1 Mb/s maxretry 6
        scanvalid 60 -bgscan bgscanintvl 300 bgscanidle 250
        roam:11b     rssi    7dBm rate  1 Mb/s
        roam:11g     rssi    7dBm rate  5 Mb/s
        roam:11ng    rssi    7dBm  MCS  1   
        -pureg protmode OFF ht htcompat ampdu ampdulimit 64k ampdudensity 8
        amsdu shortgi htprotmode RTSCTS -puren -smps -rifs stbc ldpc -uapsd
        -vht -vht40 -vht80 -vht160 -vht80p80 wme burst -dwds roaming MANUAL
        bintval 102
        AC_BE cwmin  4 cwmax 10 aifs  3 txopLimit   0 -acm ack
              cwmin  4 cwmax 10 aifs  3 txopLimit   0 -acm
        AC_BK cwmin  4 cwmax 10 aifs  7 txopLimit   0 -acm ack
              cwmin  4 cwmax 10 aifs  7 txopLimit   0 -acm
        AC_VI cwmin  3 cwmax  4 aifs  2 txopLimit  94 -acm ack
              cwmin  3 cwmax  4 aifs  2 txopLimit  94 -acm
        AC_VO cwmin  2 cwmax  3 aifs  2 txopLimit  47 -acm ack
              cwmin  2 cwmax  3 aifs  2 txopLimit  47 -acm
        parent interface: ath1
        media: IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet MCS mode 11ng
        status: associated
        nd6 options=21<PERFORMNUD,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
        
wlan2: flags=8802<BROADCAST,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
        ether 4e:5e:0c:10:01:ca
        groups: wlan
        ssid "" channel 157 (5785 MHz 11a ht/40+) bssid 00:00:00:00:00:00
        regdomain FCC country US anywhere ecm authmode OPEN -wps -tsn
        privacy OFF deftxkey UNDEF powersavemode OFF powersavesleep 100
        txpower 1 txpowmax 50.0 -dotd rtsthreshold 2346 fragthreshold 2346
        bmiss 7
        11a     ucast NONE    mgmt  6 Mb/s mcast  6 Mb/s maxretry 6
        11na    ucast NONE    mgmt  6 Mb/s mcast  6 Mb/s maxretry 6
        scanvalid 60 -bgscan bgscanintvl 300 bgscanidle 250
        roam:11a     rssi    7dBm rate 12 Mb/s
        roam:11na    rssi    7dBm  MCS  1   
        -pureg protmode CTS ht htcompat ampdu ampdulimit 64k ampdudensity 8
        amsdu shortgi htprotmode RTSCTS -puren -smps -rifs stbc ldpc -uapsd
        -vht -vht40 -vht80 -vht160 -vht80p80 wme burst -dwds -hidessid
        apbridge dtimperiod 1 doth -dfs inact bintval 0
        AC_BE cwmin  4 cwmax  6 aifs  3 txopLimit   0 -acm ack
              cwmin  4 cwmax 10 aifs  3 txopLimit   0 -acm
        AC_BK cwmin  4 cwmax 10 aifs  7 txopLimit   0 -acm ack
              cwmin  4 cwmax 10 aifs  7 txopLimit   0 -acm
        AC_VI cwmin  3 cwmax  4 aifs  1 txopLimit  94 -acm ack
              cwmin  3 cwmax  4 aifs  2 txopLimit  94 -acm
        AC_VO cwmin  2 cwmax  3 aifs  1 txopLimit  47 -acm ack
              cwmin  2 cwmax  3 aifs  2 txopLimit  47 -acm
        parent interface: ath0
        media: IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet autoselect <hostap> (autoselect <hostap>)
        status: no carrier
        nd6 options=21<PERFORMNUD,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>

(tx power is down because I did it manually for testing)

• The 5G card seems to be split in two but if I remember correctly its better if I only use one part right??? (This is the 'AP' card)
• The 5G AP give a max speed of 54Mbit on a Mac I have next to it. Are there any setting I need to check?
• Do you see anything else I need to RTFM?

Thanks

[stephenw10]

Not sure what you mean by split in two?

54Mbps right next to it seems pretty bad though. Last time I tried I was able to see >200Mbps actual throughput and a linked speed of 405Mbps with that Sparklan card.

Steve

[daemonix]

@stephenw10 Sorry, I mean that one PCIe has two interfaces created.
Maybe Im utilising the wrong one? (I read in the forum that sometime when cards create two interfaces only one is the ‘good’ one)

Are there any good configuration guides I can follow?
Thanks

[stephenw10]

Hmm, so that's one physical card that appears as two PCI devices?

One thing that would really kill performance it trying to use the radios at the wrong frequencies and it might allow you to try.

The other thing to check is the antenna settings in the sysctls:

dev.ath.0.diversity: 0
dev.ath.0.rxantenna: 0
dev.ath.0.txantenna: 0

If you have multiple antennas enabling diversity and/or setting differebt antennas for rx and tx usually helps. Especially if, for exmaple, you have two antennas but 3 ports be sure you're not trying to use the disconnected one.

Steve

[tquade]

@daemonix Be mindfull that these cards use on board MMCX antenna cable connectors.

Ted

[daemonix]

@tquade :) I have two mmcx afta antennas on both cards (via pigtail).

I assume they can both have 2 spatial streams each.
I feel that Im missing something freebsd/ifconfig settings in order to get the best performance...

[daemonix]

@stephenw10

Both PCIe cards have these diversity settings. Also both of them seem to advertise that they can work with 2 streams but I only get max speed as if one is other active.

dev.ath.1.diversity: 0
dev.ath.1.rxantenna: 1
dev.ath.1.txantenna: 0

5G AP give me 140Mbit-ish max.
Do I need to do something this the diversity settings?

On the Macbook I see that its capable of 2 streams.

but iperf3 disagrees :)

Any ideas?

[stephenw10]

Well I would certainly try enabling antenna diversity.

How are you testing with iperf? Multiple parallel streams? (-P)

[daemonix]

@stephenw10 yes 5 to 10 parallel and reverse too.

I did test diversity but no fun.

[stephenw10]

Actually reviewing this (after some coffee!) I think you are seeing about the correct numbers.

With a 2x2 card the maximum connection rate is 300Mbps and your client seems to be showing that already. Does the pfSense wifi status also show that?

Around half that speed for actual throughput it about what I was able to get. Though I managed >50% (215/405 Mbps). You are not far off that. I would not expect to see more than, say, 160Mbps.

Steve

[daemonix]

@stephenw10 let me retest and Ill post back... I left it a bit on the side as I had a pile of work.
Thanks!