WiFi AP Setup ✔︎ Solved
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Hi everyone!
In order to use pfsense as WiFi AP I've followed these:
https://blog.artooro.com/2015/02/20/how-to-configure-wi-fi-in-pfsense/
https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/howto-configure-wireless-bridge-access-point-in-pfsense/WiFi AP is active, clients can connect but fail to obtain IP from DHCP.
WiFi card is from Atheros, the most compatible one out there:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11cF4UoNL68Me5ZC6qhjFPmzdW7mib56dBIAKz30Qpug/edit?hl=en#gid=0 -
Update:
After a cold restart everything came to life, for an hour of so. pfSense become unresponsive and after another reboot it came back but this time without fully working WiFi. Whatever I've tried didn't work. So finally decided to change the approach.
This time without the bridge. Two subnets 192.168.1.x for LAN and 192.168.2.x for WLAN. LAN works just fine but on WLAN still no DHCP. Looking at syslog clients request comes thru and DHCP repays to but client never receives IP. There is no DHCP related entry in firewall log.
Strange enough, a DD-WRT based device, configured as WiFi client, has no problems relaying DHCP to its wired clients.any ideas?
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"configured as WiFi client, has no problems relaying DHCP to its wired clients."
You do understand in that sort of setup normally dd-wrt is the dhcp server.
I fail to understand why people continue to cause themselves grief… If you want/need wifi - then get a real AP and be done with it.. Pfsense themselves removed the option of buying wifi cards for their appliances, and recommend unifi, etc. Doesn't that tell you something ;)
Trying to run good wifi out of some card in your firewall/router is not going to get you good wifi.. It's more than likely not going to be in the correct location for starters. And 2nd its just some addon card that nor really meant to be a AP..
You clearly seem to have some old wifi router -- use that as your AP.. That is going to be way better than trying to put some card in pfsense. And if you want it on the same network as your lan its as simple as plugging it into that network. If you want it on another segment, then connect it to another pfsense interface - or use vlans.
If you want multiple wifi networks, then get a AP that supports vlans..
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You do understand in that sort of setup normally dd-wrt is the dhcp server.
No my DD-WRT is not an active DHCP server. It simply pass thru Wifi uplink to it's LAN switch.
Actually, it's completely transparent. ( complicated setup I'm not going to explain any further )Pfsense themselves removed the option of buying wifi cards for their appliances, and recommend unifi, etc. Doesn't that tell you something ;)
Yes it does! Any way I've got it working. PCI-WLAN card was configured in 802.11ng mode.
After switching to 802.11g everything came up and it's working just fine. So either my PCI-WLAN card
is faulty :P or there is a driver issue ;)I fail to understand why people continue to cause themselves grief… If you want/need wifi - then get a real AP and be done with it
Why this config? Well I like to do more with less. And I don't need state to the art WiFi.
Actually there was a Unify AP in old setup together with a SOHO router but without fully configurable firewall.
All essentiel equipment is wired. WiFi is just for my phone that doesn't need very much, and my guests.
DD-VRT device provides a wireless bridge for some equipment I can't connect using cable and they
don't need much bandwidth, just enough to dump their logs to a server.The important part in this setup is the firewall I can fully configure as needed.
Also verry important is the fact that I don't relay on a of-shelf device made in who knows where.
The rig I'm using to run pfSense is an engineering sample, made for me by ***** for another project.
I had it laying on the shelf for years and instead of buying new one decided to reuse it for this project.
After all, that rig even after so manny years is still an overkill. ( C2D 2.8 8Gb SODIMM 60 Gb SSD )
Currently it draws 30 W from my grid which may not sound as much but having in mind that my home
is solar powered, 263 kWh annually is kind'a issue. So lets close this one en focus on power consumption.tnx anyway
p.s. with "If you can't fixit You don't own it" in mind PCI-WLAN if proven faulty can be replaced any time.
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I fail to understand why people continue to cause themselves grief… If you want/need wifi - then get a real AP and be done with it.. Pfsense themselves removed the option of buying wifi cards for their appliances, and recommend unifi, etc. Doesn't that tell you something
Completely agree if deploying in an office location!
That is not every situation. for example I am looking to build one with LTE and wifi to use at tradeshows or to use as an emergency internet connection for customers. Having everything in 1 single device makes a huge difference. 1 unit for everything! Cradlepoint has this also but cradlepoint does not have squid for transparent proxy!
Possibly if you get a mini travel router and can plug it into the usb port for a pfsense for power. 5V? problem is the minimum 2A requirementon most of them. Then that might be doable. I just dont want to have to carry another device which needs to plug into power and is big. The AP could be Velcro to the pfsense.
What card did you settle on?
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"to use at tradeshows or to use as an emergency internet connection for customers."
Why and the F would you need a transparent proxy for such a connection.. Cradlepoint would be a perfect solution for these sorts of things btw!!! We have been playing with some of their hardware at work for an upcoming project. They are slick ;)
