Quectel EP06-E LTE Module changes pfSense+ NDI after cold start or hard reset

Famelazar

@stephenw10
At the end I guess it depends not on BSD/pfSense but on the Card itself and its behaviour... *sigh
Guess I have to remove it from the device and try my luck w/ the Windows drivers and/or ADB to bring in "PPP-Mode" or another one which fixes the MAC Issue. Otherwise I don't want to go back to the CE Edition, since this is also at Test of pfSense+ for some Customers since -overall- the support is great.

Famelazar

@stephenw10 said in Quectel EP06-E LTE Module changes pfSense+ NID after cold start or hard reset:

Importantly it doesn't show:

Ah Ok. Thats what you meant before

stephenw10

@Famelazar said in Quectel EP06-E LTE Module changes pfSense+ NID after cold start or hard reset:

At the end I guess it depends not on BSD/pfSense but on the Card itself and its behaviour...

To some extent. This Sierra card, for example, does return a value for the MAC address but....

Jun 14 17:37:52 	kernel 		ugen0.4: <Sierra Wireless Inc. Sierra Wireless EM7345 4G LTE> at usbus0
Jun 14 17:37:52 	kernel 		cdce0 on uhub0
Jun 14 17:37:52 	kernel 		cdce0: <Sierra Wireless Inc. Sierra Wireless EM7345 4G LTE, class 239/2, rev 2.00/17.29, addr 3> on usbus0
Jun 14 17:37:52 	kernel 		ue0: <USB Ethernet> on cdce0
Jun 14 17:37:52 	kernel 		umodem0
Jun 14 17:37:52 	kernel 		ue0: Ethernet address: ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
Jun 14 17:37:52 	kernel 		on uhub0
Jun 14 17:37:52 	kernel 		umodem0: <Sierra Wireless Inc. Sierra Wireless EM7345 4G LTE, class 239/2, rev 2.00/17.29, addr 3> on usbus0
Jun 14 17:37:52 	kernel 		umodem0: data interface 3, has no CM over data, has break

Not useful!

No second config index available on your card.

Yes, switching the mode in something else might be easiest.

Famelazar

@stephenw10 said in Quectel EP06-E LTE Module changes pfSense+ NID after cold start or hard reset:

ue0: Ethernet address: ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff

Uhhh GREAT *laugh ...tztz

Famelazar

@stephenw10 said in Quectel EP06-E LTE Module changes pfSense+ NID after cold start or hard reset:

Yes, switching the mode in something else might be easiest.

Ok. I don't want to disassemble the box, since its 24/6,5 needed. This will take some time until I get another (external) Quectel Card of the same type to "fiddle" around with. I will post the results here.

Many thanks for your time, ideas and help!

Best Regards
Famelazar

stephenw10

Do you get an AT prompt on any other com port? It could be one allows setting values.

Famelazar

@stephenw10
Oh yes! I tried all of them (also on the pfSenses GUI to establish a ppp IF), but the ttyu0.3 and cuaU0.3 operate like my historic ZyXel 19k2 landline Modem and its predecessors (Proper Output w/ CR/LF) on the (ssh-) command line/console.

Famelazar

@stephenw10 said in Quectel EP06-E LTE Module changes pfSense+ NID after cold start or hard reset:

It could be one allows setting values.

Was one of my idea too :-) - Since the AT Commands documentation from Quectel lacks quite a bit on infos . "AT+QCFG="usbnet", x" isn't explained and not listed in the output of "AT+QCFG=?", but the firmware presents that option, wich is explained in the OpenWRT forum like this:

AT+QCFG=“usbnet”,0 < QMI/PPP/Default (??? - Not in my humble oppinion)
AT+QCFG=“usbnet”,1 < ECM (seems to be the default with Revision: EP06ELAR03A08M4G)
AT+QCFG=“usbnet”,2 < MBIM

The 0.3 allows me to set any other settings like this:
AT+CFUN=1,1 (reset/reboot the card)
OK
or
AT+QCFG="volte_disable",1 (self explaining)
OK
or
AT+IPR=921600 (set "line"-Speed)
OK
But not this one at tty/cua 0.0-3 :
AT+QCFG=“usbnet”,0
ERROR
Tested anew on ttyU0/cuaU0 - Results:
On .0 - No response w/ AT+QCFG=“usbnet”,0
On .1 - No response w/ AT+QCFG=“usbnet”,0
On .2 - error w/ AT+QCFG=“usbnet”,0
On .3 - error w/ AT+QCFG=“usbnet”,0

stephenw10

You do have an alternate interface descriptor on interface 5. You could try setting it:
usbconfig -d ugen0.2 -i 5 set_alt 1

I don't really expect that to work TBH. It will probably just refuse as the interface is in use.

Famelazar

@stephenw10
Hi Everyone! Hello Steve!!

Finally I got that Quectel EP06-E running in PPP-Mode WITHOUT having a dynamic MAC ueX Ethernet interface.

Preamble: The cuaU Device which is held by the Modem-Card depends on your Hardware!! The named one here is only for Reference!!

Steps:

Connect (ssh) to the pfSense box, get a shell (option 8), and open the LTE cards AT-Interface via a serial link & cu

cu -l /dev/cuaU0.3 -s 115200 -> serial connection to the Modem-Card w/ 115200 baud

This "linespeed" is imho mandatory since other modes seem to "eat" typed or pasted characters, which was one of my faults here!
Anyway: AVOID, if possible, to copy and paste AT Commands, the Card (imho) might missinterpret that command and responses w/ an error.

Set the cards "usbnet" mode 2 and fix the "serial"-linespeed of that Card!

AT+QCFG=“usbnet”,2

Write the config to the Card

AT&W

soft reboot the LTE-Card to activate the changes (no (hard-)reboot of the whole box necessary)

AT+CFUN=1,1

"cu" will close and you are back on the shellprompt after a while.

Create a PPP IF on the GUI.
Parameters depend on your Cell-Provider-Plan to communicate w/ this Quectel device.
BUT: pfSense here awaits a linespeed of 115200 (baud) to sqawk to the Modem-Card.
This should be forced w/ the advanced settings at the ppp-IF page:

Init String +IPR=115200

Assign that newly build ppp-If to an OPT-Interface on your box

That will do - I Hope ;-) - Its working for me, but maybe not perfectly described.

Addendum:
Possible "usbnet" Modes are:
AT+QCFG=“usbnet”,0 < Default
AT+QCFG=“usbnet”,1 < USB Ethernet IF,* w/ dhcp Server active on the Card. Typically w/ IP 192.168.225.xxx/24, GW 192.168.225.1
AT+QCFG=“usbnet”,2 < PPP IF via /dev/cuaU0.3

*W/ an auto generated MAC Address on ueX which changes the NID as in the Topic!

Last but not least:
Any suggestions, critic and so on are welcome!
And also many Thanks to Steve for accompany, ideas and help w/ this topic!!

Any typos and syntactic errors found here, can be kept by the finder ;-)

stephenw10

Ah, nice. So it was just the console doing something funy at a different baud rate? Nice catch!

Famelazar

@stephenw10 said in Quectel EP06-E LTE Module changes pfSense+ NID after cold start or hard reset:

So it was just the console doing something funy at a different baud rate

Seems to be that and the pfSense software itself, because of the Baud-Rate while initiating the communication w/ the Card.
Are there any options to change that to a lower or higher rate (i.E. to 921600 Baud -> AT+IPR=921600)? I would like to check that out and measure the troughput w/ different rates ...

Anyway: One more USB/mPCIE Card which can be listed in the docs, I hope.

stephenw10

The actual throughput is not limited by the ppp baud rate, you should see a lot more than 115kbps!

I usually see ~30Mbps here on the Sierra modems. Pretty good signal area. I've seen reports of other getting ~60Mbps.

Famelazar

@stephenw10
OK. Guess I was too much in my "landline modem times" from the 80ties w/ the AT-Commands

The Gateway Monitoring ping-Times (public IP Address from within the Providers Network) and the RTT aren't really different from the other Mode.
So its OK to me. I haven't measured the rates since my external Yagi-Antennas will move to a better place in a few weeks.
Much more important for me was to prevent the change of the NDI.
(BTW: Can someone change the Topic to the correct abbreviation...??)

Even if the performance will not reach the old mode: I can only die one dead.

stephenw10

@Famelazar said in Quectel EP06-E LTE Module changes pfSense+ NID after cold start or hard reset:

Can someone change the Topic to the correct abbreviation...??

Done.

Famelazar

@stephenw10
Great!
Many Thanks!

Famelazar

@stephenw10 said in Quectel EP06-E LTE Module changes pfSense+ NID after cold start or hard reset:

AT+QCFG=“usbnet

After all, the Modem will respond to " AT+QCFG="usbnet",? "