Channels beyond 11 not visible

b-vigilanT

Well, I wouldn't call the RT2870 new. I bought it 3 or 4 years ago, iirc.

I haven't looked, but I think the laptop has a pcmcia slot. Though, like you said, it is most likely a hassle to deal with. A fruitful field I rather leave unexplored.

I just cant get my head around why it would not connect because the network is encrypted. That's really.. strange. Well, my other choice would be to use an old PC I have standing around, but I want to avoid that as I am trying to keep unnecessary power-consumption at a minimum.

Currently, I am looking at trying DD-WRT or OpenWRT or some other Linux-based solution because it looks like Linux has better driver support. This is sad, because I think pfSense has a great list of features and capabilities. What are the chances this will be fixed in an upcoming release? From what I gather, there's still the issue of 802.11n support in FreeBSD… :(

wallabybob

@b-vigilanT:

I just cant get my head around why it would not connect because the network is encrypted. That's really.. strange. Well, my other choice would be to use an old PC I have standing around, but I want to avoid that as I am trying to keep unnecessary power-consumption at a minimum.

My Linux netbook came with a VIA mini-PCI-E (USB) WiFi adapter. It worked fine with my then pfSense. After a Linux upgrade the WiFi stopped working and wouldn't work again until I changed the WPA Pairwise setting on my pfSense from Both to AES. (TKIP wouldn't work.) On upgrade to Ubuntu 12.04 the WiFi adapter was "unsupported" and was unrecognised. I bought an Intel mini-PCI-E WiFi adapter on eBay for a few dollars and it has worked fine for about the last 6 months.

I am recounting this to show that bizarre WiFi encryption behaviour is not exclusive to FreeBSD.

@b-vigilanT:

Currently, I am looking at trying DD-WRT or OpenWRT or some other Linux-based solution because it looks like Linux has better driver support.

One of the reasons I ditched Smoothwall for pfSense some years ago was that I would have had to build WiFi drivers for it myself. I don't know about xxWRT.

@b-vigilanT:

This is sad, because I think pfSense has a great list of features and capabilities. What are the chances this will be fixed in an upcoming release?

My guess is "zip if no-one files a FreeBSD Problem Report". You can file a FreeBSD Problem Report at http://www.freebsd.org/send-pr.html

@b-vigilanT:

From what I gather, there's still the issue of 802.11n support in FreeBSD… :(

Coming, but Christmas will be here sooner!

stephenw10

Well this is a big step forward. :)
You have shown that the connection can work if both sides are talking the same encryption type.
Can you try WEP instead? Clearly it's not secure any more but since it's much older it's far more tested and likely to work.
If you deliberately put in a completely incorrect pass phrase does the Netgear log still show the same thing? I suspect that it never gets as far as actually checking the key if the encryption type doesn't match.
Maybe try configuring your laptop 'wrong' in various ways to see what errors are produced in the log. When you see the same error that pfSense is generating you will know what you have configured wrong that is producing it.
I would expect some errors in the pfSense logs that may give a clue. :-\

Reading back through the thread it seems to me one of three things could be happening here:
1: The run(4) driver is fundamentally broken in some way that prevents it doing the correct encryption.
This seems unlikely since, even by FreeBSD standards, 3-4 years is quite old and I would expect to see many threads in the FreeBSD forums if it were the case.

2: The pfSense webGUI is not correctly setting up the driver. This is more likely since, as Wallabybob said, almost everyone who uses wifi in pfSense uses hostap mode. It could be a new bug. This is relatively easy to test however by simply setting up the NIC from the CLI.

3: The encryption types are simply setup mismatched and it's not obvious from the two web interfaces that this is happening. This still seems the most likely to me. ;)
I notice fro your screenshot of the Netgear that it cannot do WPA-AES or WPA2-TKIP. It's possible pfSense is defaulting to one of those unless you have specifically told it not to.

Steve

stephenw10

In your previous ifconfig I see no mention of AES or any other encryption type. Where as my home box with it's ath0 card set as hostap:

ath0_wlan0: flags=8843 <up,broadcast,running,simplex,multicast>metric 0 mtu 1500
        ether 00:11:f5:ee:41:8b
        inet6 fe80::211:f5ff:feee:418b%ath0_wlan0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x11
        inet 192.168.10.1 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.10.255
        nd6 options=3 <performnud,accept_rtadv>media: IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet autoselect mode 11g <hostap>status: running
        ssid ******** channel 8 (2447 MHz 11g) bssid 00:11:f5:********
        regdomain ETSI country GB indoor ecm authmode WPA1+WPA2/802.11i
        privacy MIXED deftxkey 2 AES-CCM 2:128-bit AES-CCM 3:128-bit
        txpower 30 scanvalid 60 protmode OFF burst dtimperiod 1 -dfs</hostap></performnud,accept_rtadv></up,broadcast,running,simplex,multicast>

Also what does your card show for it's capabilities:

[2.0.1-RELEASE][root@pfsense.fire.box]/root(13): ifconfig ath0_wlan0 list caps
drivercaps=6f85ed01 <sta,ibss,hostap,ahdemo,txpmgt,shslot,shpreamble,monitor,mbss,wpa1,wpa2,burst,wme,wds,bgscan,txfrag>cryptocaps=1f <wep,tkip,aes,aes_ccm,tkipmic></wep,tkip,aes,aes_ccm,tkipmic></sta,ibss,hostap,ahdemo,txpmgt,shslot,shpreamble,monitor,mbss,wpa1,wpa2,burst,wme,wds,bgscan,txfrag>

Steve

b-vigilanT

@stephenw10:

In your previous ifconfig I see no mention of AES or any other encryption type. Where as my home box with it's ath0 card set as hostap:

ath0_wlan0: flags=8843 <up,broadcast,running,simplex,multicast>metric 0 mtu 1500
        ether 00:11:f5:ee:41:8b
        inet6 fe80::211:f5ff:feee:418b%ath0_wlan0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x11
        inet 192.168.10.1 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.10.255
        nd6 options=3 <performnud,accept_rtadv>media: IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet autoselect mode 11g <hostap>status: running
        ssid ******** channel 8 (2447 MHz 11g) bssid 00:11:f5:********
        regdomain ETSI country GB indoor ecm authmode WPA1+WPA2/802.11i
        privacy MIXED deftxkey 2 AES-CCM 2:128-bit AES-CCM 3:128-bit
        txpower 30 scanvalid 60 protmode OFF burst dtimperiod 1 -dfs</hostap></performnud,accept_rtadv></up,broadcast,running,simplex,multicast>

Also what does your card show for it's capabilities:

[2.0.1-RELEASE][root@pfsense.fire.box]/root(13): ifconfig ath0_wlan0 list caps
drivercaps=6f85ed01 <sta,ibss,hostap,ahdemo,txpmgt,shslot,shpreamble,monitor,mbss,wpa1,wpa2,burst,wme,wds,bgscan,txfrag>cryptocaps=1f <wep,tkip,aes,aes_ccm,tkipmic></wep,tkip,aes,aes_ccm,tkipmic></sta,ibss,hostap,ahdemo,txpmgt,shslot,shpreamble,monitor,mbss,wpa1,wpa2,burst,wme,wds,bgscan,txfrag>

Steve

Here's cap list:

 ifconfig run0_wlan0 list caps                                                 
drivercaps=d85c501 <sta,ibss,hostap,shslot,shpreamble,monitor,mbss,wpa1,wpa2,wme,wds>cryptocaps=1b<wep,tkip,aes_ccm,tkipmic></wep,tkip,aes_ccm,tkipmic></sta,ibss,hostap,shslot,shpreamble,monitor,mbss,wpa1,wpa2,wme,wds>

And here are the logs: http://speedy.sh/7ugBP/logs.zip

Not sure which ones are relevant, system.log and dhcpd.log, I guess… anyway, I cp'd the whole /var/logs/ :/

EDIT:

Oh, here's the ifconfig output:

run0_wlan0: flags=8843 <up,broadcast,running,simplex,multicast>metric 0 mtu 1500
	ether 00:22:b0:6d:6a:df
	inet6 fe80::222:b0ff:fe6d:6adf%run0_wlan0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x9 
	inet 192.168.1.9 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.1.255
	nd6 options=3 <performnud,accept_rtadv>media: IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet DS/5.5Mbps mode 11g
	status: associated
	ssid LGM2 channel 2 (2417 MHz 11g) bssid 30:46:9a:1b:42:14
	regdomain ETSI country SE outdoor authmode WPA2/802.11i privacy ON
	deftxkey UNDEF AES-CCM 2:128-bit AES-CCM 3:128-bit txpower 30 bmiss 7
	scanvalid 60 protmode OFF roaming MANUAL</performnud,accept_rtadv></up,broadcast,running,simplex,multicast>

It's kind of interesting, in fact. Now that I powered pfSense off, and turned it on a bit later, the NIC seems to be associated and authenticated with the AP. It has it's own IP, but I cannot access the internet; ping and traceroute do not work.

stephenw10

Well I immediately see that your device is not capable of AES only AES_CCM. If the Netgear router is expecting AES it won't work. Try setting both ends to TKIP.
Looking at the logs now…

Steve

Edit: You edited while I typed! Can you not even ping the router when it has acquired an IP?

jimp

FYI- When updating the wireless chapter of the book over the last few weeks I did configure and test acting as a wireless client, and it worked fine. (My only issue was a signal/antenna issue, namely that my test box didn't have one. Once I plugged one in, it worked ;-)

Some cards/drivers can be picky about AES vs TKIP and also Open System vs Shared Key, and also PSK vs EAP.

stephenw10

Was that with the run(4) driver Jim?

@B-vigilanT: Hmm, the zip file with the logs in it won't open on my Linux laptop.

jimp

No, all I have are ath(4) cards on hand at the moment, various 52xx and 59xx models. (And mwl(4) but I didn't test those recently)

b-vigilanT

@stephenw10:

Was that with the run(4) driver Jim?

@B-vigilanT: Hmm, the zip file with the logs in it won't open on my Linux laptop.

Try this, I packed it in .rar for you: http://speedy.sh/7ujcP/logs.rar

I have not tested pinging the router. The battery in my laptop is dead. I have to wait for charge. I will try asap.

stephenw10

I have a device that uses the run(4) driver here so plugged it in to see what was what. I'm seeing pretty much exactly the same as you.


[2.0.1-RELEASE][root@pfSense.localdomain]/root(1): ifconfig run0_wlan0
run0_wlan0: flags=8843 <up,broadcast,running,simplex,multicast>metric 0 mtu 1500
	ether f8:d1:11:********
	inet6 fe80::fad1:11ff:fec1:5b57%run0_wlan0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0xe 
	nd6 options=3 <performnud,accept_rtadv>media: IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet OFDM/36Mbps mode 11g
	status: associated
	ssid Area58net channel 2 (2417 MHz 11g) bssid 00:90:7f:********
	regdomain ETSI country GB authmode WPA2/802.11i privacy ON
	deftxkey UNDEF TKIP 2:128-bit TKIP 3:128-bit txpower 30 bmiss 7
	scanvalid 60 protmode OFF roaming MANUAL
[2.0.1-RELEASE][root@pfSense.localdomain]/root(2): ifconfig run0_wlan0 list caps
drivercaps=d85c501 <sta,ibss,hostap,shslot,shpreamble,monitor,mbss,wpa1,wpa2,wme,wds>cryptocaps=1b <wep,tkip,aes_ccm,tkipmic></wep,tkip,aes_ccm,tkipmic></sta,ibss,hostap,shslot,shpreamble,monitor,mbss,wpa1,wpa2,wme,wds></performnud,accept_rtadv></up,broadcast,running,simplex,multicast>

You can see it's trying to use TKIP although it's set to 'both' in the config. In the router I'm trying to connect to, which is also set to both encrytion types and wpa/wpa2, I am seeing:

Process=hostapd  msg=ath1: STA f8:d1:11:******* WPA: EAPOL-Key timeout

Hmm, I'll try some more combinations. If it does work I'll probablyget some hideous network loop! ::)

Steve

stephenw10

Hmm well that was interesting.
So I have it working by simply using a static IP instead of relying on DHCP. No idea why that worked, presumably DHCP is being blocked somewhere.
The run driver seems to ignore the WPA/WPA2 selection in the GUI or at least it can choose to use something else. ::)

Steve

stephenw10

Ok there's some bug here. With the wifi interface set to dhcp in the web gui I don't get an address. Yet:

[2.0.1-RELEASE][root@pfSense.localdomain]/root(8): ifconfig run0_wlan0
run0_wlan0: flags=8843 <up,broadcast,running,simplex,multicast>metric 0 mtu 1500
	ether f8:d1:11:********
	inet6 fe80::fad1:11ff:fec1:5b57%run0_wlan0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0xe 
	nd6 options=3 <performnud,accept_rtadv>media: IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet OFDM/36Mbps mode 11g
	status: associated
	ssid Area58net channel 2 (2417 MHz 11g) bssid 00:90:7f:********
	regdomain ETSI country GB authmode WPA privacy ON deftxkey UNDEF
	TKIP 2:128-bit TKIP 3:128-bit txpower 30 bmiss 7 scanvalid 60
	protmode OFF roaming MANUAL
[2.0.1-RELEASE][root@pfSense.localdomain]/root(9): dhclient run0_wlan0
dhclient: PREINIT
DHCPDISCOVER on run0_wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 5
DHCPOFFER from 192.168.111.1
DHCPREQUEST on run0_wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67
DHCPACK from 192.168.111.1
bound to 192.168.111.11 -- renewal in 14400 seconds.
[2.0.1-RELEASE][root@pfSense.localdomain]/root(10): ifconfig run0_wlan0
run0_wlan0: flags=8843 <up,broadcast,running,simplex,multicast>metric 0 mtu 1500
	ether f8:d1:11:********
	inet6 fe80::fad1:11ff:fec1:5b57%run0_wlan0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0xe 
	inet 192.168.111.11 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.111.255
	nd6 options=3 <performnud,accept_rtadv>media: IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet OFDM/36Mbps mode 11g
	status: associated
	ssid Area58net channel 2 (2417 MHz 11g) bssid 00:90:7f:********
	regdomain ETSI country GB authmode WPA privacy ON deftxkey UNDEF
	TKIP 2:128-bit TKIP 3:128-bit txpower 30 bmiss 7 scanvalid 60
	protmode OFF roaming MANUAL</performnud,accept_rtadv></up,broadcast,running,simplex,multicast></performnud,accept_rtadv></up,broadcast,running,simplex,multicast>

Steve

b-vigilanT

@stephenw10:

Hmm well that was interesting.
So I have it working by simply using a static IP instead of relying on DHCP. No idea why that worked, presumably DHCP is being blocked somewhere.
The run driver seems to ignore the WPA/WPA2 selection in the GUI or at least it can choose to use something else. ::)

Steve

Yeah, I was thinking that too previously. However, I am unsure if I am setting the subnet correctly.. /24 should be 255.255.255.0, I think.. but im unsure if that is what it should be even. Also, in the Static IPv4 Configuration should I set the NETGEAR gateway address(192.168.1.1) in the Gateway drop-down menu or the gateway for the pfSense (10.10.1.1) box?

Now, I tried switching to static IP and it dropped connection and is not regaining it. BTW, which are the proper Authentication and Key Management mode in my case? I noticed, by running ifconfig over and over again, that having them in Both the interface is switching mode all the time.

stephenw10

If the wifi is effectively your WAN connection then the gateway should be address of the Netgear router.

You should be able to leave Authentication set as 'both' although like it says it will only use 'Shared Key Authentication' if you are using WEP.
My access point doesn't supports EAP at all so I have it set to PSK for management mode.

From the many combinations I have tested I have found that as long as your intrface is reporting 'status: associated' and is showing some encryption in use, TKIP or AES, then it should be working. At that point if you manually start the dhcp client it will work:

[2.0.1-RELEASE][root@pfSense.localdomain]/root(9): dhclient run0_wlan0
dhclient: PREINIT
DHCPDISCOVER on run0_wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 5
DHCPOFFER from 192.168.111.1
DHCPREQUEST on run0_wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67
DHCPACK from 192.168.111.1
bound to 192.168.111.11 -- renewal in 14400 seconds.

However it won't come up at boot (or at least mine didn't) so it's probably easier to use static addressing as a work around.

Steve

stephenw10

Just to confirm this I have reset all the values in the pfSense wireless setup to 'both' and set the values in my router/access point back to their defaults. The behaviour is the same:

[2.0.1-RELEASE][root@pfSense.localdomain]/root(6): ifconfig run0_wlan0
run0_wlan0: flags=8843 <up,broadcast,running,simplex,multicast>metric 0 mtu 1500
	ether f8:d1:11:********
	inet6 fe80::fad1:11ff:fec1:5b57%run0_wlan0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0xd 
	nd6 options=3 <performnud,accept_rtadv>media: IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet OFDM/36Mbps mode 11g
	status: associated
	ssid Area58net channel 2 (2417 MHz 11g) bssid 00:90:7f:********
	regdomain ETSI country GB authmode WPA2/802.11i privacy ON
	deftxkey UNDEF TKIP 2:128-bit txpower 30 bmiss 7 scanvalid 60
	protmode OFF roaming MANUAL
[2.0.1-RELEASE][root@pfSense.localdomain]/root(7): dhclient run0_wlan0
dhclient: PREINIT
DHCPREQUEST on run0_wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67
DHCPREQUEST on run0_wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67
DHCPACK from 192.168.111.1
bound to 192.168.111.11 -- renewal in 14400 seconds.</performnud,accept_rtadv></up,broadcast,running,simplex,multicast>

Efonnes

I think I've heard of this DHCP issue before when using the wireless in client mode. I know of a potential fix and it has been on my todo list, but I haven't really gotten around to it (I'm not a hired developer after all and do not work for any other company that would pay me to work on pfSense; I mostly just work on things when I feel like doing it). No one else has attempted working on it (that I'm aware of).

As for your earlier question about wireless channel availability – the regional settings are only really there to limit the list of channels to only show what you should be seeing for your area. This setting is especially useful for drivers or firmwares that list every channel as available (cards supported by mwl do this, for example), because it will otherwise give a long list of channels that are essentially useless since other devices won't use them. As the note below the group of settings states (but in different words), it can only impose further limits on the channels available; it cannot add channels locked out by the driver or firmware.

b-vigilanT

Ok. I finally managed to get an IP doing it Steve's way, by setting a static IP of 192.168.1.9/24 (I think I was using the incorrect CIDR notation previously) and Netgear gateway on 192.168.1.1 then running dhclient manually in the ssh session.

There is still the issue of internet connectivity – I can ping the gateway fine in both in the web gui and ssh terminal, but I can ping outside the WLAN only through the web gui, and that is only after I enabled the DNS forwarder again...

When I attempt to ping google in ssh, I get "No route to host" message. I need to fix this.

This is certainly progress, but it is quite impractical. Today, I plan on acquiring a USB hub, so that I can connect a 2nd wifi adapter, my RT3070 card (Alfa awus036nh). I plan on using that card to connect to the Netgear and the RT2870 in host AP mode to extend the WLAN.

EDIT:
@Efonne:

I think I've heard of this DHCP issue before when using the wireless in client mode. I know of a potential fix and it has been on my todo list, but I haven't really gotten around to it (I'm not a hired developer after all and do not work for any other company that would pay me to work on pfSense; I mostly just work on things when I feel like doing it). No one else has attempted working on it (that I'm aware of).

As for your earlier question about wireless channel availability – the regional settings are only really there to limit the list of channels to only show what you should be seeing for your area. This setting is especially useful for drivers or firmwares that list every channel as available (cards supported by mwl do this, for example), because it will otherwise give a long list of channels that are essentially useless since other devices won't use them. As the note below the group of settings states (but in different words), it can only impose further limits on the channels available; it cannot add channels locked out by the driver or firmware.

I gathered as much, the regional settings are only there to filter but in this case, when I set the correct regional settings (Europe ESTI) why does it still only show 1-11? My adapter's firmware should support at least up to 14, and I think it also supports the 5GHz channels too, actually.

stephenw10

Unless you have set the wifi interface as WAN it will not be the default gateway. pfSense will always send traffic via the default gateway (unless you have used firewall rules to tell it otherwise). You can either reassign it as WAN or set it as the default gateway manually in System: Routing: Gateways
Personally I would try to reassign it as WAN, otherwise you will have unused gateways in the system which can only cause complications.

I should add that I have since discovered that I have to have Management Mode set to PSK in order to associate.

You will not see any 5GHz channels in 2.0.1 as there is no support for 802.11N. You will see that you only have the choice of 802.11B or G.
Edit: Unless you were referring to 802.11A of course! ;)

My own card, a TP-Link TL_WN7200N, is seen as:

run0: MAC/BBP RT3070 (rev 0x0201), RF RT3020 (MIMO 1T1R), address f8:d1:11:********
run0: firmware RT2870 loaded

What does your card list as it's channel capabilites from the CLI?

[2.0.1-RELEASE][root@pfSense.localdomain]/root(9): ifconfig run0_wlan0 list chan
Channel   1 : 2412  MHz 11g          Channel   7 : 2442  MHz 11g          
Channel   2 : 2417  MHz 11g          Channel   8 : 2447  MHz 11g          
Channel   3 : 2422  MHz 11g          Channel   9 : 2452  MHz 11g          
Channel   4 : 2427  MHz 11g          Channel  10 : 2457  MHz 11g          
Channel   5 : 2432  MHz 11g          Channel  11 : 2462  MHz 11g          
Channel   6 : 2437  MHz 11g          
[2.0.1-RELEASE][root@pfSense.localdomain]/root(10): ifconfig run0_wlan0 list active
Channel   1 : 2412  MHz 11g          Channel   7 : 2442  MHz 11g          
Channel   2 : 2417  MHz 11g          Channel   8 : 2447  MHz 11g          
Channel   3 : 2422  MHz 11g          Channel   9 : 2452  MHz 11g          
Channel   4 : 2427  MHz 11g          Channel  10 : 2457  MHz 11g          
Channel   5 : 2432  MHz 11g          Channel  11 : 2462  MHz 11g          
Channel   6 : 2437  MHz 11g

My NIC can't see 12 or 13 either under pfSense.

@Efonne If you are looking into this (should the urge come over you ;)) and need testers or logs etc, please ask.

Steve

stephenw10

Back to the original topic the reason we only have 11 channels is probably this:
http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-stable/2009-October/052236.html

I wonder how tough it would be to make run(4) setup the channel list correctly? Hmm…

Steve