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    WireLess WAN - Infrastructure (BBS) mode? Wireless Client - 2.0 RC3

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Wireless
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    • W
      wallabybob
      last edited by

      It is strange that dhclient reports being assigned an IPv4 IP address but ifconfig doesn't report an IPv4 address.

      I don't know what the DS in

      media: IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet DS/11Mbps mode 11b

      means.

      Can you get your link to operate in 802.11g mode rather than 802.11b? You may need to make adjustments at both ends OR it may be forced into 11b mode by an 11b only device.

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      • B
        Bo
        last edited by

        Switching over to 11g mode does not seem to be an issue. Signal strength is at its maximum, Both sides report that they communicate with each other in 11g mode:

        sargas 	192.168.178.20	00:80:48:52:FF:3D	54 Mbit/s	WPA

        But still only if I turn off the ecryption the DHCP client receives an IP address.

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        • W
          wallabybob
          last edited by

          I wonder if it would help to tighten the encryption parameters step by step and record the results. On pfSense change WPA mode from Both to WPA2 and make the corresponding change in Fritzbox. DHCP exchange? If no, tighten WPA2 Pairwise from Both to AES and make corresponding change in Fritzbox. Does DHCP work? If not try WPA2 Pairwise as TKIP and make corresponding change in Fritzbox. etc.

          I saw a software upgrade on my netbook break WiFi. WiFi on windows laptops continued operating. I changed my pfSense access point: WPA2 Pairwise from Both to AES fixed the problem.

          I'm not very confident my suggestion will help you discover a working set of parameters but might provide some useful data.

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          • jahonixJ
            jahonix
            last edited by

            Just out of curiosity, please show your interface assign page.
            I saw you using ath0_wlan1 which is a virtual second IF on your atheros card. That one directly would be ath0.

            Chances are you configure the 'other' interface which is not currently assigned to a network.

            I've taken a screenshot from my test box which contains two separate atheros cards (ath0 and ath1) and a virtual one (ath0_wlan1) just to show you:

            Why do you have a second virtual IF at all? Just assign ath0 to your WAN.
            Depending on the pfSense build you're using, there seem to be some inconsistencies with real and virtual IFs.
            I had an ALIX system where I couldn't bridge vr1 and ath0; using vr1 and ath0_wlan1 worked immediately.
            Just a guess, though…

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            • B
              Bo
              last edited by

              Meanwhile I've tried to thighten up the Wifi encryption from scratch but so far I haven't found an encryption option that works (didn't try WEP ;-D).

              I am quiet sure I've tried all possible combinations, but no succes so far!

              I've tested the option to define a virtual Wifi card as well, but pfSense does not allow me to define a virtual Wifi card a Infrastructure BBS.

              For the record, here are my interface assignments:
              WAN: ath0
              LAN: vr0
              OPT1: vr1

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              • W
                wallabybob
                last edited by

                @Bo:

                I've tested the option to define a virtual Wifi card as well, but pfSense does not allow me to define a virtual Wifi card a Infrastructure BBS.

                The FreeBSD man page for ath says

                The driver supports station, adhoc, adhoc-demo, hostap, mesh, wds, and monitor mode operation.  Multiple hostap virtual interfaces may be configured for simultaneous use on cards that use a 5212 part.  When multiple interfaces are configured each may have a separate mac address that is formed by setting the U/L bits in the mac address assigned to the underlying device.  Any number of wds virtual interfaces may be configured together with hostap interfaces.  _Multiple station interfaces may be operated together with hostap interfaces to construct a wireless repeater device. _

                The man page (or at least this paragraph) leaves unclear whether multiple station interfaces may be operated WITHOUT a hostap interface.

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                • B
                  Bo
                  last edited by

                  Although it would be nice to also be able to configure the pfSense box as an secondary AP next to the infrastructure (BBS) connection, but that would be the icing on the cake.

                  I am refuse to believe that I am the first one to bump into this issue and strongly have the feeling that there is some easy workaround, but …...............

                  what's causing the security conflict? based on the ifconfig ath0_wlan0 output I have the feeling that the box is switching to IPv6 mode without having it configured (see log in my reply on Posted on: August 06, 2011, 04:17:23 pm).

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                  • W
                    wallabybob
                    last edited by

                    @Bo:

                    I am refuse to believe that I am the first one to bump into this issue and strongly have the feeling that there is some easy workaround, but …...............

                    My readings of the forums suggest it is much more common to use a pfSense WiFi link as an AP than as an AP client. I think your post is the first mention I have seen of a Fritzbox. This suggests your configuration is probably fairly rare.

                    @Bo:

                    what's causing the security conflict? based on the ifconfig ath0_wlan0 output I have the feeling that the box is switching to IPv6 mode without having it configured (see log in my reply on Posted on: August 06, 2011, 04:17:23 pm).

                    I don't know what is causing the security conflict. I don't know what facilities there are in FreeBSD to debug this kind of issue. Concerning the IPv6: for some releases now FreeBSD has "automatically" configured "link local" IPv6 addresses based on MAC address for those interfaces with a MAC address. It is rather unlikely that enabling encryption on a WiFi interface would also turn it into "drop IPv4 traffic" mode if the interface is in client mode but not if it is in AP mode. (I have an ath interface in AP mode using encryption and successfully passing IPv4 traffic.)

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                    • B
                      Bo
                      last edited by

                      Well I've used the same pfSense box for multiple years as an Wifi AP using WPA+WPA2 as encryption and never experienced any problems. It might be the other side of the line: the Fritz!Box causing all the issues.

                      I'll go and look for another AP and check if the pfSense box can establish a secured connection in Infrastructure mode with this AP.

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                      • jahonixJ
                        jahonix
                        last edited by

                        Yesterday i tried to connect an ALIX with ath0 cards to a Linksys WRT54GL wireless AP (which is running DD-WRT).
                        I was able to get an IP from the DHCP pool (hence encryption [WPA2 AES] is working) but wasn't able to pass traffic. I couldn't even ping anything on ALIX WAN.

                        And you were right, Bo, Infrastructure mode only works on the virtual ath0_wlan1 interface, not the native card IF ath0.
                        I think there were issues with some of the snapshot builds in the past where you couldn't assign IFs correctly. Will try a recent snapshot tonight and report back.

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                        • B
                          Bo
                          last edited by

                          Good to hear I am not alone out there!

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                          • B
                            Bo
                            last edited by

                            I think there were issues with some of the snapshot builds in the past where you couldn't assign IFs correctly. Will try a recent snapshot tonight and report back.

                            Any news on the recent snapshots? Are these issues resolved in these snapshots?

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                            • jahonixJ
                              jahonix
                              last edited by

                              Sorry, didn't have the time to do anything with pfSense in the last days.
                              Busy at work and even more busy at home, fixing other stuff.

                              I'll report back as soon as I had the time to test.

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                              • B
                                Bo
                                last edited by

                                Chris, great that your still willing to spend some time testing the recent snapshots!
                                Take your time, since I'll be on holidays the next three weeks!

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                                • B
                                  Bo
                                  last edited by

                                  Any news already on the new snapshots?

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                                  • E
                                    EricMc
                                    last edited by

                                    Have you had any luck with this?  I am having the same problem with the 2.0 release on an Alix board.  The router I am connecting to is a Sierra Wireless AirCard 754s (AT&T Elevate).  I can get an IP from it when security is turned off, but not with WPA/WPA2.

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                                    • S
                                      Saturn2888
                                      last edited by

                                      I've been in the same boat, can't ever connect to any wireless AP using WPA, but I can if it's open.

                                      EDIT: I just switched to a different Wi-Fi adapter, and it worked.

                                      The issue here is with the driver for that device. I know it supports WPA and WPA2 since it works in Windows.

                                      Didn't work:
                                      ural
                                      run

                                      Worked
                                      utrw

                                      Two of the USB devices wouldn't even show up. One of them was a TP-Link TL-WN722N which showed up as <atheros>and the other I can't figure out which it is until I start unplugging them.</atheros>

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