Up and Down Problem with WiFi and LAN

flynhawaiian · Oct 19, 2012, 3:28 PM

Hmmm does that mean I have the wireless setup wrong? I shouldn't be using AP mode, it would seem normal that AP mode should be used, but I have no clue anymore… Here's the log from the wireless system log. I’m just wondering if I have something setup wrong... As far as the drivers I was just hoping there was something I was missing and these would fix them. I mean the ideal would be to nab the ones from ralink directly, but they only work on linux. Maybe I'll ask them if they could port the driver for freebsd?

Oct 19 08:24:30 hostapd: run0_wlan0: STA 20:c9:d0:c6:65:ff WPA: sending 1/2 msg of Group Key Handshake
Oct 19 08:24:30 hostapd: run0_wlan0: STA 60:33:4b:0f:4a:d7 WPA: EAPOL-Key timeout
Oct 19 08:24:30 hostapd: run0_wlan0: STA 60:33:4b:0f:4a:d7 WPA: sending 1/2 msg of Group Key Handshake
Oct 19 08:24:30 hostapd: run0_wlan0: STA 20:c9:d0:c6:65:ff WPA: EAPOL-Key timeout
Oct 19 08:24:30 hostapd: run0_wlan0: STA 20:c9:d0:c6:65:ff WPA: sending 1/2 msg of Group Key Handshake
Oct 19 08:24:30 hostapd: run0_wlan0: STA 20:c9:d0:c6:65:ff WPA: received EAPOL-Key frame (2/2 Group)
Oct 19 08:24:30 hostapd: run0_wlan0: STA 20:c9:d0:c6:65:ff WPA: group key handshake completed (RSN)
Oct 19 08:24:30 hostapd: run0_wlan0: STA 20:c9:d0:c6:65:ff WPA: received EAPOL-Key 2/2 Group with unexpected replay counter
Oct 19 08:24:30 hostapd: run0_wlan0: STA 60:33:4b:0f:4a:d7 WPA: received EAPOL-Key frame (2/2 Group)
Oct 19 08:24:30 hostapd: run0_wlan0: STA 60:33:4b:0f:4a:d7 WPA: group key handshake completed (RSN)
Oct 19 08:24:30 hostapd: run0_wlan0: STA 60:33:4b:0f:4a:d7 WPA: received EAPOL-Key 2/2 Group with unexpected replay counter
Oct 19 08:25:30 hostapd: run0_wlan0: WPA rekeying GTK

stephenw10 · Oct 19, 2012, 5:28 PM

I think you're seeing a problem where there isn't one.
You are running in access point mode, as evidenced by hostapd, and you should be. Your ping times look normal.

Steve

johnpoz · Oct 19, 2012, 6:28 PM

"I’m hitting .38ms times rather than the standard <1ms."

As stated .38ms is less then 1ms – and very normal for lan. Lan ping times are typically below .5ms -- if your seeing higher than 1ms on a nonbusy wired lan there might be something to look into.

And as stated already as well - those wireless ping times don't look wrong to me.

So when you were seeing <1ms I would assume you were pinging from a windows box, and now your pinging from linux/bsd that gives better info is all.

flynhawaiian · Oct 19, 2012, 8:27 PM

I guess what concerns me is when the times go up to 13ms randomly. The system seems a little laggy, but maybe I need to get a faster box? Maybe the processor cannot keep up or something. I’m running a neoware ca22 1GHz with 1GB Ram and a 512mb DOM.

stephenw10 · Oct 19, 2012, 8:54 PM

Like we have already said the ping times look fine to me.
Here are some pings from my laptop to my pfSense box.

steve@steve-Equium-L40:~$ ping 192.168.10.1
PING 192.168.10.1 (192.168.10.1) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 192.168.10.1: icmp_req=1 ttl=64 time=0.625 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.10.1: icmp_req=2 ttl=64 time=0.334 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.10.1: icmp_req=3 ttl=64 time=0.463 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.10.1: icmp_req=4 ttl=64 time=0.645 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.10.1: icmp_req=5 ttl=64 time=1.84 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.10.1: icmp_req=6 ttl=64 time=1.01 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.10.1: icmp_req=7 ttl=64 time=0.697 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.10.1: icmp_req=8 ttl=64 time=0.599 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.10.1: icmp_req=9 ttl=64 time=3.75 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.10.1: icmp_req=10 ttl=64 time=6.84 ms
^C
--- 192.168.10.1 ping statistics ---
10 packets transmitted, 10 received, 0% packet loss, time 9003ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 0.334/1.681/6.842/1.975 ms

The signal strength here is very good and I have very few devices using the AP (possibly only one). However due to the way wifi works, as pointed out by Wallabybob above, the ping times vary by a large amount. 0.3-6.8ms or 2200%!

How do you mean 'seems a little laggy'?

Steve

johnpoz · Oct 19, 2012, 9:11 PM

wireless as already stated is going to be bumpy – just the nature of wireless as explained by wallabybob

flynhawaiian · Oct 19, 2012, 9:18 PM

Guess it's the "bumpyness" I’m having feeling. I just wish there was a way to help correct it. I may just have to use an external AP.

johnpoz · Oct 19, 2012, 9:44 PM

external AP is not going to fix the bumpiness of wireless. Now remove all other wireless clients off the wireless network. Make sure all the interference is at min. Turn of anything running in the 2.4ghz range or 5 if your using N and that. Make sure no other traffic is going on, make sure no other wireless networks in the area ;) And then your pings might be smoother.

If you want less bumpy ping times - use a wire!

I thought Wallabybobs 1 sentence layman's explanation was pretty spot on to why your going to see bumps in wireless.

Even if you got your wireless network as quiet as possible - the AP itself is going to be sending out becons, so while its sending those pings or responses can not be in the air. Wireless is bumpy in its vary nature and high latency than a wire, your times look to be a pretty quiet wireless network.

How many devices do you have on your wireless - I can send you pings when I get to the house. But have multiple cells phones, multiple laptops, tablets and kindles, etc. etc. Yes the pings are going to be bumpy ;)

wallabybob · Oct 19, 2012, 10:21 PM

@flynhawaiian:

Guess it's the "bumpyness" I’m having feeling.

I suspect ping response variations of a few mS are unlikely to lead to a feeling of "laggy" response. What are you doing that has a "laggy": response?

flynhawaiian · Oct 25, 2012, 4:15 PM

Honestly I'm just surfing the net and it the system starts lagging for about 30 seconds. I'm also having issues with a server on my network that is connected to the wifi connection. I'm having issues uploading a file from my laptop to the server. The file is about 90mb. I would figure it would be alot faster, but can take up to 60 minutes. Sometimes the connection gets lost and I have to upload it again.

wallabybob · Oct 25, 2012, 10:14 PM

Perhaps you have WiFi signal quality issues, interference etc. See earlier reply from johnpoz about WiFi interference.

In my home near the top of a hill in the suburbs I can see a couple of neighbouring WiFi networks at low signal strength so I have a fairly quiet WiFi environment. My file transfers of 20+MB files from laptop to a home server over a WiFi hop to a run device on a pfSense box are routinely reported as running at over 1.5MB/s.

stephenw10 · Oct 25, 2012, 11:08 PM

Hmm that doesn't sound right.
When you say 30 secs lag do you actually mean nothing happens for 30 seconds?
At home I am in a densely populated urban area surrounded wifi (over 100 networks when I last used kismet) and have no such problems. I'm using a mini-pci card in the pfSense box.

Steve