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stardotstar
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 Posted: Wed Jul 05, 2006 4:04 am Post subject: Need advice from a wpa_supplicant expert... |
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I have wpa_supplicant configured for my ipw2200 and am wondering the best way to switch between multiple APs.
wpa_gui and wpa_cli work well up to a point.
The problem is that although I can associate with the networks I still need to manually restart dhcpcd for my wifi interface.
I understand that in Gentoo when I have wpa_supp configured in /etc/conf.d/net the /etc/init.d/net.eth# scripts call the wpa_supplicant.conf and then up the interface with dhcpcd etc as directed in /etc/conf.d/net
So if I am using wpa_gui for example I have to manually dhcpcd -k eth1 once I have made the association?
Maybe i have things the wrong way round...
I often want to change between two quite different local APs (firewall and VLAN reasons) and I find that just having them all in wpa_supp.conf does not provide enough network selection flexibility. Its fine for associating with the closest/highest priority etc... but just not on the fly on demand
TIA
Will
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UberLord
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stardotstar
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| Posted: Wed Jul 05, 2006 10:37 am Post subject: |
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I have unmasked wpa_supplicant and am upgrading it now.
Not sure how to get the baselayout updated... How do I find out which base layout I have?
| Code: |
geko stardotstar # wpa_supplicant
wpa_supplicant v0.5.4
geko stardotstar # emerge --search baselayout
Searching...
[ Results for search key : baselayout ]
[ Applications found : 5 ]
* sys-apps/baselayout
Latest version available: 1.11.15-r3
Latest version installed: 1.11.15-r3
Size of files: 157 kB
Homepage: http://www.gentoo.org/
Description: Filesystem baselayout and init scripts
License: GPL-2
* sys-apps/baselayout-darwin [ Masked ]
Latest version available: 1.11.11-r1
Latest version installed: [ Not Installed ]
Size of files: 11 kB
Homepage: http://www.gentoo.org/
Description: Baselayout and init scripts (eventually)
License: GPL-2
* sys-apps/baselayout-lite [ Masked ]
Latest version available: 1.0_pre1
Latest version installed: [ Not Installed ]
Size of files: 2 kB
Homepage: http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/base/embedded/
Description: Baselayout for embedded systems
License: GPL-2
* sys-apps/baselayout-vserver
Latest version available: 1.11.14-r4
Latest version installed: [ Not Installed ]
Size of files: 139 kB
Homepage: http://dev.croup.de/proj/gentoo-vps
Description: Filesystem baselayout and init scripts for Linux-VServer
License: GPL-2
* sys-freebsd/freebsd-baselayout [ Masked ]
Latest version available: 20060624
Latest version installed: [ Not Installed ]
Size of files: 422 kB
Homepage: http://www.gentoo.org/
Description: Filesystem baselayout and init scripts
License: GPL-2
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Thanks for that 
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UberLord
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stardotstar
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| Posted: Wed Jul 05, 2006 10:49 am Post subject: |
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Thank you for your fast reply...
I am still stuck
| Code: |
geko stardotstar # emerge -up sys-apps/baselayout
These are the packages that would be merged, in order:
Calculating dependencies... done!
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so I tried:
| Code: |
vi /etc/portage/package.keywords
# ~x86
>=sys-apps/baselayout-1.12.11 ~x86
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same same.
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stardotstar
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| Posted: Wed Jul 05, 2006 11:11 am Post subject: |
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 my bad...
thank you
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stardotstar
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| Posted: Wed Jul 05, 2006 11:38 am Post subject: |
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Both those upgrades are in place and wireless is all working but exactly as before from what I can see- but I will have to try to associate with the two work networks tomorrow.
I still seem to need to start dhcpcd after associating with the local AP...
Will
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UberLord
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stardotstar
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| Posted: Wed Jul 05, 2006 10:26 pm Post subject: |
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well both ways really.
If I start wpa_supplicant via the /etc/init.d/net.eth1 script everything works fine but it is difficult to manage which network I want to associate with; perhaps I don't understand the wpa_supp config well enough but priorities are not what I want - I may need to switch between two discrete APs at any time and will need that interface to pick up dhcp and dns when I do;
\
so I did these scripts to allow me to call the net.eth1 with a specific network configured by itself:
| Code: |
stardotstar@geko ~ $ cat /usr/bin/casper_up
#!/bin/sh
cp -f /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf_casper /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
/etc/init.d/net.eth1 restart
stardotstar@geko ~ $ cat /usr/bin/sentinel_up
#!/bin/sh
cp -f /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf_sentinel /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
/etc/init.d/net.eth1 restart
#cp -f /etc/resolv.conf.sentinel /etc/resolv.conf
stardotstar@geko ~ $ cat /usr/bin/skink_up
#!/bin/sh
cp -f /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf_skink /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
/etc/init.d/net.eth1 restart
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Crude I know but I am making progress with all this.
But recently I started playing with wpa_cli and wpa_gui and when I use wpa_supplicant by itself with wpa_supplicant.conf with all the above networks included I allows me to select the AP to associate with and correctly conducts the association but does not call dhcpcd (maybe this is exactly what it should be doing!) so I find that the IP that is reported in the wpa_gui is whatever the last network was that had dhcpcd called (either manually or by the script!)
so wpa_supplicant only handles the AP association and has nothing to do with the interface address/dns etc... 
I hope this clearly explains the situation - I am guessing that this is not in error but I am probably not using these tools as effectively as I could be. I have played with wifi-radar a bit but really just want a raw and fast method of switching between configured APs on demand.
Thanks for your support!
BTW baselayout upgrade went without a hitch once I specified the correct version  Thanks for all your work on Gentoo!
Will
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stardotstar
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| Posted: Thu Jul 06, 2006 3:59 am Post subject: |
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Further experimenmtation today shows that when I associate with one of the networks (in a wpa_supplicant.conf file with all entries) not only does association sometimes work but it does indeed get an address! So that is great, but wpa_gui will not seem to associate with any other AP then from the list, and when I run my latest script which calls the /etc/init.d/net.eth1 restart after copying in a wpa_supplicant.conf with all the networks it reports that eth1 failed to configure and yet it has configured:
| Code: |
geko stardotstar # wireless_all
* Stopping eth1
* Bringing down eth1
* Shutting down eth1 ... [ ok ] * Stopping wpa_cli on eth1 ... [ ok ] * Stopping wpa_supplicant on eth1 ... [ ok ] * Starting eth1
* Starting wpa_supplicant on eth1 ... [ ok ] * Starting wpa_cli on eth1 ... [ ok ] * Failed to configure eth1 in the background [ !! ]geko stardotstar # ifconfig eth1
eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:12:F0:35:4E:7E
inet addr:192.168.100.101 Bcast:192.168.100.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
UP BROADCAST NOTRAILERS RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:103 errors:1 dropped:1 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:32 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:918093 (896.5 Kb) TX bytes:130966 (127.8 Kb)
Interrupt:11 Base address:0xe000 Memory:c0214000-c0214fff
geko stardotstar # iwconfig eth1
eth1 IEEE 802.11g ESSID:"sentinel"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.432 GHz Access Point: 00:14:BF:E3:EC:84
Bit Rate:54 Mb/s Tx-Power=20 dBm Sensitivity=8/0
Retry limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Encryption key:9A4A-B4F2-F5 Security mode:open
Power Management:off
Link Quality=61/100 Signal level=-64 dBm Noise level=-86 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:1 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:8
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Messages reports things going ok
| Code: |
Jul 6 13:40:35 geko dhcpcd[29042]: verified 192.168.0.102 address is not in use
Jul 6 13:40:35 geko dhcpcd[29042]: your IP address = 192.168.0.102
Jul 6 13:40:52 geko wpa_cli: interface eth1 DISCONNECTED
Jul 6 13:40:52 geko dhcpcd[29044]: terminating on signal 15
Jul 6 13:43:57 geko wpa_cli: interface eth1 CONNECTED
Jul 6 13:43:58 geko dhcpcd[29968]: MAC address = 00:12:f0:35:4e:7e
Jul 6 13:43:58 geko dhcpcd[29968]: verified 192.168.0.102 address is not in use
Jul 6 13:43:58 geko dhcpcd[29968]: your IP address = 192.168.0.102
Jul 6 13:44:12 geko wpa_cli: interface eth1 DISCONNECTED
Jul 6 13:44:12 geko dhcpcd[29970]: terminating on signal 15
Jul 6 13:46:12 geko wpa_cli: interface eth1 CONNECTED
Jul 6 13:46:14 geko dhcpcd[30891]: MAC address = 00:12:f0:35:4e:7e
Jul 6 13:46:14 geko dhcpcd[30891]: verified 192.168.0.102 address is not in use
Jul 6 13:46:14 geko dhcpcd[30891]: your IP address = 192.168.0.102
Jul 6 13:46:23 geko wpa_cli: interface eth1 DISCONNECTED
Jul 6 13:46:25 geko dhcpcd[30893]: terminating on signal 15 |
So I am confused about why things are not working smoothly.
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UberLord
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stardotstar
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| Posted: Thu Jul 06, 2006 9:43 am Post subject: |
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OK that is cool and I will work from that premise because I certainly believe you.
My question then is - how do I specify the network I want from a list of say 6?.. I can't seem to see the way that I can use the /etc/init.d/net.eth1 stop/start/restart script to choose the network I want to associate with - I must be missing something really basic.
Sorry to labor this so much but can you have a quick look at my /etc/conf.d/net and /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf (with all the networks) and suggest a way that I can readily and dynamically choose which AP I want at any given time...
When I have a list of APs the wrong one often associates even though when I run my scripts which only ever offer one they work just fine...
BTW the IPs do seem to be coming up just fine since the upgrades :thumbup:
| Code: |
geko stardotstar # cat /etc/conf.d/net
modules_eth0=( "ifconfig" )
modules_eth1=( "wpa_supplicant" )
wpa_supplicant_eth1="-Dwext -Ktdd -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf"
#wpa_supplicant_eth1="-Dwext -ieth1 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf"
wpa_timeout_eth1=60
modules=( "!iwconfig" )
fallback_eth0=( "192.168.0.200 netmask 255.255.255.0" )
fallback_route_eth0=( "default via 192.168.0.1" )
wpa_timeout_eth1=60
config_Casper=( "dhcp" )
#dhcpcd_Casper="-t 5"
config_skink=( "dhcp" )
#dhcpcd_skink="-t 5"
config_sentinel=( "dhcp" )
#config_sentinel=( "192.168.100.207 netmask 255.255.255.0" )
#routes_sentinel=( "default gw 192.168.100.1" )
config_evilhomer=( "dhcp" )
config_eth0=( "dhcp" )
config_eth1=( "dhcp" )
dhcpcd_eth0="-t 20"
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| Code: |
geko stardotstar # cat /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf_all
ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
ctrl_interface_group=0
eapol_version=2
ap_scan=2
update_config=1
network={
ssid="skink"
psk=2e7c34743ea19ece1074666e101996b3982a394102fcdb25be3bcac2735d1339
proto=WPA
key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
}
network={
ssid="sentinel"
key_mgmt=NONE
wep_key0=********
priority=2
}
network={
ssid="Casper"
key_mgmt=NONE
wep_key0="*****"
priority=3
}
network={
ssid="evilhomer"
key_mgmt=NONE
wep_key0=*****
priority=1
}
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Many thanks for all your help UberLord
Will
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UberLord
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stardotstar
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| Posted: Thu Jul 06, 2006 10:40 pm Post subject: |
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So, just to conclude this thread:
I really need to stick with my mini scripts or some such wpa_suopplicant.conf modifying approach if I want to manually select a particular network that is a lower priority than one of the available other networks in the wpa_supplicant.conf? ie wpa_supplicant handles automatic association of networks based only on priority and availability and not specification of a particular network (although wpa_cli should do this I can't seem to get it to work consistently - more exercises i guess)
Thanks again,
Will
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UberPinguin
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| Posted: Sun Sep 10, 2006 9:03 pm Post subject: |
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Try wlassistant. It will list any detected networks and let you choose which one to connect to - even if it's not configured in wpa_supplicant.conf (mine is empty). If you've never connected to that network before, a configuration dialog will appear. I haven't tried using it to dynamically switch between multiple networks, but it's worth a shot.
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Networking & Security
