802.11s on DAP-2695

Hardware Questions and Recommendations
1

Finally I upgraded both my Dlink DAP-2695's to version 19.07.4 (from 18.06) and as it meant moving to another target I did some reading up first. After one small hick up both access-points now work as they should.

But reading up I came across articles about 802.11s and it appears my DAP-2695 is able to support that (although none of the D-Link documentation mentions it in the hardware specifications):

root@dap-beneden:~# iw list | grep "Supported interface modes" -A 9
        Supported interface modes:
                 * IBSS
                 * managed
                 * AP
                 * AP/VLAN
                 * monitor
                 * mesh point
                 * P2P-client
                 * P2P-GO
                 * outside context of a BSS
--
        Supported interface modes:
                 * IBSS
                 * managed
                 * AP
                 * monitor
                 * mesh point
                 * P2P-client
                 * P2P-GO
                 * P2P-device

So does this indeed mean that I can create a mesh 802.11s network with these 2 access-points using openwrt?

2

I now have a working Mesh for the 2.4Ghz network (including authentication). All configured using luci, works like a charm. Pretty happy with that.

I can't however get the 5Ghz to work and I read here on the forum that this might be ath10k driver related on a QCA9880.
So now I would like to make that work but sofar I have only been using the standard released image (openwrt-19.07.4-ar71xx-generic-dap-2695-a1-squashfs-sysupgrade.bin).
So I do not really understand how to: " try the "plain" ath10k driver and firmware." as mentioned.

  • Does it mean I need to compile my own image?
  • Or can I use different modules already available in the default image?
    This is loaded now:
lsmod | grep ath
ath                    18240  4 ath9k,ath9k_common,ath9k_hw,ath10k_core
ath10k_core           381040  1 ath10k_pci
ath10k_pci             30544  0 
ath9k                  95664  0 
ath9k_common           11232  1 ath9k
ath9k_hw              343488  2 ath9k,ath9k_common
cfg80211              221904  5 ath9k,ath9k_common,ath10k_core,ath,mac80211
compat                  5888  4 ath9k,ath9k_common,mac80211,cfg80211
mac80211              443840  2 ath9k,ath10k_core

I am a noob when it comes to openwrt but not when it comes to linux or compiling a custom kernel (although it was 10000 years ago that I did that :wink: )

Any pointers would be highly appreciated!

3

Hiya, yes it is the firmware driver that it is at issue. If you use the none Candela one it works like a charm. I have built the firmware if you want a copy otherwise I can send you the instructions on how to build the correct image using imagebuilder which is likely better as then you can tweak subsequent openwrt releases..

4

It might have been ages ago , but I am still interested. So if you have pointers for building the firmware: that would be great :slight_smile:

5

Sure, in short the the CT firmware doe not support RAW mode but the old drivers do. I used the following packages in imagebuilder to have a image that supports 802.11S
PACKAGES=-ath10k-firmware-qca988x-ct -kmod-ath10k-ct kmod-ath10k ath10k-firmware-qca988x kmod-batman-adv batctl-full -wpad-basic wpad-mesh-openssl luci nano

Note the above removes the CT packages as it is prefixed by a -. Then it adds the generic firmware.

Let me know if you need more or if you need the firmware itself.

Cheer
A

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