Hello,
I am trying to build an 802.11s based mesh network of Raspberry Pis (RPi) with OpenWRT 21.02.0. I've been reading through the internet for days, but I'm simply stuck. There should be one main router based on a RPi 3B+ that connects to the internet via Ethernet. It then sets up an AP and a mesh node via a WLAN dongle.
The mesh clients are based on an RPi Zero. They also have a WLAN dongle and no further interfaces (no internal WLAN, Ethernet or Bluetooth). They also create a mesh point and an AP with the same settings as the main router.
Expected behavior:
Mobile devices (e.g. a tablet) can connect to the main router via it's AP and access the internet. If the tablet moves out of range of the main router and into range of a mesh client (which is in range of the AP), it will roam into the AP of the mesh client, still having internet access.
Actual behaviour:
So far, everything seems to work. But once I loose contact to the main router and stand in the vincinity of a mesh client, the tablet cannot connect to the mesh clients's AP (main router and mesh client see each other). It gets stuck at "obtaining IP address" forever. Also, when I select Network->Wireless in LuCI and look up the mesh clients under "Associated stations", it shows a "?" in the host column. That shouldn't be, should it?
I followed the the section "config" in the tutorial at https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/network/wifi/mesh/80211s. I omitted the section "Using the command line" as it just looked like an alternative way to the section "config".
Configuration files for the main router:
/etc/config/network
config interface 'loopback'
option ifname 'lo'
option proto 'static'
option ipaddr '127.0.0.1'
option netmask '255.0.0.0'
config globals 'globals'
option ula_prefix 'fdf9:1cbf:74a5::/48'
config interface 'lan'
option type 'bridge'
option ifname 'eth0'
option proto 'dhcp'
/etc/config/wireless
config wifi-device 'radio0'
option type 'mac80211'
option channel '36'
option hwmode '11a'
option path 'platform/soc/3f300000.mmc/mmc_host/mmc1/mmc1:0001/mmc1:0001:1'
option htmode 'VHT80'
option disabled '1'
config wifi-iface 'default_radio1'
option device 'radio1'
option mode 'ap'
option ssid 'OpenWrtMesh'
option encryption 'psk2'
option key 'secret'
option ft_over_ds '1'
option ft_psk_generate_local '1'
option ieee80211r '1'
option network 'lan'
config wifi-device 'radio1'
option type 'mac80211'
option channel '11'
option hwmode '11g'
option path 'platform/soc/3f980000.usb/usb1/1-1/1-1.3/1-1.3:1.0'
option htmode 'HT20'
config wifi-iface 'mesh'
option device 'radio1'
option mode 'mesh'
option mesh_id 'OWRTMesh'
option encryption 'none'
option mesh_fwding '1'
option mesh_rssi_threshold '0'
option network 'mesh lan'
Note that radio0 is the onboard wlan of the RPi. Since it doesn't support "mesh point" mode, I'm using an external dongle (radio1).
Configuration files for the mesh client:
/etc/config/network
config interface 'loopback'
option ifname 'lo'
option proto 'static'
option ipaddr '127.0.0.1'
option netmask '255.0.0.0'
config globals 'globals'
option ula_prefix 'fd72:359d:b759::/48'
config interface 'lan'
option type 'bridge'
option ifname 'wlan0-1'
option proto 'dhcp'
/etc/config/wireless
config wifi-device 'radio0'
option type 'mac80211'
option channel '36'
option hwmode '11a'
option path 'platform/soc/20980000.usb/usb1/1-1/1-1.1/1-1.1:1.0'
option htmode 'HT20'
config wifi-iface 'default_radio0'
option device 'radio0'
option mode 'ap'
option ssid 'OpenWrtMesh'
option encryption 'psk2'
option key 'secret'
option ft_over_ds '1'
option ft_psk_generate_local '1'
option ieee80211r '1'
option network 'lan'
config wifi-iface 'mesh'
option device 'radio0'
option mode 'mesh'
option mesh_id 'OWRTMesh'
option encryption 'none'
option network 'mesh lan'
"iw dev" on main router
phy#1
Interface wlan1-1
ifindex 9
wdev 0x100000005
addr 90:91:64:00:50:1f
ssid OpenWrtMesh
type AP
channel 11 (2462 MHz), width: 20 MHz, center1: 2462 MHz
txpower 20.00 dBm
Interface wlan1
ifindex 8
wdev 0x100000004
addr 90:91:64:00:50:1e
type mesh point
channel 11 (2462 MHz), width: 20 MHz, center1: 2462 MHz
txpower 20.00 dBm
phy#0
Interface wlan0
ifindex 3
wdev 0x1
addr b8:27:eb:2f:b2:74
type managed
channel 1 (2412 MHz), width: 20 MHz, center1: 2412 MHz
"iw dev" on mesh client
phy#0
Interface wlan0-1
ifindex 5
wdev 0x3
addr 90:8d:78:7c:b8:6a
ssid OpenWrtMesh
type AP
channel 11 (2462 MHz), width: 20 MHz, center1: 2462 MHz
txpower 20.00 dBm
Interface wlan0
ifindex 4
wdev 0x2
addr 90:8d:78:7c:b8:6b
type mesh point
channel 11 (2462 MHz), width: 20 MHz, center1: 2462 MHz
txpower 20.00 dBm
To sum it up: how do I have to change my configuration to achieve the expected behavior? If you need any other information, let me know.
Thanks and best regards.
