Is there a “newer” documention for creating a wireless backhaul?

Installing and Using OpenWrt
1

I setup my wireless bridge about 10years ago starting with TL-WR1043ND V1 and when I search the web the documention is from this time.

I got it working by editing configuration files with vi, but till today I don't understand how to do it with the web interface. Especially the wording of "master" and "client" is confusing me. For me "master" is the router, which is connected via ethernet to my Fritzbox dsl-router. The Fritzbox is not running openwrt. The routers which are not connected via ethernet, I would call "client". At the end the Webinterface shows it in an opposite way (the other way round it doesn't work). Not the big problem if it works, but strange, at least for me.

So I am searching for a checklist what I have to do with a fresh setup. Step by step everything explained and not configured by a "feeling".

Does anyone know a wiki, tutorial, whatever with a "newer" openwrt?

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WARNING: Relayd is rarely needed

This is more or less how do it with vi

There are a lot of other discussions, but always very old.

I want to read something for a totally new openwrt user, to find, what I could have forgotten to configure. Steps for the master and steps for the client. I remember a long time ago someone said that the documentation was not correct / outdated and followed his / her recommendation to do it a different way. It works with newer routers as I did it always with vi.

I assume there have been a lot of changes since 10 years, so maybe there is a new documentation, I did not find.

2

That documentation does still apply.

If you want to repeat the Fritz!Box' wifi, WDS is not going to be possible and you will have to look into relayd or routed-client setups.

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3

I am not interested to install openwrt with the Fritzbox. There is only an ethernet connection between the fritzbox and a 2nd dedicated openwrt router, which belongs to me.

Please give me a link, which i should read again, which explains everything step by step. I am really confused with this master and client wording, which works here.

If you want more info please let me know. In my wifi webinterface, the client is called master.

4

Still got not work to setup a wireless bridge with the webinterface using openwrt 23.05. It took a few minutes with an editor to work, but naming is confusing.

Here is what I did with a D-Link DAP-X1860 A1

Disabled in my linux box wifi and connected to the D-Link DAP-X1860 A1 via ethernet cable. My network is 192.168.178.x. The change of the network must be done before.

If not mentioned, everything is kept default.

/etc/config/network

Added in the section

config interface 'lan'
...
	option gateway '192.168.178.1'
	list dns '192.168.178.1'

Gateway and DNS uses a Fritzbox, which does not run openwrt.

Be careful what is radio0 and what radio1. With the DAP-X1860 radio0 is 2.4GHz, while with the Archer C7 radio1 is 2.4GHz with the default installation.

/etc/config/wireless

change option channel '1' zu '11' (is my default channel for all bridges)

change option ssid 'OpenWrt' to "SSID-2.4" and "SSID-5" (I don't use 5Ghz)

Set encryption, I used "mixed"
option encryption 'none' to option encryption 'sae-mixed' (for 2.4 and 5GHz section)

For WPA3 only use "sae".

Set password by adding a line below the 2 "sae-mixed"
option key 'MyPassword' (for 2.4 and 5GHz section)

Adding at the end:

config wifi-iface 'wifinet2'
	option device 'radio0'
	option ssid 'RouterToTheInternet'
	option encryption 'sae-mixed'
	option key 'MyPassword'
	option mode 'sta'
	option bssid 'CC:....:CA'
	option wds '1'
	option network 'lan'

This is the configuration for the 2nd router, which is wireless connected. IMHO I would call this master, but the webinterface says it is client, while the D-Link extender is named master.

wifi-device 'radio0' is not active now. You can remove the following line in section wifi-device 'radio0', but I prefer to do the activation via the webinterface in case I configured something wrong.

option disabled '1'

The wireless bridge using the 2.4GHz net works then, except I see the extender in the webinterface as master. Confusing for me, but it works.

Maybe it can make sense to change these options:

option country
option txpower

Don't forget to set dhcp and dns. See How to configure DNS and DHCP with a wireless bridge? - #5 by linuxuser

5

Now I configured a TP-Link Archer C7 more or less the same way as the D-Link before.

The big difference is, that 2.4GHz-net is now radio 1. Most things are inserted by copy and paste.

Internet works very very slow, but it works with the wireless bridge.

I tried to download iperf3 and I got a message like "check your internet connection".

Now I have no idea where to start.

ping 192.168.178.58
PING 192.168.178.58 (192.168.178.58) 56(84) bytes of data.
From 192.168.178.109 icmp_seq=1 Destination Host Unreachable

58 is the new installed Archer C7.

The strange thing is, that the Ubuntu network manager shows the SSID 2 times, once "SSID" and then "SSID 1", never saw that. My android phone shows the SSID only once.

6

Found the 1st bug,

and therefore I have to change the d-link configuration

with the Archer C7 to

option device 'radio1'

Hard to understand, why there was a very slow internet connection. I could read the forum.

Internet speed is a lot better now, but I still see the SSID 2 times.

Not very fast, but it works somehow between 2 wireless bridges.

[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate         Retr
[  5]   0.00-10.00  sec  21.2 MBytes  17.8 Mbits/sec    0             sender
[  5]   0.00-10.06  sec  20.1 MBytes  16.8 Mbits/sec                  receiver

I am still confused by the 2 SSIDs / access points, which I see in Ubuntu network manager.

7

I think this is harmless. It looks like this is created, when you change the security level. Then you have 2 entries, 1 for WPA2 und 1 for WPA3. You can delete it with the "-" sign in network manager.

9

Not sure what you mean.

e.g.

option path '1e140000.pcie/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.0/0000:02:00.0'

in /etc/config wireless?

10

That answer was supposed to go into a different thread/ topic, sorry for the confusion (deleting the above).

11

No problem. I started a new thread How to configure DNS and DHCP with a wireless bridge? as follow up. Could be difficult to find my problem. Most times working is never easy to solve.

12

Some clarification:
These are referring to the mode in which a particular radio interface is configured to work, and not to the router as a whole. As you know a physical radio can have multiple virtual interfaces, and a router can have multiple physical radios.
The terms "master" and "client" used in Luci are for the most part traditional and an artefact dating back to the origins of Luci.
Underneath, in the wireless config file, you will see option mode '...'.
Mode can be numerous things, the most usual being "ap", meaning "access point" and "sta", meaning station.

In summary:

  1. translate "master" to mean mode on a particular interface is set to "ap"
  2. translate "client" to mean mode on a particular interface is set to "sta"

Editing the config file directly is fine, but you should also look at the uci command line utility, OpenWrt's built in Unified Configuration Interface.

13

Thanks for the clarification, I translated it the other way. client was for my understanding the device which is not connvected via ethernet, master the device which connected via ethernet. In my thoghts the client was the device which connects wireless to the master. Ok not so easy for me think it the mentioned way, but now I know it is correct.

I think it is very easy to setup 1 wireless bridge, which works and the copy the content to the other bridges, of course changing oprions if necessary.

Obviously I forget some things too configure, although it works (more or less). Sometimes it is hard to remember after years, if there are different places with dhcp

option ignore '1'

is a lot easier to add on the right place.

14

More terminology that you are using that causes confusion.

All routers have a wireless bridge internally ie the bridge interface (by default br-lan) and this is often referred to as the "wireless bridge".

What you mean by "wireless bridge" is a wireless point to point link, providing backhaul to remote access points. This backhaul is always layer 2 and knows nothing of ip networks that invariably are carried on it.

So your title should perhaps be:
Is there a “newer” documention for creating a wireless backhaul?

Sure, but it is very easy to write a script using uci commands and copy that instead. A script can interrogate the config(s) of the device it is running on and make changes as required.

This is in fact the way it is done by OpenWrt images on first boot. See:

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