OpenWrt - Proxmox - RTL8192EU: only Client mode?

[Seraphin]

Hi everybody

I like to have an Wireless AP at my server in the cellar. So I'm able to look something up in the web, when I'm working there. It's more of a "nice to have/try" thing than a "must have", so I don't want to use a dedicated wireless accesspoint which would be the easiest solution. Anyway:

I'm using Proxmox VE on this server, and I managed to get OpenWRT (19.07.6, x68-64) working in a virtual machine there. I'm using a TP-Link TL-WN823N WLAN usb dongle as wifi device, passing it as usb device to the OpenWRT virtual machine. I already managed to install the Realtek rtl8192eu drivers, so that the dongle gets recognized by OpenWRT (kmod-rtl8xxxu, rtl8192eu-firmware, wpad/hostapd). But it is shown as "Generic 802.11bgn".

I can't start wifi if it's set to access point mode. If I change to client mode, it looks like wifi is working fine (didn't try to connect, just from showing the status information in LuCI).

I already searched the web, it looks like this USB dongle may simply just don't support access point mode. I'm not sure though, and as it's only recognized as generic I'd like to make sure it's really a hardware limit. Cause if it's just a problem with the driver itself, I still want to try to get it working, before buying another wifi device or skipping the idea.

I'm not that familiar with linux, but already got some experience using the terminal while using step-by-step tutorials.

Any advice?

[vgaetera]

Check the output from OpenWrt:

lsusb -v -v -t

[Seraphin]

Hi vgaetera

Thank you for your response.

Looks like I need to additionally clarify .... client mode doesn't work fine, but at least the NIC looks like to run?

But maybe I just misunderstand "Device is not active" versus "Channel: ? | Bitrate: ?" and both say, it's not working?
Looks like I've been thinking I where lucky with the correct working driver to early?

[vgaetera]

Also check this:

ls -l /sys/class/net /sys/class/net/*/device/driver; \
iw reg get; iw phy; iw dev; ip address show; uci show wireless

Possibly related thread:

Configuring TL-WN822N USB Wifi Adapter

USB WLAN chipsets are generally not AP mode compatible, respectively untested/ buggy when configured for AP mode and usually not made for 24/7 operations (overheating). Furthermore the tiny PCB antennas are detriment to (Mu-)MIMO and range. Do yourself a favour an either go with PCIe WLAN cards (ath9k, ath10k, mt76) or get a cheap (used) concurrent dual-band router to use as dedicated AP - that will be both cheaper and much more reliable/ faster/ longer range.

[Seraphin]

Unsure about security concerns for ip's and mac addresses in public, so I replaced them with *

"iw phy" shows only "managed" and "monitor" as options, looks like the usb dongle doesn't support "ap mode" then? I already found something like that in the web, just don't know if it (may be) read (mistakenly) from a (false) driver or if it's read from the hardware directly?

Thanks also for your posted link, found that one already too, but did just a very quick look then. But it looks like that this usb dongle can't do ap mode anyway and so it's not worth the effort to try to get the realtek driver running then?

ls -l /sys/class/net /sys/class/net/*/device/driver

lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root             0 Jan 30 12:29 /sys/class/net/eth0/device/driver -> ../../../../bus/virtio/drivers/virtio_net
lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root             0 Jan 30 12:29 /sys/class/net/wlan0/device/driver -> ../../../../../../../bus/usb/drivers/rtl8xxxu

/sys/class/net:
lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root             0 Jan 30 12:28 br-lan -> ../../devices/virtual/net/br-lan
lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root             0 Jan 30 12:28 eth0 -> ../../devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:12.0/virtio2/net/eth0
lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root             0 Jan 30 12:28 lo -> ../../devices/virtual/net/lo
lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root             0 Jan 30 12:28 wlan0 -> ../../devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1e.0/0000:01:1b.0/usb2/2-1/2-1:1.0/net/wlan0

iw reg get

country AT: DFS-ETSI
	(2400 - 2483 @ 40), (N/A, 20), (N/A)
	(5150 - 5250 @ 80), (N/A, 23), (N/A), NO-OUTDOOR, AUTO-BW
	(5250 - 5350 @ 80), (N/A, 20), (0 ms), NO-OUTDOOR, DFS, AUTO-BW
	(5470 - 5725 @ 160), (N/A, 26), (0 ms), DFS
	(5725 - 5875 @ 80), (N/A, 13), (N/A)
	(57000 - 66000 @ 2160), (N/A, 40), (N/A)

iw phy

	max # scan SSIDs: 4
	max scan IEs length: 2257 bytes
	max # sched scan SSIDs: 0
	max # match sets: 0
	max # scan plans: 1
	max scan plan interval: -1
	max scan plan iterations: 0
	RTS threshold: 2347
	Retry short limit: 7
	Retry long limit: 4
	Coverage class: 0 (up to 0m)
	Supported Ciphers:
		* WEP40 (00-0f-ac:1)
		* WEP104 (00-0f-ac:5)
		* TKIP (00-0f-ac:2)
		* CCMP-128 (00-0f-ac:4)
		* CCMP-256 (00-0f-ac:10)
		* GCMP-128 (00-0f-ac:8)
		* GCMP-256 (00-0f-ac:9)
	Available Antennas: TX 0 RX 0
	Supported interface modes:
		 * managed
		 * monitor
	Band 1:
		Capabilities: 0x6c
			HT20
			SM Power Save disabled
			RX HT20 SGI
			RX HT40 SGI
			No RX STBC
			Max AMSDU length: 3839 bytes
			No DSSS/CCK HT40
		Maximum RX AMPDU length 65535 bytes (exponent: 0x003)
		Minimum RX AMPDU time spacing: 16 usec (0x07)
		HT TX/RX MCS rate indexes supported: 0-15, 32
		Bitrates (non-HT):
			* 1.0 Mbps
			* 2.0 Mbps
			* 5.5 Mbps
			* 11.0 Mbps
			* 6.0 Mbps
			* 9.0 Mbps
			* 12.0 Mbps
			* 18.0 Mbps
			* 24.0 Mbps
			* 36.0 Mbps
			* 48.0 Mbps
			* 54.0 Mbps
		Frequencies:
			* 2412 MHz [1] (20.0 dBm)
			* 2417 MHz [2] (20.0 dBm)
			* 2422 MHz [3] (20.0 dBm)
			* 2427 MHz [4] (20.0 dBm)
			* 2432 MHz [5] (20.0 dBm)
			* 2437 MHz [6] (20.0 dBm)
			* 2442 MHz [7] (20.0 dBm)
			* 2447 MHz [8] (20.0 dBm)
			* 2452 MHz [9] (20.0 dBm)
			* 2457 MHz [10] (20.0 dBm)
			* 2462 MHz [11] (20.0 dBm)
			* 2467 MHz [12] (20.0 dBm)
			* 2472 MHz [13] (20.0 dBm)
			* 2484 MHz [14] (disabled)
	Supported commands:
		 * new_interface
		 * set_interface
		 * new_key
		 * start_ap
		 * new_station
		 * new_mpath
		 * set_mesh_config
		 * set_bss
		 * authenticate
		 * associate
		 * deauthenticate
		 * disassociate
		 * join_ibss
		 * join_mesh
		 * set_tx_bitrate_mask
		 * frame
		 * frame_wait_cancel
		 * set_wiphy_netns
		 * set_channel
		 * set_wds_peer
		 * probe_client
		 * set_noack_map
		 * register_beacons
		 * start_p2p_device
		 * set_mcast_rate
		 * testmode
		 * connect
		 * disconnect
		 * set_qos_map
		 * set_multicast_to_unicast
	Supported TX frame types:
		 * IBSS: 0x00 0x10 0x20 0x30 0x40 0x50 0x60 0x70 0x80 0x90 0xa0 0xb0 0xc0 0xd0 0xe0 0xf0
		 * managed: 0x00 0x10 0x20 0x30 0x40 0x50 0x60 0x70 0x80 0x90 0xa0 0xb0 0xc0 0xd0 0xe0 0xf0
		 * AP: 0x00 0x10 0x20 0x30 0x40 0x50 0x60 0x70 0x80 0x90 0xa0 0xb0 0xc0 0xd0 0xe0 0xf0
		 * AP/VLAN: 0x00 0x10 0x20 0x30 0x40 0x50 0x60 0x70 0x80 0x90 0xa0 0xb0 0xc0 0xd0 0xe0 0xf0
		 * mesh point: 0x00 0x10 0x20 0x30 0x40 0x50 0x60 0x70 0x80 0x90 0xa0 0xb0 0xc0 0xd0 0xe0 0xf0
		 * P2P-client: 0x00 0x10 0x20 0x30 0x40 0x50 0x60 0x70 0x80 0x90 0xa0 0xb0 0xc0 0xd0 0xe0 0xf0
		 * P2P-GO: 0x00 0x10 0x20 0x30 0x40 0x50 0x60 0x70 0x80 0x90 0xa0 0xb0 0xc0 0xd0 0xe0 0xf0
		 * P2P-device: 0x00 0x10 0x20 0x30 0x40 0x50 0x60 0x70 0x80 0x90 0xa0 0xb0 0xc0 0xd0 0xe0 0xf0
	Supported RX frame types:
		 * IBSS: 0x40 0xb0 0xc0 0xd0
		 * managed: 0x40 0xd0
		 * AP: 0x00 0x20 0x40 0xa0 0xb0 0xc0 0xd0
		 * AP/VLAN: 0x00 0x20 0x40 0xa0 0xb0 0xc0 0xd0
		 * mesh point: 0xb0 0xc0 0xd0
		 * P2P-client: 0x40 0xd0
		 * P2P-GO: 0x00 0x20 0x40 0xa0 0xb0 0xc0 0xd0
		 * P2P-device: 0x40 0xd0
	software interface modes (can always be added):
		 * monitor
	interface combinations are not supported
	HT Capability overrides:
		 * MCS: ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
		 * maximum A-MSDU length
		 * supported channel width
		 * short GI for 40 MHz
		 * max A-MPDU length exponent
		 * min MPDU start spacing
	Device supports TX status socket option.
	Device supports HT-IBSS.
	Device supports SAE with AUTHENTICATE command
	Device supports low priority scan.
	Device supports scan flush.
	Device supports AP scan.
	Device supports per-vif TX power setting
	Driver supports full state transitions for AP/GO clients
	Driver supports a userspace MPM
	Device supports configuring vdev MAC-addr on create.
	Supported extended features:
		* [ RRM ]: RRM
		* [ CQM_RSSI_LIST ]: multiple CQM_RSSI_THOLD records
		* [ CONTROL_PORT_OVER_NL80211 ]: control port over nl80211

iw dev

	Interface wlan0
		ifindex 5
		wdev 0x2
		addr d0:37:45:**:**:**
		type managed
		txpower 20.00 dBm

ip address show

    link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
    inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 ::1/128 scope host 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
2: eth0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc fq_codel master br-lan state UP qlen 1000
    link/ether 3e:21:79:**:**:** brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
4: br-lan: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc noqueue state UP qlen 1000
    link/ether 3e:21:79:**:**:** brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet 192.168.***.***/** brd 192.168.***.*** scope global br-lan
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 *:*:*:*:*/** scope global 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 *:*:*:*:*:*/** scope link 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
5: wlan0: <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP> mtu 1500 qdisc mq state DOWN qlen 1000
    link/ether d0:37:45:**:**:** brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff

uci show wireless

wireless.radio0.type='mac80211'
wireless.radio0.path='pci0000:00/0000:00:1e.0/0000:01:1b.0/usb2/2-1/2-1:1.0'
wireless.radio0.country='AT'
wireless.radio0.hwmode='11g'
wireless.radio0.htmode='HT20'
wireless.radio0.channel='1'
wireless.default_radio0=wifi-iface
wireless.default_radio0.device='radio0'
wireless.default_radio0.network='lan'
wireless.default_radio0.key='TestTest'
wireless.default_radio0.ssid='OpenWRT'
wireless.default_radio0.encryption='none'
wireless.default_radio0.mode='sta'

[slh]

@Seraphin

	Supported interface modes:
		 * managed
		 * monitor

This is explicit, AP mode is not listed == not available.

[Seraphin]

Thanks you too, I didn't know if that one was mistakenly by the driver.