Manual Wireless Association: Difference between revisions

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==Step-by-Step with iwconfig==
==Step-by-Step with iwconfig==
* Switch to a virtual terminal by pressing Ctl+Alt+F1
* Switch to a virtual terminal by pressing Ctrl+Alt+F1 (Ctrl+Alt+[[Image:Mesh key f1 small.png]])
* Log in as user 'root' with no password
* Log in as user 'root' with no password
* Stop NetworkManager and network scripts
* Stop NetworkManager and network scripts

<pre>
service NetworkManager stop
service NetworkManager stop
service network stop
service network stop

</pre>
* Use iwconfig to connect, replacing the 'essid' and key as necessary
* Use iwconfig to connect, replacing the 'essid' and key as necessary

<pre>
iwconfig eth0 essid "my-ssid"
iwconfig eth0 essid "my-ssid"

</pre>
or for WEP:
or for WEP:

<pre>
iwconfig eth0 essid "my-ssid" key aaffbbcc667788112233449900
iwconfig eth0 essid "my-ssid" key aaffbbcc667788112233449900

</pre>
* Wait a second or two, then do the following and see if the "Access Point:" and "ESSID" are set to valid values
* Wait a second or two, then do the following and see if the "Access Point:" and "ESSID" are set to valid values

<pre>
iwconfig eth0
iwconfig eth0
eth0 IEEE 802.11b ESSID:"mmy-ssid"
eth0 IEEE 802.11b ESSID:"mmy-ssid"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.437 GHz Access Point: 00:20:44:5a:b1:a4
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.437 GHz Access Point: 00:20:44:5a:b1:a4
Bit Rate:11 Mb/s Tx-Power=20 dBm Sensitivity=8/0
Bit Rate:11 Mb/s Tx-Power=20 dBm Sensitivity=8/0
Retry limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Retry limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Power Management:off
Power Management:off
Link Quality=85/100 Signal level=-45 dBm Noise level=-82 dBm
Link Quality=85/100 Signal level=-45 dBm Noise level=-82 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:7
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:7

</pre>
* Wait another 10 seconds or so, and run 'iwconfig' again to ensure the connection is still active
* Wait another 10 seconds or so, and run 'iwconfig' again to ensure the connection is still active
* Try to acquire a DHCP address
* Try to acquire a DHCP address

<pre>
/sbin/dhclient -1 eth0
/sbin/dhclient -1 eth0

</pre>
* If the "Access Point:" value is still a valid MAC address (ie, it is _not_ all 0s), the connection is still alive
* If the "Access Point:" value is still a valid MAC address (ie, it is _not_ all 0s), the connection is still alive


* Switch back to the GUI by pressing Ctl+Alt+F3
* Switch back to the GUI by pressing Ctrl+Alt+F3 ((Ctrl+Alt+[[Image:Home key f3 small.png]])


==Step-by-step with wpa_supplicant==
==Step-by-step with wpa_supplicant==

Revision as of 13:18, 4 January 2008

Testing Wireless Connectivity

It's sometimes useful to test out manual connections to access points to help us debug the driver and wireless networking software. First test with plain 'iwconfig' tools, then with 'wpa_supplicant'. WPA and WPA2 are not currently supported, but will be in the future.

Step-by-Step with iwconfig

  • Switch to a virtual terminal by pressing Ctrl+Alt+F1 (Ctrl+Alt+Mesh key f1 small.png)
  • Log in as user 'root' with no password
  • Stop NetworkManager and network scripts
service NetworkManager stop
service network stop
  • Use iwconfig to connect, replacing the 'essid' and key as necessary
iwconfig eth0 essid "my-ssid"

or for WEP:

iwconfig eth0 essid "my-ssid" key aaffbbcc667788112233449900
  • Wait a second or two, then do the following and see if the "Access Point:" and "ESSID" are set to valid values
iwconfig eth0
eth0      IEEE 802.11b  ESSID:"mmy-ssid"  
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.437 GHz  Access Point: 00:20:44:5a:b1:a4   
          Bit Rate:11 Mb/s   Tx-Power=20 dBm   Sensitivity=8/0  
          Retry limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality=85/100  Signal level=-45 dBm  Noise level=-82 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:7
  • Wait another 10 seconds or so, and run 'iwconfig' again to ensure the connection is still active
  • Try to acquire a DHCP address
/sbin/dhclient -1 eth0
  • If the "Access Point:" value is still a valid MAC address (ie, it is _not_ all 0s), the connection is still alive
  • Switch back to the GUI by pressing Ctrl+Alt+F3 ((Ctrl+Alt+Home key f3 small.png)

Step-by-step with wpa_supplicant

  • Switch to a virtual terminal by pressing Ctl+Alt+F1
  • Log in as user 'root' with no password
  • Stop NetworkManager and network scripts
service NetworkManager stop
service network stop
  • Create a wpa_supplicant config file for your network in /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf. It should look something like this:
cat <<EOF > /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
ctrl_interface_group=0
ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
eapol_version=1
ap_scan=1
fast_reauth=1
network={
        ssid="my-ssid"
        key_mgmt=NONE
        auth_alg=OPEN
}
<press Ctrl+D here>
  • Run wpa_supplicant like this:
/usr/sbin/wpa_supplicant -ddd -ieth0 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -Dwext -o local0
  • You should see lines like:
wpa_supplicant[1710]: State: ASSOCIATING -> ASSOCIATED
wpa_supplicant[1710]: Associated to a new BSS: BSSID=00:cc:aa:34:56:12
  • In any case, please copy /var/log/messages and attach it to a bug report
cd /root
cp /var/log/messages wpa_supplicant-log.txt
bzip2 wpa_supplicant-log.txt

Attach the file /root/wpa_supplicant-log.txt.bz2 to the bug.