[MikMouse]

My wrt54gl running repeater works great but also has the client side renew problem. From my own testing it appears that the repeater randomly screws up messages received from the server on the internet side. The re-new action "unscrews" the repeater which then works fine for a while, then the router again stops sending messages from the server to the proper end user.

I hope this helps those who are trying to solve this problem.

An excellent test setup can be done using the pokerroom.com site. No registration is required to bring up a java script under Instant Play/Tournaments/sit-n-go/low. Go to a tournament, then a table. Every time the repeater looses connection the java script appears to have a timer that kicks in when it has not received a message from the pokerroom server within the programed time period. The java script then executes a program to "connect to server" and everything works fine for a while.

I wish I had the equipment/software to check the router operations used to direct the incomming message to the proper place. My guess is that someplace a flag is getting a random hit.

(edit) I forgot to note that the signal level (status page) on the repeater to gateway leg is normally -66, but it fluctuates randomly and the renew problem occurs when it hits -80 to -85. The computer to repeater signal remains constant (+-2db). Gateway is a Dl-624. Direct computer to gateway wireless connection is stable and has no dropout problem.

[louie]

marcjohnson, great howto.. thanks!
unfortunately i couldn't quite get it to work.. here's my scenario

My office building has a WEP encrypted Wireless LAN with SSID "SSC", this network leases IPs in the 192.168.2.0/24 subnet

i wanted to have my own private wireless network in my office, using the SSC wireless as an uplink
just imaging the WAN port connection on the router was actually wireless

so i configured the Physical interface with "SSC" as the SSID, with Security mode set to WEP and the key set to that of the SSC network (btw, do i put the key in the passphrase and generate keys, or do i just paste it in the key fields?)

then i configured a virtual interface with the SSID that i want for my private Wireless Network, and called it LOUIES_OFFICE, then i set it to be WPA-PSK encrypted

i disabled the firewall, set the connection type to DHCP, kept the IP of the router as 192.168.1.1 and DHCP server to lease IPs from 192.168.1.100 onwards, etc.. basically followed your guide and made sure i had a unique subnet.

now i went to my laptop, searched and found LOUIES_OFFICE, i connected to it and windows asked for the key, i typed my key (the one i used for my virtual interface WPA-PSK encryption) an voila... connected!

unfortunately though, i couldn't get an IP address :S.. i tried repairing the interface, restarted the router, etc.. everytime i connect, i just don't get an IP
i have DHCP enabled, and i saw it on the router with ps, running on br0 interface

furthermore, the router itself shows the WAN IP as 0.0.0.0 up in the web admin portal header.. i tried to release and renew the IP lease on the router.. and got nothing.

what am i missing here?
i'd really appreciate any help before i give up and buy a WET54G wireless bridge and plug that into the WAN Ehternet port..
i have to have this up and running ASAP :(


thanks in advance!

[wo-fo]

louie.....

This script does not work with WEP encryption on the WAN side, because it is programmed to only look for OPEN ACCESS POINTS!!

If you know exactly what your target AP is, then why do you want to scan for it? Just turn off the scanning and forget about it.. Then you can get the connection established FIRST WITH CLIENT MODE... which is really EXACTLY LIKE REPEATER MODE.. only you only have a wired LAN output instead of WLAN also..

So get it going to that point right now, which should be a basic task.. Then change to repeater mode while leaving all of the previous settings in place, only now add the downlink side of things and setup your virtual ssid's and so forth for the wireless lan that will be created when you reboot it with repeater mode enabled...

This should have you up and running.. In your case, don't get bogged down in the autoap scan script if you know exactly what access point you want to connect to and what its encryption key is...

I hope this helps...

wo-fo

[louie]

Thanks for the response wo-fo
i didn't use the auto-ap scripts as i figured they're redundant for me, so i set the SSID of the repeated network manually.

From the Wireless info-> Site survey, i tried to "Join" the repeated network to no avail.. it kept saying "successfully joined" and forwards me to the wireless settings page, but it didn't seem like the two routers sent a single packet to each others.

so i reset to factory defaults, plugged a laptop into Ethernet 1, set the laptop network connection to be auto-configurable, and started the router up..
i set the Wireless network conection to Client mode, set the SSID to be the same as the main network, and the wireless security settings also..

now what?
would the router connect to the remote network right away? because that didn't seem to be the case.. i waited and waited.. then a ping to any IP outside my own subnet gave a "Destination net unreachable" error from my own router

finally, regarding my DHCP problem, i realized that the moment i enable encryption on the virtual interface' SSID, DHCP stops working..
seems like a bug to me, someone please confirm

[marcjohnson]

MikMouse: thanks so much for the testing and sharing the results, and even performing some analysis with a novel workaround.

In summary: we are both seeing the intermittent renew-requirement on the client side in repeater mode.

From a technical perspective, I am intrigued by why a client re-new action "unscrews" (nice word choice) the repeater internally. It does not seem to be a client-side problem, yet a client-side action helps.

Some additional testing I did to eliminate variables: I connected via static IP (no DHCP). Still requires renew. After connecting via static IP, I did a "kill -9" on the DHCP Server and DNS Masq to be sure. No behavior change.

One scenario that seems to help: drop the client lease time to 1 minute, and setup a streaming connection (like internet radio). The repeater "holds on" better... sometimes all night.

I hope testing will narrow this down more so the code fix is clear... or at least a repeater script could "unscrew" automatically.

[marcjohnson]

hi louie: wo-fo's recommendation to first setup client-bridge mode is the way to troubleshoot your problem. i.e. :

1) connect via client-bridge mode, without virtual interfaces, and using an ethernet connection on client side. Get WPA-PSK working. Client-bridge mode is extremely well tested and characterized and should work. (If client-bridge doesn't work, then there is a deeper problem beyond the repeater mode - like a security setting or incompatibility.)

2) Once client-bridge mode works, switch to repeater mode and add virtual interfaces - first without security on the virtual interface.

3) Then add security to the vi...

Hope this helps,
MJ

[marcjohnson]

wo-fo mentions autoap (a favorite thread I subscribe to). For dynamic wifi connections (client-bridged or repeated) based on some intelligent metric (like signal strength), be sure to contribute to the autoap thread:

http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=6575&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

One possible application of autoap (with instructions how to get it going) is in the UWR wiki article.

[louie]

[louie]

[marcjohnson]

louie: maybe you already checked this - but did you set the "local IP address" to a unique subnet (different than the network you wish to repeat)?

Other than that, it looks like it should work. If no one else chimes in here, maybe check out this forum dedicated to the client-bridge topic:

http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=68

I notice some postings there about how some security/encryption modes work better for this than others. For example, atomicblue wrote "I was able to choose WPA PSK only (1 not 2) and was able to connect just fine after that."

Please post back when you get it going.

[louie]

Marc, again thanks for the reply
well the main wireless subnet is 192.168.2.0/24
so i kept the default settings on my linksys router, being 192.168.1.0/24 with the router's IP being 192.168.1.1

what i wanna know is, if the configuration is correct, what exactly should i expect to see?
i mean, how can i tell if my router is actually logging in to the other wireless network as a client? i've enabled syslog and i see absolutely NOTHING related.. only DHCP discovers all the time!

[dicksons]

louie,

if your client setup and connection to the AP is successful, then you should be able to confirm it on the status/wireless page as being associated to the AP.

you should also be able to ping ( or browse ) to the main AP and on thru to the Internet if that's availible from the 192.168.2.0/24 subnet from a computer wired to the client router's LAN port

Like wo-fo says, get that all working first before going any farther.

[wo-fo]

I think he just needs CLIENT MODE, not Client Bridge Mode, because the routing is different with bridge mode and doesn't have the second NAT, which is going to come into play right away when switching to Repeater Mode..

I didn't say to use Client Bridge Mode, go back and read it VERY CAREFULLY again... it says to set it up as a CLIENT MODE CONNECTION first...

Then keep doing like Marc says and build it up step by step from the uplink with the WPA, the the repeater mode with the downlink ssids setup with no encryption to get things going.. Then add the encryption to the virtual interfaces as the final step..

Also, like Marc says again also, if you can't get the uplink established to the target AP, then you have an issue with the keys and how you are generating them... This has to be setup first or you can't proceed any further..

I also don't think a wet54g would do any better at all for this task.. The best unit for this software and your purposes is the Buffalo WHR-HP-G54...

Take care...

p.s.: Hey Dicksons!! How are you?? This is CD.. I did get interviewed by the local TV station, only it wasn't Brittany who did the interview, along with other news channels, the associated press, local newspaper, etc...They all called me.. I didn't have to call them.. I just floated a trial balloon saying I was going to launch the network publically and they came calling.. I also got the contract to stream the local community FM radio station over the network...

Take care and I hope you are doing well....

wo-fo

[louie]

I connected to the main Access point in the building and copied all 4 WEP keys as is.
the building's access point is 192.168.2.1, and runs a DHCP subnet of 192.168.2.0/24

i reset my access point to defaults.. kept the IP, subnet and DHCP settings as they're on a different subnet than the building (192.168.1.0 vs 192.168.2.0)
set the WAN connection to DHCP
set the Wireless connections' SSID to that of the building, and the mode to client

i went ahead to the Wireless security tab, and set the encryption for the primary wireless interface (which carries the building's SSID) to 64 bit WEP, and set the 4 keys exactly as they are on the building access point (copy/pasted from the web portal.. which doesn't mask passwords)

as an additional step, i also disabled the firewall.. the wireless status page shows nothing more than my settings..
no nodes connected below..
i hit the "site survey" button, found the building WAP.. i clicked Join, and seconds later, it said "successfully joined" and took me back to the wireless settings page, which had the same SSID i chose before, with the mode as Client.. so basically nothing changed
anyway, i saved.. then rebooted the router even..
still nothing

i can't ping from the router's shell.. i can't ping from a laptop connected to the ethernet port either

i'm obviously chasing my tail here, as this is the same status i came with on my very first post.

i've enabled syslog, but it shows nothing related to establishing, or even attempting to establish a client mode connection to the remote AP.

i need to debug this and see exactly where i'm going wrong.. how can i go on about doing that?

sorry this is dragging on guys.
thanks for all the help

[wo-fo]

I'll bet you a dollar to a donut that it is as simple as you insisting on leaving the client router at the default IP subnet of 192.168.1.1 ........

The reason is because of this... The default gateway of the router in the other building IS MOST LIKELY ALSO 192.168.1.1 ...... So your Client router you are using to connect the two together is confusing the living hell out of the other router, becasue it has a matching subnet on two different lans, but both coming together at the same point...

In other words, you have it setup like this:

Original internet Source for company: 192.168.1.1/24
|
|
V
Target Access Point in other bulding with WPA: 192.168.2.1/24
|
|
V
Your new CLIENT MODE router with dd-wrt: 192.168.1.1/24


Now, does that make much sense to you still? Do you see how this is confusing things and why this will not work? You had a different subnet than the target AP, true.. But the reason you generally pick a higher number is because a rule of thumb is that usually the lower numbers are already in use in the network somewhere.. This is a way to keep track of things in networks as you build and expand them...

Like I always say, "Choose a convention and stick with it, and it will all come out fine".... I don't care which way you go with something, but once you start a pattern, stick with it to the end...

Start over and make the third octet of your subnet be a higher number than the default gateway, or pick an entirely different addressing scheme.. Example: 192.168.3.1/24... This exact issue is why there are posts all over this forum suggesting to simply change up the whole scheme to something 10.10.10.1/24 or something like that...

Play around some more and let us know what happens....

Take care,
wo-fo