WiFi: multiple SSIDs with different networks?

[gothbert]

Hi,

did not find the docs on wireless lan nor could I look it up in my current configuration due to lack of wireless adapter:

Is it possible with OPNsense to span 3 wireless networks with different SSIDs and connect them to 3 different firewall zones (LAN, Guest, IoT) on the same one and only wireless network card?

Kind regards,
Boris

[the-mk]

please read this first
https://forum.opnsense.org/index.php?topic=6886.0
then we talk about multiple SSIDs ;-)

[monstermania]

Hi,
i suggest you to us a wlan ap for wifi with OPNsense!
Many wlan ap supports multiple ssid ans vlan. With an wlan ap supporting multiple ssid and vlan there is no problem to make different wlans for your firewall zones.
The unifi ap from ubiquiti working very well.

Yes, principal it is possible to do multiple ssid with an internal wlan card, too. I do so with an AzureWave AE772 Card (Atheros 9280 Chipset). But the wifi card can work only with 2.4 or 5 Ghz! Also the wifi range was very bad. So i've change to an wlan ap. So i can work with multiple ssid on 2.4 and 5 Ghz.

best regards
Dirk

[gothbert]

please read this first
https://forum.opnsense.org/index.php?topic=6886.0
then we talk about multiple SSIDs ;-)

I did not know that article but I am aware of the limitations of FreeBSD 11. Fortunately OPNsense 20.1 is likely to be based on FreeBSD 12 which has support for 802.11ac. Apart from the current or future support for WiFi hardware, are multiple SSIDs supported in OPNsense today?

[gothbert]

i suggest you to us a wlan ap for wifi with OPNsense!

This is always an option but for the use case at hand but I am looking for a minimal compact solution. I could live with a single SSID and network and tame the IoT devices with firewall rules while continuing to use the upstream Fritzbox for providing the guest network.

[monstermania]

Apart from the current or future support for WiFi hardware, are multiple SSIDs supported in OPNsense today?

Yes, multiple ssid works with OPNsense. I've used it with OPNsense 18.1.x

Yes, principal it is possible to do multiple ssid with an internal wlan card, too. I do so with an AzureWave AE772 Card (Atheros 9280 Chipset). But the wifi card can work only with 2.4 or 5 Ghz!

[gothbert]

I did some research regarding supported cards which confirms that the situation as described in the post cited by the-mk is basically unchanged.

Although there seems to be support for 802.11ac in the FreeBSD 12.0 kernel, I did not find any 802.11ac M.2 cards that can be used as access points. Not sure if there are any working adapters (drivers) for 802.11ac access point setup at all that can be used with a mini-PC (APU or ZBox CI329), be them M.2 cards or USB adapters.

[newsense]

With Unify around, there's hardly any justification for continuous struggle and pain trying to bootstrap anything else into a working solution.


OPNsense can take care of the VLANs and push it down to a managed switch and in the Unify controller you assign VLANs to WLANs and switch ports accordingly. There is hardly anything better arround at this time.

Required gear: Unify Switch and AP - depending on needs there's plenty to choose from.

Optional: Cloudkey second gen - more useful in the + variant to run the AV controller for the cameras if needed. Both the AV controller and the Networking one can be ran as standard Java apps in windows or linux - arguably a linux vm would suffice.


Last but not least, Youtube has a few good channels regarding Unify setups behind pfSense so you can make an informed decision at the end of the day and build your OPNsense/Unify long term solution with ease.