Post 26.7.4 Wireless Issue

[TrustedComputer]

I didn't see the call-to-testing thread regarding the MVC/API migration for wireless until after upgrading to 26.7.4. I do use WiFi occasionally in my network as an access point (it's not on all the time). In the past, to enable it, it was necessary to (1) enable the WLAN interface, (2) toggle the mode from BSS to access point mode. This got it up and running and when done, I would (1) switch it back to BSS mode and then (2) disable the WLAN interface. The toggling between AP mode and BSS mode was necessary for clients to be able to connect.

Now, after 26.7.4 the old trick doesn't work anymore, nor does simply enabling the interface. In my troubleshooting, it seems to be necessary to enable the interface with the AP setting and then reboot the whole firewall. I'm hoping there's a way to fix this? It's not urgent as I don't use it very often, but it would be nice to have working right.

[franco]

Hi there,

This sounds like a buggy card at first glance and the underlying code didn't really change... so just to make sure:

Did you hit apply when changing between BSS/AP each time? Because only then the reconfiguration kicks in.


Cheers,
Franco

[TrustedComputer]

Thanks, franco. I guess talking about it helped. I had the idea to delete the interface and device and recreate them from scratch. After that, it seems I can now disable and enable the interface and it's working. Here is my guess on why that can happen now.... the field/setting for BSS vs. AP mode is now (after 26.7.4) on the wireless/devices page instead of the interfaces/edit page, so disabling/enabling the interface doesn't touch that anymore. As for why deleting and recreating the interface and device fixed it for me, I'd assume it's because there was something left over in the config from the pre-26.7.4 situation.

EDIT: I tested too quickly. While it's true I can disable the interface and re-enable it and it's working, I didn't check the behavior while it's still disabled. While the interface is disabled, the card is not actually turned off. The SSID is still broadcasting and clients can still connect but not get routed anywhere afterwords. So is there no way now to turn off the SSID besides deleting the wireless device or pulling out the physical USB adapter?

[franco]

If you disable the interface and hit apply wpa_supplicant should be stopped, or is that not the case? And if it's stopped the card will still keep advertising?

Again, the re-configuration logic should not have changed on stable.

Looking at the apply in the wireless we could also stop wpa_supplicant/hostapd and restart them on their attached interfaces. The refactoring is a bit crude in this area.


Cheers,
Franco