No combination possible (AP + managed) on RPi 4

[avanmalleghem]

Hello,

I would like to use the Alfa AWUS036ACS to create an hotspot connection and a wifi connection on a virtual interface. So having both an AP and a managed connection working in parallel on this chipset.

To do so, I ran the commands provided by the official documentation - raspberry section on a freshly installed RPi (Release date : March 15th 2024 - 64 bits) on which I disabled the embedded wifi interface.

The driver seems correctly installed. Unfortunately, I can't create a virtual interface. When I use the following command :

sudo iw dev wlan0 interface add wlan1 type managed

I have the output command failed: Operation not supported (-95)

Here is the output of iw list :

Wiphy phy0
    wiphy index: 0
    max # scan SSIDs: 9
    max scan IEs length: 2304 bytes
    max # sched scan SSIDs: 0
    max # match sets: 0
    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)
        * CMAC (00-0f-ac:6)
    Available Antennas: TX 0x1 RX 0x1
    Supported interface modes:
         * IBSS
         * managed
         * AP
         * monitor
         * P2P-client
         * P2P-GO
    Band 1:
        Capabilities: 0x1972
            HT20/HT40
            Static SM Power Save
            RX Greenfield
            RX HT20 SGI
            RX HT40 SGI
            RX STBC 1-stream
            Max AMSDU length: 7935 bytes
            DSSS/CCK HT40
        Maximum RX AMPDU length 65535 bytes (exponent: 0x003)
        Minimum RX AMPDU time spacing: 16 usec (0x07)
        HT Max RX data rate: 150 Mbps
        HT TX/RX MCS rate indexes supported: 0-7
        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] (20.0 dBm)
    Band 2:
        Capabilities: 0x1972
            HT20/HT40
            Static SM Power Save
            RX Greenfield
            RX HT20 SGI
            RX HT40 SGI
            RX STBC 1-stream
            Max AMSDU length: 7935 bytes
            DSSS/CCK HT40
        Maximum RX AMPDU length 65535 bytes (exponent: 0x003)
        Minimum RX AMPDU time spacing: 16 usec (0x07)
        HT Max RX data rate: 150 Mbps
        HT TX/RX MCS rate indexes supported: 0-7
        VHT Capabilities (0x03c03122):
            Max MPDU length: 11454
            Supported Channel Width: neither 160 nor 80+80
            short GI (80 MHz)
            SU Beamformee
            +HTC-VHT
        VHT RX MCS set:
            1 streams: MCS 0-9
            2 streams: not supported
            3 streams: not supported
            4 streams: not supported
            5 streams: not supported
            6 streams: not supported
            7 streams: not supported
            8 streams: not supported
        VHT RX highest supported: 434 Mbps
        VHT TX MCS set:
            1 streams: MCS 0-9
            2 streams: not supported
            3 streams: not supported
            4 streams: not supported
            5 streams: not supported
            6 streams: not supported
            7 streams: not supported
            8 streams: not supported
        VHT TX highest supported: 434 Mbps
        VHT extended NSS: not supported
        Bitrates (non-HT):
            * 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:
            * 5075 MHz [15] (30.0 dBm)
            * 5080 MHz [16] (30.0 dBm)
            * 5085 MHz [17] (30.0 dBm)
            * 5090 MHz [18] (30.0 dBm)
            * 5100 MHz [20] (30.0 dBm)
            * 5120 MHz [24] (30.0 dBm)
            * 5140 MHz [28] (30.0 dBm)
            * 5160 MHz [32] (30.0 dBm)
            * 5180 MHz [36] (30.0 dBm)
            * 5200 MHz [40] (30.0 dBm)
            * 5220 MHz [44] (30.0 dBm)
            * 5240 MHz [48] (30.0 dBm)
            * 5260 MHz [52] (30.0 dBm)
            * 5280 MHz [56] (30.0 dBm)
            * 5300 MHz [60] (30.0 dBm)
            * 5320 MHz [64] (30.0 dBm)
            * 5340 MHz [68] (30.0 dBm)
            * 5360 MHz [72] (30.0 dBm)
            * 5380 MHz [76] (30.0 dBm)
            * 5400 MHz [80] (30.0 dBm)
            * 5420 MHz [84] (30.0 dBm)
            * 5440 MHz [88] (30.0 dBm)
            * 5460 MHz [92] (30.0 dBm)
            * 5480 MHz [96] (30.0 dBm)
            * 5500 MHz [100] (30.0 dBm)
            * 5520 MHz [104] (30.0 dBm)
            * 5540 MHz [108] (30.0 dBm)
            * 5560 MHz [112] (30.0 dBm)
            * 5580 MHz [116] (30.0 dBm)
            * 5600 MHz [120] (30.0 dBm)
            * 5620 MHz [124] (30.0 dBm)
            * 5640 MHz [128] (30.0 dBm)
            * 5660 MHz [132] (30.0 dBm)
            * 5680 MHz [136] (30.0 dBm)
            * 5700 MHz [140] (30.0 dBm)
            * 5720 MHz [144] (30.0 dBm)
            * 5745 MHz [149] (30.0 dBm)
            * 5765 MHz [153] (30.0 dBm)
            * 5785 MHz [157] (30.0 dBm)
            * 5805 MHz [161] (30.0 dBm)
            * 5825 MHz [165] (30.0 dBm)
            * 5845 MHz [169] (30.0 dBm)
            * 5865 MHz [173] (30.0 dBm)
            * 5885 MHz [177] (30.0 dBm)
    Supported commands:
         * set_interface
         * new_key
         * start_ap
         * new_station
         * set_bss
         * join_ibss
         * set_pmksa
         * del_pmksa
         * flush_pmksa
         * remain_on_channel
         * frame
         * set_wiphy_netns
         * set_channel
         * connect
         * disconnect
    WoWLAN support:
         * wake up on anything (device continues operating normally)
    software interface modes (can always be added):
         * monitor
    interface combinations are not supported
    Device supports SAE with AUTHENTICATE command
    Device supports scan flush.
    max # scan plans: 1
    max scan plan interval: -1
    max scan plan iterations: 0
    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
         * 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
    Supported RX frame types:
         * IBSS: 0xd0
         * managed: 0x40 0xb0 0xd0
         * AP: 0x00 0x20 0x40 0xa0 0xb0 0xc0 0xd0
         * AP/VLAN: 0x00 0x20 0x40 0xa0 0xb0 0xc0 0xd0
         * P2P-client: 0x40 0xd0
         * P2P-GO: 0x00 0x20 0x40 0xa0 0xb0 0xc0 0xd0
    Supported extended features:

I tried on both USB2 and USB3 and kept the default options of the driver.

I tried it on a Jetson Orin Nano and had the same result. Why I think it should work is because it works on a Jetson Nano and the driver directly included in the kernel modules (kernel 4.9 - Jetpack 4.6.1). So I guess I do something wrong ?

For your information, I tried with the other driver and had the almost same issue (not the same response from iw dev) : https://github.com/morrownr/8821au-20210708/issues/129 Thanks in advance for your help.