with external router should be able to connect to Internet access point

[panosnethood]

When I connect my Raspberry Pi 3 to an external router, it would be nice if I could use the internal antenna of the Raspberry Pi 3 for connecting to another Internet WiFi.

Edit: I refer to this scenario: https://github.com/mazi-project/guides/wiki/External-OpenWRT-router

[panosnethood]

Hi, I see you added a milestone for later for this one, so perhaps we could create two separate boxes in the dashboard to make it clear that the USB dongle and the router are used for a different purpose.

This might need also a nice figure (showing the two different wireless links that can be established through the Raspberry Pi), which I will try to include in the guidelines.

[deckspace]

In this 'annexed' mode, where wireless access is offered via an external router, how will the mazi PI connect to a router - wired or wireless? If the built in PI wlan is not used to offer wireless access then it will available to use for WAN uplink connections, so just a toggle between wlan0 and eth0 will be needed when setting the WAN uplink and not a secondary wlan adapter. When annexed via eth0, the wlan0 adapter will not be needed at all and should remain unallocated or be shut off.

offline | wlan0 + eth0 - hotspot | wlan + eth0 + managed | white list...? what is the idea for this? annexed | wlan0 - eth0 + (or visa versa)

Perhaps look at how these interface connection issues are handled in a dedicated router - dd-wrt and open-wrt configurations present different methods.

With mazitoolkit in offline mode it remains possible to gain access to an internet gateway via ethernet or wifi port (if it's active) which is useful imho. However in the dual (fails to describe the functionality) 'hotspot' mode, the lack of even an initial (one off mac address harvesting) splashscreen for those connecting remains problematic in most circumstances as users still need to find the portal page. We need to decide what is really needed..

To utilise an external (mesh) router for wireless access to the mazi toolkit, several ducks need to be lined up. The allocated IP number/hostname for the mazi needs to be known or announced - by mdns or ddns else how will anyone ever locate it? This also implies the said router will need to do this advertising of the DHCP IP allocation. Setting the hostname of the mazi will be useful for this.. but there are still gaps in the thinking..

what if the PI wlan0 is used for uplink connection as described above but there is a requirement to connect another local device via it's eth0 ?

some scenario experimentation needed.

[panosnethood]

I am not sure I can follow what you propose. This issue refers to the fact that when an external OpenWRT router is attached to the Raspberry Pi it replaces the internal AP of the Raspberry Pi, which then stays "useless".

What I propose is to be able to use in this scenario the internal AP to connect to an external (Internet) AP, the same way the 2nd USB WiFi dongle is used (when an external router plays the role of the MAZI Zone's AP).

This does not have to do anything with meshing or other operating "modes" and the existence of an ethernet interface, but only using all the available resources on the Raspberry Pi to offer the already available functionality (in this case "dual" mode when two wireless interfaces are present).

[deckspace]

I am not sure I follow what you propose!

my impression was that you wanted to make the mazi PI a client of an external router which does the job of offering wireless access instead of the mazi PI so that requests for it's services can successfully be routed...?

the builtin wireless adapter of the PI - wlan0 can be used instead of the eth0 (wired port) when connecting to and external router. A secondary wlan usb adapter is not required in this case.

I only included the mesh reference as I suspected this was on your mind but it doesn't make any difference really. The issue is, how will some one seeking services(portal or tools) on the mazi PI discover it's location without knowledge of the DHCP IP number issued to it by the external router..even if they are also connected in the same LAN? There are ways but these don't yet feature in any of the mazi proposals or discussions. How will this information be advertised?

my understanding of the dual mode allows the wlan0 to offer eth0 as a gateway to internet, not specifically when a second wlan adapter is added..

offline mode unbridges this link between the two local network adapters for users connected via wlan0 but still allows for outbound connections requested from the Mazi PI eg. update software. if an ethernet cable is attached. Try that out if you haven't already.

actually if you are in offline mode and set up a secondary wlan adapter (usb) it can be connected to a local wireless gateway for use when updating software.. and in dual mode offer this wireless link as internet gateway a feature I know you already use a lot.

easy

James

bored with xmas

On 27/12/2017 19:46, panayotis wrote:

I am not sure I can follow what you propose. This issue refers to the fact that when an external OpenWRT router is attached to the Raspberry Pi it replaces the internal AP of the Raspberry Pi, which then stays "useless".

What I propose is to be able to use in this scenario the internal AP to connect to an external (Internet) AP, the same way the 2nd USB WiFi dongle is used (when an external router plays the role of the MAZI Zone's AP).

This does not have to do anything with meshing or other operating "modes" and the existence of an ethernet interface, but only using all the available resources on the Raspberry Pi to offer the already available functionality (in this case "dual" mode when two wireless interfaces are present).

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[panosnethood]

I refer to this scenario: https://github.com/mazi-project/guides/wiki/External-OpenWRT-router

(if you try it, it will be easier to understand what I mean)

[deckspace]

Oh this needs un-muddling and clarifying ...

Since v.2 it is very easy to connect your MAZI Zone to an external router running OpenWRT. This will allow you to increase the performance of your access network, and also expand its coverage.

why/how does it do this..? it is indeed very easy to connect to ANY router what's special about OpenWRT?

For this you will need this OpenWRT backup file, which will transform an OpenWRT Router (this is tried fow now with the TP-link mr-3020) to an Access Point (AP) for a raspberry pi board.

this is confusing.. We are uploading n OpenWRT backup file to the Mazi Pi in dual mode ?

Below you will find a guide in order to upload the backup file on Router mr-3020.

!!Attention !! You should have OpenWrt firmware on Router mr-3020 (guidelines on how to do this will be made available soon).

Backup Guide

    Connect the router to his power supply and plug it to your computer by ethernet     Go to 192.168.1.1 with your browser (in the URL tab).     Click System in the menu bar, and then select Backup/Flash Firmware from the list of the results.

So we back up the existing settings of openWRT to a laptop or PC?

In Backup/Restore section select the OpenWrt-mr3020.tar file and then click the upload archive...

now we upload the .tar to where.. the mazi toolkit ..? this is not at all clear. if we upload to a MR-3020 nothing has changed..?

Your Router is ready. Now you can use that as an AP.

To connect the raspberry pi to the router, connect the router to the power through the USB port of raspberry pi. Then plug it with raspberry pi by ethernet cable.

Browse the Admin Panel of the mazizone toolkit (local.mazizone.eu/admin), go to Networking in the left menu, and then you will be able to see the choice Toggle Device, through which you can start an AP in a router device. When you choose the Toggle Device option the router activates an AP with ssid: mazizone-OpenWrt. You should connect to that network in order to have access to the main portal page of the mazizone toolkit.

the toggle device section remains greyed out..

Unfortunately, every time you want to change device of AP between raspberry pi and router, you should reconfigure the WIFI AP settings. BUT, for MAZI toolkit images after v.2, that configurations are automatically being transfered between two devices. So when you change device the WIFI AP settings remain the same.

so this process makes use of the MR-3020 as an external wireless AP offering wifi access to clients instead of Mazi Pi OR is it just offering ethernet access to wlan clients of the maziPi?

confusing..

easy

James

On 27/12/2017 20:21, panayotis wrote:

I refer to this scenario: https://github.com/mazi-project/guides/wiki/External-OpenWRT-router

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[panosnethood]

It does not sound so confusing to me, but in any case there is already an issue to clarify this situation better: https://github.com/mazi-project/guides/issues/4

Perhaps you could wait until then and do not use this feature in the mean time :-) (non-expert users wouldn't attempt it either I am sure)

[juliobrome]

Hello, for me it's not clear too. I use an external router with openWRT (it's a GL-i ARM300M16) and when i plug it to my raspberry, the switch device still grey... I try starting over, erasing all my zone from scratch, idem with the router but it still grey. i can't find more explanations or some settings to do in my admin (or the shell with ssh). I have the same router than in the guide, the TPlink 3020, but the V3 of this routeur was not compatible with openWRT !