pump fails with SSID broadcast disabled


Forum: Networking
Topic: pump fails with SSID broadcast disabled
started by: oobleck

Posted by oobleck on Feb. 08 2008,22:35
After plenty of trial and error (mostly error) I had wireless networking running nicely under DSL.  Then as a security measure I disabled the SSID broadcast on my wireless router, which caused the network to fail.  Specfically,  the "pump -i wlan0" gives a result of "operation failed".  Here's the script that starts the networking:

Code Sample
sudo modprobe ndiswrapper
sleep 2
sudo /usr/sbin/wpa_supplicant -B -dd -c /opt/wpa.conf -i wlan0 -D ndiswrapper
sleep 5
sudo iwconfig wlan0 essid <ssid>
sleep 2
sudo pump -i wlan0


Here's the WPA config file:
Code Sample
network={
ssid="<ssid>"
psk="*****"
}


Everything appears to be OK until the "pump" command.  Since I'm specifying the SSID in the WPA config file and the iwconfig command it seems like the SSID broadcast shouldn't be needed.  So am I missing something simple here?  (In case it's not obvious, I'm new to both linux and networking.)

--
oobleck

Posted by curaga on Feb. 09 2008,07:20
Might be a limitation of pump. Could you try with a static ip instead?
Posted by oobleck on Feb. 10 2008,23:54
With static IP it works without the SSID broadcast.  So it sounds like pump needs the broadcast?   In googling this problem I saw mention of something called dhcpd, which I gather is a more modern replacement for pump.  Would that be worth a try?

Actually, running with static IP would be OK, once I figure out how to get hostname resolution to work.

--
oobleck

Posted by andrewb on Feb. 11 2008,02:39
I have my wireless system running fine with broadcast disabled. Pump obtains an IP address no problem. There are probably more settings you need in the wpa_supplicant.conf file. Mine is certainly longer, but I can't recall exactly what is in it at the present time. I'll post the contents later.

Looking at what you are doing I notice that you assign the SSID with iwconfig after wpa_supplicant is run. I execute these two commands in the reverse order. I'm not sure the ssid line in the wpa_supplicant.conf file assigns the ssid, I think it is there to identify which ssid that particular block of the file belongs to. If this is so this may be why you are having problems. Try running the iwconfig wlan0 essid <ssid> command before wpa_supplicant.

Posted by andrewb on Feb. 11 2008,13:02
My wpa_supplicant.cong file reads:

network={
ssid="MYSSID"
key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
psk="..................................................."
}

This, with the commands in the order in the previous message runs 2 different wlan adapters using WPA on 3.4.11 or 4.2.5.

Posted by oobleck on Feb. 12 2008,00:18
Quote (andrewb @ Feb. 10 2008,21:39)
Looking at what you are doing I notice that you assign the SSID with iwconfig after wpa_supplicant is run. I execute these two commands in the reverse order. I'm not sure the ssid line in the wpa_supplicant.conf file assigns the ssid, I think it is there to identify which ssid that particular block of the file belongs to. If this is so this may be why you are having problems. Try running the iwconfig wlan0 essid <ssid> command before wpa_supplicant.

Per your suggestion I tried doing the iwconfig before the wpa_supplicant, but it didn't work.  After the iwconfig wlan0 essid <ssid> command, doing an iwconfig with no arguments showed no access point address (i.e. all zeroes).  However, if I do the iwconfig a second time, after the wpa_supplicant, it works, though I have no idea why.  So here's the whole process:
Code Sample
modprobe ndiswrapper
iwconfig wlan0 essid <ssid>
/usr/sbin/wpa_supplicant -B -dd -c /opt/wpa.conf -i wlan0 -D ndiswrapper
iwconfig wlan0 essid <ssid>
pkill pump
pump -i wlan0

It's only after the second iwconfig command that an access point address is assigned.  But I still need to do the first one, or it doesn't work.

Many thanks for the suggestions!
--
oobleck

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