Mesh Extender

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T Gillett

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Sep 3, 2017, 5:17:28 PM9/3/17
to Gavin Huggins, village-telco-dev

Hi Gavin

Basically you need to configure an adhoc wifi interface in /etc/config/wireless and with the SSID and BSSID set to match the mesh.

Have a look at the file on a tunning SECN device for comparison.

Then you add that interface to batman-adv with "batctl if add ..."

Then you can run "batctl  o" to check.

Terry


On 04/09/2017 2:03 AM, "Gavin Huggins" <gavh...@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Terry

Can you assist me, i am trying to setup a 5ghz Ap running lede to be a mesh range extender only so if i need to hop over a dead spot where no  client access is required only to carry the mesh to a remote MP2.

The AP is a TP Link CPE510 and a TP 703n with Lede installed and batman, i just dont know what network/wireless/batman config files to populate with what settings to be part of the secn vt-mesh

Thanks

On 30 August 2017 at 23:26, T Gillett <tgil...@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Gavin

In theory yes.
In practice you will be challenged by the size of the flash memory available in the device.
With 4MB flash it is problematic to add very many packages to the base LEDE build.

To test, you can load up a LEDE release firmware from the downloads page and check whether there is sufficient flash memory to allow installation of batmav-adv and batctl packages.

If so then you can configure batman-adv to mesh with SECN by setting the mesh SSID and BSSID, and set up adhoc wifi interface to use for the mesh.

An alternative may be to use basic 802.11s mesh networking which means you don't need batman packages.

For a simple mesh it may well do the job for you.

Regards
Terry

On Wed, Aug 30, 2017 at 11:56 PM, Gavin Huggins <gavh...@gmail.com> wrote:
Terry
Is it possible to use a TP link 703n with lede installed as a mesh extender only and if so how.

Is it possible to add a LEDE TP-Link CPE510  2.4/5ghz wifi AP simply as a 5ghz extender to expand the mesh backbone on the 5ghz radio and a bonus if it could be a 2.4 AP for clients as well.

Gavin

On 30 August 2017 at 08:01, Gavin Huggins <gavh...@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Terry

It was simple the key was Luci once installed it was a breeze to add functionality maybe it's the way forward,  have a Luci enabled firmware and add village telco via a Luci scripts say mesh, fxs, sip and wan or so you could load the Telco script and tick boxes on options to load this would make it easier to use other hardware to run Telco and boost Telco's use as I love it.

Gavin

On 29 Aug 2017 10:28 p.m., "T Gillett" <tgil...@gmail.com> wrote:

Excellent.
Did you get remote access working ok?
When you get DDNS sorted out would you make a post to share the set up pls?
T


On 30/08/2017 7:14 AM, "Gavin Huggins" <gavh...@gmail.com> wrote:
All sorted running graet

Gavin

On 29 Aug 2017 9:18 p.m., "T Gillett" <tgil...@gmail.com> wrote:

It's essentially Lua CGI scripts so it runs when you request the URL.

There will be a collision between index.html for the two interfaces so you will need to deal with that. Probably rename the SECN one before loading LuCI.


On 30/08/2017 12:37 AM, "Gavin Huggins" <gavh...@gmail.com> wrote:
Terry

Thanks got it now, how would you start luci

On 29 August 2017 at 14:49, T Gillett <tgil...@gmail.com> wrote:
Edit  the file:   /etc/opkg/distfeeds.conf   

to add the LuCI repo:   https://downloads.openwrt.org/chaos_calmer/15.05.1/ar71xx/generic/packages/luci/

Then when you run opkg update it should get the list of LuCI packages, and then you can install those that you need.

Note that this is just 'general advice' as I am on the road and not in a position to actually test this...

On Tue, Aug 29, 2017 at 10:59 PM, Gavin Huggins <gavh...@gmail.com> wrote:
Sorry but how and what do i need to add

Gavin

On 29 August 2017 at 12:40, T Gillett <tgil...@gmail.com> wrote:
It's not getting the LuCI repo, because LuCI was not included in the original build.

You could add the LuCi repo to /etc/opkg/distfeeds.conf




On Tue, Aug 29, 2017 at 9:15 PM, Gavin Huggins <gavh...@gmail.com> wrote:

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           O        / \   / \         0
          / \      /   \ /   \       / \
     O---O   O----O     O     O-----O   O---O
          \ /      \   / \   /       \ /
           O        \ /   \ /         O
                     O-----O
  _______                     ________        __
 |       |.-----.-----.-----.|  |  |  |.----.|  |_
 |   -   ||  _  |  -__|     ||  |  |  ||   _||   _|
 |_______||   __|_____|__|__||________||__|  |____|
          |__| W I R E L E S S   F R E E D O M


DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION='OpenWrt Chaos Calmer 15.05.1' DISTRIB_REVISION='r49389' Dra                                              gino

Village Telco - Small Enterprise Campus Network

Version:     SECN-4-MP02-AWD-RC9c MP02FXS AWD
Build date:  2017-08-22-12:36
GitHub:      vt-firmware SECN3/4-160-gc674b8ed44

root@MP2-21:~# opkg update
Downloading http://downloads.openwrt.org/chaos_calmer/15.05.1/ar71xx/generic/pac                                              kages/base/Packages.gz.
Updated list of available packages in /var/opkg-lists/chaos_calmer_base.
Downloading http://downloads.openwrt.org/chaos_calmer/15.05.1/ar71xx/generic/pac                                              kages/telephony/Packages.gz.
Updated list of available packages in /var/opkg-lists/chaos_calmer_telephony.
Downloading http://downloads.openwrt.org/chaos_calmer/15.05.1/ar71xx/generic/pac                                              kages/packages/Packages.gz.
Updated list of available packages in /var/opkg-lists/chaos_calmer_packages.
Downloading http://downloads.openwrt.org/chaos_calmer/15.05.1/ar71xx/generic/pac                                              kages/fxs/Packages.gz.
Downloading http://downloads.openwrt.org/chaos_calmer/15.05.1/ar71xx/generic/pac                                              kages/routing/Packages.gz.
Updated list of available packages in /var/opkg-lists/chaos_calmer_routing.
Collected errors:
 * opkg_download: Failed to download http://downloads.openwrt.org/chaos_calmer/1                                              5.05.1/ar71xx/generic/packages/fxs/Packages.gz, wget returned 8.
root@MP2-21:~# root@MP2-21:~# opkg update
-ash: root@MP2-21:~#: not found
               kages/base/Packages.gz.
-ash: Downloading: not found
root@MP2-21:~# Updated list of available packages in /var/opkg-lists/chaos_calmer_base.
-ash: Updated: not found
               kages/telephony/Packages.gz.
-ash: Downloading: not found
root@MP2-21:~# Updated list of available packages in /var/opkg-lists/chaos_calmer_telephony.
-ash: Updated: not found
               kages/packages/Packages.gz.
-ash: Downloading: not found
root@MP2-21:~# Updated list of available packages in /var/opkg-lists/chaos_calmer_packages.
-ash: Updated: not found
               kages/fxs/Packages.gz.
-ash: Downloading: not found
               kages/routing/Packages.gz.
-ash: Downloading: not found
root@MP2-21:~# Updated list of available packages in /var/opkg-lists/chaos_calmer_routing.
-ash: Updated: not found
root@MP2-21:~# Collected errors:
-ash: Collected: not found
root@MP2-21:~#  * opkg_download: Failed to download http://downloads.openwrt.org/chaos_calmer/1
               5.05.1/ar71xx/generic/packages/fxs/Packages.gz, wget returned 8.
-ash: *: not found


and this when trying to install luci


root@MP2-21:~# opkg install luci
Unknown package 'luci'.
Collected errors:
 * opkg_install_cmd: Cannot install package luci.
root@MP2-21:


Any ideas


Gavin



On 29 August 2017 at 12:04, T Gillett <tgil...@gmail.com> wrote:
Gavin
Some comments in line
Regards
Terry

On Tue, Aug 29, 2017 at 8:50 PM, Gavin Huggins <gavh...@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Terry

Thanks for that, i cant seem to add luci to that latest build you sent as it says no packages and errors.

Do you mean that opkg would not download packages?
What repo is it trying to get to?

 
When trying to remote to the unit do i need a port number, as ticked the box saved and rebooted and tried the IP displayed by the wan settings in green and no access

Tick the box and restart.
Then try to access via the assigned IP address using SSH. The forwarded port is 2222.
See SECN 4 User Guide pp26 for details (http://wiki.villagetelco.org/SECN_4_User_Guide) but syntax is:
    $ ssh -p 2222 <IP Address>

Similarly for HTTPS.

 

i think the ESP8266 is the route so can add a relay or two  to switch the camera off and on and maybe measure the voltage of the battery to determine if its charging and maybe adding some weatherston sensors ie temp, wind and rain and maybe a light meter. Is it possible to add a webpage to display these extra values or to the existing config page.

The ESP8266 looks very promising. I have done some work with them previously on a project.
One nice thing is that you can have several modules as wifi clients of the MP02.
I plan to add a separate tab for IoT data display next to the Status tab.


Gavin



On 28 August 2017 at 23:23, T Gillett <tgil...@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Gavin

A few thoughts...

1. DDNS
DDNS set up is not directly supported in SECN GUI at this time
It requires the ddns-scripts package which you can install with opkg.

2. Unfortunately there is no analogue IO capability provided on the AR9331 chipset, so you have to add something else like an Arduino or ESP8286 module as an IoT device.
Or you could use an I2C interface to a suitable sensor if you aren't using the FXS module and can free up the GPIOs.

There are a few possibilities for connecting an Arduino.
You could set up the Arduino as a network/wifi enabled device and just access it via IP.
Another possibility is to connect say a UNO board to the USB port on the MP02 and communicate via USB serial eg to gather sensor data and plug it in to a web page like the current Status page.

The ESP8286 also looks like a simple way to do this as a networked wifi client.

3. You can install and run LuCI in parallel with the SECN GUI. It will just appear as a different page in the web server.
You do need to be aware that the SECN interface may clobber some settings that you change either from LuCI or from command line - it assumes it has complete ownership of the config files. Nonetheless there is plenty that you can edit quite safely.

4. Remote access is supported in the SECN GUI via SSH and HTTPS.
If you look at the WAN tab you will see a checkbox to enable access.
You can use both the DHCP IP address assigned by your ISP, or the private static address set in the GUI - 10.0.0.20 by default.
The assigned IP address will be displayed in the WAN tab, so if it is static then you can use that directly even without DDNS.

5. See above

6. The USB modems are generally pretty power hungry, but if you shut down the WAN interface the standby power is much less.
So you could install cron and just set up a script to enable the WAN interface at certain times of the day. The MP02 will get the time of day automatically via NTP as soon as it is connected to the Internet, and will keep time well enough on its own when not connected for this sort of thing.



On Mon, Aug 28, 2017 at 8:34 PM, Gavin Huggins <gavh...@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Terry

Camera works fine, just use a IP camera on the wan port set as a lan port with IP in the range and can access it.
  1. Do you have a procedure to add ddns support via console.
  2. Is there a way to monitor the battery power from the solar or the power incoming either on poe or barrel plug so one can see if the panels are charging the batteries remotly.
  3. Is it possible to have Luci installed and accessed via say 10.130.1.2?/luci to add other features needed for other applications but with Secn still doing the mesh and AP functions via the 10.130.1.2? or /secn.
  4. If i want to remote access the unit with the 3/4g modem with ddns installed this will be possible as my sim cards have "un natted" IP addresses or how would i install open vpn via console, this why i need luci baby.
  5. I would also like to monitor and control remote things via a wifi iot relay device thus the remote access vis vpn would be great.
  6. Finally is there a way to conserve power by say having a app which lets you power things down and only awake when needed or on a timer, so you could power down or put to sleep the modem .

Thanks






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Many Thanks

  

Gavin  Huggins

 

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Many Thanks

  

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--

Many Thanks

  

Gavin  Huggins

 

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It is intended solely for the addressee. Access to this email by anyone else
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--

Many Thanks

  

Gavin  Huggins

 

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The information in this email is confidential and may be legally privileged.
It is intended solely for the addressee. Access to this email by anyone else
is unauthorised. If you are not the intended recipient, any disclosure,
copying, distribution or any action taken or omitted to be taken in reliance





--

Many Thanks

  

Gavin  Huggins

 

 P Save a tree...please don't print this e-mail unless you really need to. 

Email Disclaimer
The information in this email is confidential and may be legally privileged.
It is intended solely for the addressee. Access to this email by anyone else
is unauthorised. If you are not the intended recipient, any disclosure,
copying, distribution or any action taken or omitted to be taken in reliance





--

Many Thanks

  

Gavin  Huggins

 

 P Save a tree...please don't print this e-mail unless you really need to. 

Email Disclaimer
The information in this email is confidential and may be legally privileged.
It is intended solely for the addressee. Access to this email by anyone else
is unauthorised. If you are not the intended recipient, any disclosure,
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