DAWN unable to access hostapd sockets on GL-BE9300

Router
1

Hi all,

I've been trying to get DAWN working on my Flint 3 (GL-BE9300) for band steering and have hit a wall. Hoping someone has found a workaround.

Setup:

  • GL-BE9300 running GL.iNet firmware (OpenWrt 23.05-SNAPSHOT)

  • Single router, no mesh

  • 802.11k/v/r enabled on all three bands via UCI

  • DAWN and luci-app-dawn installed via opkg

Problem: DAWN starts successfully and registers on ubus, but returns an empty hearing map and can't see any connected clients:

ubus call dawn get_hearing_map
{}

Checking /var/run/hostapd/ only shows a global socket — no per-radio sockets (wlan0, wlan1, wlan2). DAWN needs these per-radio sockets to monitor connected clients.

Also seeing this error on loop:

daemon.err dawn: ubus_call_umdns()=ubus.c@1385 Failed to look up test object for umdns

Workaround for umdns was setting network_option='0' and broadcast_ip='127.0.0.1' in /etc/config/dawn which got DAWN onto ubus, but the missing hostapd sockets remain the core issue.

My theory: GL.iNet manages hostapd through its own system rather than exposing standard per-radio sockets, which prevents DAWN from hooking in.

Questions:

  1. Has anyone gotten DAWN working on a GL-BE9300?

  2. Is there a way to expose per-radio hostapd sockets on GL.iNet firmware?

  3. Is there an alternative band steering solution that works within GL.iNet's constraints?

Thanks so much!

2

Hi

It appears that the proprietary wireless driver provided by QSDK is incompatible with DAWN, and there may be no solution.
Perhaps you could try usteer to see if it works?

4

Thanks. Will try!