Flint 1 and 2 wired AP 802.11r (or better)

Hello all,

I want to use a Flint 2 as my main router and a Flint1 as access point (AP). The AP will be on a different floor. I want the mobile devices to switch to the strongest wifi connection.

I did read I need at least 802.11r to do so

When I go to the Wireless settings on the Flint 2 router I can not find a 802.11r option.
When I install wpad Applications-->Plugins I can not find new settings to enable 802.11r-style roaming. As described here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/openwrt/comments/1epz139/wireless_access_point_to_pair_with_gl_inet_flint/?rdt=38188

Can someone please tell me how to enable 802.11r-style roaming. I also read 802.11k or 802.11v might even be better. If that is true it would be great to be able to use them.

hope you can help thanx

No experience with 802.11k or 802.11v.

But i do have a bit experience with 802.11r but only between flat openwrts.

Now it depends also if you run the router under a certain SDK with limited functionality.

For flint 1 i believe it still run under openwifi on this version it is more likely to find roaming, but flint 1 can also run under the QSDK then likely it isn't supported in the firmware.

The same count for the flint 2, op24 would support it, the mtk sdk likely won't.

To check you need ssh cli access, you can use a program like putty and put the ip in, with the user root and password same as ui, then type iw list this will output all features the driver will support, if the command doesn't work then you are likely on a sdk.

^ You need to search for mesh point support.

For roaming itself you need either wpad-openssl, or wpad-wolfssl, you don't need hostapd because wpad also has hostapd in it, it is full hostapd+wpa_supplicant (for repeaters etc included).

If installed restart router, the features will only be visible after the restart.

Then follow this:

Hey Xize11 thank you for the help!

The did just watch the youtube link you did provide. The information is quite good :slight_smile: . Is there any reason to chose wpad-openssl, or wpad-wolfssl?

Not really the function is pretty much the same, only the backend for encryption is different often openssl is bigger and wolfssl is smaller, there is also a newer one which is wpad-mbedtls this one is even more smaller.

Strange, I did install:

wpad-basic-wolfssl
and
wpad-mesh-wolfssl

with the webinterface Applications --> Plugins

The 802.11r fast transition box is still not there (see 10:19 youtube link).I did also check via
System --> Advanced Settings witch brings me to the Luci web interface I can also not find the fast transition box there. I will try ssh as you described now.

No you don't need the basic versions they are stripped from alot of functionality.

You need either full wpad-wolfssl or wpad-openssl not mesh either since that only contains mesh stuff, these are the full featured packages of wpad :+1:

thank you xize11, I did

install wpad-wolfssl and uninstall the others
I did login with ssh:

root@GL-MT6000:~# iw list
nl80211 not found.

fast transition box is still not there

When I click in Luci on:
Network--> interfaces I get the txt

#### Network ifname configuration migration

The existing network configuration needs to be changed for LuCI to function properly.

Upon pressing "Continue", ifname options will get renamed and the network will be restarted to apply the updated configuration.

I think this will break things for the GL.iNet webinterface so I will not do this, it might be a part of the problem?

You can just click ok thats fine :+1:

For the roaming settings it is under network -> wireless and then under one of the wireless networks you can edit there in one of these tabs.

I click:

Network--> Wireless --> Edit -->advanced settings --> wireless security

and there is no " fast transition box "

While it is here in this screenshot I stole

from this forum:

Do I need to enable something else first or is it the worng software version?
you wrote

"
The same count for the flint 2, op24 would support it, the mtk sdk likely won't.
"

and my output is:

root@GL-MT6000:~# iw reg get
nl80211 not found.

I am trying this on the Flint 2 btw

This is strange, i'm currently running op24 there must be a tab with WLAN Roaming.

See:

Are you sure the correct package is installed?, you cannot have wpad-basic and both wpad-openssl, it must be one, and then a router restart is necessary.

Your screenshot shows

Wireless Network: Access Point .....

mine shows:

Wireless Network: Master "XXX" (ra0)

The Flint 2 I use is also the router, maybe thats wrong ?

what is your iw list output when using ssh?
are you using wpad-openssl, or wpad-wolfss?

Ah, i see what is going on :slight_smile:

Unfortunately this is the MTK sdk version not Op24, this means the wireless driver is not the openwrts open source one but the propetairy mediatek sdk driver.

Best what i can advise is changing to op24 and using the debricking approach to flash the sysupgrade one, you can make a backup before doing the flash, but note that the backup will not be fully compatible with op24 or vice versa from op24 to mtk sdk you have to open it with 7zip and then be very selective to /etc/config the wireless config is one which is not compatible.

See debricking guide

^ also on stock setup with op24 the right wpad is already installed, i did not had to install the full wpad-openssl/wolfssl since it was baked in by default in the image :slight_smile:

What is the point of using 802.11r anyway?

The implementation does not really fix anything because you are not running as mesh network. Just going with extender should be easier to configure and work the same.

One AP + main router isn't a network topology where I would think about fast roaming and stuff, tbh.

The idea is to have a Flint2 as a main router hard wired with a Ethernet cable to a Flint 1. From what I did read is that a mesh network is wifi to wifi? And hard wired is roaming?
What I want is the wireless devices switching to the nearest wifi antenna for instance if I go to a different floor with my telephone.

I can do a ssh lsmod to see what driver is in use, do you know the driver name of the open and the propetairy driver? I think it is kind of strange to use the propetairy driver for this product.

This is up to the device, unfortunately. Since you are not running as mesh (with means that all routers know each other and communicate between), there is no way that the routers will tell the device to connect to some other router because it would be a better one.

(And running a mesh network on OpenWrt is really painful)

If I read this

https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/network/wifi/roaming

Then it could be an advantage to have 802.11r

802.11r is particularly beneficial when “Enterprise” EAP / 802.1X type authentication is used because an additional (potentially high latency) round-trip to the authentication server is not required.

It's pretty useless for a home network, sorry.

Dawn [OpenWrt Wiki] Setting up DAWN and band-steering would be what you want, but as I said before: It's not worth the headache in a 2 routers home network.

I want to use the Flint2 as a Router and the Flint1 (although it can be used as a router) as an access point. Did you mean the same? Or did you really mean 2 routers? I will take a look at your link thanks