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| -rw-r--r-- | tasks.rst | 71 |
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@@ -138,8 +138,75 @@ trust it so that in the future the keyboard will be connected to automatically:: default-agent quit -Creating a WiFi Hostspot ---------------------------- +Creating a WiFi Access Point (Hotspot) +------------------------------------------ + +.. warning:: + + Unfortunately, the shipped Novena kernel (3.17.0-rc5-00217-gfd79638) does + not include netfilter support, which is required for iptables to no + NAT IPv4 masquerading. The below instructions will only partially work, + and clients won't have actual internet access. + + Upgrading to the 3.19 linux-novena kernel should resolve this problem, as + the necessary modules are compiled in by default. You can test by running + ``sudo iptables -L``; if this returns an error about kmod and insmod, you + need to upgrade. + +The PCIe 802.11 WiFi card that ships with the Novena supports Access Point mode +(AP, also known as 'master' mode), so in addition to connecting to wireless +gateways and routers as a client, Novena can share connections or even act as a +router/gateway itself. + +If you aren't using the included PCIe card for WiFi (eg, using a USB dongle), +you'll need to check that your hardware supports AP mode:: + + sudo iw list | less + # must have 'AP' in "Supported interface modes" + +The included PCIe card is based on the Atheros AR9462 chipset. + +As background, creating a wireless station and allowing clients to connect is +relatively simple. Sharing an upstream internet connection (eg, from the wired +ethernet jacks) is a bit more complicated. There are at least two common +methods to do so. The first is network bridging, where the Novena routes +packets between the two network connections without acting as a gateway in any +other way. In this configuration a pre-existing router would act as a DHCP +server and gateway to the outside network. In the second configuration Novena +would act as a router/gateway itself and do NAT (Network Address Translation). +In this configuration clients would get DHCP and DNS from Novena on a private +subnetwork. The Novena would translate the IP addresses on any packets going to +and from connected clients to the upstream internet. + +NetworkManager is the easiest way to create an access point, and it uses the +NAT scheme by default, with dnsmasq and iptables behind the scenes supplying +DNS/DHCP and NAT rewriting respectively. If you have a headless (no GUI) +system, you can control NetworkManager using ``nmtui``, otherwise you can use +the Gnome GUI. + +First make sure you have a working wired (ethernet) connection to the internet. +Then create a new shared WiFi connection. It's recommended to give the +connection (distinct from the SSID) a short name like "wlan0-ap" instead of the +default "Wi-Fi connection 1". Select or enter ``wlan0`` as the hardware device. +In WiFi settings choose an SSID and set the Mode to "Access Point". Add WPA2 +security if you like. In the IPv4 network section change the configuration from +"Automatic" to "Shared". The other settings can be left as defaults. Make sure +"Automatically connect" is selected. Save and exit. + +The connection may come up automatically after a few minutes. Unlike wired +connections, the connection will not show up in the list of available WiFi +connections in the ``nmtui`` "Active a connection" list. You can check +``/var/log/daemon.log`` for status and error messages, or ``nmcli connection`` +for a list of active connections. You can force NetworkManager to bring up the +connection with:: + + sudo nmcli connection up wlan0-ap + # where 'wlan0-ap' is the connection name you chose earlier + +To shutdown the access point and return Novena to client mode, the easiest +route seems to be disabling the Auto-connect flag in the wlan0-ap settings, +then run ``sudo nmcli connection down wlan0-ap``, wait a minute, then you +should be given a list of access points to connect to as usual. Compiling and Installing the Kernel ------------------------------------- |