Cisco Aironet 350 Wireless Bridge Configuration and WDS

M.D. Squiers msquiers at cybernet.com
Wed Mar 3 14:14:59 EST 2004


I have a Cisco Aironet 350 Wireless Bridge (not the Workgroup Bridge).  
I also have a CerfCube with HostAP running on it.  I'm trying to bridge 
using the CerfCube.

The Network:
[a.b.c.d/24] <--> Cisco ... ^WDS^... Cerf <--->[a.b.c.d/24]

The Device:
wlan0: NIC: id=0x800c v1.0.0
wlan0: PRI: id=0x15 v1.1.4
wlan0: NIC: id=0x800c v1.0.0
wlan0: PRI: id=0x15 v1.1.4
wlan0: STA: id=0x1f v1.7.4

Here's the script I've been using for configuration (edited for brevity, 
must use iwpriv because prism2_param isn't on the cerf):
#iwconfig wlan0 essid tsunami channel 6 mode master
iwconfig wlan0 essid tsunami channel 6 mode managed
# autom_ap_wds
/sbin/iwpriv wlan0 prism2_param 14 1
#other_ap_policy
/sbin/iwpriv wlan0 prism2_param 8 1
/sbin/iwpriv wlan0 wds_add 00:00:00:00:00:00
brctl addbr br0
brctl addif br0 eth0
brctl addif br0 wlan0
brctl addif br0 wlan0wds0
ifconfig eth0 0.0.0.0
ifconfig wlan0 0.0.0.0
ifconfig wlan0wds0 0.0.0.0
ifconfig br0 192.245.33.166 up

I have followed the instructions in the README to configure bridging, 
but I'm not sure if I have it quite right.  Here's why:

1. If wlan0 is in "managed" mode, the Cisco lists the association as 
"Auth."  The Cisco also has several entries in the assocation table for 
devices on the LAN, however all of them are "UnAuth".  So, the bridge is 
(at least marginally) successful, but I cannot ping across the bridge, 
although there apparently is ARP traffic passing through.  The Cerf can 
ping the Cisco and the machine attached to its Ethernet, but machines at 
the extreme left and right in the diagram cannot see one another.

2. If wlan0 is in "master" mode, /proc/net/hostap/wlan0/wps will 
automatically enter the Cisco's MAC address (because I've configured for 
autom_ap_wds, etc.).  However, once in master mode, I can no longer 
communicate with the Cisco (i.e., ping).

3. The Cisco is always configured as the "root" bridge, and I believe 
all authentication and encryption have been disabled.

Any clues?  What further information could I supply that would be 
helpful?  It seems like this should work.  Is there some Cisco "magic" 
I'm missing?

Thanks --mds





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