My GL-iNet B1300 (Convexa-B) works fine with the factory OpenWrt system, and behaved as per the documentation, but I cannot install AREDN because the firmware image is immediately rejected due to some kind of verification that it is doing*. Conveniently it reports the SHA of what it read which is exactly correct - so data corruption is not the reason.
So what am I supposed to do to make the firmware install?
* The instructions say "Verify that you uncheck the Keep Settings" but do not say where this option is to be found. I did not see this option anywhere before I started the download. Maybe it appears after the verification is passed?
So what am I supposed to do to make the firmware install?
* The instructions say "Verify that you uncheck the Keep Settings" but do not say where this option is to be found. I did not see this option anywhere before I started the download. Maybe it appears after the verification is passed?
That error usually indicates that it is the wrong file.
On the B1300 I used file: aredn-3.24.10.0-ipq40xx-generic-glinet_gl-b1300-squashfs-sysupgrade.bin
On the MT1300 I used the file: aredn-3.24.10.0-ramips-mt7621-glinet_gl-mt1300-squashfs-sysupgrade.bin
I would be very surprised to hear that they are the wrong files.
I get the impression from other sources that OpenWrt made itself incompatible with itself over firmware loading, so presumably there is a nightmare of update sequences required to fix it. This really needs to be in the installation notes and is disappointing that this was allowed to happen.
Not a great first impression for a new user!
I upgraded using the manufacturers own latest system which worked OK.
I was then able to make it upgrade to AREDN which it complained about but worked.
Then I lost contact and had trouble getting it started. Not sure what this is about, and am not sure just what it takes to get it restarted - some messing about with power and reset button etc. Eventually it burst into life but the DHCP did not work.
I had to reboot the PC to get DHCP working so eventually I got the new home page, which I did not like because it does not fit on the screen as well as the old one, and in live use the screen will be much smaller.
QUESTION: The TIME setup gave me all the options I might want EXCEPT setting the actual time. How am I supposed to do that? It seems to have great expectations of exotic time servers or GPS that might do it - but in my real use I will want to tell it the time and have it serve that itself.
We would expect to be able to use networks in isolation from the public Internet.
BTW My PC did not want to use the AREDN WiFi connection due to poor security it claimed. I hope that is just a configuration issue or else might be a problem.
Now I will have a go at the other one before risking the more complicated-looking Ubiquiti beams I have.
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So I am looking at options for high-speed data for use by RAYNET-UK. Due to various groups either investigating options or using different systems I was wanting to see how interoperable different systems might be and maybe even get a consensus on what would be good. Our group controller has an older AREDN demo setup and I have another GL-iNet device with OpenWrt on it but which seems to have dropped out of favour with AREDN in spite of having lots of RAM.
I chose the GL-iNet devices because they happened to be available cheaply and had the most RAM and I had used one before, and according to your notes they should have been the easiest to get working.
Even with the manufacturer's upgrade the AREDN firmware is still rejected.
It says its version is 4.0.0 which is less than the MT1300 version.
in my real use I will want to tell it the time and have it serve that itself.
If you search on the forum you can find quite a lot about the time shown by the node. In reality, as AREDN is designed to serve HTTP services the time really does not matter, but it is nice to have correct. Time is not stored in non volitile memory so the device has to find system time with every power cycle. We have several time servers on our network to chose from or there is internet sometimes availabe. In the long run doesn't actually matter as your services will run on the clock and time of the pc on the LAN provided by the node.We would expect to be able to use networks in isolation from the public Internet.
Yep. That's the point of AREDN.
BTW My PC did not want to use the AREDN WiFi connection due to poor security it claimed. I hope that is just a configuration issue or else might be a problem.
I see you're in the UK. I don't know anything about the rules for amatuer radio in the UK. In the US we are not allowed to encrypt communications sent over the air by us amatuers, so AREDN has been constructed to only allow HTTP and not HTTPS. All you do is instruct your browser to accept HTTP and away you go. Yes, it is less secure. However not every Tom Dick and Harry are supposed to be on a closed amatuer radio operated data network. You choose to join or not to join knowing these limitations. If this is not acceptable to you, and if you are allowed to encrypt, perhaps you should look at another system than AREDN.
I was wanting to see how interoperable different systems might be
AREDN is NOT an interoperable system. It is a stand alone backup system for use when internet and other coms fail. It is not substitue or backup internet access. There are some exceptions but pretty much it does it's own thing and ignores all other data networks. Tunnels are just a VPN to get connected over internet where there are no rf links available. But the traffic is not internet compatible ...
AREDN is quirky and strange at times. However, it does work pretty well when you stop fighting it's strange quirks and go with it. Chuck's comments about your starting with Gl-iNET devices are spot on. You could not have picked more inappropriate things for a first node to test with. I suggest get something easy to use like a pair of Nanostation or a CPE-510 (stick with 5ghz) and put them a block or two away pointing at each other and learn with normal kit. AREDN firmware is written to run just fine with 64 or 128 Mb memory, all the device is doing is being a router at most ... so long as the device is not sunset it will be fine with less memory.
Cheers, Ed
> In the US we are not allowed to encrypt communications sent over the air by us amatuers, so AREDN has been constructed to only allow HTTP and not HTTPS
The UK rules are much the same but there are some exceptions. In an emergency situation UK amateurs can carry messages for certain specified organisations and use encryption, and this may be required . There is also a general requirement to have secure access to remote unattended equipment, which might preclude using the old and weak WiFi (which I seem to remember is hackable by modern fast equipment so quickly that it is barely worth asking for the password).
QUESTION: If you had a gateway to an alien network on an AREDN mesh, does the AREDN routing system effectively make it impossible to use it, even if a client node knew the AREDN IP address of the gateway? If it can reach it, can the AREDN DHCP be configured so the client doesn't have to know where the gateway is? I can now see why this might be hard.
On the original topic: I have logged the B1300 problem on Github. There is no software bug to fix I think, I am guessing that it just needs someone to rebuild the B1300 firmware. I will test it for you when done. As it stands it appears that the B1300 is effectively not supported hardware.
Can I also suggest that you add a "star rating" to the hardware support table because there is nothing I saw that says that my choice of using these devices was a bad idea (they are not for long range use, just expanding local Wifi coverage).
So back to the beginning. You had problems installing the firmware on a device. This happens now and then. The firmware is written and maintained by volunteers and there are alway new issues that crop up every time the device mfgs decide to change chips or firmware on their end. This forum is full of examples of things being reported, debated, and eventually solved.
What are you actually trying to do with AREDN anyway? If you want wifi coverage inside a building just use what we call part15 wifi devices and move the LAN traffic ... its not necessary to have AREDN to do this. You can go easily short distance building to building keeping factory firmware as well. AREDN exists because a section of the rules here allow licensed amatuer radio operators to operate in these frequency bands with higher power than consumers are allowed. So ... we can create a long(er) distance rf network for our em coms if we use the AREDN firmware. If you want to evaluate AREDN I urge you to look at an acutal outdoor rated device with some actual power and see what it can do.
At a location/station .... once the AREDN network has delivered traffic to a router, it can be passed locally as LAN via cable or part15 wifi so that part is fairly easy.
The other part of this is you started looking at the firmware right during a major update and ... stuff happens. So reporting the issues with your devices will help the developers. The devices I suggested for testing are not very expensive and are outdoor rated, then only take 10W power so you can rig up a few portable stations easily and try things out. Chuck, Orv, or one of the people who are better informed might tell you some folks near you who have AREDN working and might be a good local resource including some fixed locations you might be able to connect to with the right equipment. 73, Ed
The B1300 problem is clearly due to some past snafu with OpenWrt. I guess it just needs the .bin file to be recreated to fix it. I am happy to help test the result.
I have designed both hardware and software handling Ethernet traffic so I may know something of the packet level but am less familiar with the higher level protocols around these days (long ago and written in machine code on a DSP).
George.
You won't learn much by making a network from one corner of the room to the other as there will be nothing to use on your network of two devices, and you can do that with a cable. The Worldwide Mesh Map is not necessarily correct but it doesn't look like you have many people to connect to via rf in the UK but someone else can suggest ideas. My 2 cents.
Cheers, Ed
Ed
Just how accurate does the time have to be for Wireguard - and why does it even care?
The nodes themselves don't use timestamps for anything except log files. Wireguard allows for a time difference of up to 180 seconds before the periodic handshakes between ends fail.
Hope this helps clarify things.
73
Orv W6BI
An AREDN network is a network. It is meant to be RF based. Tunnels (VPNs) only exist to allow people to join an AREDN network when no viable rf path exists. Tunnels are a VPN over INTERNET. If you have rf connections, you don't duplicate with a tunnel as this makes HUGE problems with traffic routing.
You say "they might be useful to link two separate networks ....". What separate networks are you talking about? Two AREDN networks? Other networks? AREDN is not designed to move traffic from other networks or the internet ... in other words you do NOT use AREDN to move non AREDN traffic. AREDN is not the tunnel for other networks ... tunnels can be used over INTERNET to patch AREDN users together. NOT the other way round.
Again ... I still don't understand why you want AREDN at all. It sounds like you want to fit a round peg into a square hole.
Ed
I will try that and then I might get an actual mesh network to try out.
I don't know if it is just me but I find there is a lot of "easy when known" stuff in the documentation. If anyone is bothered I could make a list as the trouble with this (affects all I.T.) as that once you do know stuff it is hard to know how a newbie will see it all. I am endlessly looking up acronyms and other bits that was obviously known to the person who wrote the documents. A lot of small details are skipped. This is why I feel the need to experiment with a toy network!
I am not using the AREDN installer because I haven't got that far.
The "out of box" device has OpenWrt on it but with GL-iNet custom interface (rather like AREDN do).
I cannot find how to access LUCI even though I think it is on the system.
GL-INet custom interface downloads the .bin and then checks it - and it fails.
I am not sure exactly what is going on as the file that arrives on the system is 532 bytes smaller than the .bin file, but maybe it has stripped off a digitial signature as there is a .sig file that seems to be commenting on that aspect.
I know it thought the download was OK because it lists the SHA of it - which is correct.
Also I found a B1300 firmware dated today - sadly it fails too.
Get into the GL-iNet with your password.
On the left there is a column of selections, click on "System".
In the "systems" category, click on "advanced Settings.
You'll get a warning, click on the IP address at the bottom.
Re-enter your password.
That will open the LuCi "Status" page
Across the top of the Status page, there are selections.
Click on "system".
There's a list of things you can do, at the bottom of the list is "Flash New Firmware Image"
Click on the blue "Flash Image" box to select your image.
I can't give you step by step instructions from here on, since I don't want to flash this particular router. I remember the choices are obvious. As I recall, the router will examine your file and reject it. Then there is an option to force the update. Someplace along here you can choose not to save your settings, Make sure you DON'T keep your settings. Force the update. Good luck (and Merry Christmas!)
Lee
BTW I am finding that SSH always results in an instant connection rejected message without any prompts at all - unlike what the documentation implies. My SSH worked fine on the original GL-iNet firmware. Just curious, as Telnet works as per normal so I can now go exploring the guts!
Merry Christmas.
George.
On rare occasion ... our local group finds one device that simply will not accept firmware. We try using different computers, different methods, different firmware packages (older), and go round and round until we decide that we simply have a device we can't use. If your existing device still has the original firmware and works ... is it still within a return window? Did you get another device to accept AREDN firmware?
Just saying ... and good luck. Ed
Obviously I have made a stupid mistake, but what is it?
I have set each ones 5GHz radio to mesh mode and they are using the same channel.
Is that not enough?
One of them has its 2.4GHz accessing my LAN - and that is all just fine, the other has 2.4GHz turned off.
I am on the Ethernet LAN port of either of them but the mesh page is just blank and indeed I cannot ping one from the other.
So what does everyone fail to get right? I can't find any clues in the documentation.
This was a near disaster as there was only one choice on one of my devices and luckily the other could do that particular one.
This must make meshing nodes together really hard? What do I do if the next one is different again?
Now I just need to understand why I can't route to the WAN on the other device even though it works just fine if I connect directly to it. I thought the mesh links were like VPNs?
Ed
But worse! I left the system powered while I had dinner, and on coming back to it the mesh link is gone.
So back to the start but with the nodes correctly configured - actually not the same, because the MESH page is showing itself. That is different to earlier when the mesh page was blank - before the two nodes managed to join up.
Update: it burst back into life when I pinged the other end, or it seemed to do that, unless it just took a long time to recover after restarting.
Update2: it has died again after a period of being idle. I think it was a reboot that fixed it as I can't get it going again.
If you can log into the LAN provided by the AREDN node you are attached to via cable or it's wifi, and you can see the other node ... YOU DID IT! You now have a new AREDN network of two devices in one room.
What services? You will NOT be able to provide services from your regular home or office network from one node to the other via AREDN.
AREDN will not extend your home or office network, or extend the internet.
You have two brand new routers making their own LANs in the room with their totally different IP addresses that are NOT compatible with your home or office network. AREDN services are an entirely different matter that we have not discussed with you.
Let's call your nodes A and B. Cable in to A and get the home page at localnode.local.mesh. Now do ipconfig or ifconfig and note your network address. Then cable in to B and repeat. These addresses will be different because each node is it's own router. Neither will have 192.168.X.X addresses.
But the manual has a section that says this:
"Mesh to WAN
Enabling this switch will allow your node to route traffic from its Mesh interface to/from its WAN interface. This allows any device on the mesh network to use the WAN on your node, typically for accessing the Internet."
But the more immediate problem is that the mesh network seems to die after being idle for about an hour. Still investigating that problem.
Allow any mesh device to use local WAN.
Allow any node or device on the mesh to use our local Internet connection. This is disabled by default.
Please note ... Mesh to WAN is not recommended except for very unusual circumstances. Leaving this on can seriously disrupt the network. It's not usual. It is default OFF for a reason!
George, I wish you well in the new year. I'm going to back out of this conversation and perhaps others can step in and help you better. Ed
Unless EME works for it I can't see an RF link from UK to your network working and in a dire emergency I can't see tunnels working either, so I am looking at it as a stand-alone network which I would hope to be able to use locally and to join up other things too, including other groups using the same system.
What I really like is that you have a well defined package that will be the same everywhere. It is a real shame that the OpenWrt folks have blighted the firmware install process by creating a historic incompatibility which takes a bit of side-stepping if you run into it as is likely for the devices that already have OpenWrt as their basis (like GL-iNet do).
I now see that linking a node to an external network seems to mess up the mesh mechanism, - even without the WAN over mesh in use. I am getting all kinds of anomalies with the mesh in spite of the fact that for about 5 minutes I have had it fully working - I know this as it managed to load your map over my mesh network from my home Internet connection. But the mesh links strangely die for no obvious reason, including after a long period of being idle, so I guess some kind of routing issue must occur. It takes a reboot to fix this situation.
I have a load of very detailed technical questions as I haven't found a detailed technical description of how AREDN works. I resorted to looking at the filestore and worked some stuff out, but that has its limits.