Access Point Reconfiguration Using Openwrt
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Access Point Reconfiguration Using OpenWrt Dalton M. Tavares1, Maicon J. Lima1, Rafael V. Aroca2, Glauco A. P. Caurin3, Antônio Carlos de Oliveira Jr1, Tércio A. Santos Filho1, Stella J. Bachega4, Marcos A. Batista1, and Sérgio F. da Silva1 1Computer Science Department, Federal University of Goiás, Catalão, Goiás, Brazil 2Mechanical Engineering Department / Federal University of São Carlos, São Carlos, São Paulo, Brazil 3Mechanical Engineering Department / University of São Paulo, São Carlos, São Paulo, Brazil 4Production Engineering Department / Federal University of Goiás, Catalão, Goiás, Brazil Abstract— The research project Mobile mEsh Network to The steps to build the M.E.N.A.C.E-TRACK infrastruc- Aid in CountEring drug TRAffiCKing (M.E.N.A.C.E-TRACK) ture involve the definition of the devices that can be used as proposes the creation of a dynamic mesh network, intended nodes, the choice of the operating system for such devices to interconnect field personnel to a base of operations and the selection of the best routing protocol(s) to provide whenever possible. This type of network accepts the dynamic routing adjustments considering mobile nodes with varying disconnection and reconnection of nodes. To configure a ranges. The chosen devices are off the shelf with the ability mesh node using, for instance, an access point, usually a to use wireless communication, i.e. IEEE 802.11 b/g/n, and modified firmware is needed. In this paper we present the the TCP/IP protocol suite. Specifically, we will cover the first steps to build the M.E.N.A.C.E-TRACK infrastructure adaptation of access points (APs) so they can be used as concerning the configuration of the access point, the chosen mesh nodes in the future. This procedure addresses the firmware and some configuration scenarios on an infra- selection of a firmware, preferably open source, which is structured network in order to demonstrate its flexibility. flexible enough to be modified according to the choice of the wireless environment to be implemented (e.g. infra- Keywords: Mesh Network, Ad hoc, OpenWrt structured or ad hoc network). 1. Introduction 2. Infra-structured versus Ad hoc net- The research project Mobile mEsh Network to Aid in works CountEring drug TRAffiCKing (M.E.N.A.C.E-TRACK) pro- An IEEE 802.11 W-LAN can be implemented either with poses the creation of a dynamic mesh network, intended to infrastructure or without infrastructure (i.e. ad hoc). In an interconnect field personnel (e.g. in vehicles or on foot) to a infrastructure based network, there is a centralized controller base of operations (e.g. a police station) whenever possible. for each cell. This cell represents the fundamental building This type of network accepts the dynamic disconnection and block of the 802.11 architecture, known as the basic service reconnection of a node or group of nodes leaving or returning set (BSS). A BSS typically contains one or more wireless to the main base network range. The use of day to day low stations and a central base station, known as access point cost and off the shelf devices, like access points, notebooks (AP). The wireless stations, which may be either fixed or or smartphones and open source software is one of the main mobile, and the central base station communicate among attractors to our approach. themselves using the IEEE 802.11 wireless MAC protocol. To configure a mesh node using, for instance, a wireless Multiple APs may be connected together (e.g. using a wired router, usually a modified firmware is needed. This firmware Ethernet or another wireless channel) to form a distribution allows the creation of a dynamic route between the base system (DS). The DS appears to upper-level protocols (e.g. station (the one that have the Internet connection and access IP) as a single 802.11 network, in much the same way that to the main systems) and the client nodes in a mesh a bridged wired 802.3 Ethernet network appears as a single environment. The dynamic route can be stablished directly network to the upper-layer protocols. We can use the same between the base station and mesh nodes, or using each analogy considering that an AP, which is normally connected mesh node as a “bridge” (in-between nodes) to amplify the to a wireline backbone (either wired or wireless) is also range of the original access point. Therefore, each mesh node considered a DS, thus providing Internet access to mobile receives a data connection from a given node and conveys devices. All traffic goes through the AP, even when this is data to the next node, extending the range of communication sent to a destination that belongs to the same cell [2], [3]. for each passing node [1]. In an ad hoc network there is no central control with connections to the Internet. Here, the network is a temporary arrangement as and when required. The benefit is that no infrastructure is needed and the users themselves may extend the area of coverage. Hence, mobile devices that have found themselves in proximity to each other, that have a need to communicate and find no pre-existing network infrastructure in the location (e.g. a pre-existing 802.11 BSS with an AP) may communicate using each other as the current medium [2], [4]. The focus of this paper will reside in extending the range of an infra-structured network using multiple APs. The main objective to be accomplish with this course of action is to gain the necessary expertise concerning the firmware operation and configuration, which will be invaluable in future experiments involving mesh networks. Fig. 1: Proposed testbed for the case study. 2.1 OpenWrt Features 3.1 Preparing the AP Devices OpenWrt is described as a GNU/Linux distribution for The first steps taken to install OpenWrt on the TP-LINK embedded devices, which provides a fully writable filesys- TL-WDR 4300 router are described at [7]. They involve tem with package management. In that sense, by definition, consulting the Buyers’ Guide [8], and verifying how much it is not strictly a firmware but a complete and modifiable a given router is compatible with OpenWrt using the table operating system. This frees the developer from the static of hardware [9]. application profile provided by a vendor and allows the The first installation of the OpenWrt firmware is done customization of the device through the use of packages that using the original web interface of the TP-LINK firmware. suit any particular need [5]. It is performed just like a flash update of some new version Compared to other distributions OpenWrt may also not of the original TP-LINK firmware. According to [6], it is rec- be regarded as a true end-user or user friendly firmware. ommended to turn off the Wi-Fi interfaces manually (there is Nevertheless, it can be used as such sometimes, depending a switch behind the device to disable them). Therefore, at the on the feature set provided in addition to the main package first boot, we will not have any wireless interface enabled by [5]. Therefore, OpenWrt was chosen as our base architecture default. The first login test is done using an Ethernet cable to implement M.E.N.A.C.E-TRACK. Section 3 presents a plugged into any Ethernet port (not the WAN port). The set of experiments devised to study OpenWrt flexibility computer interface must be set to any address in the range regarding a simple research question: how can I extend the 192.168.1.0/24, exception made to 192.168.1.1, which is the range of an infra-structured IEEE 802.11 wireless network? default address of the OpenWrt interface [10]. After the first connection it is recommended to setup the 3. Experimental Testbed root password (the only account). After the password is set, the telnet daemon is disabled and all future accesses are We chose as our experimental testbed a TP-LINK TL- done using the ssh service [10]. Considering our testbed WDR 4300 router. According to [6] this router provides a is essentially experimental and is intended to test multiple simultaneous dual band (concurrent 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz) mesh routing protocols, implying in a frequent change in its and is advertised as 750 Mbps in dual-stream mode on the configuration files, we still did not consider the procedures 2.4 GHz band, and triple-stream on the 5 GHz band. It’s described at [11] for network and system hardening. hardware can be summarized as an Atheros AR9344 CPU operating at 560MHz, 8MB internal flash, 128 MB RAM, 3.1.1 USB Storage 4 Gigabit Ethernet ports, 1 Gigabit Ethernet WAN port, 2 Considering the size of the internal flash memory (8 MB), USB 2.0 ports, Serial and JTag interfaces and support up to it is recommended to increase this size as soon as possible. 12 VLANs. After the base installation, we have up to 4 MB available, To simplify the presentation of the experimental results, which runs out relatively fast depending on the number of we organized this section to discuss the device preparation packages the administrator chooses to install. Fortunately, (section 3.1) and the case studies involving the two APs so OpenWrt allows the extension of this available size by means they can expand the indoor range of the Wi-Fi connection of an overlay file system. This means we can extend the shared by a desktop computer (section 3.2). The experimen- root file system (stored at the internal flash memory) to an tal testbed is presented in Figure 1.