Bug 330473 - kde networlmanager, wifi access point not activated
Summary: kde networlmanager, wifi access point not activated
Status: RESOLVED DOWNSTREAM
Alias: None
Product: Network Management
Classification: Miscellaneous
Component: Wireless (show other bugs)
Version: unspecified
Platform: openSUSE Linux
: NOR normal
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Lamarque V. Souza
URL:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2014-01-27 17:14 UTC by Philippe ROUBACH
Modified: 2014-06-07 20:58 UTC (History)
2 users (show)

See Also:
Latest Commit:
Version Fixed In:


Attachments
the "Radio Wifi AP" (249.29 KB, image/png)
2014-01-28 08:59 UTC, Philippe ROUBACH
Details

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Description Philippe ROUBACH 2014-01-27 17:14:27 UTC
opensuse 13.1 x86_64 , kde 4.12.1
linksys WMP600N wifi adapter , ap mode capable (checked with "iw list")
rt2800pci driver
networkmanager 0.9.8.8-1.1

in kde settings/network manager
i create a wifi AP
 just by 
- selecting "ap mode" and supplying as ssid "linux-b4lz"
- selecting "wpa/wpa2 personnel" and supplying a 64 hex key from 
https://www.grc.com/passwords.htm

that's all . i did not modify anymore parameters

in plasmoid network management
i see well the new wifi network with security icon = green shield with a "check" symbol
then
 i restart system
then
i open a kde session

in plasmoid network management i see the new wifi network but the level of signal is 0

with my smartphone android 4.2.2 i can't see this new wifi network


Reproducible: Always
Comment 1 Philippe ROUBACH 2014-01-28 08:59:06 UTC
Created attachment 84864 [details]
the "Radio Wifi AP"

see the state of the network "Radio Wifi AP" i created
Comment 2 Philippe ROUBACH 2014-01-28 09:16:06 UTC
result of "iw list"

Supported interface modes:
* IBSS
* managed
* AP
* AP/VLAN
* WDS
* monitor
* mesh point
software interface modes (can always be added):
* AP/VLAN
* monitor
valid interface combinations:
* #{ AP, mesh point } <= 8,
total <= 8, #channels <= 1
Comment 3 Philippe ROUBACH 2014-01-28 09:17:21 UTC
what http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/rt2800pci#features
says about the driver 2800pci

working

Monitor Mode
Station Mode
AP Mode
TX aggregation
HW crypto
Multi BSS in AP mode
HT40


and the chipset "Network controller: Ralink corp. RT2800 802.11n PCI"
is not excluded
Comment 4 Lamarque V. Souza 2014-01-28 10:06:27 UTC
You need to click on "Radio Wifi AP" to activate the connection. See that at the left side of the plasmoid the wifi card in "not connected" state, once that changes to "connected to Radio Wifi AP" then the connection is ready to be used. There is no auto-connect for ap-mode wifi connections (because there is no access point to detect).

By the way, you should have used the Add -> Shared button in Wireless tab to create the connection. The steps you did to create the connection are correct but you missed one: in IPv4 tab you need to change "Method" to shared. Otherwise NetworkManager's internal dhcp and dns server will not be activated and your phone will not receive an IP address. The "Shared" button does all the needed steps.
Comment 5 Philippe ROUBACH 2014-01-28 10:35:08 UTC
thanks

and for ipv6 , is there any particular settings ?
Comment 6 Philippe ROUBACH 2014-01-28 10:38:35 UTC
i delete the ap
i create an ap with your method .
i restart the system
i open kde session
is it normal there is no level signal ?


i click on the ap in plasmoid-networkmanager
then
i have a message saying "system policy forbids to share a connexion via a wifi protected network"

but here i assume this is not a plasmoid-networkmanagement pb but an opensuse security policy
Comment 7 Lamarque V. Souza 2014-01-28 10:45:15 UTC
(In reply to comment #6)
> i delete the ap
> i create an ap with your method .
> i restart the system
> i open kde session
> is it normal there is no level signal ?

Yes, that's normal. I need to check again if it is possible to get signal strengh for ap-mode connections from NetworkManager. When I implemented that I think it was not possible, maybe with a newer NetworkManager it is possible.
 
> i click on the ap in plasmoid-networkmanager
> then
> i have a message saying "system policy forbids to share a connexion via a
> wifi protected network"
> 
> but here i assume this is not a plasmoid-networkmanagement pb but an
> opensuse security policy

Probably.
Comment 8 Philippe ROUBACH 2014-01-28 11:06:04 UTC
sorry to insist .

for ipv6 , is there any particular settings as ipv4 method ?
Comment 9 Lamarque V. Souza 2014-01-28 11:18:38 UTC
Yes, there is "Method: shared" in IPv6 tab too. I have never tested it though. I am not sure if everything will work out of the box. If it does not then contact me and I will try to fix it.

By the way, is the IPv4 ap-mode working for yout? If so, then I will close this bug.
Comment 10 Philippe ROUBACH 2014-01-28 11:23:03 UTC
>> By the way, is the IPv4 ap-mode working for yout?

i can't answer . i struggle with opensuse security policy
Comment 11 Philippe ROUBACH 2014-01-28 11:24:04 UTC
for ipv6 settings by default method is set to  "inactive"
we must set to shared
Comment 12 Philippe ROUBACH 2014-01-28 11:35:45 UTC
is it normal to have this for the wifi adapter

linux-b4lz:~ # iwconfig
enp0s7    no wireless extensions.

wlp1s9    IEEE 802.11abgn  ESSID:off/any  
          Mode:Managed  Access Point: Not-Associated   Tx-Power=20 dBm   
          Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:off
          
lo        no wireless extensions.

linux-b4lz:~ #
Comment 13 Lamarque V. Souza 2014-01-28 11:38:38 UTC
When it is *not* connected, yes. Why?
Comment 14 Philippe ROUBACH 2014-01-28 11:48:34 UTC
according to be visible by smartphone , is it necessary to connect my pc to the ap ?

because my smartphone still does not see the ap network .

is there a parameter to hide or not the network ?
Comment 15 Lamarque V. Souza 2014-01-28 12:03:57 UTC
(In reply to comment #14)
> according to be visible by smartphone , is it necessary to connect my pc to
> the ap ?

What ap are you talking about? To be clear: your pc needs two activated connections: 1. one to connect your pc to the Internet and 2. another to connect your phone to the pc. Connection #1 can be of any kind (ethernet, wifi, 3G, wimax, etc). Connection #2 have to be wifi in your case (Plasma NM supports shared ethernet connections but smartphones do not come with ethernet cards, so wifi is your only option here). I assume your pc's first connection (the one that connects it to the Internet) is an ethernet connection. So the wifi connection is the one that your phone will connect to. You do not need a regular wifi access point for this setup.

> because my smartphone still does not see the ap network .

According to iwconfig's output the connection is deactivated. You need to activate it first before your phone can see the ap-mode network.

> is there a parameter to hide or not the network ?

No, that is not supported by Plasma NM at the moment.
Comment 16 Philippe ROUBACH 2014-01-28 12:27:24 UTC
>> What ap are you talking about?

the ap we speak about since the beginning , see my description

i use an ethernet cable to connect to internet
i want to establish  a wifi connection between my pc and my smartphone android 4.2.2 via a wifi network thus i create in this pc a wifi ap .
i don't want to use the ap for my smartphone accessing to internet . it is just
for running kde-connect .

>> You do not need a regular wifi access point for this setup.

are you sure ? i have samsung SII Plus  with android 4.2.2 .
i am sure it knows to connect to an ap .
i know it implements "samsung wifi direct" technology .

before trying ap i tried the ad-hoc protocol
i create with success an ad-hoc network
my pc connect to the ad-hoc network with success  (there is a pb i choose wpa/wpa2 personnel and networkmanager says it is a wep connection)
but
my smartphone does not see my adhoc network
Comment 17 Lamarque V. Souza 2014-01-28 13:00:30 UTC
(In reply to comment #16)
> i use an ethernet cable to connect to internet
> i want to establish  a wifi connection between my pc and my smartphone
> android 4.2.2 via a wifi network thus i create in this pc a wifi ap .
> i don't want to use the ap for my smartphone accessing to internet . it is
> just for running kde-connect .
> 
> >> You do not need a regular wifi access point for this setup.
> 
> are you sure ? i have samsung SII Plus  with android 4.2.2 .
> i am sure it knows to connect to an ap .

When I wrote "*regular* wifi access point" I meant an dedicated access point device. That is not needed to connect your smartphone to your pc when using ap-mode connection in your pc.

> i know it implements "samsung wifi direct" technology .

wifi direct is not supported by Plasma NM at the moment.
 
> before trying ap i tried the ad-hoc protocol

ad-hoc is pretty unstable and unsecure. That is why Android just ignores any ad-hoc access point.

> i create with success an ad-hoc network
> my pc connect to the ad-hoc network with success  (there is a pb i choose
> wpa/wpa2 personnel and networkmanager says it is a wep connection)

simple answer: ad-hoc wifi connections does not support wpa encryption. Complex answer: some wifi card's firwmare support ad-hoc wpa connections but it is not secure as a regular wpa connection. Besides, it is also very unstable (because wifi card manufacturers do care for testing it), so the simple answer is that it is not supported.

> but
> my smartphone does not see my adhoc network

Because Android ignores any ad-hoc connection. ap-mode or unencrypted are your only options to connect your smartphone to your pc.
Comment 18 Philippe ROUBACH 2014-01-28 13:29:13 UTC
then
we go back to the beginning
i must create an ap in the pc in order to use kde-connect . right ?
and
the next step is the  pb is the opensuse security rules . right ?

at this step this security rules forbid me to check ap mode works well  and to close the bug report .

i send a post to opensuse forum
http://forums.opensuse.org/showthread.php/494918-unable-to-activate-a-wifi-access-point

i send a bug report to novell
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=860805
Comment 19 Philippe ROUBACH 2014-01-28 17:41:11 UTC
in networkmanager log i found this :

<info> Connection 'Radio Wifi AP' auto-activation failed: (5) Access Point (AP) mode is not supported by the supplicant.
Comment 20 Lamarque V. Souza 2014-01-28 18:00:53 UTC
You need wpa_supplicant >= 1.1 (I think 1.0 is also ok) to make this work. I use wpa_supplicant 2.0 in my computer.
Comment 21 Philippe ROUBACH 2014-01-28 18:06:41 UTC
the wpa_supplicant 2.0-3.1.2 is installed 

more info :
in messages file there is :

polkitd[1803]: Operator of unix-session:1 successfully authenticated as unix-user:root to gain ONE-SHOT authorization for action org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.wifi.share.protected for system-bus-name::1.15 [kdeinit4: kded4 [kdeinit]] (owned by unix-user:roubach)

then i think it is not an opensuse security pb
Comment 22 Lamarque V. Souza 2014-01-28 18:15:09 UTC
Well, ap-mode is a compilation option for wpa_supplicant. Maybe whoever
compiled wpa_supplicant for OpenSuse forgot to enable it.


On Tue, Jan 28, 2014 at 4:06 PM, Philippe ROUBACH
<philippe.roubach@free.fr>wrote:

> https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=330473
>
> --- Comment #21 from Philippe ROUBACH <philippe.roubach@free.fr> ---
> the wpa_supplicant 2.0-3.1.2 is installed
>
> more info :
> in messages file there is :
>
> polkitd[1803]: Operator of unix-session:1 successfully authenticated as
> unix-user:root to gain ONE-SHOT authorization for action
> org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.wifi.share.protected for
> system-bus-name::1.15
> [kdeinit4: kded4 [kdeinit]] (owned by unix-user:roubach)
>
> then i think it is not an opensuse security pb
>
> --
> You are receiving this mail because:
> You are the assignee for the bug.
>
Comment 23 Philippe ROUBACH 2014-01-29 10:42:53 UTC
i wonder this :
when "iw list" and wireless.kernel.org say "ap mode is supported" perhaps they say only that rt2800pci driver supports ap mode" , perhaps they don't speak about the adapter but only about the driver .

same thing about wpa_supplicant . whent it says "ap mode is not supported by the supplicant"
perhaps it does not speak about wpa_supplicant but about the adapter .

assume that in the contrary of what "iw list" and wireless.kernel.org say
my card does not support ap mode .
in this case what is the answer of wpa_supplicant ?

 is there a tool to send a query directly to the adapter ?
Comment 24 Lamarque V. Souza 2014-01-29 10:56:06 UTC
the driver supports ap-mode according to iw list. wap_supplicant is the problem according the NetworkManager's log. Probably it was not compiled with ap-mode support. Run this command as root (using sudo for instance) and send me the output:

strings $(which wpa_supplicant) | grep 'AP mode'
Comment 25 Philippe ROUBACH 2014-01-29 11:06:04 UTC
>> strings $(which wpa_supplicant) | grep 'AP mode'

"which wpa_supplicant" what is it ?
Comment 26 Lamarque V. Souza 2014-01-29 11:08:36 UTC
just run the command above as is and send me the output, please.
Comment 27 Philippe ROUBACH 2014-01-29 11:09:52 UTC
i send this bug report to novell

https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=860885
Comment 28 Philippe ROUBACH 2014-01-29 11:10:13 UTC
linux-b4lz:~ # strings $(which wpa_supplicant) | grep 'AP mode'
AP mode support not included in the build
nl80211: Supports Probe Response offload in AP mode
nl80211: Skip disabling of Probe Request reporting nl_preq=%p while in AP mode
nl80211: Failed to enable Probe Request frame reporting in AP mode
linux-b4lz:~ #
Comment 29 Philippe ROUBACH 2014-01-29 15:21:05 UTC
i discovered another pb :

my wifi adapter linksys WMP600N is compliant with 802.11n and dual band

here is an extract of the data sheet :
*********************************************************************************
The Wireless-N PCI Adapter uses the very latest wireless networking technology, Wireless-N (draft
802.11n). By overlaying the signals of multiple radios for each band, Wireless-N’s “Multiple In,
Multiple Out” (MIMO) technology is designed to multiply the effective data rate. Unlike ordinary
wireless networking technologies that are confused by signal reflections, MIMO actually uses these
reflections to increase the range and reduce “dead spots” in the wireless coverage area. The robust
signal travels farther, maintaining wireless connections much farther than standard Wireless-G.
With Wireless-N, the farther away you are, the more speed advantage you get. It works great with
standard Wireless-G, -A, and -B equipment, but when both ends of the wireless link are Wireless-N,
the throughput can be increased far beyond standard Wireless-G by using twice as much radio band.
Dual-bandwireless networks are designed to operate in both the 2.4 and 5 gigahertz radio bands at the same
time, effectively doubling the available wireless bandwidth. For instance, you could set up your network
to handle video streaming on one radio band, and use the other band for simultaneous data transfers
-- avoiding any interference or collisions that would degrade the video performance. The Wireless-N PCI
Adapter with Dual-Band allows you to connect using whichever band works the best for your situation.
*********************************************************************************

but if i create a wifi ap in "wireless" tab in "band" field there is only :
- automatic
- a
- b/g

and not "n"

if i read the doc about 2800pci driver at wireless.kernel.org
in the chapter "feature" there is "ht40" . this is relative to 802.11n 
here http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers?highlight=%28rt2800pci%29
they says rt2800pci is compliant with "a,b,g,n"
Comment 30 Lamarque V. Souza 2014-01-29 15:29:16 UTC
a and n bands use same frequencies. Just set the configuration to a band and it should work. The same happens with b and g bands.

This is not the correct place to ask for support. This is a bug tracking page. You should use http://forum.kde.org for support questions like this one. Since your original problem is not in any KDE software I will close this bugs as downstream (downstream in this case means OpenSuse must fix the problem, not us).