Networking and servers • Re: Cant access device on Wifi AP

One last point. I noticed this in your log. Probably not part of your issue, but it's typically a red flag to address.

Code:

Aug 13 21:46:37 raspberrypi kernel: hwmon hwmon2: Undervoltage detected!

I am aware and will get a better power supply soon.

Great...just wanted to make sure you were aware.

OK, a couple of things. First, if you have a bridged AP then you can't have a DHCP server on that AP. It could easily hand out IP addresses that conflict with the rest of the network to which the AP is bridged unless you segment the DHCP pools for the router and your AP.

In my dnsmasq.conf I set dhcp-range=192.168.0.10,192.168.0.49 and on my Router 192.168.0.50-192.168.0.200.
So it shouldnt be a problem right?

Great that you've got that covered. You didn't mention that previously.

Secondly, I configured a system in bridged mode using the sdm hotspot plugin. It came right up and worked, and did not exhibit the behavior that you're seeing when I pulled the ethernet cable. Aside: It also doesn't enable a DHCP server in bridged mode.

So, first suggestion would be to disable dnsmasq on your AP and see how that works.

Secondly, I know that epoch1970 suggested using bridged mode, but I think that a routed AP is a simpler configuration (no br0, etc), more reliable, and less error-prone. But, your choice, of course.

What will happen if there is no DHCP on my Hotspot and a new device connects or existing device reboots while the router is off? They wont be able to connect right? This is crucial for me and also all devices connected to the router(when on) should be able to communicate to devices on the Pi, I think thats why epoch1970 suggested bridged mode.

If this is a network design constraint then yes, bridged mode is easier (as epoch1970 said), but a routed hotspot seems less fragile to me. But, your choice, of course.

So I will try disabling dnsmasq but I dont think this is a solution for me.

Is it possilbe to create a routed AP in the same subnet as my router and communication will work? Would you recommend it?

Switching to network manager seems to me inevitable.
What is the best way to get the sdm plugins to work on my existing Pi installation?

In normal operation you would use sdm to customize a standard RasPiOS IMG, burn, and boot it. Running plugins on an IMG customized this way is then a no-brainer.

However, if re-creating and re-imaging your system is not an option, it IS possible to run sdm plugins on an already-booted un-sdm-customized system. I just tested this and the hotspot came up correctly.

There are a few manual steps required, though, which are the antithesis of sdm's "standard" mode of operation.

I'll write up a short howto for you and post here later today.

Statistics: Posted by bls — Wed Aug 14, 2024 5:12 pm

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