wds how-to?

[Sam Leffler]

David Cornejo wrote:
> Aloha,
>
> I'm trying to get WDS running - I am working my way through the stuff
> in /usr/src/tools/tools/net80211/scripts, but it really only gives
> examples and doesn't explain the why of it - is there a more verbose
> how to somewhere that would help me understand this?
>   

I've written nothing.  You say the "why" is missing but you don't ask 
any questions.

There are 2 flavors of wds, legacy and dynamic.  The legacy stuff is 
trivial to setup;

ifconfig wlan create wlandev ath0 wlanmode wds wlanbssid ... wdslegacy

The bssid is the peer's mac address.  This is just a fixed 4-address 
conduit for frames.  There must be an ap vap already created.  You want 
to plumb the vap into a bridge or assign it an ip address and route (not 
sure about routing; I always use it bridged).

Dynamic wds setup depends on whether you're on the ap side or the sta 
side; the scripts are the best examples.  The idea is you have a sta-ap 
association that carries 4-address traffic.  Because there's a 
full-blown association you get discovery, roaming, and security for 
free.  This is what you'll find in Apple's ap products though they've 
done a bunch of work to make it more production-quality.

Note that wds is implemented above the drivers (modulo a bit of glue 
code).  ath is just one driver that supports wds, ral is another.

    Sam