Subject says it all. Is there a way to PM other members?  If there is, I sure can't find it.

If the capability does't exist, I would like to request it be added, if feasible.

When the firmware is upgraded (Eg. 3.0.0 to 3.0.1, or 3.0.1 to 3.0.2b1, etc.) I am interested in which files/directories are overwritten.

For example, If I have added a new script to /www/cgi-bin will the entire directory be overwritten, or just the files matching those in the new release?  In particular, I am interested in /usr/local/bin, /www and /etc.

As a corollary to that question, is there a particular location where I can place my own data, code, etc that will survive updates and never be overwritten?

BTW, I am assuming that any standard files I have modified will have to be re-installed after an upgrade.

Thanks

I am involved in trying to get a bunch of guys across our county to setup our own little local mesh. I have a few guys tinkering with it, I have a few nodes up and I have gotten other people to setup nodes at their home. I have a lot of retired guys who aren't real computer savvy but they try!

One of the things I am trying real hard to do is make it easier on these guys who are NOT computer experts to enjoy this stuff... One of the things that seemed handy, EASY and pretty universal was HamChat. We have plans for much more, but this is a simple browser based chat these guys can figure out and use rather easily.

I have looked around, searched and read but don't see any cut and dried tutorials or documents on the web so far. It isn't a well kept secret is it? I see people talking about it, but no links to online documentation that I can read. And I went and looked on the router to see the packages it could install and I couldn't even find HamChat in the list – so I am lost...

Any links would be appreciated!!!

Not to mention – I don't know much about what I am doing in the Linux environment.

On another note – I finally got in a few WRTG54GS's so I can try tunneling between some nodes that are just a little too far out and with hills in between us, so we can link some of our mesh nodes together. If you have any experience or words of wisdom for a Linux neophyte like me I would appreciate those comments as well! I get lost quick... :)

If you want to see my little mesh out here near Chappell Hill and all the things we hung off of it, click this - http://n5mbm.endoftheinternet.org:8080/cgi-bin/status

I just need a little help figuring out how to install and deploy Hamchat and tunneling – the rest will come with time.

Bill – N5MBM

http://www.n5mbm.net

http://n5mbm.endoftheinternet.org:8080/cgi-bin/status

I think this is the document that got me going on mine...

http://ohiopacket.org/index.php/Integrating_HSMM-MESH_into_an_existing_network

If that doesn't work, check back with me and I will dig up something else for you.

Bill - N5MBM

http://www.n5mbm.net

http://n5mbm.endoftheinternet.org:8080/cgi-bin/mesh <-- my mesh node on the net

Thank you all for your replies so far.

My next question regarding the "Secondary" port is:

"Even if the POE may not be (HSMM) enabled yet, can we still connect devices such as cameras to it and configure the router in the same manner as we do with our Linksys routers or, do we chance damaging the router or camera?"

Has anyone done this yet?

Thanks again 73, Bob

Lots of variables here...  2.4 GHz is crowded.  You can mitigate that by narrowing the beamwidth with higher gain antennas, switching to horizontal polarization (which you have already done with these dual-polarity devices), adding RF armor (rfarmor.com), or using a less congested band.  Your results may be very different in a different environment... For example... outside the metro area this may be a completely viable configuration.

Andre, K6AH

Today I ran my NSM2 and my RocketM2 at a distance of about 8 miles with clear line of sight.  The IP phones are Linksys SPA941.  Found that the voice on the phones would break up and was marginal on channel 1, but better on channel 6.  There were 31 entries in the WiFi Scan.  Still learning.

There is a lot of change in the LQ signal levels over time. Not sure why.

Well, typical Micro$oft crapware strikes again.    IP stack went to hell, so after a reboot of Win7, everything is working as it should. 

I am able to access AMPRnet, Internet, and hosts on the Mesh.

Drove me crazy, should have rebooted on a whim anyway.  Something got scrambled I guess.  Funny thing is, DNS would halfway work, and change behavior.

Stupid windows.

I suggest going with the forced forward option than.

Edit: I just checked on my Ubiquiti node and the setting worked as designed when in static mode on WAN it did not go to any other DNS servers.

/etc/resolv.conf should be 127.0.0.1  /tmp/resolv.conf.auto holds the actual nameservers used by dnsmasq.

This might be different on Linksys due to older code I haven't checked that device, either way, a forced dns forward is probably your best bet especially on your your remote nodes. 

Still not working.  Same behavior as before.

If I let Mesh provide DNS it is obviously getting Internet DNS from some source, but certainly not the source I want.

I have set WAN to static, correct GW and correct DNS, and I get the same deal.  Maddening.

It is obviously using a DNS server somewhere else. 

If I look at /etc/resolv.conf on the node, it points to the correct DNS servers!

What the heck?

Ok,  That makes sense,  That should probably change to an option in further firmware.

So on the WAN interface, I will change that to static for that node, and force the DNS to the AMPRnet hosts.   

Thanks!

So I had to dig the code a bit more,  seems the DNS servers set by a WAN DHCP lease are also added to the list of DHCP servers as well. I'm not sure if I should that as a bug, design flaw, or a feature at the moment. (I'm half inclined to call it "bug" since we call the DNS servers the "WAN_DNS" in the config but we apply it to the LAN interface in the config. Not sure I would say we would drop this 'feature' as it makes sense from a deployment standpoint to use what DHCP gives us on top of w hat we know plus I have to set some DHCP for the mesh to work when there is no WAN port but is an internet link.)

Short Version:

This means the only option is A) static IP assignment on WAN interface to inhibit DHCP lease or B) Go with the hard forward entry (see dnsmasq manual about search roots to specific forwarders as noted before)

Thanks Conrad.

1.  Not all AMPRnet subnets are accessible via Internet at large.

2.  The AMPRnet DNS servers (at least the ones I am using) INCLUDE both AMPR and Internet  resolution.

With the two gateways set, And specifying the AMPRnet DNS in Windows, I have BOTH AMPR and Internet DNS.   But I LOSE DNS resolution for the Mesh itself. (for obvious reasons)

However, if I allow the mesh node to auto set the DNS thru DHCP, it points to the DNS served by the Mesh node, and I KEEP Internet DNS, Mesh DNS works, but lose AMPR resolution!

Very odd.. Very odd indeed.

Shouldn't the 44net be reachable by just being a meshgw? It is a public address space isnt it? If so why don't they publish a public DNS domain as well?  

All that asides as for DNS: there is a bigger item involved here in that dnsmasq by default sends all querieie to the fastest DNS server of the two configured in the list, this means you have no real control over which of the two will be used.  You would likely need to consult the dnsmasq config files and go in and manually add a forced forwarded for a domain entry to each node to force the DNS to always lookup against a specific DNS server as It sounds like that the ampernet is not in a public DNS space by your comments.

Edit: or just put ampernet in both slots.  In both cases remember to save and reboot when done.

Yes, Google DNS servers are in the firmware...

in /etc/config.mesh/_setup, you will find...

wan_dns1=8.8.8.8
wan_dns2=8.8.4.4

In theory, you should be able to change the wan_dns2 to whatever dns that you want, then, go into the GUI and hit SAVE

You can verify by looking at /etc/config/network (where 99.99.99.99 is your DNS)

#### LAN configuration
config interface lan
option ifname    "eth0"
option proto    static
option ipaddr    10.1.2.3
option netmask    255.255.255.240
option dns    "8.8.8.8 99.99.99.99"