All,

My Raspberry Pi node is on the air here in Averill Park. It's been running happily for a day or so now at 1W with the stock antenna. I'm hoping to add a 'real' antenna before winter (did I say that out loud?) but looking at some Splat! output, my location may not be that great for 2.4Ghz. I believe the Alfa Wifi USB adapter I have can do 2W output, but I haven't gotten around to fudging the network module configuration to do that.

$ iwconfig
wlan0     IEEE 802.11bgn  ESSID:"HSMM-MESH" 
          Mode:Ad-Hoc  Frequency:2.442 GHz  Cell: EE:A9:05:D8:0D:AD  
          Tx-Power=30 dBm  
          Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Power Management:on

I went with Scott Kidder's (KK6DCI) HSMM-Pi software for the Pi. It was easy to install and configure. Scott has a blog online here which has some interesting reading. I will probably add a GPS to the Pi node to provide NTP-ish services to any other nodes ... should I encounter them in the future!

http://hsmmpi.wordpress.com/

I should be bringing a node online in downtown Troy next week; that one will be a stock WRT54GS node, with no opportunity for improved antennas. I'll just try to get it as high up in the building as I can!

73

Mike K2MTS

You have to turn it on yourself.

I forget.  Does a freshly flashed router come up with Mesh Gateway enabled, or did you have to turn it on yourself?

I want to supply internet to the Mesh, it just caught me by surprise that it was wide open right off with no intervention on my part..

And since I own the only two nodes in radio range, I don't have to worry about what is going thru the mesh...hehe

I wasn't sure where to put such a topic, so admins, feel free to move it.

I've just got two V1 nodes up, starting to experiment with 'em and learn the ropes. I also had a WRT310N laying around, and stuck dd-wrt on it. I've seen a couple of other posts referring to dd-wrt, relating to connecting to a HMSS mesh.

Is this possible? Will dd-wrt in OLSR mode work reasonably well with HSMM? What features get lost in the translation?

I suppose the fun is in experimenting with this sort of thing, but I thought if I could get a quick answer here before wasting a lot of time, I'd be better off.

My reason for even considering such a mixed marriage is the lack of Linksys routers in my neighbourhood. I flat out refuse to pay $70 for a GL new, and sincehitting all the thrift stores and electronics recyclers I'm now planning dumpster diving safaris. DD-WRT is available for a lot of cheap routers available in my neighbourhood; some TP-Link models can be had at Wally-World for around $20 new.

My apologies again for croosing about 3 different topic lines. Feedback most welcome.

I am testing the version 1 firmware.

I have two HSMM mesh nodes per default configuration.

I attach a PC to each node.

I do a DNS lookup for the mesh nodes:  all mesh nodes can be resolved form any PC.

I do a DNS lookup of myself from a local PC:  name resolves.

I do a DNS lookup of a remote PC from the local PC:  i get an error message of DNS lookup rejected by localnode.local.mesh.

Is this expected behavior?

If so, it suggests that connection to resources behind a mesh node must be by ip address which is somewhat limiting.

Thanks in advance for your assistance.

73,

AB1PH

Don Rolph

Are you trying to make internet available to the mesh or are you trying to make sure no one can use your internet connection?  

If you plug the internet into the WAN port of a mesh node router and turn off "Mesh Gateway" on that mesh node, internet will NOT be available to any other mesh node.  Internet will only be available only on the wired LAN ports of that router.

If you turn on "Mesh Gateway," the internet will be available on every mesh node and on every LAN port of every mesh node.

On 0.4.3, the LAN ports on the router were in "NAT" mode by default. 

In NAT (Network Address Translation) mode, devices on the LAN port get a "bogus" local (to the router) IP address that is not visible or accessible to devices on the mesh.  If you want a device on the LAN to be accessible to other mesh nodes or devices, you have to do port forwarding.  Without port forwarding, in NAT mode, devices plugged into your mesh node will only be visible to other devices plugged into the LAN on the same mesh node.

V 1.0.0 routers are in "Direct" mode by default.   Devices on the LAN port get an IP address that is visible to anything on the mesh. 

In general, you don't need to port forward on V 1.0.0.  Devices on the LAN ports are visible to the entire mesh. 

Note that devices on the LAN port can always see any devices that are "visible" on the mesh.  That's true whether you're on 0.4.3, 1.0.0, NAT, or direct mode.  The big difference is whether devices plugged into a LAN port are "visible" to other mesh nodes. 

Now for the extra confusion factors. 

A v1.0.0 mesh node can have its LAN port set to NAT mode and it will work like a 0.4.3 mode in terms of other devices accessing devices on the LAN port.   In NAT mode, port forwarding would be necessary if you want to run a server of some kind on a computer on the LAN port.

If you have devices plugged into a mesh node that you don't want to be accessible to others on the mesh, set the mesh node to "NAT" mode.

V 0.4.3 mesh nodes had a "DMZ" mode for the LAN.  I think this is like "Direct mode," to some extent at least.

All connections to the "internet" are NATed.  You can port forward from the "internet" (WAN) port to the wired LAN.  Port forwarding from internet to the mesh is NOT supported.

Also, the LAN can always "see" the network that the WAN port is connected to, even if "mesh gateway" is turned off.

Is it now normal for the web to be accessible via the remote node?

By checking Mesh Gateway, you allow all other mesh nodes in the network to connect to the internet through that node that is plugged into the internet (through the WAN port) with Mesh Gateway checked. That's part of the normal operation.

But I didn't think I had any connectivity without port forwarding

That is correct. Before v1.0.0, you had to do some port forwarding for devices plugged into the LAN of the mesh node before you could connect to them or have them connect to something located somewhere else. Also, by checking Mesh Gateway, connected devices could have the internet made available to them. However, you had to forward ports for devices to be able to use the internet on those additional ports.

With v1.0.0, that is no longer the case with the new default mode being 5 Host Direct. In this mode, you can do nothing and it will talk across the LAN and WAN (if Mesh Gateway is checked on the node plugged into the internet), and/or you only need to link/host a service in order to see the device and advertise the service to the mesh network.

Maybe I'm still misunderstanding you.  

That sounds like the way it always worked, even on 0.4.3.   Plug one mesh node into the internet on the WAN port, turn on mesh gateway, and every node or PC connected to other mesh nodes can access the internet.

'Mesh gateway" controls whether the WAN (internet) port is accessible to other mesh nodes.   The LAN ports on an individual mesh node will have access to the internet, no matter whether mesh gateway is checked or not.

I think you have to reboot the router for "mesh gateway" to take effect when you turn it on, but I don't think you have to reboot to turn it off.  Check for yourself, though.

Edit: Reboot is required in all cases.

i.e. turn off "mesh gateway" and (maybe) reboot if you don't want other mesh nodes to have access to the internet through your internet connection. 

The above assumes the WAN port is hooked to the internet.

There are basically three "networks" as seen by the router. Routing is different for each combination.

1) Wired WAN "internet" port.

2) Wired LAN port.

3) Wireless MESH connection. 

Both Nodes are v1's with Node Type set to Mesh Node

N9MXQ-1 setup as a Mesh Gateway with Internet access plugged into the WAN port.. (no ports forwarded, IRC installed and running)

N9MXQ Laptop plugged in to a LAN port with it's built in WIFI off so the only path to the Interweb is via the MESH.

Is it now normal for the web to be accessible via the remote node?

I have unchecked the Mesh Gateway on N9MXQ-1 until I can sort this out.. I know I'm the only Mesher in my area, but why take chances...

Well my PBX is up and running on the mesh thanks for the help I've received from the forums now my question is I've attached a router not a node but a regular router and the problem I,m having is the soft phone on my phone works great but is there a way to get multiple soft phones on the router because you can on port forward to one IP address on the regular router is there a way to get multiple clients to work I can connect and make calls out but it sends all inbounds calls to voicemail on the soft phones that are not port forward or due I have a configuring issue with asterisk 

"I really did make paragraphs in that message to make it easier to read."

kf5mmw,

I had the same problem. Use line breaks (shift-return, in Windoze) instead of Return at the end of each paragraph.

73

PS, click at the preview button before you submit.  You can fix the line breaks there.

Hello from Steeltown. Is Hamilton still called that these days?

I've got two nodes operational, am still trying to source WRT54's to build more, but I don't have a clean line of site anywhere. In fact, I'd need a 60' tower to clear ground level in the direction of the greater GTA. I'm on the south side of town, on the wrong side of a limestone ridge on which Rymal Road is built. Hasn't bothered me for HF, in fact with a vertical it's helped.

So I'm greatly interested in tunneling, and will start playing with that once I get comfortable with the BBHN software. In the meantime, I'm scrounging through the junkbox looking for network gizmos to connect to the mesh. Got some cameras, some IP based radio interfaces, stuff.

The RAC annual meeting is at the Ancaster hamfest this year, in October. Is anyone considering setting up a demo mesh on site, or maybe some workshops? Seems the tech could use some better optics, before it fades into obscurity and all the WRT54's get shredded. Would this be a good opportunity? I've got two nodes I can bring...