what would you say is the easiest way to create a wireless access point in debian

baronobeefdip · 05-30-2011, 07:48 PM

i keep reading about hostapd but i never figured out how to get the daemon working properly, heck i haven't figured out how to get the ethernet card ti bridge to the wlan card through command line

Code:

#brctl addbr br0
#brctl addif br0 eth0
#brctl addif br0 wlan0
can't add wlan0 to bridge br0: Operation not supported <how do i get rid of this>

the linux wireless experts reccomend using the hostapd tool but the documentation hasn't told me much such as where the .conf file is located (or how to make it) and how to start the daemon (or service)
i input this command to see if it is running

Code:

#service --status-all

and on one of the lines theres

Code:

[ - ]   hostapd

the - means it's not running if it had a plus it would be running what would it take to make it run

ps the wireless interface i want to set up as an access point is an SMC usb card that uses the zd1211rw firmware, i checked and it supports AP mode

i was told that you don't have to put the card into master mode all you have to do is configure the hostapd.conf daemon correctly and start the daemon, it will automatically brodcast an ap without an further configurations

i appreciate the help everyone

MS3FGX · 05-30-2011, 08:00 PM

The suggesting method is hostapd, but I have always found it easier to simply put the device into Master mode via iwconfig, and then setup IP forwarding between the wireless and wired interfaces with iptables.

It's a quick and dirty method, but might be enough to get the job done depending on what you are looking to do.

baronobeefdip · 05-31-2011, 12:13 PM

iwconfig doesn't work with putting the card into master mode anymore, not even the guys at the linux-wireless site use it anymore. because of that it's gotten a little complicated to pull this off but i was told that iwconfig and iw weren't necessary and that the daemon will put in master mode automatically after stating the name of the inerface in the .conf file

i just want to know how to create a wireless repeater