OpenWRT Aruba AP-303 - Revision history

Adj at 19:44, 10 April 2026

2026-04-10T19:44:13Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:44, 10 April 2026
Line 389:		Line 389:
	And the package manager, <code>opkg</code>, has been replaced by a tool called <code>apk</code>. This seems to have nothing to do with Android's APK package files, though. An administrator's <code>apk</code> cheatsheet can be found at https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/additional-software/opkg-to-apk-cheatsheet.		And the package manager, <code>opkg</code>, has been replaced by a tool called <code>apk</code>. This seems to have nothing to do with Android's APK package files, though. An administrator's <code>apk</code> cheatsheet can be found at https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/additional-software/opkg-to-apk-cheatsheet.
	So far, it is a bit more like Debian's <code>apt-get</code> tool. Getting all outstanding package updates is simply <code>apk update; apk upgrade</code> now.		So far, it is a bit more like Debian's <code>apt-get</code> tool. Getting all outstanding package updates is simply <code>apk update; apk upgrade</code> now.

			=== Packages we want on our OpenWrt 25.12.x APs ===
			* diffutils -- GNU text file delta generator, useful for comparing two versions of a config file
			* usteer -- this steers WiFi clients toward the best frequency band and AP depending on signal strength, number of stations connected, and other factors.

			=== And some basic system setup ===
			OpenWrt has most (all?) of its config files stored under /etc/config. There is a CLI tool, <code>uci</code>, to manage them. Let's walk through setting up a new AP's hostname, and getting a juicy kernel random seed value set:
			root@OpenWrt:~# '''uci show system'''
			system.@system[0]=system
			system.@system[0].hostname='OpenWrt'
			system.@system[0].timezone='GMT0'
			system.@system[0].zonename='UTC'
			system.@system[0].ttylogin='0'
			system.@system[0].log_size='128'
			system.@system[0].urandom_seed='0'
			system.@system[0].compat_version='1.1'
			system.ntp=timeserver
			system.ntp.enabled='1'
			system.ntp.enable_server='0'
			system.ntp.server='0.openwrt.pool.ntp.org' '1.openwrt.pool.ntp.org' '2.openwrt.pool.ntp.org' '3.openwrt.pool.ntp.org'
			root@OpenWrt:~# '''uci set system.@system[0].hostname=fnord-ap303-4'''
			root@OpenWrt:~# '''uci commit system'''
			root@OpenWrt:~# '''/etc/init.d/system reload'''
			root@fnord-ap303-4:~# '''uci set system.@system[0].urandom_seed=$(wget -q -O - 'https://www.random.org/cgi-bin/randbyte?nbytes=32&format=h' \| tr -d ' ' \| tr -d '\n')'''
			root@fnord-ap303-4:~# '''uci commit system'''
			root@fnord-ap303-4:~# '''/etc/init.d/system reload'''
			root@fnord-ap303-4:~#
			<code>paste</code> might be the better standard UNIX tool for the <code>tr -d '\n'</code> in the above. But many of the things we might expect from GNU coreutils are not installed by default on OpenWrt. So we have <code>tr</code> remove spaces from the output from random.org's super awesome random bits delivery service and then have it remove the newlines, too. End result is the same.

			=== Wired network config ===
			Feed this block of text to <code>uci import network</code> and finish things off with an ASCII end-of-transmission marker (<code>Ctrl-D</code>) or whatever your termios end-of-file (EOF) character is.
			package network

			config interface 'loopback'
			option device 'lo'
			option proto 'static'
			option ipaddr '127.0.0.1'
			option netmask '255.0.0.0'

			config globals 'globals'
			option ula_prefix 'fd1f:ed39:f7d::/48'
			option packet_steering '1'

			config device
			option name 'br-lan'
			option type 'bridge'
			list ports 'lan'

			config interface 'lan'
			option device 'br-lan.10'
			option proto 'dhcp'

			config device
			option type '8021q'
			option ifname 'br-lan'
			option vid '1001'
			option name 'br-lan.1001'

			config device
			option type '8021q'
			option ifname 'br-lan'
			option vid '3900'
			option name 'br-lan.3900'

			config interface 'lan_1001'
			option device 'br-lan.1001'

			config interface 'lan_3900'
			option device 'br-lan.3900'

			config bridge-vlan
			option device 'br-lan'
			list ports 'lan:u*'
			option vlan '10'

			config bridge-vlan
			option device 'br-lan'
			option vlan '1001'
			list ports 'lan:t'

			config bridge-vlan
			option device 'br-lan'
			option vlan '3900'
			list ports 'lan:t'
			This was pieced together experimentally over time. Not guided by the reference documentation. Mostly with the LuCI web UI. The <code>ula_prefix</code> global option value probably does not matter for anything I'm doing here.

			=== Wireless network config ===
			This is like the wired networking config previously. Except it has SSID security passwords in it. So I am not sharing the actual contents here. Essentially, though, feed a config to <code>uci import wireless; uci commit wireless; sync; sleep 3; sync; reboot</code> and things should work out OK.

Adj at 19:36, 10 April 2026

2026-04-10T19:36:42Z

Show changes

Adj: /* Wired network config */

2026-04-10T18:58:45Z

Wired network config

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:58, 10 April 2026
Line 90:		Line 90:
	list ports 'lan:t'		list ports 'lan:t'
	This was pieced together experimentally over time. Not guided by the reference documentation. Mostly with the LuCI web UI. The <code>ula_prefix</code> global option value probably does not matter for anything I'm doing here.		This was pieced together experimentally over time. Not guided by the reference documentation. Mostly with the LuCI web UI. The <code>ula_prefix</code> global option value probably does not matter for anything I'm doing here.

			=== Wireless network config ===
			This is like the wired networking config previously. Except it has SSID security passwords in it. So I am not sharing the actual contents here. Essentially, though, feed a config to <code>uci import wireless; uci commit wireless; sync; sleep 3; sync; reboot</code> and things should work out OK.

Adj at 23:20, 8 April 2026

2026-04-08T23:20:33Z

Show changes

Adj: /* Getting to end state: packages */

2026-04-04T21:35:00Z

Getting to end state: packages

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:35, 4 April 2026
Line 382:		Line 382:
	wpad-basic-mbedtls - 2024.09.15~5ace39b0-r2 - This package contains a basic IEEE 802.1x/WPA Authenticator and Supplicant with WPA-PSK, SAE (WPA3-Personal), 802.11r and 802.11w support.		wpad-basic-mbedtls - 2024.09.15~5ace39b0-r2 - This package contains a basic IEEE 802.1x/WPA Authenticator and Supplicant with WPA-PSK, SAE (WPA3-Personal), 802.11r and 802.11w support.
	root@OpenWrt:/etc/config#		root@OpenWrt:/etc/config#

			== Oh, look, it is 2026! ==
			And things are mostly the same. New images to install listed at https://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/25.12.2/targets/ipq40xx/generic/ :
			* https://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/25.12.2/targets/ipq40xx/generic/openwrt-25.12.2-ipq40xx-generic-aruba_ap-303-initramfs-uImage.itb
			* https://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/25.12.2/targets/ipq40xx/generic/openwrt-25.12.2-ipq40xx-generic-aruba_ap-303-squashfs-sysupgrade.bin
			And the package manager, <code>opkg</code>, has been replaced by a tool called <code>apk</code>. This seems to have nothing to do with Android's APK package files, though. An administrator's <code>apk</code> cheatsheet can be found at https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/additional-software/opkg-to-apk-cheatsheet.
			So far, it is a bit more like Debian's <code>apt-get</code> tool. Getting all outstanding package updates is simply <code>apk update; apk upgrade</code> now.

Adj: /* Getting to end state: packages */

2025-07-16T02:44:09Z

Getting to end state: packages

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:44, 16 July 2025
Line 376:		Line 376:

	=== Getting to end state: packages ===		=== Getting to end state: packages ===
	<code>wpad-basic-mbedtls</code> is installed out of the box on this platform. It should be sufficient for our purposes, only has the WiFi mesh features turned off.		<code>wpad-basic-mbedtls</code> is installed out of the box on this platform. It should be sufficient for our purposes, only has the WiFi mesh features turned off. (WiFi mesh is inter-AP backhaul over the air, one AP is a client of another and still serving clients on the non-backhaul radio.)
	root@OpenWrt:/etc/config# '''opkg list-installed \| grep wpad'''		root@OpenWrt:/etc/config# '''opkg list-installed \| grep wpad'''
	wpad-basic-mbedtls - 2024.09.15~5ace39b0-r2		wpad-basic-mbedtls - 2024.09.15~5ace39b0-r2

Adj: /* Desired end state */

2025-02-25T19:57:13Z

Desired end state

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:57, 25 February 2025
Line 374:		Line 374:
	* APs doing some channel selection on their own, not just a static one from the config file		* APs doing some channel selection on their own, not just a static one from the config file
	* Fast roaming between APs		* Fast roaming between APs

			=== Getting to end state: packages ===
			<code>wpad-basic-mbedtls</code> is installed out of the box on this platform. It should be sufficient for our purposes, only has the WiFi mesh features turned off.
			root@OpenWrt:/etc/config# '''opkg list-installed \| grep wpad'''
			wpad-basic-mbedtls - 2024.09.15~5ace39b0-r2
			root@OpenWrt:/etc/config# '''opkg list \| grep wpad-basic-mbedtls'''
			wpad-basic-mbedtls - 2024.09.15~5ace39b0-r2 - This package contains a basic IEEE 802.1x/WPA Authenticator and Supplicant with WPA-PSK, SAE (WPA3-Personal), 802.11r and 802.11w support.
			root@OpenWrt:/etc/config#

Adj: /* Out of the box contents of /etc/config/wireless */

2025-02-25T17:28:28Z

Out of the box contents of /etc/config/wireless

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:28, 25 February 2025
Line 360:		Line 360:
	option encryption 'none'		option encryption 'none'
	Here we see 2 radios, both disabled. On each of the radios, a WiFi SSID called <code>OpenWrt</code> is defined and it is bridged to the network interface known as <code>lan</code>. Additionally. the radios are assigned to default channels.		Here we see 2 radios, both disabled. On each of the radios, a WiFi SSID called <code>OpenWrt</code> is defined and it is bridged to the network interface known as <code>lan</code>. Additionally. the radios are assigned to default channels.

			=== Restoring default WiFi radio setup ===
			root@OpenWrt:/etc/config# '''mv wireless wireless~'''
			root@OpenWrt:/etc/config# '''wifi config'''
			root@OpenWrt:/etc/config# '''ls -l wireless'''
			-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 652 Feb 25 17:25 wireless
			root@OpenWrt:/etc/config#

	=== Desired end state ===		=== Desired end state ===

Adj: /* Reboot and test functionality */

2025-02-22T20:06:57Z

Reboot and test functionality

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:06, 22 February 2025
Line 326:		Line 326:
	=== Reboot and test functionality ===		=== Reboot and test functionality ===
	root@OpenWrt:~# '''reboot'''		root@OpenWrt:~# '''reboot'''
			== Configure our first WiFi networks ==
			=== Out of the box contents of /etc/config/wireless ===
			root@OpenWrt:~# '''cat /etc/config/wireless'''

			config wifi-device 'radio0'
			option type 'mac80211'
			option path 'platform/soc/a000000.wifi'
			option band '2g'
			option channel '1'
			option htmode 'VHT20'
			option disabled '1'

			config wifi-iface 'default_radio0'
			option device 'radio0'
			option network 'lan'
			option mode 'ap'
			option ssid 'OpenWrt'
			option encryption 'none'

			config wifi-device 'radio1'
			option type 'mac80211'
			option path 'platform/soc/a800000.wifi'
			option band '5g'
			option channel '36'
			option htmode 'VHT80'
			option disabled '1'

			config wifi-iface 'default_radio1'
			option device 'radio1'
			option network 'lan'
			option mode 'ap'
			option ssid 'OpenWrt'
			option encryption 'none'
			Here we see 2 radios, both disabled. On each of the radios, a WiFi SSID called <code>OpenWrt</code> is defined and it is bridged to the network interface known as <code>lan</code>. Additionally. the radios are assigned to default channels.

			=== Desired end state ===
			* 2 SSIDs defined. One for authenticated devices with access to internal network resources (VLAN 1001). And another open network attached to the guest subnet (VLAN 3900).
			* Both SSIDs available on both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz spectrum.
			* APs able to do some band steering, hopefully encouraging clients to connect on the 5GHz radio.
			* APs doing some channel selection on their own, not just a static one from the config file
			* Fast roaming between APs

Adj: /* OpenWRT installation procedure */

2025-02-22T17:25:47Z

OpenWRT installation procedure

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:25, 22 February 2025
Line 114:		Line 114:
	# Tell the boot loader to get network config from a DHCP server:		# Tell the boot loader to get network config from a DHCP server:
	## Interrupt bootloader at the <code>Hit <Enter> to stop autoboot:</code> message.		## Interrupt bootloader at the <code>Hit <Enter> to stop autoboot:</code> message.
	## Get network config from DHCP server: ''"<code>dhcp</code>'''		## Get network config from DHCP server: '''<code>dhcp</code>'''
	# Some boot loader environment variables get set next:		# Some boot loader environment variables get set next:
	apboot> '''setenv bootargs_openwrt "setenv bootargs console=ttyMSM1,9600n8"'''		apboot> '''setenv bootargs_openwrt "setenv bootargs console=ttyMSM1,9600n8"'''