Testing WiFi Router Features on RPi with OpenWrt
In continuation of the previous article, Raspberry Pi with OpenWrt as Wireless Router, we can explore more of OpenWrt wireless configuration through the command line with its configuration utility called UCI (Unified Configuration Interface) to configure the OpenWrt access point. We can do a basic smoke test of the new router.
Validation on Raspberry Pi
The OpenWrt on RPi can be validated for various networking and WiFi features to use it as a router.
Radio Enablement
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Verify the 2.4G radio got enabled by giving the following command
root@OpenWrt:~# iw dev
phy#0
Interface phy0-ap0
ifindex 3
wdev 0x1
addr d8:3a:dd:3e:c8:3c
type AP
channel 36 (5180 MHz), width: 80 MHz, center1: 5210 MHz-
In case the radio is not enabled, we can enable the radio.
root@OpenWrt:~# uci set wireless.radio0.disabled='0'
root@OpenWrt:~# uci commit wireless
root@OpenWrt:~# wifi reload
root@OpenWrt:~# iw dev
phy#0
Interface phy0-ap0
ifindex 3
wdev 0x1
addr da:3a:dd:3e:c8:3d
ssid R_OpenWrt
type AP
channel 36 (5180 MHz), width: 80 MHz, center1: 5210 MHz
txpower 31.00 dBm
root@OpenWrt:~#Verify AP Configuration Changes
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Verify whether the SSID could be configured
root@OpenWrt:~# uci set wireless.default_radio0.ssid='openwrt_zilogic'
root@OpenWrt:~# uci commit wireless
root@OpenWrt:~# wifi reload
root@OpenWrt:~# iw dev
phy#0
Interface phy0-ap0
ifindex 3
wdev 0x1
addr da:3a:dd:3e:c8:3d
ssid openwrt_zilogic
type AP
channel 36 (5180 MHz), width: 80 MHz, center1: 5210 MHz
txpower 31.00 dBm-
Verify whether the STA could authenticate with new key change
root@OpenWrt:~# uci set wireless.default_radio0.encryption='wpa2-psk'
root@OpenWrt:~# uci set wireless.default_radio0.key='1234567890'
root@OpenWrt:~# uci commit wireless
root@OpenWrt:~# wifi
root@OpenWrt:~# iw dev
phy#0
Interface phy0-ap0
ifindex 3
wdev 0x1
addr da:3a:dd:3e:c8:3d
ssid openwrt_zilogic
type AP
channel 149 (5745 MHz), width: 80 MHz, center1: 5775 MHz
txpower 31.00 dBm-
Verify whether the STA could connect with new channel change
root@OpenWrt:~# uci set wireless.radio0.channel='48'
root@OpenWrt:~# uci commit wireless
root@OpenWrt:~# wifi reload
root@OpenWrt:~# iw dev
phy#0
Interface phy0-ap0
ifindex 3
wdev 0x1
addr da:3a:dd:3e:c8:3d
ssid openwrt_zilogic
type AP
channel 48 (5240 MHz), width: 80 MHz, center1: 5210 MHz
txpower 31.00 dBm-
Verify whether the STA could connect with modified bandwidth
root@OpenWrt:~# uci set wireless.radio0.htmode='HT20'
root@OpenWrt:~# uci commit wireless
root@OpenWrt:~# wifi reload
root@OpenWrt:~# iw dev
phy#0
Interface phy0-ap0
ifindex 3
wdev 0x1
addr da:3a:dd:3e:c8:3d
ssid openwrt_zilogic
type AP
channel 149 (5745 MHz), width: 20 MHz, center1: 5745 MHz
txpower 31.00 dBmVerify Client Connectivity
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Verify whether the AP could list associated client
root@OpenWrt:/# iwinfo phy0-ap0 assoclist
FC:77:74:F5:90:29 unknown / unknown (SNR 0) 13000 ms ago
RX: 6.0 MBit/s 474 Pkts.
TX: 6.0 MBit/s 69265 Pkts.
expected throughput: unknown-
Verify whether the STA is connected to AP’s network
root@OpenWrt:/# arp -a
IP address HW type Flags HW address Mask Device
192.168.1.205 0x1 0x2 fc:77:74:f5:90:29 * br-lan
172.16.0.84 0x1 0x2 78:8c:77:a2:38:29 * eth0
172.16.0.1 0x1 0x2 14:eb:b6:cf:8e:7b * eth0
root@OpenWrt:/# cat tmp/dhcp.leases
1744838469 f8:9e:94:12:ca:00 192.168.1.100 ZS-LT-6HMTQL3 01:f8:9e:94:12:ca:00
1744835902 aa:27:58:57:bf:1c 192.168.1.139 * 01:aa:27:58:57:bf:1c
1744841560 fc:77:74:f5:90:29 192.168.1.205 ZS-DT-HWGS6T2 01:fc:77:74:f5:90:29-
Verify whether AP could communicate to the client.
root@OpenWrt:/# ping -c 2 192.168.1.205
PING 192.168.1.205 (192.168.1.205): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 192.168.1.205: seq=0 ttl=64 time=112.532 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.205: seq=1 ttl=64 time=136.220 ms
--- 192.168.1.205 ping statistics ---
2 packets transmitted, 2 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max = 112.532/124.376/136.220 msLinux Client as a STA
We can use a Linux laptop as an STA to further test the access point.
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Verify whether the Linux STA could associate to the AP
Linux$ iw dev wlo1 link
Connected to d8:3a:dd:3e:c8:3c (on wlo1)
SSID: openwrt_zilogic
freq: 5765
RX: 42035 bytes (212 packets)
TX: 29759 bytes (177 packets)
signal: -30 dBm
rx bitrate: 390.0 MBit/s VHT-MCS 9 80MHz VHT-NSS 1
bss flags: short-slot-time
dtim period: 2
beacon int: 100-
Verify whether the Linux STA could get IP connectivity to the AP
Linux$ ifconfig wlo1
wlo1: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
inet 192.168.1.205 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.1.255
inet6 fd61:e81:aee1:0:23d3:a1f3:6a1e:ae3d prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x0<global>
inet6 fd61:e81:aee1::d16 prefixlen 128 scopeid 0x0<global>
inet6 fe80::c1e6:c2ec:8a6:22ea prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x20<link>
inet6 fd61:e81:aee1:0:d87e:7db0:bc0e:8fa8 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x0<global>
ether fc:77:74:f5:90:29 txqueuelen 1000 (Ethernet)
RX packets 1276 bytes 196006 (196.0 KB)
RX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 frame 0
TX packets 2193 bytes 366661 (366.6 KB)
TX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 carrier 0 collisions 0-
Verify whether the Linux STA could reach internet through AP
Linux$ traceroute -i wlo1 -n google.com
traceroute to google.com (216.58.196.174), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
1 192.168.1.1 4.265 ms 4.163 ms 4.688 ms
2 172.16.0.1 4.674 ms 4.988 ms 5.063 ms
3 49.207.180.1 8.788 ms 8.881 ms 8.851 ms
4 * * *
5 * * *
6 72.14.212.80 8.710 ms 6.382 ms 6.331 ms
7 * * *
8 142.251.55.234 7.213 ms 142.251.55.244 6.826 ms 142.251.55.62 3.690 ms
9 216.239.43.239 3.656 ms 3.768 ms 216.239.43.235 3.780 ms
10 216.58.196.174 3.754 ms 2.932 ms 142.250.62.67 51.105 msConclusion
Through the above testing, we were able to utilize RPi as a basic WiFi Router. It is also possible to explore further networking and Wi-Fi features on this device, enabling it to function as a fully-fledged router.