How to setup hostapd on Fedora (or any other Red Hat based systems)

[Robert Milasan]

On Tue, 17 Feb 2015 10:09:38 +0100
"Kees de Jong" <keesdejong+fedora at gmail.com> wrote:

> I used to run hostapd on a Debian system, which worked flawless. I now
> use Fedora and that seems to be a total different deal.
> 
> Below was my Debian configuration. I had two access points on the same
> wireless interface (virtual interface). I can't seem to get this to
> work on Fedora...
> 
> # General
> logger_syslog=-1
> logger_syslog_level=2
> logger_stdout=-1
> logger_stdout_level=2
> 
> # Private
> interface=wlan0
> bssid=b8:a3:86:73:60:01
> ssid=sovereign_20
> ignore_broadcast_ssid=1
> driver=nl80211
> country_code=NL
> hw_mode=g
> channel=11
> preamble=1
> wpa=2
> wpa_ptk_rekey=600
> wpa_key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
> wpa_pairwise=TKIP CCMP
> wpa_psk_file=/etc/hostapd/20.wpa_psk
> auth_algs=1
> macaddr_acl=1
> ap_isolate=1
> accept_mac_file=/etc/hostapd/hostapd.accept
> 
> # Public
> bss=wlan1
> bssid=b8:a3:86:73:60:02
> ssid=sovereign_30
> ignore_broadcast_ssid=1
> driver=nl80211
> country_code=NL
> hw_mode=g
> channel=11
> preamble=1
> wpa=2
> wpa_ptk_rekey=600
> wpa_key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
> wpa_pairwise=TKIP CCMP
> wpa_psk_file=/etc/hostapd/30.wpa_psk
> auth_algs=1
> macaddr_acl=0
> ap_isolate=1
> 
> On Debian this was my network configuration
> in /etc/networking/interfaces: # Private wireless interface
> auto wlan0
> iface wlan0 inet static
>         address 10.20.0.1
>         network 10.20.0.0
>         broadcast 10.20.0.255
>         netmask 255.255.255.0
>         hostap /etc/hostapd.conf
> 
> # Public wireless interface
> auto wlan1
> iface wlan1 inet static
>         address 10.30.0.1
>         network 10.30.0.0
>         broadcast 10.30.0.255
>         netmask 255.255.255.0
>         hostap /etc/hostapd.conf
> 
> 
> I guess the biggest show stopper is the way Fedora manages it's
> networks. For Red Hat systems I found the most creative ways to setup
> hostapd. Mostly with scripts that configure the wireless interface
> (managed mode and IP address) and then the script loads the
> configuration into hostapd. Some scripts even do the iptables
> configurations. I can't believe that this is the way to do it...
> 
> NetworkManager on Fedora doesn't seem to be able to configure wireless
> devices. I came accross this configuration though:
> TYPE=Wireless
> DEVICE=wlan0
> BOOTPROTO=dhcp
> BROADCAST=192.168.0.255
> HWADDR=48:02:2a:91:63:90
> NETMASK=255.255.255.0
> ONBOOT=no
> ONHOTPLUG=yes
> PEERDNS=no
> USERCTL=yes
> IPV6INIT=no
> ESSID=minimallinux
> CHANNEL=6
> MODE=Managed
> RATE=150Mb/s
> 

This is distro related, not hostapd. The fact that Debian supports
something, it doesn't mean Fedora has to and for sure has nothing to do
with hostapd. You need to ask on Fedora mailing list.

-- 
Robert Milasan

L3 Support Engineer
SUSE Linux (http://www.suse.com)
email: rmilasan at suse.com
GPG fingerprint: B6FE F4A8 0FA3 3040 3402  6FE7 2F64 167C 1909 6D1A