mix AP and wireless client

[Jeremy Ward]

When you say "1 AP + 1 STA,
or 2 STA at the same time, but all must be on the same radio channel", are
you referring to the restriction when running 2 STA simultaneously or 1 AP
and 1 STA simultaneously, or both?

Also, any idea whether 1 AP + 1 STA simultaneously on the same radio is
supported by ath9k?

Any performance impacts to the AP when in this mode (does it add
contention)?

Thanks,

Jeremy D. Ward, CWNE
(954) 661-4965
On Thu, 2015-01-15 at 14:15 +0100, Harm Verhagen wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I'm looking for a way to have simultaneously  an AP and a wireless client
> with a _single_ wifi device.
>
> I am able to start multiple SSIDs with hostapd, following [1]. This works
> perfectly. I can connect to each SSID. (tested with 4 SSIDS)
>
> This gave me the idea, that if hostapd can create 'new' wlan devices. I
> (hopefully) can configure the 2nd  wlan0_0 device as a wifi client.

It depends on your hardware and driver whether this is possible.  Look
at the output of "iw phy phy0 info", where you should see stuff like:

        valid interface combinations:
                 * #{ managed } <= 1, #{ AP } <= 1,
                   total <= 2, #channels <= 1, STA/AP BI must match
                 * #{ managed } <= 2,
                   total <= 2, #channels <= 1

These lines indicate what your hardware and driver can do at the same
time.  In this case (Intel 6250, iwldvm driver) I can do 1 AP + 1 STA,
or 2 STA at the same time, but all must be on the same radio channel.

Before starting hostapd (for the AP) and wpa_supplicant (for the STA)
you could create the STA interface yourself:

iw dev wlan0 interface add wlan0-STA type managed

which you can then pass to wpa_supplicant for use as a STA/client.
However, note that if you have restrictions on channel numbers (like my
output above does) you'll have problems connecting the STA to APs on
other channels.

Dan

>
> Usecase: For a device thats
> 1) sometimes, when near an AP it needs internet acces for itself (hence
the
> required 'client' functionality)
> 2) needs to be connected to some other devices, that are only wifi
clients.
> (these devices don't needs to access internet, only direct access to my
> device).
>
>
> I tried letting hostapd create the 2nd interface(wlan0_0)  by just adding
> bss=wlan0_0  to my hostapd config file.  It does create the device, but
> trying to 'ifup' that as a client (no security yet)  fails.
>
>
> Anyone have any clues how to achieve this ?
>
> host: linux
> wifi: GWF-3M05 IEEE 80211 Wlan module (usb)
>
> Regards,
> Harm Verhagen
>
> [1] http://wiki.stocksy.co.uk/wiki/Multiple_SSIDs_with_hostapd
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