Configuring FT for hostapd

[Jouni Malinen]

On Tue, Feb 20, 2018 at 05:21:18PM -0800, Matthew Wang wrote:
> I'm attempting to set up Fast Transition using FT-PSK between 2
> hostapd instances on the same host. However, when a client tries to
> roam, the target AP sends a pull request to the current AP that is
> never received. I've tried setting pmk_r1_push=1 as well, and in both
> cases, using wireshark to sniff the packets, but nothing turns up. It
> looks like ft_bridge might be the solution to this problem, but that
> option isn't upstream yet. Are there any plans to include ft_bridge
> upstream? If not, are there any working configurations out there using
> FT-PSK and not ft_psk_generate_local, i.e. successful inter-AP
> communication for R1?

I would recommend using a single hostapd process to control two
interfaces on the same device. The AP-to-AP communication for FT goes
directly within the process in such a case.

For FT-PSK, I don't really see why one would not use the local key
generation option (ft_psk_generate_local=1). For FT-EAP, that is
obviously not available and the question may become a bit different, but
again, I'd use a single hostapd process. If there is a good reason for
requiring multiple hostapd processes, I'd first consider addressing
those reasons and if they cannot be removed, it would make sense to
spend some more effort in fixing potential issues in
hostapd-to-hostapd-process communication within a single device.

-- 
Jouni Malinen                                            PGP id EFC895FA