A bridged wireless access point setup works within an existing ethernet network to extend the network to WiFi capable computers and devices in areas where the WiFi signal is weak or otherwise does not meet expectations.
Known issues:
- WPA3-SAE operation is not testing good at this time and is disabled.
This document is for WiFi adapters based on the following chipsets
rtl8812au
2021-02-25
-
Raspberry Pi 4B (4gb)
-
Raspberry Pi OS (2021-01-11) (32 bit) (kernel 5.10.11-v7l+)
-
Raspberry Pi Onboard WiFi disabled
-
USB WiFi Adapter based on the rtl8812au chipset
-
WiFi Adapter Driver - https://github.com/morrownr/8812au
-
Ethernet connection providing internet
- Ethernet cables are CAT 6
- Internet is Fiber-optic at 1 Gbps up and 1 Gbps down
- Disable Raspberry Pi onboard WiFi.
$ sudo nano /boot/config.txt
Add
dtoverlay=disable-wifi
- Install the driver for the WiFi adapter.
Follow the instructions at this site
https://github.com/morrownr/8812au.git
- Change driver options (to allow high speed operation.)
$ sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/8812au.conf
rtw_vht_enable=2 (enable 80 Mhz channel width)
rtw_switch_usb_mode=1 (enable USB 3 support)
- Update system.
$ sudo apt update
$ sudo apt full-upgrade
$ sudo reboot
- Install needed package.
$ sudo apt install hostapd
- Enable the wireless access point service and set it to start when your Raspberry Pi boots.
$ sudo systemctl unmask hostapd
$ sudo systemctl enable hostapd
- Add a bridge network device named br0 by creating a file using the following command, with the contents below.
$ sudo nano /etc/systemd/network/bridge-br0.netdev
File contents
[NetDev]
Name=br0
Kind=bridge
- Determine the names of the network interfaces.
$ ip link show
Note: If the interface names are not eth0 and wlan0, then the interface names used in your system will have to replace eth0 and wlan0 during the remainder of this document.
- Bridge the Ethernet network with the wireless network, first add the built-in Ethernet interface ( eth0 ) as a bridge member by creating the following file.
$ sudo nano /etc/systemd/network/br0-member-eth0.network
File contents
[Match]
Name=eth0
[Network]
Bridge=br0
- Enable the systemd-networkd service to create and populate the bridge when your Raspberry Pi boots.
$ sudo systemctl enable systemd-networkd
- Block the eth0 and wlan0 interfaces from being processed, and let dhcpcd configure only br0 via DHCP.
$ sudo nano /etc/dhcpcd.conf
Add the following line above the first interface xxx line, if any
denyinterfaces wlan0 eth0
Go to the end of the file and add the following line
interface br0
- To ensure WiFi radio is not blocked on your Raspberry Pi, execute the following command.
$ sudo rfkill unblock wlan
- Create the hostapd configuration file.
$ sudo nano /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf
File contents
# /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf
# https://w1.fi/hostapd/
# 2g, 5g, a/b/g/n/ac
# 2021-02-20
# Needs to match your system
interface=wlan0
bridge=br0
driver=nl80211
ctrl_interface=/var/run/hostapd
ctrl_interface_group=0
# Change as desired
ssid=pi
# Change as required
country_code=US
# Enable DFS channels
ieee80211d=1
ieee80211h=1
# 2g (b/g/n)
#hw_mode=g
#channel=6
#
# 5g (a/n/ac)
hw_mode=a
channel=36
#channel=149
beacon_int=100
dtim_period=1
max_num_sta=32
macaddr_acl=0
ignore_broadcast_ssid=0
rts_threshold=2347
fragm_threshold=2346
send_probe_response=1
# Security
auth_algs=1
ignore_broadcast_ssid=0
wpa=2
wpa_pairwise=CCMP
# Change as desired
wpa_passphrase=raspberry
# WPA-2 AES
wpa_key_mgmt=WPA-PSK WPA-PSK-SHA256
# WPA-3 SAE
#wpa_key_mgmt=SAE
wpa_group_rekey=1800
rsn_pairwise=CCMP
# ieee80211w=2 is required for WPA-3 SAE
#ieee80211w=2
# If parameter is not set, 19 is the default value.
#sae_groups=19 20 21 25 26
#sae_require_mfp=1
# If parameter is not 9 set, 5 is the default value.
#sae_anti_clogging_threshold=10
# IEEE 802.11n
# 2g and 5g
ieee80211n=1
wmm_enabled=1
#
# Note: Capabilities can vary even between adapters with the same chipset
#
# 8812au
# 20 MHz channel width for band 1 - 2g
#ht_capab=[SHORT-GI-20][MAX-AMSDU-7935]
# 40 MHz channel width for band 2 - 5g
ht_capab=[HT40+][HT40-][SHORT-GI-20][SHORT-GI-40][MAX-AMSDU-7935]
# IEEE 802.11ac
# 5g
ieee80211ac=1
#
# Note: Capabilities can vary even between adapters with the same chipset
#
# 8812au
vht_capab=[MAX-MPDU-11454][SHORT-GI-80][TX-STBC-2BY1][SU-BEAMFORMEE][HTC-VHT]
# Turn on 80 MHz channel width
vht_oper_chwidth=1
#
# Use with channel 36
vht_oper_centr_freq_seg0_idx=42
#
# Use with channel 149
#vht_oper_centr_freq_seg0_idx=155
# Event logger
#logger_syslog=-1
#logger_syslog_level=2
#logger_stdout=-1
#logger_stdout_level=2
# WMM
#uapsd_advertisement_enabled=1
#wmm_ac_bk_cwmin=4
#wmm_ac_bk_cwmax=10
#wmm_ac_bk_aifs=7
#wmm_ac_bk_txop_limit=0
#wmm_ac_bk_acm=0
#wmm_ac_be_aifs=3
#wmm_ac_be_cwmin=4
#wmm_ac_be_cwmax=10
#wmm_ac_be_txop_limit=0
#wmm_ac_be_acm=0
#wmm_ac_vi_aifs=2
#wmm_ac_vi_cwmin=3
#wmm_ac_vi_cwmax=4
#wmm_ac_vi_txop_limit=94
#wmm_ac_vi_acm=0
#wmm_ac_vo_aifs=2
#wmm_ac_vo_cwmin=2
#wmm_ac_vo_cwmax=3
#wmm_ac_vo_txop_limit=47
#wmm_ac_vo_acm=0
# TX queue parameters
#tx_queue_data3_aifs=7
#tx_queue_data3_cwmin=15
#tx_queue_data3_cwmax=1023
#tx_queue_data3_burst=0
#tx_queue_data2_aifs=3
#tx_queue_data2_cwmin=15
#tx_queue_data2_cwmax=63
#tx_queue_data2_burst=0
#tx_queue_data1_aifs=1
#tx_queue_data1_cwmin=7
#tx_queue_data1_cwmax=15
#tx_queue_data1_burst=3.0
#tx_queue_data0_aifs=1
#tx_queue_data0_cwmin=3
#tx_queue_data0_cwmax=7
#tx_queue_data0_burst=1.5
# end of hostapd.conf
- Establish conf file and log file locations.
$ sudo nano /etc/default/hostapd
Add to bottom of file
DAEMON_CONF="/etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf"
DAEMON_OPTS="-d -K -f /home/pi/hostapd.log"
- Reboot the system.
$ sudo reboot
- Enjoy!
$ iperf3 -c 192.168.1.40
Connecting to host 192.168.1.40, port 5201
[ 5] local 192.168.1.83 port 39664 connected to 192.168.1.40 port 5201
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr Cwnd
[ 5] 0.00-1.00 sec 51.4 MBytes 431 Mbits/sec 0 1.20 MBytes
[ 5] 1.00-2.00 sec 56.2 MBytes 472 Mbits/sec 0 1.66 MBytes
[ 5] 2.00-3.00 sec 56.2 MBytes 472 Mbits/sec 0 1.83 MBytes
[ 5] 3.00-4.00 sec 56.2 MBytes 472 Mbits/sec 0 1.83 MBytes
[ 5] 4.00-5.00 sec 56.2 MBytes 472 Mbits/sec 0 1.92 MBytes
[ 5] 5.00-6.00 sec 56.2 MBytes 472 Mbits/sec 0 2.02 MBytes
[ 5] 6.00-7.00 sec 57.5 MBytes 482 Mbits/sec 0 2.02 MBytes
[ 5] 7.00-8.00 sec 57.5 MBytes 482 Mbits/sec 0 2.13 MBytes
[ 5] 8.00-9.00 sec 56.2 MBytes 472 Mbits/sec 0 2.13 MBytes
[ 5] 9.00-10.00 sec 56.2 MBytes 472 Mbits/sec 0 2.24 MBytes
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr
[ 5] 0.00-10.00 sec 560 MBytes 470 Mbits/sec 0 sender
[ 5] 0.00-10.01 sec 557 MBytes 467 Mbits/sec receiver
iperf Done.
Note: The Raspi 4b is overclocked to 2.0 GHz.