Bridged AP
Bridged AP is to extend your existing wired host router with wireless capabilities. Clients connecting to OpenWRT will get an IP address from the wired host router.
OpenWrt bridges the LAN network with the WLAN of the device in Access Point mode. The advantage of bridging is that broadcast traffic from Wireless to LAN and viceversa works without further changes.
This document outlines the steps necessary to implement such a setup.
Configuration
The changes below assume an OpenWrt default configuration, the relevant files are:
- vi /etc/config/network
- vi /etc/config/wireless
Step 1: Define a new network
Edit
/etc/config/network and define a new interface section:config interface loopback
option ifname lo
option proto static
option ipaddr 127.0.0.1
option netmask 255.0.0.0
config interface lan
option ifname eth0
option type bridge
option proto static
option ipaddr 192.168.1.2
option netmask 255.255.255.0
option gateway 192.168.1.1
option dns 192.168.1.1 |
Step 2: Change the existing wireless network
In
/etc/config/wireless, locate the existing wifi-iface section and change its network option to point to the newly created interface section.config wifi-device wifi0
option type atheros
option channel 11
config wifi-iface
option device wifi0
option network lan
option mode ap
option ssid OpenWrt
option encryption none |
Optionally change the last line for
option encryption 'psk2' and add the line option key 'secret key' to enable WPA encryptionStep 3: Disable dnsmasq
/etc/init.d/dnsmasq disable |
Step 4: Connect host router and openwrt router correctly
Ensure the host router is connected with a lan port of the openwrt, not the wan port!
Apply changes
Enable the new wireless network.
root@OpenWrt:~# ifup wifi
root@OpenWrt:~# wifi
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