Hi Johannes,
I'm trying to use an Intel Corporation Centrino Advanced-N 6235 (rev 24) with
openwrt and hostapd to provide router functionality.
That all works fine, except that it at max accepts 12 wireless clients.
I have tried a few kernels (including 3.18-rc7) and versions of openwrt
(including trunk) already, but all to no avail.
So i'm wondering is there a hardware limitation of stations that can connect to
this mini-pci card in ap-mode ?
[ 10.621530] iwlwifi 0000:00:05.0: loaded firmware version 18.168.6.1 op_mode iwldvm
[ 10.621546] iwlwifi 0000:00:05.0: CONFIG_IWLWIFI_DEBUG enabled
[ 10.621548] iwlwifi 0000:00:05.0: CONFIG_IWLWIFI_DEBUGFS enabled
[ 10.621549] iwlwifi 0000:00:05.0: CONFIG_IWLWIFI_DEVICE_TRACING disabled
[ 10.621550] iwlwifi 0000:00:05.0: Detected Intel(R) Centrino(R) Advanced-N 6235 AGN, REV=0xB0
[ 10.621976] iwlwifi 0000:00:05.0: L1 Disabled - LTR Disabled
[ 10.640696] cfg80211: Ignoring regulatory request set by core since the driver uses its own custom regulatory domain
[ 10.640832] ieee80211 phy0: Selected rate control algorithm 'iwl-agn-rs'
...
[ 10.654858] lib80211: common routines for IEEE802.11 drivers
[ 10.654859] lib80211_crypt: registered algorithm 'NULL'
[ 10.654864] lib80211_crypt: registered algorithm 'WEP'
[ 10.654866] lib80211_crypt: registered algorithm 'CCMP'
[ 10.654869] lib80211_crypt: registered algorithm 'TKIP'
..
[ 31.016196] cfg80211: Calling CRDA to update world regulatory domain
[ 32.253288] iwlwifi 0000:00:05.0: L1 Disabled - LTR Disabled
[ 32.364036] iwlwifi 0000:00:05.0: Radio type=0x2-0x1-0x0
[ 33.008507] iwlwifi 0000:00:05.0: L1 Disabled - LTR Disabled
[ 33.116331] iwlwifi 0000:00:05.0: Radio type=0x2-0x1-0x0
the first clients connect perfectly well but after 12 client have connected, for
the 13th i get:
[ 784.301106] wlan0: Allocated STA 00:0d:f0:2e:ee:02
[ 784.301117] wlan0: moving STA 00:0d:f0:2e:ee:02 to state 2
[ 784.301122] wlan0: moving STA 00:0d:f0:2e:ee:02 to state 3
[ 784.301141] iwlwifi 0000:00:05.0: Unable to prepare station 00:0d:f0:2e:ee:02 for addition
[ 784.481399] iwlwifi 0000:00:05.0: Unable to add station 00:0d:f0:2e:ee:02 (-22)
[ 784.647835] wlan0: Destroyed STA 00:0d:f0:2e:ee:02
[ 785.828588] wlan0: Allocated STA 00:0d:f0:2e:ee:02
[ 785.828600] wlan0: moving STA 00:0d:f0:2e:ee:02 to state 2
[ 785.828605] wlan0: moving STA 00:0d:f0:2e:ee:02 to state 3
[ 785.828624] iwlwifi 0000:00:05.0: Unable to prepare station 00:0d:f0:2e:ee:02 for addition
[ 786.044379] iwlwifi 0000:00:05.0: Unable to add station 00:0d:f0:2e:ee:02 (-22)
[ 786.219632] wlan0: Destroyed STA 00:0d:f0:2e:ee:02
The firmware seems to be the latest available for download.
If this isn't a hardware limitation, could you give a pointer to the debug
values to use so i can get the debug output you would be interested in ?
If it is a hardware limitation, are there any other intel mini-pci adapters that
don't have this hardware limitation (or at least a highter one).
--
Sander
lspci:
00:05.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Centrino Advanced-N 6235 (rev 24)
Subsystem: Intel Corporation Centrino Advanced-N 6235 AGN
Physical Slot: 5
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 70
Memory at f3090000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=8K]
Capabilities: [c8] Power Management version 3
Capabilities: [d0] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
Capabilities: [e0] Express Endpoint, MSI 00
Kernel driver in use: iwlwifi
Hi Sander,
> So i'm wondering is there a hardware limitation of stations that can connect to
> this mini-pci card in ap-mode ?
Yes, there's a hardware/firmware limitation of 16 "station entries".
> the first clients connect perfectly well but after 12 client have connected, for
> the 13th i get:
>
> [ 784.301106] wlan0: Allocated STA 00:0d:f0:2e:ee:02
> [ 784.301117] wlan0: moving STA 00:0d:f0:2e:ee:02 to state 2
> [ 784.301122] wlan0: moving STA 00:0d:f0:2e:ee:02 to state 3
> [ 784.301141] iwlwifi 0000:00:05.0: Unable to prepare station 00:0d:f0:2e:ee:02 for addition
> [ 784.481399] iwlwifi 0000:00:05.0: Unable to add station 00:0d:f0:2e:ee:02 (-22)
> [ 784.647835] wlan0: Destroyed STA 00:0d:f0:2e:ee:02
> [ 785.828588] wlan0: Allocated STA 00:0d:f0:2e:ee:02
> [ 785.828600] wlan0: moving STA 00:0d:f0:2e:ee:02 to state 2
> [ 785.828605] wlan0: moving STA 00:0d:f0:2e:ee:02 to state 3
> [ 785.828624] iwlwifi 0000:00:05.0: Unable to prepare station 00:0d:f0:2e:ee:02 for addition
> [ 786.044379] iwlwifi 0000:00:05.0: Unable to add station 00:0d:f0:2e:ee:02 (-22)
> [ 786.219632] wlan0: Destroyed STA 00:0d:f0:2e:ee:02
Right. I'm not exactly sure why we put -EINVAL rather than -ENOSPC or
something like that, but this is a limitation.
> If it is a hardware limitation, are there any other intel mini-pci adapters that
> don't have this hardware limitation (or at least a highter one).
With the newer 7260/7265 adapters you might be able to go up to 14 or 15
stations (I haven't checked exactly), but that's not a significant
increase - the fundamental limit of 16 station entries is still there
and at least one is needed for internal tracking for multi-/broadcast
transmit transmit (and another one might be reserved for P2P on those
devices, and I might be forgetting another one perhaps which would mean
13 is the max)
I don't believe that the driver (or even firmware) would be able to work
around this.
johannes
On Fri, 2014-12-05 at 10:55 +0100, Sander Eikelenboom wrote:
> Hi Johannes,
>
> I'm trying to use an Intel Corporation Centrino Advanced-N 6235 (rev 24) with
> openwrt and hostapd to provide router functionality.
> That all works fine, except that it at max accepts 12 wireless clients.
> I have tried a few kernels (including 3.18-rc7) and versions of openwrt
> (including trunk) already, but all to no avail.
>
> So i'm wondering is there a hardware limitation of stations that can connect to
> this mini-pci card in ap-mode ?
>
> [ 10.621530] iwlwifi 0000:00:05.0: loaded firmware version 18.168.6.1 op_mode iwldvm
> [ 10.621546] iwlwifi 0000:00:05.0: CONFIG_IWLWIFI_DEBUG enabled
> [ 10.621548] iwlwifi 0000:00:05.0: CONFIG_IWLWIFI_DEBUGFS enabled
> [ 10.621549] iwlwifi 0000:00:05.0: CONFIG_IWLWIFI_DEVICE_TRACING disabled
> [ 10.621550] iwlwifi 0000:00:05.0: Detected Intel(R) Centrino(R) Advanced-N 6235 AGN, REV=0xB0
> [ 10.621976] iwlwifi 0000:00:05.0: L1 Disabled - LTR Disabled
> [ 10.640696] cfg80211: Ignoring regulatory request set by core since the driver uses its own custom regulatory domain
> [ 10.640832] ieee80211 phy0: Selected rate control algorithm 'iwl-agn-rs'
> ...
> [ 10.654858] lib80211: common routines for IEEE802.11 drivers
> [ 10.654859] lib80211_crypt: registered algorithm 'NULL'
> [ 10.654864] lib80211_crypt: registered algorithm 'WEP'
> [ 10.654866] lib80211_crypt: registered algorithm 'CCMP'
> [ 10.654869] lib80211_crypt: registered algorithm 'TKIP'
> ..
> [ 31.016196] cfg80211: Calling CRDA to update world regulatory domain
> [ 32.253288] iwlwifi 0000:00:05.0: L1 Disabled - LTR Disabled
> [ 32.364036] iwlwifi 0000:00:05.0: Radio type=0x2-0x1-0x0
> [ 33.008507] iwlwifi 0000:00:05.0: L1 Disabled - LTR Disabled
> [ 33.116331] iwlwifi 0000:00:05.0: Radio type=0x2-0x1-0x0
>
>
> the first clients connect perfectly well but after 12 client have connected, for
> the 13th i get:
>
> [ 784.301106] wlan0: Allocated STA 00:0d:f0:2e:ee:02
> [ 784.301117] wlan0: moving STA 00:0d:f0:2e:ee:02 to state 2
> [ 784.301122] wlan0: moving STA 00:0d:f0:2e:ee:02 to state 3
> [ 784.301141] iwlwifi 0000:00:05.0: Unable to prepare station 00:0d:f0:2e:ee:02 for addition
> [ 784.481399] iwlwifi 0000:00:05.0: Unable to add station 00:0d:f0:2e:ee:02 (-22)
> [ 784.647835] wlan0: Destroyed STA 00:0d:f0:2e:ee:02
> [ 785.828588] wlan0: Allocated STA 00:0d:f0:2e:ee:02
> [ 785.828600] wlan0: moving STA 00:0d:f0:2e:ee:02 to state 2
> [ 785.828605] wlan0: moving STA 00:0d:f0:2e:ee:02 to state 3
> [ 785.828624] iwlwifi 0000:00:05.0: Unable to prepare station 00:0d:f0:2e:ee:02 for addition
> [ 786.044379] iwlwifi 0000:00:05.0: Unable to add station 00:0d:f0:2e:ee:02 (-22)
> [ 786.219632] wlan0: Destroyed STA 00:0d:f0:2e:ee:02
>
> The firmware seems to be the latest available for download.
>
> If this isn't a hardware limitation, could you give a pointer to the debug
> values to use so i can get the debug output you would be interested in ?
You might be running into:
dvm/commands.h:#define IWLAGN_STATION_COUNT 16
I think a couple of those slots are used for book-keeping stuff, which
might be why you run out of them at 12. Johannes or Emmanuel would know
more though.
Dan
> If it is a hardware limitation, are there any other intel mini-pci adapters that
> don't have this hardware limitation (or at least a highter one).
>
> --
> Sander
>
>
> lspci:
>
> 00:05.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Centrino Advanced-N 6235 (rev 24)
> Subsystem: Intel Corporation Centrino Advanced-N 6235 AGN
> Physical Slot: 5
> Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 70
> Memory at f3090000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=8K]
> Capabilities: [c8] Power Management version 3
> Capabilities: [d0] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
> Capabilities: [e0] Express Endpoint, MSI 00
> Kernel driver in use: iwlwifi
>
>
> --
> To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-wireless" in
> the body of a message to [email protected]
> More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Saturday, December 6, 2014, 9:18:41 AM, you wrote:
> Hi Sander,
>> So i'm wondering is there a hardware limitation of stations that can connect to
>> this mini-pci card in ap-mode ?
> Yes, there's a hardware/firmware limitation of 16 "station entries".
>> the first clients connect perfectly well but after 12 client have connected, for
>> the 13th i get:
>>
>> [ 784.301106] wlan0: Allocated STA 00:0d:f0:2e:ee:02
>> [ 784.301117] wlan0: moving STA 00:0d:f0:2e:ee:02 to state 2
>> [ 784.301122] wlan0: moving STA 00:0d:f0:2e:ee:02 to state 3
>> [ 784.301141] iwlwifi 0000:00:05.0: Unable to prepare station 00:0d:f0:2e:ee:02 for addition
>> [ 784.481399] iwlwifi 0000:00:05.0: Unable to add station 00:0d:f0:2e:ee:02 (-22)
>> [ 784.647835] wlan0: Destroyed STA 00:0d:f0:2e:ee:02
>> [ 785.828588] wlan0: Allocated STA 00:0d:f0:2e:ee:02
>> [ 785.828600] wlan0: moving STA 00:0d:f0:2e:ee:02 to state 2
>> [ 785.828605] wlan0: moving STA 00:0d:f0:2e:ee:02 to state 3
>> [ 785.828624] iwlwifi 0000:00:05.0: Unable to prepare station 00:0d:f0:2e:ee:02 for addition
>> [ 786.044379] iwlwifi 0000:00:05.0: Unable to add station 00:0d:f0:2e:ee:02 (-22)
>> [ 786.219632] wlan0: Destroyed STA 00:0d:f0:2e:ee:02
> Right. I'm not exactly sure why we put -EINVAL rather than -ENOSPC or
> something like that, but this is a limitation.
>> If it is a hardware limitation, are there any other intel mini-pci adapters that
>> don't have this hardware limitation (or at least a highter one).
> With the newer 7260/7265 adapters you might be able to go up to 14 or 15
> stations (I haven't checked exactly), but that's not a significant
> increase - the fundamental limit of 16 station entries is still there
> and at least one is needed for internal tracking for multi-/broadcast
> transmit transmit (and another one might be reserved for P2P on those
> devices, and I might be forgetting another one perhaps which would mean
> 13 is the max)
> I don't believe that the driver (or even firmware) would be able to work
> around this.
> johannes
Johannes / Dan,
Thanks for the info and fast reply, very useful and appreciated !
It makes clear what i have to try and verify with other hardware/drivers,
to see if i can get better results with that, unfortunately it's not something
that is clearly communicated since it is a niche and most router chips are
integrated, so it stays unclear if a same chipset is used on routers will behave
the same on a mini-pcie card (the driver of course does if openwrt and thus
linux can be used, but the hardware + firmware could be different.
Any how, thanks again !
--
Sander