reForis: Put whole wifi interface on guest network

[Thovthe]

On the “Interfaces” panel of reForis one can see all the interfaces attached to the router and move most of them between the categories but the wireless interfaces cannot be moved from the LAN category.

I would really like to assign one of my wireless interfaces fully to the guest network and it seems like that should be doable from the layout of the interface but the option is greyed out.

Could this be changed or is it a necessary limitation? I think this would be a really good change to the UI of this page because it would enable more user control and be less confusing if every interface behaved the same.

[JardaB]

Have you created any other interface ?

[Thovthe]

What do you mean? These are the interfaces that are set up by default. I want to be able to move “Interface 2” (which is the second wifi interface) to the guest network category. As in I don’t want some other non-guest network on that card.

[JardaB]

Then I don’t understand you. I don’t know what the goal of the endeavor is.

1 - I think guest wifi is enabled in reForis settings - Network settings - WiFi.

2 - Enabling Guest WiFi creates the Guest interface

3 - Interfaces are defined in Luci - Network - Interfaces. I don’t know if you need any other interfaces with different rules than Guest default

[Thovthe]

I’m trying to get a guest WiFi network on it’s own card. It won’t let me save the guest network without setting an SSID for a non guest network on that card. I don’t want a normal WiFi LAN on that card that will compete for airtime. That is why it would be nice to be able to change the category of the original interface.

[JardaB]

I did a simple experiment. First I enabled the 2.4Ghz wifi and the sister guest.
Then I disabled the main wifi in the "option disabled" line in the configuration file /etc/config/wireless.

config wifi-iface ‘default_radio1’
<------>option device ‘radio1’
<------>option network ‘lan’
<------>option mode ‘ap’
<------>option ssid ‘Buchtik’
<------>option wpa_group_rekey ‘86400’
<------>option key ‘xxxxx’
<------>option short_preamble ‘0’
<------>option encryption ‘sae-mixed’
<------>option disabled ‘1’
<------>option hidden ‘0’

Only the Guest network broadcasts on frequency 2.4. As a result, the existing Guest is not visible in reForis and its function is not indicated by the LED on the panel.

Test if your assumption (turning off the main wifi broadcast) has any impact on the quality and speed of the wifi Guest connection ! Write what results you have reached !

Modified configuration

config wifi-device 'radio0'
	option type 'mac80211'
	option macaddr '04:f0:21:24:03:e9'
	option country 'CZ'
	option disabled '0'
	option txpower '16'
	option distance '8'
	option cell_density '2'
	option htmode 'VHT20'
	option band '5g'
	option channel '64'

config wifi-iface 'default_radio0'
	option device 'radio0'
	option network 'lan'
	option mode 'ap'
	option disabled '0'
	option ssid 'Buchtikovi 5G'
	option wpa_group_rekey '86400'
	option key 'xxx'
	option encryption 'sae-mixed'
	option hidden '0'

config wifi-device 'radio1'
	option type 'mac80211'
	option macaddr '04:f0:21:23:2e:4d'
	option htmode 'HT20'
	option country 'CZ'
	option cell_density '2'
	option distance '15'
	option band '2g'
	option disabled '0'
	option channel '3'

config wifi-iface 'default_radio1'
	option device 'radio1'
	option network 'lan'
	option mode 'ap'
	option ssid 'Buchtikovi'
	option wpa_group_rekey '86400'
	option key 'xxx'
	option short_preamble '0'
	option encryption 'sae-mixed'
	option disabled '0'
	option hidden '0'

config wifi-iface 'guest_iface_1'
	option disabled '0'
	option device 'radio1'
	option mode 'ap'
	option ssid 'Buchtikovi-free '
	option network 'guest_turris'
	option encryption 'psk2+ccmp'
	option wpa_group_rekey '86400'
	option key 'xxx'
	option ifname 'guest_turris_1'
	option isolate '1'
	option short_preamble '0'

Maybe another way is more correct (activate isolated in the main wifi configuration and correct the firewall or interface) But I don’t have the knowledge

[JardaB]

Turning off main wifi is more convenient in Luci

[Thovthe]

Thanks to your tip I have figured out how to reassign this SSID to a different network in LuCi, I appreciate your help.

But to Turris’ developers:
I still think the reForis UI would be improved by making this control more consistent between different kinds of interfaces on the “Interfaces” page. Just hooking up that dropdown-menu to work on wireless interfaces too would be great. Bonus points if you also put in a switch to enable guest network at the top level from the “Wi-Fi” panel.

[JardaB]

You may have an interesting purely theoretical idea, but the practical significance will be zero. Few people will demand anything like what you do.

To create a basic WiFi “remake it” on Guest limitations (can’t see neighbors and LAN) router with some knowledge by modifying the configuration allows.

What I suggested is a primitive solution out of necessity (scratching my right hand behind my left ear) because I am not an expert.

You could have hidden the main (LAN) wifi so that it doesn’t broadcast the SSID and been done.

I’m curious to see your tests of Guest alone and Guest plus basic wifi (LAN). You won’t be able to tell the difference.

[Thovthe]

You may have an interesting purely theoretical idea, but the practical significance will be zero. Few people will demand anything like what you do.

It depends on whether the Turris folks want to make reForis nice to use and fully featured. I’m quite sure that consistency of UI makes for a much better/smoother user experience. (Maybe a ~$400 dollar router should be nice to use even if you don’t deeply understand the arcana of OpenWRT internals? :P)

You could have hidden the main (LAN) wifi so that it doesn’t broadcast the SSID and been done.

As far as I am aware hidden networks actually take up more airtime and are not really so hidden as the name implies.

[JardaB]

Your request is atypical and was fulfilled quite easily, from the two wifi networks (LAN - Guest) you could turn off the LAN wifi in Luci and the card transmits only Guest. This is available from the normal interface

I would like to see the results of the comparison in the current setup when the card only sends Guest and the normal state and two SSIDs. When you test it let me know

[Thovthe]

Maybe we misunderstand each other, do you work on the reForis GUI for Turris?

The actual issue is that the UI is inconsistent. There is an “interface” that shows up on the page but it can’t be assigned to other networks/categories.