Dual Band WiFi Router with Open Media Vault 5 on Ubuntu Eoan

[crazyone]

Hello all,

This is my first post to the Pi Forums. Comments on how to improve this or where to post this is very welcomed! Below are details on how I setup a Pi4 w/ 2GB as a Dual Band WiFi router with OpenMediaVault 5 server. Follow this guide at your own risk.

Features:

• WAN Access (Internal Ethernet Port / DHCP)
  LAN Access (Bridged: USB Gigabit / 2.4Ghz / 5.0Ghz) Seamless network between wired and wireless networks.
  Network Traffic Control with Cake
  Guest Access (Internal 5.0Ghz)
  Dual RAID 1 (mirrored) drives
  Open Media Vault 5.x (At this time OVM does not run on Ubuntu Focal)
  Ubuntu Server 19.10 (Eoan)
  Apple TimeMachine Support

Hardware Setup:

• Pi4 w/ 2GB
  Vantec NexStar GX USB3.0 Dual 2.5" SATA RAID HD Enclosure
  2 Seagate 2.5" 2TB Firecuda Hard Drives
  2 TP-Link Archer T2U Plus USB WiFi Adapters
  1 Anker USB Gigabit Ethernet adapter
  SanDisk Extreme 32GB MicroSD card
  2 USB power supplies (3+ amps each)
  USB cables. Note: the power line on the USB cable to the HD needs to be cut; otherwise the Pi4 won't startup/reboot. Or you can use a powered hub that doesn't back-power the pi.

• PORTS:
  USB 3.0 - 1 ---> Vantec Case
  USB 3.0 - 2 ---> Anker USB Ethernet
  USB 2.0 -1 ---> TP-Link T2U Plus
  USB 2.0 -2 ---> TP-Link T2U Plus

Software:

• Download: http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/eoan ... pi3.img.xz
  Connect the Pi4 to a DHCP network via ethernet. Upon first boot after installing Ubuntu Server 19.10 for Raspberry pi it will self update (~30 minutes). Then login:

  Code: Select all

  sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
  sudo dpkg-reconfigure locales
  sudo dpkg-reconfigure tzdata
  sudo apt install iw dkms bmon nload iptraf iotop hostapd
  sudo reboot now
  

• Install TP-Link T2U Plus Driver (rtl8812au)

  Code: Select all

  sudo apt-get install rtl8812au-dkms
  
  or
  
  sudo apt-get update
  sudo apt-get install build-essential bc libelf-dev linux-headers-`uname -r`
  git clone https://github.com/aircrack-ng/rtl8812au.git
  cd rtl8812au/
  sudo ./dkms-install.sh
  

• Disable cloud-init & netplan:

  Code: Select all

  sudo touch /etc/cloud/cloud-init.disabled
  sudo nano /etc/cloud/cloud.cfg.d/99-disable-network-config.cfg
  	network: {config: disabled}
  
  sudo rm -rf /etc/netplan/*
  

• Set Network Interface Identities:
  The problem with network interfaces is that upon reboots, their names may be switched. The following uses their MAC addresses to identify them. For each of the network interfaces (eth0, eth1, wlan0, wlan1, wlan2) rename them to something that the system does NOT use.
  You may need to disable some rules:
  

  Code: Select all

  cd /lib/systemd/network
  sudo mv 99-default.link 99-default.link.old
  sudo mv 73-usb-net-by-mac.link 73-usb-net-by-mac.link.old
  

  For each interface create a file in /etc/systemd/network as exampled below:
  
  eth0 ---> inteth0
  eth1 ---> usbeth1
  wlan0 ---> intwlan0
  wlan1 ---> usbwlan1
  wlan2 ---> usbwlan2
  

  Code: Select all

  sudo nano /etc/systemd/network/10-inteth0.link
  	[Match]
  	MACAddress=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
  
  	[Link]
  	Description=Internal Ethernet
  	Name=inteth0
  

• Configure Network Interfaces:
  
  WAN:

  Code: Select all

  sudo nano /etc/systemd/network/50-inteth0.network 
  	[Match]
  	Name=inteth0
  
  	[Link]
  	RequiredForOnline=no
  
  	[Network]
  	DHCP=ipv4
  	IPForward=yes
  	LinkLocalAddressing=ipv6
  

  Guest Network:

  Code: Select all

  sudo nano /etc/systemd/network/50-intwlan0.network
  	[Match]
  	Name=intwlan0
  
  	[Network]
  	Address=192.168.50.1/24
  	DHCPServer=true
  	IPMasquerade=true
  	IPForward=true
  
  	[DHCPServer]
  	PoolOffset=100
  	PoolSize=100
  	EmitDNS=yes
  	#DNS=8.8.8.8
  

  Create Virtual Bridge:

  Code: Select all

  sudo nano /etc/systemd/network/49-br0.netdev
  	[NetDev]
  	Name=br0
  	Kind=bridge
  

  Bind LANs to Bridge:

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  sudo nano /etc/systemd/network/50-usbeth1.network
  	[Match]
  	Name=usbeth1
  
  	[Network]
  	Bridge=br0
  
  sudo nano /etc/systemd/network/50-usbwlan1.network
  	[Match]
  	Name=usbwlan1
  
  	[Network]
  	Bridge=br0
  
  sudo nano /etc/systemd/network/50-usbwlan2.network
  	[Match]
  	Name=usbwlan2
  
  	[Network]
  	Bridge=br0
  

  Configure Bridge Network:

  Code: Select all

  sudo nano /etc/systemd/network/60-br0.network
  	[Match]
  	Name=br0
  
  	[Network]
  	Address=192.168.5.1/24
  	DHCPServer=true
  	IPMasquerade=true
  	IPForward=true
  
  	[DHCPServer]
  	PoolOffset=100
  	PoolSize=100
  	EmitDNS=yes
  	#DNS=8.8.8.8
  

• Configure hostapd:
  ht_capab & vht_capab are essential if you want to enable fast WiFi connections. The 2.4 & 5Ghz are only the carrier bands. They do not determine connection speeds. However, different adapters have different capabilities.
  
  To determine your WiFi Adapter's Capabilities and use the following link to help set them in your hostapd.conf file: https://w1.fi/cgit/hostap/plain/hostapd/hostapd.conf

  Code: Select all

  iw list
  

  Guest Network 5Ghz: (Remember to change the SSID and wpa_passphrase)

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  sudo nano /etc/hostapd/hostapd-intwlan0.conf 
  	#(Raspberry PI4 Internal WiFi)
  	#Interface
  	interface=intwlan0
  	driver=nl80211
  	country_code=US
  
  	# SSID
  	ssid=Your SSID
  
  	# Bit field: bit0 = WPA, bit1 = WPA2
  	wpa=2
  
  	# Set of accepted key managment algorithms
  	wpa_key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
  	wpa_passphrase=somethingstrong
  
  	# Set of accepted cipher suites; disabling insecure TKIP
  	rsn_pairwise=CCMP
  
  	# mac address access control list
  	macaddr_acl=0
  
  	# hostapd event logger configuration
  	#logger_syslog=0
  	#logger_syslog_level=4
  	#logger_stdout=-1
  	#logger_stdout_level=0
  
  	# Operation mode (a = IEEE 802.11a (5 GHz), b = IEEE 802.11b (2.4 GHz)
  	hw_mode=a
  
  	## QoS support
  	wmm_enabled=1
  
  	# N
  	ieee80211n=1
  	require_ht=0
  	ht_capab=[MAX-AMSDU-3839][HT40+][SHORT-GI-20][SHORT-GI-40][DSSS_CCK-40]
  
  	# AC
  	ieee80211ac=0
  	require_vht=0
  	ieee80211d=0
  	ieee80211h=0
  	vht_capab=[MAX-MPDU-3895][SHORT-GI-80][SU-BEAMFORMEE]
  	vht_oper_chwidth=1
  	channel=36
  	vht_oper_centr_freq_seg0_idx=42
  

  5Ghz LAN: (Remember to change the SSID and wpa_passphrase)

  Code: Select all

  sudo nano /etc/hostapd/hostapd-usbwlan1.conf 
  	#(TP-Link T2U-Plus rtl8812au WiFi)
  	#Interface
  	interface=usbwlan1
  	bridge=br0
  	driver=nl80211
  	country_code=US
  
  	# SSID
  	ssid=UniqueSSID_5GHz
  
  	# Bit field: bit0 = WPA, bit1 = WPA2
  	wpa=2
  
  	# Set of accepted key management algorithms
  	wpa_key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
  	wpa_passphrase=SomethingStronger
  
  	# Set of accepted cipher suites; disabling insecure TKIP
  	rsn_pairwise=CCMP
  
  	# mac address access contorl list
  	macaddr_acl=0
  
  	# hostapd event logger configuration
  	#logger_syslog=0
  	#logger_syslog_level=4
  	#logger_stdout=-1
  	#logger_stdout_level=0
  
  	# Operation mode (a = IEEE 802.11a (5 GHz), b = IEEE 802.11b (2.4 GHz)
  	hw_mode=a
  	## QoS support
  	wmm_enabled=1
  
  	# N
  	ieee80211n=1
  	require_ht=0
  	ht_capab=[GF][RX-STBC1][MAX-AMSDU-7935][HT40+][SHORT-GI-20][SHORT-GI-40][DSSS_CCK-40]
  
  	# AC
  	ieee80211ac=1
  	require_vht=0
  	ieee80211d=0
  	ieee80211h=0
  	vht_capab=[MAX-MPDU-11454][SHORT-GI-80][SU-BEAMFORMEE][HTC-VHT]
  	vht_oper_chwidth=1
  	channel=157
  	vht_oper_centr_freq_seg0_idx=163
  

  
  2.4Ghz LAN: (Remember to change the SSID and wpa_passphrase)

  Code: Select all

  sudo nano /etc/hostapd/hostapd-usbwlan2.conf 
  	#(TP-Link T2U-Plus rtl8812au WiFi)
  	#Interface
  	interface=usbwlan2
  	bridge=br0
  	driver=nl80211
  	country_code=US
  
  	# SSID
  	ssid=UniqueSSID
  
  	# Bit field: bit0 = WPA, bit1 = WPA2
  	wpa=2
  
  	# Set of accepted key management algorithms
  	wpa_key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
  	wpa_passphrase=SomethingStonger
  
  	# Set of accepted cipher suites; disabling insecure TKIP
  	rsn_pairwise=CCMP
  
  	# mac address access contorl list
  	macaddr_acl=0
  
  	# hostapd event logger configuration
  	#logger_syslog=0
  	#logger_syslog_level=4
  	#logger_stdout=-1
  	#logger_stdout_level=0
  
  	# Operation mode (a = IEEE 802.11a (5 GHz), b = IEEE 802.11b (2.4 GHz)
  	hw_mode=g
  	## QoS support
  	wmm_enabled=1
  
  	# N
  	ieee80211n=1
  	require_ht=0
  	ht_capab=[GF][RX-STBC1][MAX-AMSDU-7935][HT40+][SHORT-GI-20][SHORT-GI-40][DSSS_CCK-40]
  
  	# AC
  	#ieee80211ac=1
  	#require_vht=0
  	ieee80211d=0
  	ieee80211h=0
  	#vht_capab=[MAX-MPDU-11454][SHORT-GI-80][SU-BEAMFORMEE][HTC-VHT]
  	#vht_oper_chwidth=1
  	channel=7
  	#vht_oper_centr_freq_seg0_idx=163
  	
  

  Configure hostapd.service. Due to a bug in hostapd for calling multiple hostapd.conf files, we are going to edit the .service file directly. Please NOTE that software updates could easily delete your configuration. I chmod 444 the service file in hopes of preventing a write over of the file, I don't know if it will work. There's probably a better way.

  Code: Select all

  sudo nano /lib/systemd/system/hostapd.service
  	[Unit]
  	Description=Advanced IEEE 802.11 AP and IEEE 802.1X/WPA/WPA2/EAP Authenticator
  	After=network.target
  
  	[Service]
  	Type=forking
  	PIDFile=/run/hostapd.pid
  	Restart=on-failure
  	RestartSec=2
  	#Environment=DAEMON_CONF=/etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf
  	EnvironmentFile=-/etc/default/hostapd
  	#ExecStart=/usr/sbin/hostapd -B -P /run/hostapd.pid -B $DAEMON_OPTS $DAEMON_CONF
  	ExecStart=/usr/sbin/hostapd -B -P /run/hostapd.pid -B /etc/hostapd/hostapd-intwlan0.conf /etc/hostapd/hostapd-usbwlan1.conf /etc/hostapd/hostapd-usbwlan2.conf
  
  	[Install]
  	WantedBy=multi-user.target 
  	
  sudo mv /lib/systemd/system/hostapd@.service /lib/systemd/system/hostapd@.bak
  sudo systemctl daemon-reload
  sudo systemctl unmask hostapd
  sudo systemctl enable hostapd
  

• Network Traffic Shaping with Cake:
  This is experimental!!! (Not required).
  Adjust TrafficControl.sh to your internet upload speeds. In my case I have a 2Mbit upload.

  Code: Select all

  sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/TrafficShaper.service
  	[Unit]
  	Description=Traffic Control Cake
  	After=network.target
  	After=systemd-user-sessions.service
  	After=network-online.target
  	After=hostapd.service
  
  	[Service]
  	ExecStart=/opt/TrafficControl/TrafficControl.sh
  
  	[Install]
  	WantedBy=multi-user.target
  
  
  sudo mkdir /opt/TrafficControl
  sudo nano /opt/TrafficControl/TrafficControl.sh
  	#!/bin/bash
  	sudo tc qdisc add root dev inteth0 cake bandwidth 2Mbit ethernet lan diffserv4
  	sudo iw usbwlan1 set txpower fixed 3000 #increase the 5Ghz WiFi to 30mW (Follow local laws)
  	sudo iw usbwlan2 set txpower fixed 3000 #increase the 2.4Ghz WiFi to  30mW (Follow local laws)
  
  sudo chmod +x /opt/TrafficControl/TrafficControl.sh 
  sudo systemctl enable TrafficShaper.service 
  

• Reboot and verify that the the router is working as expected. At this point you should have a full functioning WiFi Router / Access Point.

  Code: Select all

  sudo reboot now
  ip a
  iw dev
  tc -s qdisc show dev inteth0
  

• Install OMV5:
  Download the OMV install script. The script needs to be updated to work with this setup:

  Code: Select all

  cd
  wget -O OMV5-Install.sh  https://github.com/OpenMediaVault-Plugin-Developers/installScript/raw/master/install
  nano OMV5-Install.sh
  

  Edit 1: change pi -> ubuntu

  Code: Select all

  if getent passwd ubuntu > /dev/null; then
    echo "Adding ubuntu user to ssh group ..."
    usermod -a -G ssh ubuntu
  fi
  

  Edit 2: Delete the following code (at the bottom of the install script):

  Code: Select all

  # remove networkmanager and dhcpcd5 then configure networkd
  if [ ${version} -gt 4 ]; then
    defLink="/etc/systemd/network/99-default.link"
    if [ -e "${defLink}" ]; then
      rm -f "${defLink}"
    fi
    nic="eth0"
    if grep -qw "${nic}" /proc/net/dev; then
      echo "Removing network-manager and dhcpcd5 ..."
      apt-get -y --autoremove purge network-manager dhcpcd5
  
      echo "Disable predictive network adapter name ..."
      rule="/etc/udev/rules.d/80-net-setup-link.rules"
      if [ -e "${rule}" ]; then
        rm -f ${rule}
      fi
      ln -s /dev/null /etc/udev/rules.d/80-net-setup-link.rules
  
      echo "Enable and start systemd-resolved ..."
      systemctl enable systemd-resolved
      systemctl start systemd-resolved
      rm /etc/resolv.conf
      ln -s /run/systemd/resolve/resolv.conf /etc/resolv.conf
  
      echo "Configure ${nic} to use networkd ..."
      mkdir -p /etc/netplan
  
      cat <<EOF > "/etc/netplan/10-openmediavault-default.yaml"
  network:
    version: 2
    renderer: networkd
  EOF
  
      cat <<EOF > "/etc/netplan/20-openmediavault-${nic,,}.yaml"
  network:
    ethernets:
      ${nic,,}:
        accept-ra: true
        dhcp4: true
        dhcp6: true
  EOF
  
      echo "Applying netplan ..."
      netplan apply
  
      echo "It is recommended to reboot and then setup the network adapter in the openmediavault web interface."
    fi
  fi
  

  
  Install OMV5 (takes about 25 minutes):

  Code: Select all

  chmod +x OMV5-Install.sh
  sudo ./OMV5-Install.sh
  

  Finally, using the web interface log into OMV and configure the drives, drive file system, users, shares, etc... (Just remember to NOT configure the network through OMV!!!).
  https://openmediavault.readthedocs.io/en/5.x/
  
  My personal setup. Created 2 SMB shares:
  -TimeCapsule (non-browsable, Time Machine support). This creates a hidden share that Time Machine can see and backup to.
  -Data (browsable). Normal shared volume.
  
  Hints on configuring SMB Extra Options:
  Binding SMB so that only LAN can see it. Guest and WAN can't access it.

  Code: Select all

  bind interfaces only = yes
  interfaces = lo br0
  socket options = TCP_NODELAY IPTOS_LOWDELAY SO_SNDBUF=65535 SO_RCVBUF=65535
  read raw = yes
  write raw = yes
  min receivefile size = 16384
  write cache size = 524288
  getwd cache = yes
  

[crazyone]

Update:

After using this for several weeks and testing, there is a stability issue with the Wifi Adapters. It happens when a device is on the edge of the range of the Wifi zone. It will abruptly locks up the Pi. I thought it was a power issue, but it's not.

It's a driver issue. The Wifi adapter chipset is the RTL8811AU. I couldn't find a dedicated driver for this chipset. The chip is added to the RTL8821AU definition of the RTL8812AU driver. Development of this portion of the driver is not mature yet (from my searching).

However, it is stable if you are near it. I've transferred terabytes of data through Wifi. It's only when my mobile devices come and go from the wifi zone that's a problem. I am now looking for a WiFi adapter with an RTL8812AU chipset. I've also tried the MT7612U chipset (Netgear A6210), but had disconnection problems in AP mode.

Or if you have suggestions for another wifi chipset please post!

[crazyone]

Update 2:

1) Switched the USB WiFi adapters for 2X Linksys WUSB6300 (RTL8812AU Chipset), works as intended and stable. Also the Linksys supports 2X MIMO. Definitely saturating the USB 2.0 bandwidth. Below is the updated hostapd-*****.conf file to support MIMO.

Code: Select all

#(rtl8812au WiFi)
#Interface
interface=usbwlan1
bridge=br0
driver=nl80211
country_code=US

# SSID
ssid=yourepicdomain

# Bit field: bit0 = WPA, bit1 = WPA2
wpa=2

# Set of accepted key management algorithms
wpa_key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
wpa_passphrase=yoursupersecretpassword

# Set of accepted cipher suites; disabling insecure TKIP
rsn_pairwise=CCMP

# mac address access contorl list
macaddr_acl=0

# hostapd event logger configuration
#logger_syslog=0
#logger_syslog_level=4
#logger_stdout=-1
#logger_stdout_level=0

# Operation mode (a = IEEE 802.11a (5 GHz), b = IEEE 802.11b (2.4 GHz)
hw_mode=a
## QoS support
wmm_enabled=1

# N
ieee80211n=1
require_ht=0
ht_capab=[HT40+][GF][SHORT-GI-20][SHORT-GI-40][RX-STBC12][MAX-AMSDU-7935][DSSS_CCK-40][MAX-A-MPDU-LEN-EXP3]

# AC
ieee80211ac=1
require_vht=0
ieee80211d=0
ieee80211h=0
vht_capab=[MAX-MPDU-11454][SHORT-GI-80][TX-STBC][SU-BEAMFORMEE][HTC-VHT]
vht_oper_chwidth=1
channel=157
vht_oper_centr_freq_seg0_idx=163

2) kswapd errors
Kept getting errors in dmesg. Even though there is no swap partition, the vm.min.free_kbytes default setting is too low. It should be set between 1%-3% of the total RAM in the system:

Code: Select all

sudo nano /etc/sysctl.conf
#add to end of file, uncomment or add only one of the following lines for a system with 2GB. Change according you your hardware.
#vm.min_free_kbytes=37851   #2% 2GB
#vm.min_free_kbytes=56776   #3% 2GB
#vm.min_free_kbytes=66239   #3.5% 2GB