WPA supplicant

When dealing with "strong" encryption of WiFi networks, you have to setup a WPA or WPA2 configuration. To handle the requirements of these protocols during association, a userspace daemon is needed: it is called a WPA supplicant. The most used one on Linux is wpa_supplicant; we will see here how to install and configure it.

Note: wpa_supplicant is also able to handle WEP connections

Installation

$ make menuconfig

Package Selection for the target  --->
    Networking  --->
        [*]   wpa_supplicant
        [ ]     Enable WPA with EAP
        [*]     Install wpa_cli binary
        [*]     Install wpa_passphrase binary

EAP is only needed if you plan to use WPA in Enterprise mode == with a Radius server.

Usage

wpa_supplicant needs a configuration file in /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf. Here is an example (WPA pre-shared key (TKIP)) and for your convience a generic wpa_supplicant.conf is already installed in the Armadeus BSP for releases > 5.2  :

ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=wheel
update_config=1
network={
	ssid="''SSID''"
	scan_ssid=1
	proto=WPA
	key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
	pairwise=TKIP
	psk="''PASSPHRASE''"
}

You can adapt wpa_supplicant.conf manually or use the wpa_passphrase tool to add your network (SSID/PASSPHRASE) automatically:

 # wpa_passphrase "mynetworkSSID" "mynetworkPASSPHRASE" >> /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf

Be sure to have your Wi-Fi chipset driver loaded:

 # modprobe libertas_sdio
or
 # modprobe rt73usb
 # modprobe rt2800_usb
 # modprobe zd1211rw
 # modprobe rtl8187
 # modprobe r8712u
...

Then you can create the Wi-Fi connection with WPA Supplicant:

 # ifconfig wlan0 up
 # wpa_supplicant -Dwext -i wlan0 -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -B

And finally to activate automatically your WiFi interface when starting Linux, here is a sample of init script /etc/init.d/S61Wifi to adapt to your WiFI driver (update WIFIDRIVERS in the source) and to place it on the target into /etc/init.d/S61wifi giving execution rigths to this file (chmod a+x /etc/init.d/S61Wifi):

#!/bin/sh
#
# Starts wifi services
#
# do not forget to update your wpa_supplicant configuration
# wpa_passphrase "mynetworrssid" "mynetworkpassphrase" >> /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
# 
export WIFIDRIVERS=libertas_sdio
case "$1" in
	start)
		echo "Starting wifi"
		modprobe $WIFIDRIVERS
		ip link set dev wlan0 up
		wpa_supplicant -Dwext -i wlan0 -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -B
		wpa_cli -B -a /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_cli-action.sh
	;;

	stop)
		wpa_cli -i wlan0 disconnect
		wpa_cli -i wlan0 terminate
		ip link set dev wlan0 down
		rmmod -a $WIFIDRIVERS
	;;

	restart)
		$0 stop
		sleep 1
		$0 start
	;;

	*)
		echo "Usage: $0 {start|stop|restart}"
		exit 1
	;;
esac

exit 0

Stop it

To stop WPA Supplicant daemon and switch off the connexion, you can use this command:

 # wpa_cli terminate

or by using the S61wifi script here above:

 # /etc/init.d/S61wifi stop

Links

• wpa_supplicant README
• wpa_supplicant Webpage