multiple VAP's: mastermode, stationmode - master VAP stops working when bringing up station mode VAP

Do both master VAPs stop working, or just one of them? Have you tried enabling debugging messages (DevDocs/AthDebug) to see why the master VAP disassociates the associated clients?

full 80211 debug

full athdebug log

Both VAPs stop working.

after creating the ath1 device, nothing unusual happens. "wlanconfig ath1 create wlandev wifi0 wlanmode sta nosbeacon"

ath0      IEEE 802.11g  ESSID:"Marcel"
          Mode:Master  Frequency:2.437 GHz  Access Point: 00:40:F4:A1:08:01
          Bit Rate:0 kb/s   Tx-Power=18 dBm   Sensitivity=0/3
          ...

after doing "ifconfig ath1 up" iwconfig gives the following output for the master mode VAP:

ath0      IEEE 802.11g  ESSID:"Marcel"
          Mode:Master  Frequency:2.437 GHz  Access Point: Not-Associated
          Bit Rate:0 kb/s   Tx-Power=18 dBm   Sensitivity=0/3
          ...

This is the output from "80211debug +assoc"

00:18:e7:00:a6:2a is my test station, the others have nothing todo with me. i associated the station and then brought up the ath1 iface.

Jan 29 15:35:36 xcd kernel: ath0: beacon miss
Jan 29 15:35:38 xcd kernel: ath0: received probe_req from 00:12:f0:a1:81:bc rssi 8
Jan 29 15:35:38 xcd kernel: ath0: ieee80211_tmp_node: c6581000<00:12:f0:a1:81:bc> refcnt 1
Jan 29 15:35:38 xcd kernel: ath0: [00:12:f0:a1:81:bc] recv probe req
Jan 29 15:35:38 xcd kernel: ath0: ieee80211_ref_node (ieee80211_send_mgmt:1789) c6581000<00:12:f0:a1:81:bc> refcnt 2
Jan 29 15:35:38 xcd kernel: [00:12:f0:a1:81:bc] send probe_resp on channel 6
Jan 29 15:35:38 xcd kernel: ath0: ath_tx_start: c469c000<00:40:f4:a1:08:01> refcnt 4
Jan 29 15:35:38 xcd kernel: ath0: received probe_req from 00:0e:35:54:ac:bb rssi 2
Jan 29 15:35:38 xcd kernel: [00:0e:35:54:ac:bb] discard probe_req frame, ssid mismatch: "FRITZ!Box Fon WLAN 7050"
Jan 29 15:35:41 xcd kernel: ath0: __ieee80211_newstate: RUN -> INIT
Jan 29 15:35:41 xcd kernel: ath0: ieee80211_ref_node (ieee80211_send_mgmt:1789) cb88b000<00:18:e7:00:a6:2a> refcnt 4
Jan 29 15:35:41 xcd kernel: ath0: [00:18:e7:00:a6:2a] send station disassociate (reason 8)
Jan 29 15:35:41 xcd kernel: [00:18:e7:00:a6:2a] send disassoc on channel 6
Jan 29 15:35:41 xcd kernel: ath0: ath_tx_start: c469c000<00:40:f4:a1:08:01> refcnt 3
Jan 29 15:35:41 xcd kernel: ath0: [00:18:e7:00:a6:2a] station with aid 1 leaves (refcnt 4)
Jan 29 15:35:41 xcd kernel: ath0: _ieee80211_crypto_delkey: TKIP keyix 5 flags 0x3 tsc 5 len 16
Jan 29 15:35:41 xcd kernel: ath0: node_reclaim: remove cb88b000<00:18:e7:00:a6:2a> from station table, refcnt 2
Jan 29 15:35:41 xcd kernel: ath0: ieee80211_reset_bss: old bss c469c000<00:40:f4:a1:08:01> refcnt 3
Jan 29 15:35:41 xcd kernel: ath0: node_reclaim: remove c469c000<00:40:f4:a1:08:01> from station table, refcnt 2
Jan 29 15:35:41 xcd kernel: ath0: ieee80211_alloc_node: c4611000<00:40:f4:a1:08:01> in station table, refcnt 1
Jan 29 15:35:41 xcd kernel: ath0: ieee80211_reset_bss: new bss c4611000<00:40:f4:a1:08:01> refcnt 2
Jan 29 15:35:41 xcd hostapd: ath0: STA 00:18:e7:00:a6:2a IEEE 802.11: disassociated

Full logs are attached.

In both cases one station was associated to the master VAP. Then i started logging and brought up the station mode VAP.

Thank you for looking into this.

i have the same effect here. maybe important is that the client interace uses wpa_supplicant to connect to an encrypted network

i dont think so. i tried unencrypted AP/STA as well. it simply doesn't work.

does someone know a working madwifi version with this configuration. maybe we can trackdown a change who broke it

FWIW, I'm getting this same issue too on v0.9.3. The creat commands work fine to create an ap and a sta, and configuring the ap is fine. However as soon as I use iwconfig to configure an essid to the sta then the ap stops responding.

I have a similar problem. I run debian stable (etch) on a Pentium III laptop which I use as a wireless router/bridge, with the pre-packaged 2.6.18-4-686 linux kernel and a CISCO CB21AG cardbus adapter (AR5212).

My VAP setup is the following:

ath0 master, WEP keyed. ath1 station, nosbeacon, connected to unencrypted network.

With madwifi 0.9.2.1 (HAL 0.9.17.2), ath0 freezes for about 5 seconds upon setting the ESSID on ath1 through iwconfig. If there is no signal associated to the specified ESSID, for example if the ESSID is misspelt, ath0 freezes until both ath0 and ath1 are destroyed using wlanconfig. This is annoying, however after the initial hiccup both ath0 and ath1 work fine and very stable.

With madwifi built from the latest madwifi-source package currently distributed with debian stable (HAL 0.9.18.0), ath0 works ok with no more hiccup on setting the ath1 ESSID but I cannot get ath1 to connect to any network at all. ath1 accepts the iwconfig commands but really does not work.

madwifi 0.9.3 (HAL 0.9.18.0) has exactly the same problem as the debian version, with an additional deterioration of the stability of ath0, i.e. the whole machine tends to freeze solid when there is high wireless traffic. I have examined the logs, but the freeze is so total and sudden that nothing is recorded there. This happens about twice a day, sometimes more often.

My only alternative for the moment is to keep using 0.9.2.1 and live with the momentary freeze.

I hope this gets fixed soon!

i updated to the newest madwifi 0.9.3 yesterday. the problem disappeared! i think they fixed ist. i created a normal access point interface and brought it up. ath1 was created as station. i connected to the ap with my notebook and did successfully scanning with the station at the same time. i have no other network i can associate to, to test it, but in principle its working. thank you.

Right I will mark this as fixed in 0.9.3. Reopen if necessary.