How to setup a wireless access point - Revision history

John3-16: Added 'See also': How to set up Alpine as a wireless router

2025-12-21T08:47:40Z

Added 'See also': How to set up Alpine as a wireless router

← Older revision		Revision as of 08:47, 21 December 2025
Line 74:		Line 74:
	== Associate clients ==		== Associate clients ==
	Associate a few clients to test.		Associate a few clients to test.

			== See also ==
			* [[How_to_set_up_Alpine_as_a_wireless_router\|How to set up Alpine as a wireless router]]

	[[Category:Networking]]		[[Category:Networking]]

AlpinePhil: Cleaned up some redundant bits, cleared up some formatting and brought this to a production ready state.

2025-09-24T18:24:08Z

Cleaned up some redundant bits, cleared up some formatting and brought this to a production ready state.

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:24, 24 September 2025
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	~~{{Draft}}~~		== Install needed packages ==

	~~== Install needed packages ==~~		* hostapd
	~~{{Cmd\|apk add~~ bridge ~~hostapd wireless-tools wpa_supplicant}}~~		* bridge (optional)

	== Check that the card is detected ==		== Check that the card is detected ==

	Run cat /proc/net/dev to see which cards are detected.		Run cat /proc/net/dev to see which cards are detected.

	If no cards are available, check what driver the card uses and modprobe it.		If no cards are available, check what driver the card uses and modprobe it.

	Check that the card is in master mode.		Check that the card is in master mode.

	== Setup Bridge ==		== Setup Bridge ==

			If your wireless access point is NOT also intended to be a router, you may wish to bridge an ethernet interface to the wireless interface.

			This can be particularly advantageous where you are setting up multiple access points with a shared SSID, as this allows the APs to share an address space, and avoids wireless clients having to change DHCP lease when they move from access point to access point.

	Setup the bridge by editing <samp>/etc/network/interfaces</samp>. Assuming you wish to bridge the access point to the ethernet device <samp>eth0</samp>, you can add something like this:		Setup the bridge by editing <samp>/etc/network/interfaces</samp>. Assuming you wish to bridge the access point to the ethernet device <samp>eth0</samp>, you can add something like this:

	<pre>		<pre>
	auto br0		auto br0
Line 17:		Line 26:
	bridge-ports eth0		bridge-ports eth0
	</pre>		</pre>

	Comment out any existing lines configuring <samp>eth0</samp> as this should now be handled via the bridge configuration. It is not necessary to mention <samp>wlan0</samp> here, as <samp>hostapd</samp> will take care of adding the device to the bridge later.		Comment out any existing lines configuring <samp>eth0</samp> as this should now be handled via the bridge configuration. It is not necessary to mention <samp>wlan0</samp> here, as <samp>hostapd</samp> will take care of adding the device to the bridge later.

	Please see [[Bridge]] for more information on network bridges.		Please see [[Bridge]] for more information on network bridges.

	== Setup ~~Encryption~~ ==		== Setup hostapd ==
	~~Edit /etc/hostapd/hostapd.wpa_psk and insert the following, replacing PASSPHRASE with the WPA_PSK key you would like to use (remove keys that you don't want to use):~~
	~~00:00:00:00:00:00 PASSPHRASE~~

	~~== Setup~~ hostapd ==		[http://w1.fi/hostapd/ hostapd] is the daemon that hosts the access point. What follows are example configurations, but further configuration options are available, and you should read the documentation for details.

	Edit /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf and make the necessary changes such as interface, bridge, driver, ssid, etc.		Edit /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf and make the necessary changes such as interface, bridge, driver, ssid, etc.
	~~Example file below~~:
			For example:
	interface=wlan0		interface=wlan0
	bridge=br0		bridge=br0
Line 50:		Line 59:
	wpa_key_mgmt=WPA-PSK		wpa_key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
	wpa_pairwise=CCMP		wpa_pairwise=CCMP

	If you wish to use MAC address filtering, uncomment the lines starting with macaddr_acl and accept_mac_file, create /etc/hostapd/accept (with permissions set to 600) and add the allowed clients' MAC address to the file.<br />		If you wish to use MAC address filtering, uncomment the lines starting with macaddr_acl and accept_mac_file, create /etc/hostapd/accept (with permissions set to 600) and add the allowed clients' MAC address to the file.<br />

			=== Authentication ===

			Edit /etc/hostapd/hostapd.wpa_psk and insert the following, replacing PASSPHRASE with the WPA_PSK key you would like to use (remove keys that you don't want to use):
			00:00:00:00:00:00 PASSPHRASE

			== Start the Service ==
	Start hostapd.		Start hostapd.

Line 58:		Line 74:
	== Associate clients ==		== Associate clients ==
	Associate a few clients to test.		Associate a few clients to test.

	~~== See also ==~~
	* [[Wireless AP with udhcpd and NAT]]
	* [[Raspberry Pi 3 - Configuring it as wireless access point -AP Mode]]

	[[Category:Networking]]		[[Category:Networking]]

Sertonix: replace /etc/init.d with rc-service

2023-11-17T10:26:23Z

replace /etc/init.d with rc-service

← Older revision		Revision as of 10:26, 17 November 2023
Line 54:		Line 54:
	Start hostapd.		Start hostapd.

	{{Cmd\|~~/etc/init.d/~~hostapd start}}		{{Cmd\|rc-service hostapd start}}

	== Associate clients ==		== Associate clients ==

Bt129: /* Associate clients */

2021-07-25T08:59:26Z

Associate clients

← Older revision		Revision as of 08:59, 25 July 2021
Line 57:		Line 57:

	== Associate clients ==		== Associate clients ==
	Associate a few ~~different~~ clients to test.		Associate a few clients to test.

	== See also ==		== See also ==

Bt129: /* Setup hostapd */

2021-07-25T08:58:51Z

Setup hostapd

← Older revision		Revision as of 08:58, 25 July 2021
Line 27:		Line 27:
	== Setup hostapd ==		== Setup hostapd ==

	Edit /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf and ~~replace entries that need to be~~ such as interface, bridge, driver, ssid, etc.		Edit /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf and make the necessary changes such as interface, bridge, driver, ssid, etc.
	Example file below:		Example file below:
	interface=wlan0		interface=wlan0
Line 50:		Line 50:
	wpa_key_mgmt=WPA-PSK		wpa_key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
	wpa_pairwise=CCMP		wpa_pairwise=CCMP
	If you wish to use MAC address filtering, uncomment the lines starting with macaddr_acl and accept_mac_file, create /etc/hostapd/accept (with 600 ~~permissions~~) and add the allowed clients' MAC address to the file.<br />		If you wish to use MAC address filtering, uncomment the lines starting with macaddr_acl and accept_mac_file, create /etc/hostapd/accept (with permissions set to 600) and add the allowed clients' MAC address to the file.<br />

	Start hostapd.		Start hostapd.

Bt129: /* Setup Bridge */

2021-07-25T08:56:21Z

Setup Bridge

← Older revision		Revision as of 08:56, 25 July 2021
Line 10:		Line 10:

	== Setup Bridge ==		== Setup Bridge ==
	Setup the bridge by editing <samp>/etc/network/interfaces</samp>. Assuming ~~that~~ you wish to bridge the access point to the ethernet device <samp>eth0</samp>, you can add something like this:		Setup the bridge by editing <samp>/etc/network/interfaces</samp>. Assuming you wish to bridge the access point to the ethernet device <samp>eth0</samp>, you can add something like this:
	<pre>		<pre>
	auto br0		auto br0

Bt129: /* Check that card is detected */

2021-07-25T08:55:23Z

Check that card is detected

← Older revision		Revision as of 08:55, 25 July 2021
Line 4:		Line 4:
	{{Cmd\|apk add bridge hostapd wireless-tools wpa_supplicant}}		{{Cmd\|apk add bridge hostapd wireless-tools wpa_supplicant}}

	== Check that card is detected ==		== Check that the card is detected ==
	Run cat /proc/net/dev to see which cards are detected.		Run cat /proc/net/dev to see which cards are detected.
	If no cards are available, check what driver the card uses and modprobe it.		If no cards are available, check what driver the card uses and modprobe it.

Bt129: /* Check that card is detected */

2021-07-25T08:55:06Z

Check that card is detected

← Older revision		Revision as of 08:55, 25 July 2021
Line 5:		Line 5:

	== Check that card is detected ==		== Check that card is detected ==
	~~Cat~~ /proc/net/dev ~~and~~ see which cards are detected.		Run cat /proc/net/dev to see which cards are detected.
	If no cards are available, check what driver the card uses and modprobe it.		If no cards are available, check what driver the card uses and modprobe it.
	Check that the card is in master mode.		Check that the card is in master mode.

Pojntfx: Fix link to RPI3 specifics

2020-08-03T11:37:27Z

Fix link to RPI3 specifics

← Older revision		Revision as of 11:37, 3 August 2020
Line 61:		Line 61:
	== See also ==		== See also ==
	* [[Wireless AP with udhcpd and NAT]]		* [[Wireless AP with udhcpd and NAT]]
	* [[~~https://wiki.alpinelinux.org/wiki/Raspberry_Pi_3_~~-~~_Configuring_it_as_wireless_access_point_~~-~~AP_Mode~~]]		* [[Raspberry Pi 3 - Configuring it as wireless access point -AP Mode]]

	[[Category:Networking]]		[[Category:Networking]]

Pojntfx: Add link to Raspberry Pi specific instructions

2020-08-03T11:36:44Z

Add link to Raspberry Pi specific instructions

← Older revision		Revision as of 11:36, 3 August 2020
Line 61:		Line 61:
	== See also ==		== See also ==
	* [[Wireless AP with udhcpd and NAT]]		* [[Wireless AP with udhcpd and NAT]]
			* [[https://wiki.alpinelinux.org/wiki/Raspberry_Pi_3_-_Configuring_it_as_wireless_access_point_-AP_Mode]]

	[[Category:Networking]]		[[Category:Networking]]