Re: Atheros and SIS bridging problem

Ben Becker wrote:
> Hello,
>  
> I'm working on a FreeBSD-based bridge with one Atheros 5004X (5212)
> wireless interface and one SIS Ethernet interface.  The Atheros
> interface is associated to an access point running hostap (another
> FreeBSD box) while the Ethernet port is connected to my laptop. 
> Here's a quick outline:
>  
> [Laptop]--------(sis0)-[FreeBSD Bridge]-(ath0)--------[FreeBSD AP]
>  
> There seems to be a problem with bridging ath0 and sis0.  I have 1 IP
> assigned to ath0 which is 192.168.1.3, and I've sysctl'd
> 'net.link.ether.bridge.enable=1' and
> 'net.link.ether.bridge.config=ath0,sis0'.  From the bridge, I can ping
> the AP (192.168.1.1) and the laptop (192.168.1.5).  However I can't
> ping from the laptop to the AP or from the AP to the laptop.
>  
> When I sysctl net.link.ether.bridge.debug on, I notice something
> strange.  Packets to and from the AP have a destination of BDG_UNKNOWN
> until the bridge shows 'bridge_in: new addr xx.xx.xx.xx.xx.xx at 3121
> for ath0'.  At that point, I'm able to send and receive a few packets
> through the link, but it's very inconsistent.  However, the bridge
> debug info now shows the proper interfaces as the destination.  This
> only lasts about 20 seconds until I get a 'bdg_timeout: flushing stale
> entry 3121' at which point everything gets forwarded to BDG_UNKNOWN
> again and no traffic gets passed.  Wtihin a few minutes I get the
> 'bridge_in: new addr' message again and the cycle repeats.  The amount
> of time seems to vary, though.
>  
> I've tried this on current, 5.3 and 5.2.1.  The wireless interface is
> configured without WEP and I've tried 11b and 11g mode.  The AP is a
> 5.2.1 system with the same type of Atheros card in non-bridged 11b
> hostap mode.  I can't think of any additional debug info other than
> the bridge debug output, so please let me know if there is anything
> else I can supply to help troubleshoot this issue.  Also, has anybody
> successfully set up a bridge like this in the past?

This doesn't work because the wireless interface will not receive 
frames from the ap destined for the laptop.  You basically need/want to 
tunnel the laptop frames which requires support that's not currently in 
the system.

	Sam