Access point as a Wifi repeater for WPA2-Enterprise network

Question

So this is a little bit of a random question but I'm attempting to follow this tutorial to set up a wifi repeater with my Raspberry Pi 3B+.

I can get the Raspberry Pi to generate a network that can accept connections.

The problem I run into is getting the client connection to successfully connect to the original network due to the fact that the original network is configured using WPA2-Enterprise.

I can get the Raspberry Pi to connect to the WPA2-Enterprise network by doing the following:

Editing /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf with:

country=US
ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev
update_config=1

network={
      ssid="MainNetworkSSID"
      scan_ssid=1
      key_mgmt=WPA-EAP
      pairwise=CCMP TKIP
      group=CCMP TKIP
      eap=PEAP
      identity="MyUsername"
      password="MyPassword"
      phase1="peapver=0"
      phase2="MSCHAPV2"
}

And editing /etc/network/interfaces with:

auto lo

iface lo inet loopback
iface eth0 inet dhcp

allow-hotplug wlan0

iface wlan0 inet dhcp
        pre-up wpa_supplicant -B -Dwext -i wlan0 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf
        post-down killall -q wpa_supplicant

But when I go to set up the repeater it wont connect to the original network. I tried using the edits I made to wpa_supplicant.conf in wpa_supplicant-wlan0.conf but this didn't seem to help. The Enterprise network does not require any certificates to join so I think it should be possible in theory, but I may be wrong. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated!

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 05 '20 at 16:35

Unfortunately, I still could not get systemd-networkd to connect to the main network no matter the driver that was being used. I did find another solution entirely, however, that seems to have worked. I installed this modified ubuntu-mate image that supports the 3B+ and then used the built-in hotspot function on ubuntu to generate the access point. Ubuntu-mate image: https://downloads.ubiquityrobotics.com/pi.html

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 20 '19 at 01:46

I haven't tested a WPA2-Enterprise connection because I haven't one but for my understanding it should make no difference to build a wifi repeater as far as you can establish the connection. So I suggest first to configure and test the connection with systemd-networkd. When it is running then you can do the next steps to combine it with the access point.

Because we use systemd-networkd we have to do all with it. Networking and dhcpcd is completely switched off. This is done with Step 1: setup systemd-networkd but without installing hostapd at this step:

rpi ~$ sudo -Es
# enable persistent journaling, useful for troubleshooting
rpi ~# mkdir -p /var/log/journal
rpi ~# systemd-tmpfiles --create --prefix /var/log/journal #ignore warnings (*)

# disable debian networking and dhcpcd
rpi ~# systemctl mask networking.service
rpi ~# systemctl mask dhcpcd.service
rpi ~# sudo mv /etc/network/interfaces /etc/network/interfaces~
rpi ~# sed -i '1i resolvconf=NO' /etc/resolvconf.conf

# enable systemd-networkd
rpi ~# systemctl enable systemd-networkd.service
rpi ~# systemctl enable systemd-resolved.service
rpi ~# ln -sf /run/systemd/resolve/resolv.conf /etc/resolv.conf

^{(*) You will get one or two confusing warnings "...Cannot set file attribute..." This are not errors and doesn't matter in this case.}

Then setup wpa_supplicant for client connection with:

rpi ~# cat >/etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant-wlan0.conf <<EOF
country=US
ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev
update_config=1

network={
    ssid="MainNetworkSSID"
    scan_ssid=1
    key_mgmt=WPA-EAP
    pairwise=CCMP TKIP
    group=CCMP TKIP
    eap=PEAP
    identity="MyUsername"
    password="MyPassword"
    phase1="peapver=0"
    phase2="MSCHAPV2"
}
EOF

rpi ~# chmod 600 /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant-wlan0.conf
rpi ~# systemctl disable wpa_supplicant.service
rpi ~# systemctl enable wpa_supplicant@wlan0.service

This will setup wpa_supplicant the same way you have done with Debian networking. The pre-up you have done in /etc/network/interfaces you will find at line ExecStart= with:

rpi ~# systemctl cat wpa_supplicant@wlan0.service

Your post-down is managed by systemd automagically. To compare:

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

ExecStart=/sbin/wpa_supplicant -c/etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant-%I.conf -Dnl80211,wext -i%I

%I is expanded to wlan0. Don't use option -B in ExecStart= because the service is already running in the background. Recommended driver is nl80211 so it is set at the first position with option -Dnl80211,wext so I would try it first. If you really need only the old driver wext then you can set -Dwext with:

rpi ~# systemctl --full edit wpa_supplicant@wlan0.service

Now we have to setup the interface wlan0:

rpi ~# cat > /etc/systemd/network/08-wlan0.network <<EOF
[Match]
Name=wlan0
[Network]
# If you need a static ip address toggle commenting next three lines (example)
DHCP=yes
#Address=192.168.10.60/24
#Gateway=192.168.10.1
# Optional: if you want to connect to your own DNS server, set it here (example)
#DNS=192.168.10.10 8.8.8.8
EOF

Now reboot and you should have a wifi client connection. If not then you have first to fix it before going on to configure the access point and combine it with the client connection.

Thanks for the reply! Unfortunately, I still could not get systemd-networkd to connect to the main network no matter the driver that was being used. I did find another solution entirely, however, that seems to have worked. I installed this modified ubuntu-mate image that supports the 3B+ and then used the built-in hotspot function on ubuntu to generate the access point. Ubuntu-mate image: [link](https://downloads.ubiquityrobotics.com/pi.html) — DailyRPG, Jan 23 '19 at 16:15
@DailyRPG Please make an answer to your solution. Only accecpting an answer with a click on the tick on its left side will finish the question and it will not pop up again year for year. — Ingo, Mar 03 '20 at 13:19

Access point as a Wifi repeater for WPA2-Enterprise network

2 Answers2