Debian Jessie questions

[Puma]

Hello,

I'm running Jessie now (BIG thanks to MouettE!!)

I installed owncloud 8.2, firehol, Apache, Samba, midnight commander,

Can anyone tell me how I can install/configure the following:

1. Enable and configure Wifi (for standard excito wifi card, unex dnxa-92)
2. Install miniDNLA
3. Raid system with excito S1
4. How to configure DHCP IP address and settings
5. How can I remotely get to my files (as filemanager did on the excito webinterface)

Thanks in advance,

Puma

[Puma]

Hello,

Somebody has wifi AP running on jessie allready?

Puma

[stasheck]

Not running Jessie, but in general search for the following:
ad. 1. hostapd - there are some examples in the forum
ad. 2. "apt get install minidlna"? If not, search google, it should be fairly standard topic.
ad. 3. No idea, but in general mdadm is your friend.
ad. 4. I assume you want B3 to be DHCP server, so dnsmasq maybe?
ad. 5. Depends on what you need, HTTP? Windows File Sharing (samba)? If you just need to transfer files *sometimes*, WinSCP should do the trick.

[Gordon]

I'm running Gentoo, but I guess that's commonly known. The hostapd config from the original Bubba 2.6 install worked right out of the box and I would be surprised if this were any different with Jessie.

Minidlna: same thing. Use the config from the original Bubba install and it should behave the same way like before.

Raid 1: if you had Raid 1 before and had preserved your disk layout, it should have worked straight away - or not at all if you did not install mdadm as stated by Stasheck.

DHCP: dhcpcd generally works best, but you can use dhclient if you're willing to do some more manual configuring. Most does depend however on the DHCP server itself. If it is set to hand out data mostly meant for MS Windows, you may find that some of them are not correctly picked up by your B3 (or any other Linux client). I suppose it should be possible to make the Linux client handle those "alien" parameters, but I always went the other route.

As for replacing Bubba filemanager, any ftp server seems to be the most logical choice. And probably the most troublesome as well, because this protocol runs over two TCP ports and is even more likely to be blocked on the client side than on the server side.

wink-wink I'm entering release candidate state with my Gentoo port of the Bubba web admin interface. Everything you want, except that it is not Debian.

[Puma]

Dear Stasheck and Gordon,

Thank you for your answers. In the meantime I did a lot of testing...

apt get install minidlna works fine (I probarbly messed with the repositries..)

Hostapd installed and works only in 2.4 GHz (5 GHz not working due to regulatory domain issues)
This is strange I live in the Netherlands and 5 GHz is ok for at least channel 36,...48.
seams that the new ath9k driver not allows 5GHz channels....Gordon how did you resolve this? by recompiling the ath9k driver? (how can you do this?)

I installed dnsmasq but wireless but when I try to connect I get no IP address.... probarbly my fault...

RAID1 works, I installed mdadm as Stasheck said.

standard install Jessie eth0 and eth1 DHCP works

Code: Select all

allow-hotplug eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp
allow-hotplug eth1
iface eth1 inet dhcp

but when I try to change eth1 to static this port freezes (strange orange leds) I can ssh then to WAN port only.

Code: Select all

auto lo                          # The loopback interface
iface lo inet loopback

allow-hotplug eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp

iface eth1 inet static
address 192.168.101.17
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.168.1.1

What am I doing wrong here?

Puma

[Gordon]

I did not solve the 5GHz support. Compiling the driver with the right patch should enable you to use it, but you need to be careful because this will also enable you to select channels that are not allowed (telecommunicatiewet).

Regarding your interfaces setup, I think the eth1 options need to be indented:

Code: Select all

iface eth1 inet static
    address 192.168.101.17
    netmask 255.255.255.0
    gateway 192.168.1.1

[Puma]

Dear Gordon,

Thank you for your reaction.

I just tried to indent...:

Code: Select all

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

allow-hotplug eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp

iface eth1 inet static
    address 192.168.101.17
    netmask 255.255.255.0
    gateway 192.168.101.1

Same result orange led on the eth (LAN) port.

After some struggle problem solved with

Code: Select all

allow-hotplug eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp

auto eth1   #ADDED AND WORKS!!!
iface eth1 inet static
address 192.168.101.17
netmask 255.255.255.0
broadcast 192.168.101.17
#gateway 192.168.101.1

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

5 GHz AP is allowed in the netherlands afaik channel 36, 40, 44 and 48.
This was also allowed on the excito 2.6. GUI.

Puma

[Gordon]

Ah yes. Without the "auto" directive you need to manually start the interface.

I know those channels you speak about are allowed, but the fact is that the hardware simply is not configured to use it in AP mode. Same applies to channel 12 and 13 in the 2.4GHz band. The main issue here appears to be that Excito did not order wifi modules for any specific region and therefore received "world" region modules from Qualcomm. And yes I do remember having been able to select channels in the 5GHz band, but this was no longer the case with the latest official Bubba software version. I don't know if that was related to previous software versions allowing you to select what was actually not supported by the kernel (driver/module) or a change in the kernel itself.

Just curious: any particular reason why you want to use 5GHz band?

[Puma]

Gordon,

The reasons for me to use the 5GHz:
- In my neighborhood the 2.4 ghz is very crowded and with strong signals as well.
-The 5GHz is empty ( only one in the street has 5GHz)
-WIth this setting I was able to run with 240 Mbps, with the 2.4 GHz I could not get more then 54Mbps with my laptops. (Intel® Centrino® Ultimate-N 6300 which is not that bad).

But yes I am running 2 B3's with excito 2.6.0.2 with 5GHz allowing channels 36, 40 , 44 and 48.
They probarbly never changed that. (and the old ath9k driver allowed it)

Do you know how I can compile the ath9k driver and install it or is this very complicated?

By the way here in the netherlands you can buy Access Points with 5GHz without any problems.
If I obey the allowed channels I see no problems.

Puma

[Gordon]

The drivers are part of the kernel, so you need the source for your current kernel. Since the kernel is a package in Debian, that can be quite tricky. You'll also need the (matching your kernel version) patch for the ath9k driver to disregard the regulatory domain info that is on the onboard flash. I don't have a link for that, nor do I know what part of the code should be changed.

Yes if you stick to the allowed channels there will be no problem. The thing though is that with the hack in place, both the driver and the hardware will not restrict you any more from using ANY channel. Including the ones that are not allowed by local legislation.

And of course you need to be aware that when you install a kernel upgrade you'll have to do this all over again. Not so much an issue for people that build their own kernel anyway, but I guess that's not why you prefer to use Debian. IMO your best option is to get yourself a replacement wifi module that does have the right regulatory domain info and supports AP mode in the 5GHz band (which apparently rules out Intel cards).


Edit: you might find this page useful.

[stasheck]

Search for my posts, I fought the issue with Arch, but it might be similar enough