Wireless mesh networking on Raspberry Pi using batman-adv protocol

Question

So I\'m trying to setup a wireless mesh network using Raspberry Pi\'s, with the Edimax EW-7811Un WLAN Adapter and the batman-adv protocol.

I\'ve tried following the

Answer 1

I dont have anywhere to test at the moment so sorry for the lack of screenshots :(

If you are still interested and have set up several mesh networks using batman-adv and catwoman and faced similar issues (I have done mixed devices like android phones, foneras, openwrt devices, etc, etc to work together).

First thing to check when using batman-adv is the compatibility version, check on your dmesg which one is using each node when you load de batman-adv module, it should match in both or they will not see each other even with both setup propertly! (this has given me quite some headaches in the past hehe)

If the nodes still can't see each other you need to check that you dont have any issues when changing the mode to ad-hoc.

Now, once the nodes see each other remenber that batman-adv works in layer 2, batctl has a ping tool to ping on this layer even when the nodes can't see each other.

Im not really sure why you have wpa-supplicant here, mesh networks doesnt need it, to set up your mesh just chose a channel and an ESSID; all nodes should have this same parameter, then just put the wifi interfaces in ad-hoc mode and on batctl add the interfaces to the bat0 interface.

bat0 interface? thats the actual mesh interface, not wlan0. You did put an ip on the wlan0 interfaces, but that would not work, you need to give bat0 an ip and that the one the mesh will use. By memory the command would be: batctl ifadd wlan0, but check the batctl help just in case :)

If you want to share internet connection you need to follow below steps, then on the node connected to the internet create a bridge between bat0 and the interface with internet (remenber to leave wlan0 or whatever interface is using the mesh alone) and to finish go to batctl on that node and switch the gw (gateway) mode on (batctl gw on, I think). then you can run dhcp over bat0 on all the nodes and it should work just fine.

Just in case, be sure that the batman-adv module is loaded hehe

I think I have covered all sides when it comes to setting up a batman-adv mesh. If you need any doubts I will try to help :D

Best regards and hope your mesh works fine! :)