On 1/14/26 16:00, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
If you recall I was after a configuration that would allow a Pi 4 or 5
to act in addition to its generic operation as a server on the network,
to also act as a wifi access point.
I have *sort of* succeeded.
The general process is to down the wifi and Ethernet interfaces, create
a bridge interface as master and slave the two other interfaces (Thernet
and wifi) to it
The bridge interface has all the IP stuff attached to it.
The Wifi interface has instructions to be an access point and have an
SSID, securitry and so on.
Ultimately I discovered that all this does is create and edit files in
/etc/NetworkManager/system-connections and frankly this is probably the easiest way to do it
Here are the three files I created via nmcli
# more br0.nmconnection
[connection]
id=br0
uuid=db3fc586-63b4-43f6-9cf3-efd207086553
type=bridge
interface-name=nm-bridge
timestamp=1768417618
[ethernet]
[bridge]
stp=false
[ipv4]
address1=192.168.0.101/24,192.168.0.254
dns=192.168.0.101;
method=manual
[ipv6]
addr-gen-mode=default
method=disabled
[proxy]
-----------------------------------
# more Garden.nmconnection
[connection]
id=Garden
uuid=f977bba8-bda3-404b-89c3-57c959c8b1fd
type=wifi
interface-name=wlan0
master=db3fc586-63b4-43f6-9cf3-efd207086553
slave-type=bridge
timestamp=1768410601
[wifi]
band=bg
channel=9
mode=ap
powersave=2
ssid=MyGarden
[wifi-security]
key-mgmt=wpa-psk
psk=rottenRatz
[bridge-port] --------------------------------------------------------------------
# more Ethernet.nmconnection
[connection]
id=Ethernet
uuid=4a8b7eb6-678a-47e2-b5b2-416cc800438f
type=ethernet
interface-name=eth0
master=db3fc586-63b4-43f6-9cf3-efd207086553
slave-type=bridge
timestamp=1768409686
[ethernet]
[bridge-port]
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
I've set up Pi2s3s4s as 'servers' before, it was
never THIS complex however. A PI is just a very
small Linux box. Alas if you need multiple net
ports you may need to think of USB dongles.
Oh, 'nmcli' ... if you have to add THIS much junk
faster to manually edit the config file. Actually
I posted instructions on that about a year+ ago.
The NM GUI app is fairly capable too, IF you
have a GUI on yer PI. Not all do, hence my post.
Now for the problems:
First of all I cant get the Pi4B to do more than 72Mbps. I *think* this
is a hardware limit
Net/USB/WiFi speed ratings for PIs are almost always
"best case" ... actually they're kinda LIES. The P4
was much better, P5s even better, but it's not gonna
be like a PCI card plugged into your Big Box.
More importantly if˙ any connected wifi clients try to use the
*internet*, response is flaky as fuck. 50%+˙ packet loss
WiFi is finniky as all hell. Recently had a PI getting
a super-crappy signal, tons of dropped packets - moved
it FOUR inches, no obvious obstacles involved, and now
have a 4X or 5X speed increase and almost never a
dropped packet. Note 2ghz tends to be more forgiving
than 5ghz - 'slower' CAN be faster in some circumstances.
But wifi clients connected via the Pi WiFi˙ can access the *LAN*
smoothly. No packet loss.
Wifi clients attached via any other access point can access the internet smoothly.
Just not *wifi clients attached via the pi*....
I am struggling to understand how a device can access the LAN perfectly
but not the Internet.
Any ideas?
DO check to see if your DNS and router base address
are correct. I had to get a new router and all my
clients were still pointed at the old base address.
They'd (usually) work OK on the LAN, but you could
not get updates or any other internet stuff.
/etc/dhcpcd is the place to start. Also use NM to
look at all those device defs. Tweaking those things
fixed MY internet problems. Just ONE number mal-typed,
ONE mistaken, number is enough to screw up everything.
--- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)