| [state: 06-01-2010] |
| |
| BATMAN-ADV |
| ---------- |
| |
| Batman-advanced is a new approach to wireless networking which does no longer |
| operate on the IP basis. Unlike B.A.T.M.A.N, which exchanges information |
| using UDP packets and sets routing tables, batman-advanced operates on ISO/OSI |
| Layer 2 only and uses and routes (or better: bridges) Ethernet Frames. It |
| emulates a virtual network switch of all nodes participating. Therefore all |
| nodes appear to be link local, thus all higher operating protocols won't be |
| affected by any changes within the network. You can run almost any protocol |
| above B.A.T.M.A.N. Advanced, prominent examples are: IPv4, IPv6, DHCP, IPX. |
| |
| This is batman-advanced implemented as Linux kernel driver. It does not depend |
| on any network (other) driver, and can be used on wifi as well as ethernet, |
| vpn, etc ... (anything with ethernet-style layer 2). |
| |
| USAGE |
| ----- |
| |
| insmod the batman-adv.ko in your kernel: |
| |
| # insmod batman-adv.ko |
| |
| the module is now waiting for activation. You must add some interfaces |
| on which batman can operate. Each interface must be added separately: |
| |
| # echo wlan0 > /proc/net/batman-adv/interfaces |
| |
| ( # echo wlan1 > /proc/net/batman-adv/interfaces ) |
| ( # echo eth0 > /proc/net/batman-adv/interfaces ) |
| ( ... ) |
| |
| Now batman starts broadcasting on this interface. |
| You can now view the table of originators (mesh participants) with: |
| |
| # cat /proc/net/batman-adv/originators |
| |
| The module will create a new interface "bat0", which can be used as a |
| regular interface: |
| |
| # ifconfig bat0 inet 192.168.0.1 up |
| # ping 192.168.0.2 |
| ... |
| |
| If you want topology visualization, your meshnode must be configured |
| as VIS-server: |
| |
| # echo "server" > /proc/net/batman-adv/vis |
| |
| Each node is either configured as "server" or as "client" (default: |
| "client"). Clients send their topology data to the server next to them, |
| and server synchronize with other servers. If there is no server |
| configured (default) within the mesh, no topology information will be |
| transmitted. With these "synchronizing servers", there can be 1 or |
| more vis servers sharing the same (or at least very similar) data. |
| |
| When configured as server, you can get a topology snapshot of your mesh: |
| |
| # cat /proc/net/batman-adv/vis |
| |
| The output is in a generic raw format. Use the batctl tool (See below) |
| to convert this to other formats more suitable for graphing, eg |
| graphviz dot, or JSON data-interchange format. |
| |
| In very mobile scenarios, you might want to adjust the originator |
| interval to a lower value. This will make the mesh more responsive to |
| topology changes, but will also increase the overhead. Please make sure |
| that all nodes in your mesh use the same interval. The default value |
| is 1000 ms (1 second). |
| |
| # echo 1000 > /proc/net/batman-adv/orig_interval |
| |
| To deactivate batman, do: |
| |
| # echo "" > /proc/net/batman-adv/interfaces |
| |
| LOGGING/DEBUGGING |
| ----------------- |
| |
| All error messages, warnings and information messages are sent to the |
| kernel log. Depending on your operating system distribution this can be |
| read in one of a number of ways. Try using the commands: dmesg, |
| logread, or looking in the files /var/log/kern.log or |
| /var/log/syslog. All batman-adv messages are prefixed with |
| "batman-adv:" So to see just these messages try |
| |
| dmesg | grep batman-adv |
| |
| When investigating problems with your mesh network it is sometimes |
| necessary to see more detail debug messages. This must be enabled when |
| compiling the batman-adv module. Use "make menuconfig" and enable the |
| option "B.A.T.M.A.N. debugging". |
| |
| The additional debug output is by default disabled. It can be enabled |
| either at kernel module load time or during run time. To enable debug |
| output at module load time, add the module parameter debug=<value>. |
| <value> can take one of four values. |
| |
| 0 - All debug output disabled |
| 1 - Enable messages related to routing / flooding / broadcasting |
| 2 - Enable route or hna added / changed / deleted |
| 3 - Enable all messages |
| |
| e.g. |
| |
| modprobe batman-adv debug=2 |
| |
| will load the module and enable debug messages for when routes or HNAs |
| change. |
| |
| The debug output can also be changed at runtime using the file |
| /sys/module/batman-adv/parameters/debug. e.g. |
| |
| echo 2 > /sys/module/batman-adv/parameters/debug |
| |
| enables debug messages for when routes or HNAs |
| |
| The debug output is sent to the kernel logs. So try dmesg, logread etc |
| to see the debug messages. |
| |
| BATCTL |
| ------ |
| |
| B.A.T.M.A.N. advanced operates on layer 2 and thus all hosts |
| participating in the virtual switch are completely transparent for all |
| protocols above layer 2. Therefore the common diagnosis tools do not |
| work as expected. To overcome these problems batctl was created. At |
| the moment the batctl contains ping, traceroute, tcpdump and |
| interfaces to the kernel module settings. |
| |
| For more information, please see the manpage (man batctl). |
| |
| batctl is available on http://www.open-mesh.net/ |
| |
| CONTACT |
| ------- |
| |
| Please send us comments, experiences, questions, anything :) |
| |
| IRC: #batman on irc.freenode.org |
| Mailing-list: b.a.t.m.a.n@open-mesh.net |
| (subscription at https://list.open-mesh.net/mm/listinfo/b.a.t.m.a.n ) |
| |
| You can also contact the Authors: |
| |
| Marek Lindner <lindner_marek@yahoo.de> |
| Simon Wunderlich <siwu@hrz.tu-chemnitz.de> |
