bsscolor wouldn't make sense on AX routers on an Aimesh setup?

[drabisan]

No wifi expert here. Just read a bit of RFC and explanations.
Considering node uses the same channels as router, adding this feature sounds like a good idea.
Unlikely to mean anything for AC clients, but AX clients should show some benefits.
wl0_bsscolor=0 is default, wl1 and wl2 and wl no number are all set to 0.
From that I can see, bsscolor was added not long ago, in a firmware. So I would guess someone at Asus is thinking at that, but they (or chipset) are yet to support it in full.

 

[ColinTaylor]

"bsscolor wouldn't make sense" Do you mean "would"?

bsscolcor was already enabled by default on my RT-AX86U running the 386.x firmware if 802.11ax was enabled. That predates the exitance of those nvram variables. You might find that same thing with your router, despite what those variables might imply.

 

[sfx2000]

BSS coloring in AX is a good thing to have enabled...

IIRC, if set to default "0" this allows the WiFi NIC to auto-set that value based on other detected nodes in the same BSS, and also overlapping BSS from neighbors.

 

[drabisan]

"bsscolor wouldn't make sense" Do you mean "would"?

bsscolcor was already enabled by default on my RT-AX86U running the 386.x firmware if 802.11ax was enabled. That predates the exitance of those nvram variables. You might find that same thing with your router, despite what those variables might imply.

I missed a ? at the end of the sentence. I'll try and edit.
Interesting! I captured few frames and I didn't find the field in wireless frame. Maybe I'm doing something wrong in capturing the wireless frames...

 

[sfx2000]

I captured few frames and I didn't find the field in wireless frame. Maybe I'm doing something wrong in capturing the wireless frames...

It's in the HE Operation section of the Beacon Frame

 

[drabisan]

I suspect there's something weird with my Network Manager config.
Just to confirm, in your Asus config wl_bsscolor=0.

 

[ColinTaylor]

I suspect there's something weird with my Network Manager config.

Network Manager?

Just to confirm, in your Asus config wl_bsscolor=0.

No, my firmware is older than yours (and I have a different model), it doesn't have that variable.

# wl -i eth7 he bsscolor

        HE BSS Color settings:

Color: 1
Disabled: FALSE
Color Switch Countdown: 10

 

[drabisan]

Debian. Network Manager is the module that takes care of wifi. It may be the time to do a fresh install.
Thanks for sharing this output! Never found he parameter before.
I have an AXE16000 and bsscolor is enable on 3 out of 4 radios. 5GHz#1 shows is "Disabled: TRUE". All other, including 2.4 "Disabled: FALSE".
Node is an AX88U and it has "Disabled: FALSE" on both 2.4 and 5GHz.

Late edit: if I was connected to 5GHz#1 that may explain why I didn't see the color flag in wireless frame.

 

[sfx2000]

Debian. Network Manager is the module that takes care of wifi. It may be the time to do a fresh install.

I don't think that percolates up thru NM if the debian box is client side - it's set by the AP in any case, BSS coloring allows the client to do the processing at the baseband layer...

 

[drabisan]

I suspect Network Manager is acting a bit weird.
With little exceptions, frames are showing errors.
That is when I'm capturing wireless frames from phy0.mon interface with Wireshark.
If I kill NM, manually put wireless interface in monitor mode and use tcpdump...wireless frames are coming healthy.
Intel wifi adapters are not getting a lot of attention for Linux. It works and that's the end of development most times.

 

[sfx2000]

If I kill NM, manually put wireless interface in monitor mode and use tcpdump...wireless frames are coming healthy.
Intel wifi adapters are not getting a lot of attention for Linux. It works and that's the end of development most times.

That's unfortunately typical for NM - it's not Intel specific there...

Intel and Linux are a great match - there's been issues from time to time, but overall, I usually go with Intel or QC-Atheros over any others (if I have a choice, sometimes I don't).

IWD seems to be the direction that Intel is going forward with, and it's part of main now...

Intel's IWD 2.0 Released For Modern Linux Wireless Daemon - Phoronix

www.phoronix.com

 

[drabisan]

It's working pretty well on X1 Carbon. Can't complaint! Just that I was doing quite a few experiments and a fresh install would be the right thing to do.
Maybe also a partition with Windows would be nice to have.