Re: Converting wpa_supplicat.conf to NetworkManager setup

["Matt Lavin" <matt lavin gmail com>]

I'm using the madwifi drivers for my wireless card, and it could be that they don't properly implement the ap_scan functionality.

In my case, the router doesn't broadcast the ssid, so scanning for it doesn't seem like it should be a requirement to connect.  Another concern of mine is that when it does scan it takes quite a while for the scan results to come back, but when the ap_scan option is left out, the wpa_supplicant can connect to and authenticate with the router almost instantly.

On Thu, Mar 13, 2008 at 4:14 PM, Dan Williams <dcbw redhat com> wrote:

On Thu, 2008-03-13 at 14:18 -0400, Matt Lavin wrote:
> I've got a wpa_supplicat.conf file that can connect to my wireless
> network, but I can't figure out how to make NetworkManager use the
> same settings.  My wpa_supplicat.conf file looks like this:
>
> # ap_scan=2
> network={
>     ssid="<my-ssid>"
>     proto=WPA2
>     key_mgmt=WPA-EAP
>     eap=TLS
>     identity="<my-id>"
>
> # scan_ssid=1
>     private_key="<my-key>"
>     private_key_passwd="<my-password>"
>     priority=1
> }
>
> I tried to setup a corresponding WPA2 Enterprise with the fields as
> you would expect, but when network manager connects it adds in the two
> commented lined above.  If I add those two lines to my
> wpa_supplicat.conf fie then I can't connect.  Does anybody know how to
> make NetworkManager use my wpa_supplicat.conf file above?

This means your wireless driver does not support scan capabilities, and
doesn't implement the WEXT specification correctly.  I'd ask your distro
vendor to apply the scan capability patch to their kernel (it's quite
small and low-impact and already in 2.6.24) and then you should be fine.

The problem is that NM cannot detect whether your driver has the ability
to use ap_scan=1 or whether it must fall back to ap_scan=2.  Drivers
that do not work with ap_scan=2 are _broken_ by definition, but this is
a workaround.

Dan