Luci (OpenWRT) - A Simple Client Mode Setup
I come from DD-WRT, but I'm really liking OpenWRT and will probably make the switch on all my routers. Anyway, I'm actually struggling to get a simple Client WiFi setup going. Here's what I'm going for:
Internet --- Foreign AP ---(wifi)--- My OpenWRT Router ---(ethernet switch)------ My OpenWRT LAN
I am able to connect to the Internet via the Foreign AP with my DD-WRT router (identical model and revision). I guess what's confusing me the most about OpenWRT is the eth0 interface, or perhaps a lack of understanding what DD-WRT does with eth0 in Client WiFi mode. As with a Linux desktop/laptop, I assume eth0 is the WAN port on a router, and in Client WiFi mode, is disabled and the routing table is rewritted so eth0 is replaced with wlan0/ath0. Is this correct?
Anyway, my steps on OpenWRT (with luci) are as follows: connect computer to router via ethernet, go to WiFi page and click Scan on wlan0 interface, choose the foreign AP, assign to default WAN firewall group, verify connection/IP Address with foreign AP. At this point I am able to ping 8.8.8.8, but I cannot reach webpages or connect with, say, Spotify.
I took a look at the answer here: Luci (openwrt) wifi bridge client - how to configure? which isn't exactly what I want (this one is for a bridged repeater/client), but it looks like I am doing everything correctly for just the client functionality. I shouldn't have to bridge any interfaces, right?
Answer
So all one should have to do is:
- Go to interfaces and click Scan on one of the WiFi radios (2.4 or 5GHz)
- Select the host WiFi network
- And it just works. Why is that not written down anywhere on the Internet? Now it is, I suppose...
I am not able to get this to work with my 5GHz radio (which works for Client mode on DD-WRT), so it may be a kernel (or some other) issue with this particular build of OpenWRT.