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Sven Eckelmannc6c8fea2010-12-13 11:19:28 +00001BATMAN-ADV
2----------
3
4Batman advanced is a new approach to wireless networking which
5does no longer operate on the IP basis. Unlike the batman daemon,
6which exchanges information using UDP packets and sets routing
7tables, batman-advanced operates on ISO/OSI Layer 2 only and uses
8and routes (or better: bridges) Ethernet Frames. It emulates a
9virtual network switch of all nodes participating. Therefore all
10nodes appear to be link local, thus all higher operating proto-
11cols won't be affected by any changes within the network. You can
12run almost any protocol above batman advanced, prominent examples
13are: IPv4, IPv6, DHCP, IPX.
14
15Batman advanced was implemented as a Linux kernel driver to re-
16duce the overhead to a minimum. It does not depend on any (other)
17network driver, and can be used on wifi as well as ethernet lan,
18vpn, etc ... (anything with ethernet-style layer 2).
19
Antonio Quartulli2dafb492011-05-05 08:42:45 +020020
Sven Eckelmannc6c8fea2010-12-13 11:19:28 +000021CONFIGURATION
22-------------
23
24Load the batman-adv module into your kernel:
25
26# insmod batman-adv.ko
27
28The module is now waiting for activation. You must add some in-
29terfaces on which batman can operate. After loading the module
30batman advanced will scan your systems interfaces to search for
31compatible interfaces. Once found, it will create subfolders in
32the /sys directories of each supported interface, e.g.
33
34# ls /sys/class/net/eth0/batman_adv/
35# iface_status mesh_iface
36
37If an interface does not have the "batman_adv" subfolder it prob-
38ably is not supported. Not supported interfaces are: loopback,
39non-ethernet and batman's own interfaces.
40
41Note: After the module was loaded it will continuously watch for
42new interfaces to verify the compatibility. There is no need to
43reload the module if you plug your USB wifi adapter into your ma-
44chine after batman advanced was initially loaded.
45
46To activate a given interface simply write "bat0" into its
47"mesh_iface" file inside the batman_adv subfolder:
48
49# echo bat0 > /sys/class/net/eth0/batman_adv/mesh_iface
50
51Repeat this step for all interfaces you wish to add. Now batman
52starts using/broadcasting on this/these interface(s).
53
54By reading the "iface_status" file you can check its status:
55
56# cat /sys/class/net/eth0/batman_adv/iface_status
57# active
58
59To deactivate an interface you have to write "none" into its
60"mesh_iface" file:
61
62# echo none > /sys/class/net/eth0/batman_adv/mesh_iface
63
64
65All mesh wide settings can be found in batman's own interface
66folder:
67
Simon Wunderlich23721382012-01-22 20:00:19 +010068# ls /sys/class/net/bat0/mesh/
Sven Eckelmanna77e8c62012-04-02 19:31:26 +020069# aggregated_ogms gw_bandwidth log_level
70# ap_isolation gw_mode orig_interval
71# bonding gw_sel_class routing_algo
Simon Wunderlich9f4980e2013-04-25 11:57:42 +020072# bridge_loop_avoidance hop_penalty fragmentation
Sven Eckelmannc6c8fea2010-12-13 11:19:28 +000073
74
Sylvestre Ledruf65e51d2011-04-04 15:04:46 -070075There is a special folder for debugging information:
Sven Eckelmannc6c8fea2010-12-13 11:19:28 +000076
Simon Wunderlich536a23f2012-06-18 18:39:26 +020077# ls /sys/kernel/debug/batman_adv/bat0/
78# bla_backbone_table log transtable_global
79# bla_claim_table originators transtable_local
Simon Wunderlich9f4980e2013-04-25 11:57:42 +020080# gateways socket
Sven Eckelmannc6c8fea2010-12-13 11:19:28 +000081
82Some of the files contain all sort of status information regard-
83ing the mesh network. For example, you can view the table of
84originators (mesh participants) with:
85
86# cat /sys/kernel/debug/batman_adv/bat0/originators
87
88Other files allow to change batman's behaviour to better fit your
89requirements. For instance, you can check the current originator
90interval (value in milliseconds which determines how often batman
91sends its broadcast packets):
92
93# cat /sys/class/net/bat0/mesh/orig_interval
94# 1000
95
96and also change its value:
97
98# echo 3000 > /sys/class/net/bat0/mesh/orig_interval
99
100In very mobile scenarios, you might want to adjust the originator
101interval to a lower value. This will make the mesh more respon-
102sive to topology changes, but will also increase the overhead.
103
104
105USAGE
106-----
107
108To make use of your newly created mesh, batman advanced provides
109a new interface "bat0" which you should use from this point on.
110All interfaces added to batman advanced are not relevant any
111longer because batman handles them for you. Basically, one "hands
112over" the data by using the batman interface and batman will make
113sure it reaches its destination.
114
115The "bat0" interface can be used like any other regular inter-
116face. It needs an IP address which can be either statically con-
117figured or dynamically (by using DHCP or similar services):
118
119# NodeA: ifconfig bat0 192.168.0.1
120# NodeB: ifconfig bat0 192.168.0.2
121# NodeB: ping 192.168.0.1
122
123Note: In order to avoid problems remove all IP addresses previ-
124ously assigned to interfaces now used by batman advanced, e.g.
125
126# ifconfig eth0 0.0.0.0
127
128
Sven Eckelmannc6c8fea2010-12-13 11:19:28 +0000129LOGGING/DEBUGGING
130-----------------
131
132All error messages, warnings and information messages are sent to
133the kernel log. Depending on your operating system distribution
134this can be read in one of a number of ways. Try using the com-
135mands: dmesg, logread, or looking in the files /var/log/kern.log
136or /var/log/syslog. All batman-adv messages are prefixed with
137"batman-adv:" So to see just these messages try
138
139# dmesg | grep batman-adv
140
141When investigating problems with your mesh network it is some-
142times necessary to see more detail debug messages. This must be
143enabled when compiling the batman-adv module. When building bat-
144man-adv as part of kernel, use "make menuconfig" and enable the
145option "B.A.T.M.A.N. debugging".
146
147Those additional debug messages can be accessed using a special
148file in debugfs
149
150# cat /sys/kernel/debug/batman_adv/bat0/log
151
152The additional debug output is by default disabled. It can be en-
153abled during run time. Following log_levels are defined:
154
1550 - All debug output disabled
1561 - Enable messages related to routing / flooding / broadcasting
Marek Lindner1a984892011-08-30 13:32:33 +02001572 - Enable messages related to route added / changed / deleted
1584 - Enable messages related to translation table operations
Simon Wunderlich23721382012-01-22 20:00:19 +01001598 - Enable messages related to bridge loop avoidance
Antonio Quartulli0e861a32012-10-01 09:57:36 +020016016 - Enable messaged related to DAT, ARP snooping and parsing
16131 - Enable all messages
Sven Eckelmannc6c8fea2010-12-13 11:19:28 +0000162
163The debug output can be changed at runtime using the file
164/sys/class/net/bat0/mesh/log_level. e.g.
165
Simon Wunderlich23721382012-01-22 20:00:19 +0100166# echo 6 > /sys/class/net/bat0/mesh/log_level
Sven Eckelmannc6c8fea2010-12-13 11:19:28 +0000167
Marek Lindner1a984892011-08-30 13:32:33 +0200168will enable debug messages for when routes change.
Sven Eckelmannc6c8fea2010-12-13 11:19:28 +0000169
Martin Hundebøllf8214862012-04-20 17:02:45 +0200170Counters for different types of packets entering and leaving the
171batman-adv module are available through ethtool:
172
173# ethtool --statistics bat0
174
Sven Eckelmannc6c8fea2010-12-13 11:19:28 +0000175
176BATCTL
177------
178
179As batman advanced operates on layer 2 all hosts participating in
180the virtual switch are completely transparent for all protocols
181above layer 2. Therefore the common diagnosis tools do not work
182as expected. To overcome these problems batctl was created. At
183the moment the batctl contains ping, traceroute, tcpdump and
184interfaces to the kernel module settings.
185
186For more information, please see the manpage (man batctl).
187
188batctl is available on http://www.open-mesh.org/
189
190
191CONTACT
192-------
193
194Please send us comments, experiences, questions, anything :)
195
196IRC: #batman on irc.freenode.org
Sven Eckelmann091b9482011-01-27 10:56:56 +0100197Mailing-list: b.a.t.m.a.n@open-mesh.org (optional subscription
198 at https://lists.open-mesh.org/mm/listinfo/b.a.t.m.a.n)
Sven Eckelmannc6c8fea2010-12-13 11:19:28 +0000199
200You can also contact the Authors:
201
Marek Lindnerbc58eee2013-10-12 22:10:03 +0800202Marek Lindner <mareklindner@neomailbox.ch>
Simon Wunderlichc679ff82013-10-10 23:59:10 +0200203Simon Wunderlich <sw@simonwunderlich.de>