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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/
Antonio Quartullic28c0b62013-11-19 08:36:29 +010069#aggregated_ogms distributed_arp_table gw_sel_class orig_interval
70#ap_isolation fragmentation hop_penalty routing_algo
71#bonding gw_bandwidth isolation_mark vlan0
72#bridge_loop_avoidance gw_mode log_level
Sven Eckelmannc6c8fea2010-12-13 11:19:28 +000073
Sylvestre Ledruf65e51d2011-04-04 15:04:46 -070074There is a special folder for debugging information:
Sven Eckelmannc6c8fea2010-12-13 11:19:28 +000075
Simon Wunderlich536a23f2012-06-18 18:39:26 +020076# ls /sys/kernel/debug/batman_adv/bat0/
77# bla_backbone_table log transtable_global
78# bla_claim_table originators transtable_local
Simon Wunderlich9f4980e2013-04-25 11:57:42 +020079# gateways socket
Sven Eckelmannc6c8fea2010-12-13 11:19:28 +000080
81Some of the files contain all sort of status information regard-
82ing the mesh network. For example, you can view the table of
83originators (mesh participants) with:
84
85# cat /sys/kernel/debug/batman_adv/bat0/originators
86
87Other files allow to change batman's behaviour to better fit your
88requirements. For instance, you can check the current originator
89interval (value in milliseconds which determines how often batman
90sends its broadcast packets):
91
92# cat /sys/class/net/bat0/mesh/orig_interval
93# 1000
94
95and also change its value:
96
97# echo 3000 > /sys/class/net/bat0/mesh/orig_interval
98
99In very mobile scenarios, you might want to adjust the originator
100interval to a lower value. This will make the mesh more respon-
101sive to topology changes, but will also increase the overhead.
102
103
104USAGE
105-----
106
107To make use of your newly created mesh, batman advanced provides
108a new interface "bat0" which you should use from this point on.
109All interfaces added to batman advanced are not relevant any
110longer because batman handles them for you. Basically, one "hands
111over" the data by using the batman interface and batman will make
112sure it reaches its destination.
113
114The "bat0" interface can be used like any other regular inter-
115face. It needs an IP address which can be either statically con-
116figured or dynamically (by using DHCP or similar services):
117
118# NodeA: ifconfig bat0 192.168.0.1
119# NodeB: ifconfig bat0 192.168.0.2
120# NodeB: ping 192.168.0.1
121
122Note: In order to avoid problems remove all IP addresses previ-
123ously assigned to interfaces now used by batman advanced, e.g.
124
125# ifconfig eth0 0.0.0.0
126
127
Sven Eckelmannc6c8fea2010-12-13 11:19:28 +0000128LOGGING/DEBUGGING
129-----------------
130
131All error messages, warnings and information messages are sent to
132the kernel log. Depending on your operating system distribution
133this can be read in one of a number of ways. Try using the com-
134mands: dmesg, logread, or looking in the files /var/log/kern.log
135or /var/log/syslog. All batman-adv messages are prefixed with
136"batman-adv:" So to see just these messages try
137
138# dmesg | grep batman-adv
139
140When investigating problems with your mesh network it is some-
141times necessary to see more detail debug messages. This must be
142enabled when compiling the batman-adv module. When building bat-
143man-adv as part of kernel, use "make menuconfig" and enable the
144option "B.A.T.M.A.N. debugging".
145
146Those additional debug messages can be accessed using a special
147file in debugfs
148
149# cat /sys/kernel/debug/batman_adv/bat0/log
150
151The additional debug output is by default disabled. It can be en-
152abled during run time. Following log_levels are defined:
153
1540 - All debug output disabled
1551 - Enable messages related to routing / flooding / broadcasting
Marek Lindner1a984892011-08-30 13:32:33 +02001562 - Enable messages related to route added / changed / deleted
1574 - Enable messages related to translation table operations
Simon Wunderlich23721382012-01-22 20:00:19 +01001588 - Enable messages related to bridge loop avoidance
Antonio Quartulli0e861a32012-10-01 09:57:36 +020015916 - Enable messaged related to DAT, ARP snooping and parsing
16031 - Enable all messages
Sven Eckelmannc6c8fea2010-12-13 11:19:28 +0000161
162The debug output can be changed at runtime using the file
163/sys/class/net/bat0/mesh/log_level. e.g.
164
Simon Wunderlich23721382012-01-22 20:00:19 +0100165# echo 6 > /sys/class/net/bat0/mesh/log_level
Sven Eckelmannc6c8fea2010-12-13 11:19:28 +0000166
Marek Lindner1a984892011-08-30 13:32:33 +0200167will enable debug messages for when routes change.
Sven Eckelmannc6c8fea2010-12-13 11:19:28 +0000168
Martin Hundebøllf8214862012-04-20 17:02:45 +0200169Counters for different types of packets entering and leaving the
170batman-adv module are available through ethtool:
171
172# ethtool --statistics bat0
173
Sven Eckelmannc6c8fea2010-12-13 11:19:28 +0000174
175BATCTL
176------
177
178As batman advanced operates on layer 2 all hosts participating in
179the virtual switch are completely transparent for all protocols
180above layer 2. Therefore the common diagnosis tools do not work
181as expected. To overcome these problems batctl was created. At
182the moment the batctl contains ping, traceroute, tcpdump and
183interfaces to the kernel module settings.
184
185For more information, please see the manpage (man batctl).
186
187batctl is available on http://www.open-mesh.org/
188
189
190CONTACT
191-------
192
193Please send us comments, experiences, questions, anything :)
194
195IRC: #batman on irc.freenode.org
Sven Eckelmann091b9482011-01-27 10:56:56 +0100196Mailing-list: b.a.t.m.a.n@open-mesh.org (optional subscription
197 at https://lists.open-mesh.org/mm/listinfo/b.a.t.m.a.n)
Sven Eckelmannc6c8fea2010-12-13 11:19:28 +0000198
199You can also contact the Authors:
200
Marek Lindnerbc58eee2013-10-12 22:10:03 +0800201Marek Lindner <mareklindner@neomailbox.ch>
Simon Wunderlichc679ff82013-10-10 23:59:10 +0200202Simon Wunderlich <sw@simonwunderlich.de>