Archive
Freebsd Wireless Networking Static and Dynamic IP Configuration
FreeBSD documentation pretty much explains everything but there are still some missing steps if you get into trouble and not used to FreeBSD.
Also most of “supposed to work” parameters might not work just like my laptop.
So this write up is to summarize and simplify necessary steps.
Test system is Thinkpad x120e running FreeBSD 12.1-RELEASE-p9 pretty old laptop but still requires some work on freebsd.
Wireless card: Realtek RTL8188CE 1×1 11b/g/n
Step 1:
Load Realtek drivers at boot time, add following lines to /boot/loader.conf
if_rtwn_pci_load="YES"
if_rtwn_usb_load="YES"
For list of Realtek cards supported by rtwn driver:
root@iphone:~ # man rtwn
Reboot the system or load modules manually with kldload.
After the reboot you will still not see wlan interface but check if your wifi card recognized by FreeBSD
root@iphone:~ # sysctl net.wlan.devices
net.wlan.devices: rtwn0
Now you need to create the wlan device:
ifconfig wlan create wlandev rtwn0
Step 2:
DHCP Setup:
Edit /etc/rc.conf and add following :
wlans_rtwn0="wlan0"
ifconfig_wlan0="WPA SYNCDHCP"
Edit /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf add your ssid and pw
network={
ssid="freebsdap"
psk="freebsdmall"
}
Now restart networking service:
root@iphone:~ # service netif restart
check your connections with ifconfig and look for wlan0 interface
wlan0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
ether xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
inet 192.168.11.11 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.11.255
groups: wlan
ssid yourssidhere channel 6 (2437 MHz 11g ht/20) bssid xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
regdomain FCC country US authmode WPA2/802.11i privacy ON
deftxkey UNDEF AES-CCM 2:128-bit AES-CCM 3:128-bit txpower 30 bmiss 7
scanvalid 60 protmode CTS ht20 ampdulimit 64k ampdudensity 8 shortgi
-stbc -ldpc wme roaming MANUAL
media: IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet MCS mode 11ng
status: associated
nd6 options=29<PERFORMNUD,IFDISABLED,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
If everything work fine you are good to go.
Now once you restart your bsd box if you are unlucky like me your wlan interface will be gone and you wont be able to connect your AP.
A lot of folks say their setting remains the same but im not one of them so here is the solution:
Solution 1:
We’ll create a shell script and place it under rc.d this way when the box reboots FreeBSD will run our script and we’ll connect to AP automaticaly.
root@iphone:~ # vim /usr/local/etc/rc.d/wifi.sh
and add below lines:
#!/bin/sh
ifconfig wlan create wlandev rtwn0
service netif restart
Now make it executable:
chmod +x /usr/local/etc/rc.d/wifi.sh
Solution 2:
This time we will use crontab instead of rc.d, move wifi.sh to /root/ directory.
root@iphone:~ # crontab -e
and add following entry:
@reboot /root/wifi.sh
Now a reminder dont try to edit crontab with a text editor such as
root@iphone:~ # vim /etc/crontab
That is Freebsds global crontab file and format is different
Restart you bsd box and enjoy wifi connection with dhcp
Static IP
We will keep eveything same as dhcp configuration but edit 3 files /etc/rc.conf, /etc/resolv.conf and wifi.sh
in /etc/rc.conf change this line:
ifconfig_wlan0="WPA SYNCDHCP"
with this one:
ifconfig_wlan0="WPA inet 192.168.11.11 netmask 255.255.255.0"
defaultrouter="192.168.11.1"
Add below line to /etc/resolv.conf
nameserver 8.8.8.8
Add below line to wifi.sh file
service routing restart
Basically we change dhcp configuration with our static ip, add a name server since we are not using dhcp and restart routing service
One last tip if you gonna use window manager you might want to install wifimgr a GUI-based tool to manage WiFi network configuration.
root@iphone:~ # pkg install wifimgr
Notes From Kuku 