[Commotion-discuss] WAN status not updated on node without reboot

[Nat Meysenburg]

Hi John,

Perhaps someone has a better offhand suggestion than I do, since I don't
have one. I think it is possible that you have uncovered a bug in our
implementation.

To that end, I'm going to step through your email inline below, and try
to make sure I understand everything you're doing, so that we can
attempt to replicate and test this issue.

john coleman <jcolema1 at wisc.edu> writes:

> We have a small mesh of 3 PicoStation M2 HP units. It has been running
> for about 9 months.

What version of Commotion are you using?

> All 3 nodes provide gateways to the internet.
> Occasionally a node will lose connection to the internet and will
> register as "Providing Gateway No" in the Basic Status screen.
> However in the Advanced Status screen it still shows "IPv4 WAN Status"
> as connected.

What is the nature of losing an internet connection here? Does that mean
the uplink get unplugged, or that there is something else happening to
the connection that makes it otherwise unavailable? Just making sure we
model this the right way.

> In addition, even though the node is meshed with the other nodes and
> one can see and log on to those nodes through the OLSR screen, the
> node can no longer connect a user to the internet. Possibly because it
> thinks it is still connected to the WAN and tries routing to the
> internet through that non-existent WAN connection rather than routing
> though the other mesh nodes.
>
> The problem is resolved if I reboot the node. The node configuration
> interface then shows that the node is no longer a gateway and the
> Advanced Status screen shows "IPv4 WAN Status" as NOT connected.
> Connection to the internet then properly goes through one of the other
> meshed nodes.
>
> Similar behavior happens when a node that was not connected to the WAN
> is reconnected to the WAN. i.e. it does not realize it is connected
> until I reboot the node.
>
> Is there a reason the WAN status is not updated promptly? Is there a
> setting that can cause the WAN status to be updated promptly?

Hrm. Actually as I write this, I'm starting to develop the bones of a
theory of what's happening. Hopefully some other devs can help put meat
on them.

The WAN interface on single ethernet port nodes (like the Picos), is
configured to accept DHCP leases on boot. If it does not get a DHCP
lease, it is configured to then start handing out DHCP leases over that
interface.

What I think might be going on is that the node is getting caught
thinking it is a gateway, and never dynamically switching back. Given
the default configuration and reboot should always work, but I
understand that may be less than ideal; particularly if you are looking
to grow the mesh network.

Thanks for getting in touch!

~~Nat

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