On Fri, 2019-10-25 at 11:17 -0700, Clive McCarthy wrote: > I've done a quick survey around the building and NM is always > selecting the highest data rate AP despite stronger signals from > other APs. This happens even when the data rate difference is > relatively small.
Again, it's actually the supplicant making the choice. But since NM is the face of things here, it gets ultimate responsibility for the behavior I guess. > As an example: > > signal 90% data rate 54 Mbps > > signal 55% data rate 65 Mbps -- active > a bad choice. If the signal numbers were in dBm things would be > clearer. Typically you want faster data rates, not stronger signal (to a point). For example if you were right next to your 802.11g AP with a max of 54Mbps, but had a 50% signal to an 802.11ac AP with a likely rate of 400+Mbps, why would you want to connect to the stronger-but-slower AP? Dan > I put my Android phone next to my Linux laptop and got: > > -48dBm > > -58dBm > respectively for the two channels a ~10dB difference. Way, way more > that the ratio of 90% to 55%. So forget this % nonsense. > > On 10/23/19 12:41 AM, Thomas Haller wrote: > > On Tue, 2019-10-22 at 15:02 -0700, Clive McCarthy via > > networkmanager- > > list wrote: > > > You know, I wish that the Network Manager would report the signal > > > strength in dBm instead of the silly sector icon. But that is for > > > another day. > > > > nmcli -f SIGNAL,BSSID,SSID device wifi > > nmcli -f ALL device wifi > > > > > > best, > > Thomas > > > > > On 10/22/19 2:24 PM, Dan Williams wrote: > > > > On Tue, 2019-10-22 at 13:37 -0700, Clive McCarthy wrote: > > > > > I rand the commands you suggested but the response doesn't > > > > > look > > > > > like > > > > > a log dump. I guess they just enable logging. > > > > > > > > > > method return time=1571775394.161873 sender=:1.8 -> > > > > > destination=:1.507 serial=32493 reply_serial=2 > > > > > method return time=1571775429.864202 sender=:1.8 -> > > > > > destination=:1.508 serial=32496 reply_serial=2 > > > > > method return time=1571775528.578915 sender=:1.8 -> > > > > > destination=:1.510 serial=32636 reply_serial=2 > > > > > > > > > > Can you point me to where the log files might be or at least > > > > > their > > > > > names. > > > > > > > > If your distribution uses systemd, they may be available with: > > > > > > > > journalctl -b -u wpa_supplicant > > > > > > > > if your distro does not uses systemd, then it'll be wherever > > > > syslog > > > > dumps that kind of output, like: > > > > > > > > /var/log/messages > > > > /var/log/wpa_supplicant.log > > > > /var/log/daemon.log > > > > > > > > Dan > > > > > > > > > On 10/22/19 12:16 PM, Dan Williams wrote: > > > > > > On Tue, 2019-10-22 at 11:17 -0700, Clive McCarthy wrote: > > > > > > > Thanks for your reply. > > > > > > > My laptop, when first opened, reports (via the Network > > > > > > > Manage, I > > > > > > > suppose) that it is disconnected from the network. After > > > > > > > a > > > > > > > second > > > > > > > or > > > > > > > two it reports being connected. And it is. However, as I > > > > > > > noted, > > > > > > > the > > > > > > > manager seems to choose the last known connection. This > > > > > > > is a > > > > > > > satisfactory algorithm for a fixed computer and for a > > > > > > > computer > > > > > > > connecting to a single AP. It isn't good for a movable > > > > > > > computer > > > > > > > with > > > > > > > multiple APs. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > The Intel WiFi adapter is forced to shutdown when the > > > > > > > computer is > > > > > > > closed because there is a bug in the Intel-WiFi driver > > > > > > > that > > > > > > > doesn't > > > > > > > handle suspend correctly. That is why there is a > > > > > > > disconnect- > > > > > > > connect > > > > > > > sequence. > > > > > > > > > > > > In this case we'd need the wpa_supplicant logs described > > > > > > below > > > > > > to > > > > > > diagnose why the supplicant is picking that specific AP > > > > > > rather > > > > > > than > > > > > > another. > > > > > > > > > > > > Dan > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > On 10/22/19 10:05 AM, Dan Williams wrote: > > > > > > > > On Mon, 2019-10-21 at 20:42 -0700, Clive McCarthy via > > > > > > > > networkmanager- > > > > > > > > list wrote: > > > > > > > > > I have a situation where I have multiple APs in a > > > > > > > > > building > > > > > > > > > all > > > > > > > > > with > > > > > > > > > the same SSID and WPA key but set to non-clashing > > > > > > > > > frequencies. > > > > > > > > > When I > > > > > > > > > close my laptop and WiFi shuts down and I move to a > > > > > > > > > new > > > > > > > > > location > > > > > > > > > the > > > > > > > > > Network Manager seems to connect to the original AP, > > > > > > > > > rather > > > > > > > > > than > > > > > > > > > one > > > > > > > > > with a much stronger signal. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > The algorithm for AP connection is suboptimal (in > > > > > > > > > other > > > > > > > > > words > > > > > > > > > dumb). > > > > > > > > > The selection process should scan ALL APs, figure out > > > > > > > > > which > > > > > > > > > ones > > > > > > > > > are > > > > > > > > > known (SSID and WPA); measure their signal strength > > > > > > > > > and > > > > > > > > > then > > > > > > > > > choose > > > > > > > > > the known AP with the strongest signal. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > How hard is that? > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > This is what NetworkManager should already be doing. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Two things to check: > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > 1) NetworkManager depends on being notified by systemd > > > > > > > > or > > > > > > > > upower > > > > > > > > that > > > > > > > > the laptop has suspended so that it can reconfigure > > > > > > > > when it > > > > > > > > wakes > > > > > > > > up. > > > > > > > > It should be pretty clear if that's happening through > > > > > > > > the > > > > > > > > NetworkManager logs because it will say that it's going > > > > > > > > to > > > > > > > > sleep > > > > > > > > and > > > > > > > > waking up. For example: > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > NetworkManager[1198]: <info> [1571720491.7590] > > > > > > > > manager: > > > > > > > > sleep: > > > > > > > > sleep requested (sleeping: no enabled: yes) > > > > > > > > NetworkManager[1198]: <info> [1571720491.7599] device > > > > > > > > (wlp61s0): > > > > > > > > state change: disconnected -> unmanaged (reason > > > > > > > > 'sleeping', > > > > > > > > sys- > > > > > > > > iface-state: 'managed') > > > > > > > > NetworkManager[1198]: <info> [1571720491.7615] > > > > > > > > manager: > > > > > > > > NetworkManager state is now ASLEEP > > > > > > > > NetworkManager[1198]: <warn> [1571752873.5481] sup- > > > > > > > > iface[0x55f38553aaa0,wlp61s0]: connection disconnected > > > > > > > > (reason > > > > > > > > -3) > > > > > > > > NetworkManager[1198]: <info> [1571752873.5504] device > > > > > > > > (wlp61s0): > > > > > > > > supplicant interface state: completed -> disconnected > > > > > > > > NetworkManager[1198]: <info> [1571752873.5803] > > > > > > > > manager: > > > > > > > > sleep: > > > > > > > > wake requested (sleeping: yes enabled: yes) > > > > > > > > NetworkManager[1198]: <info> [1571752873.6556] device > > > > > > > > (wlp61s0): > > > > > > > > state change: activated -> unmanaged (reason > > > > > > > > 'sleeping', > > > > > > > > sys- > > > > > > > > iface- > > > > > > > > state: 'managed') > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > 2) enabling debug logging in wpa_supplicant with these > > > > > > > > two > > > > > > > > commands > > > > > > > > will show you exactly what's going on: > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > sudo dbus-send --system --print-reply -- > > > > > > > > dest=fi.w1.wpa_supplicant1 > > > > > > > > /fi/w1/wpa_supplicant1 > > > > > > > > org.freedesktop.DBus.Properties.Set > > > > > > > > string:fi.w1.wpa_supplicant1 string:DebugTimestamp > > > > > > > > variant:boolean:true > > > > > > > > sudo dbus-send --system --print-reply -- > > > > > > > > dest=fi.w1.wpa_supplicant1 > > > > > > > > /fi/w1/wpa_supplicant1 > > > > > > > > org.freedesktop.DBus.Properties.Set > > > > > > > > string:fi.w1.wpa_supplicant1 string:DebugLevel > > > > > > > > variant:string:"msgdump" > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > this will dump logs to wherever your system typically > > > > > > > > sends > > > > > > > > system > > > > > > > > logs, like the systemd journal or syslog. Once you have > > > > > > > > these > > > > > > > > logs, > > > > > > > > please review them to ensure there is no private > > > > > > > > information > > > > > > > > and > > > > > > > > then > > > > > > > > attach them to a reply so that we can figure out what's > > > > > > > > going > > > > > > > > on. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Thanks! > > > > > > > > Dan > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > networkmanager-list mailing list > > > [email protected] > > > https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/networkmanager-list > _______________________________________________ networkmanager-list mailing list [email protected] https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/networkmanager-list
