Tag: Freifunk

[Freifunk] Upgrade Virtual Freifunk Router on VMWare ESXi 6.5

As I mentioned earlier, I use a virtual Freifunk Router as part of my mobile Infrastructure / Server. With this little VM, I can actually run a big-area Freifunk Network with lots of users without having to invest in new TP-Link accesspoints: I am running the VM, outputing the Freifunk LAN to a designated VLAN and use old spare Accesspoints as dumb "Media-Converters" (LAN to WIFI ;)).

But, as I only use this appliance every now and then for different kind of conventions and conferences, I need to upgrade that Appliance manually, to get it straight to the latest version without waiting or reinstalling (and droping the VPN key...).

Actually, that is quite simple in VMWare: Just go to the terminal of said VM and get started. Well. Ok, stop! Before you're doing that, just remember: You're on a VM. You got no excuse at all for not making a backup - so just shutdown your VM, make a snapshot, then turn it back on - and get started. Better safe than sorry ;)!

First, we're going to install wget with SSL support

opkg update
opkg install wget

Then we need to find the latest version of our Freifunk Firmware - as sysupgrade package. I used the gluon-fftr-0.8.4-x86-vmware.vmdk to install the VM, so I need an x86-generic-sysupgrade.img.gz :). I found that thing here: https://github.com/freifunktrier/firmware_store/tree/master/firmware/stable/sysupgrade . However, please bear in mind to use the image from YOUR Freifunk Provider ;). Try to download the image and get to the "RAW FILE" link on Github and use it to download the file to your VM:

cd /tmp
wget -O sysupgrade.img.gz  https://github.com/freifunktrier/firmware_store/blob/master/firmware/stable/sysupgrade/gluon-fftr-0.8.6+jenk_tackin-x86-generic-sysupgrade.img.gz?raw=true

After that, apply the upgrade and reboot:

sysupgrade -v /tmp/sysupgrade.img.gz
reboot

And thats it :)!

Thanks a lot again to Freifunk Trier for supporting my project :).

[Freifunk] Virtual Freifunk Router on VMWare ESXi 4.1

This post was planed a LONG TIME, however - due to the fact that I could not get it working back in 2015 (See: https://github.com/freifunk-gluon/gluon/issues/496) it had been delayed. However, as I have the need to get Freifunk working as VM on a central ESXi Server - I tried it again - and it worked! Basic instruction to get it working can be found here in german: https://www.it-kl.eu/2015/08/gluon-x86-unter-vmware/

I got following equipment: ESXi 4.1 Server with multiple NICs.
Start up with getting the right image from your Freifunk Team. I got the gluon-fftr-0.8.4-x86-vmware.vmdk from the Firmware Store of my trusted guys from FFTR (https://github.com/freifunktrier/firmware_store/tree/master/firmware/stable/factory [ Trier 0.8.4 is gluon 2016.1.6-3-g9300421, it's just 2016.1.6 + ee597c6 + Webinterface-color-patches ] )
After that, create a new VM on your VMWare ESXi Server. Choose an user definied configuration, "Other" OS and "Other (32-Bit)" Version. I gave the VM a 1 vCPU and 512 MB of RAM - but you can chose as you like. After that, you need to create two Network Devices / NICs. I chose two E1000 ones, and gave the first Interface the Freifunk LAN and added the second Interface to my common WAN (IMPORTANT!). After that, you're not going to create an HDD.
After the creation of the VM, upload your vmdk file to the folder, edit the VM and chose the downloaded VMDK as Harddrive.

On your ESXi Server, go to Configuration, Network and edit your vSwitch. Allow Promiscuous Mode, MAC Change and Fake Transmissions.

After that, go to Configuration, Software, Advanced Settings - to the "Net" section and change Net.ReversePathFwdCheckPromisc to 1 (thanks to FFS-Roland for helping out! :))

After that, you can start up your VM. You should get DHCP on your FFLAN Port - something like an 192.168.1.x address. Go to 192.168.1.1 via browser, give your Router a name, enable Mesh VPN (important!) and maybe change the bandwidth settings. Save and mail your VPN Key to your Freifunk Team. In some hours, you should be good to go (the Key added to their system - and after a quick reboot of your VM, you should be live :))

Thanks a lot to Draco and Ranlvor from Freifunk Trier for their tremendous help :)!