The biggest issue here in my mind is that the correct error is not being
surfaced. The second biggest is that it is impossible to configure some
options necessary for connection to certain networks via network manager
UI. From what I can gather, the flow of events is this:
1. network manager starts a wifi connection. via dbus, it tells the
wpa_supplicant daemon to connect and passes it the necessary details.
The connection associates successfully:
Oct 21 10:17:59 localhost kernel: [ 2315.628273] wlan0: authenticate
with 40:f4:ec:1b:32:bf
Oct 21 10:17:59 localhost kernel: [ 2315.630571] wlan0: send auth to
40:f4:ec:1b:32:bf (try 1/3)
Oct 21 10:17:59 localhost kernel: [ 2315.632531] wlan0: authenticated
Oct 21 10:17:59 localhost kernel: [ 2315.636175] wlan0: associate with
40:f4:ec:1b:32:bf (try 1/3)
Oct 21 10:17:59 localhost kernel: [ 2315.639926] wlan0: RX AssocResp
from 40:f4:ec:1b:32:bf (capab=0x11 status=0 aid=29)
Oct 21 10:17:59 localhost kernel: [ 2315.642209] wlan0: associated
Oct 21 10:17:59 localhost kernel: [ 2315.642297] cfg80211: Calling CRDA
for country: US
Oct 21 10:17:59 localhost kernel: [ 2315.677160] cfg80211: Regulatory
domain changed to country: US
Oct 21 10:17:59 localhost kernel: [ 2315.677163] cfg80211: DFS Master
region: FCC
Oct 21 10:17:59 localhost kernel: [ 2315.677165] cfg80211: (start_freq -
end_freq @ bandwidth), (max_antenna_gain, max_eirp), (dfs_cac_time)
Oct 21 10:17:59 localhost kernel: [ 2315.677167] cfg80211: (2402000 KHz
- 2472000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (N/A, 3000 mBm), (N/A)
Oct 21 10:17:59 localhost kernel: [ 2315.677168] cfg80211: (5170000 KHz
- 5250000 KHz @ 80000 KHz), (N/A, 1700 mBm), (N/A)
Oct 21 10:17:59 localhost kernel: [ 2315.677170] cfg80211: (5250000 KHz
- 5330000 KHz @ 80000 KHz), (N/A, 2300 mBm), (0 s)
Oct 21 10:17:59 localhost kernel: [ 2315.677171] cfg80211: (5735000 KHz
- 5835000 KHz @ 80000 KHz), (N/A, 3000 mBm), (N/A)
Oct 21 10:17:59 localhost kernel: [ 2315.677172] cfg80211: (57240000 KHz
- 63720000 KHz @ 2160000 KHz), (N/A, 4000 mBm), (N/A)
2. If that connection involves complicated authentication, then it can
go wrong. The messages are logged by wpa_supplicant to /var/log/syslog
Oct 21 10:17:59 localhost wpa_supplicant[2406]: wlan0:
CTRL-EVENT-SSID-REENABLED id=0 ssid="TechSpaceUnionSquareWireless"
Oct 21 10:17:59 localhost wpa_supplicant[2406]: wlan0: SME: Trying to
authenticate with 40:f4:ec:1b:32:bf (SSID='TechSpaceUnionSquareWireless'
freq=5180 MHz)
Oct 21 10:17:59 localhost wpa_supplicant[2406]: wlan0: Trying to
associate with 40:f4:ec:1b:32:bf (SSID='TechSpaceUnionSquareWireless'
freq=5180 MHz)
Oct 21 10:17:59 localhost wpa_supplicant[2406]: wlan0: Associated with
40:f4:ec:1b:32:bf
Oct 21 10:17:59 localhost wpa_supplicant[2406]: wlan0:
CTRL-EVENT-EAP-STARTED EAP authentication started
Oct 21 10:17:59 localhost wpa_supplicant[2406]: wlan0:
CTRL-EVENT-REGDOM-CHANGE init=USER type=COUNTRY alpha2=US
Oct 21 10:17:59 localhost wpa_supplicant[2406]: wlan0:
CTRL-EVENT-EAP-PROPOSED-METHOD vendor=0 method=25 -> NAK
Oct 21 10:17:59 localhost wpa_supplicant[2406]: wlan0:
CTRL-EVENT-EAP-FAILURE EAP authentication failed
In this case, the supplicant proposes a particular method of
authentication, PEAP (25 - see
http://www.networksorcery.com/enp/protocol/eap.htm ), but the router
does not support that. Presumably this one wants EAP-MSCHAP-V2 or
something. Here is problem #2: I can't con
3. wpa_supplicant returns a failure to network manager, which responds
by closing the connection. Hence the "disconnected by local choice"
message that you see in dmesg
Oct 21 10:18:01 localhost wpa_supplicant[2406]: wlan0: Authentication
with 40:f4:ec:1b:32:bf timed out.
Oct 21 10:18:01 localhost kernel: [ 2317.794239] wlan0: deauthenticating
from 40:f4:ec:1b:32:bf by local choice (Reason: 3=DEAUTH_LEAVING)
Oct 21 10:18:01 localhost kernel: [ 2317.803176] cfg80211: Calling CRDA
to update world regulatory domain
Oct 21 10:18:01 localhost kernel: [ 2317.809017] cfg80211: World
regulatory domain updated:
Oct 21 10:18:01 localhost kernel: [ 2317.809023] cfg80211: DFS Master
region: unset
My partial solution, and I say partial because it involves manually
configuring wpa_supplicant, was to set a couple of extra options;
root@frank:/var/log# cat /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
network={
ssid="TechSpaceUnionSquareWireless"
scan_ssid=1
key_mgmt=WPA-EAP
eap=PEAP
identity="USERNAME"
password="PASSWORD"
phase1="peaplabel=0"
phase2="auth=MSCHAPV2"
}
root@frank:/var/log#
Then, with network manager not actively trying to do anything, kill
wpa_supplicant, start my own and run dhclient manually:
root@frank:/home/samv# pkill wpa_supplicant; wpa_supplicant -iwlan0
-c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -B -s
root@frank:/home/samv# dhclient wlan0
With this, I get the following logged to syslog:
Oct 21 10:43:11 localhost wpa_supplicant[3296]: wlan0: SME: Trying to
authenticate with 40:f4:ec:1b:32:bf (SSID='TechSpaceUnionSquareWireless'
freq=5180 MHz)
Oct 21 10:43:11 localhost wpa_supplicant[3296]: wlan0: Trying to
associate with 40:f4:ec:1b:32:bf (SSID='TechSpaceUnionSquareWireless'
freq=5180 MHz)
Oct 21 10:43:11 localhost wpa_supplicant[3296]: wlan0: Associated with
40:f4:ec:1b:32:bf
Oct 21 10:43:11 localhost wpa_supplicant[3296]: wlan0:
CTRL-EVENT-EAP-STARTED EAP authentication started
Oct 21 10:43:11 localhost wpa_supplicant[3296]: wlan0:
CTRL-EVENT-REGDOM-CHANGE init=USER type=COUNTRY alpha2=US
Oct 21 10:43:11 localhost wpa_supplicant[3296]: wlan0:
CTRL-EVENT-EAP-PROPOSED-METHOD vendor=0 method=25
Oct 21 10:43:11 localhost wpa_supplicant[3296]: wlan0:
CTRL-EVENT-EAP-METHOD EAP vendor 0 method 25 (PEAP) selected
Oct 21 10:43:11 localhost wpa_supplicant[3296]: wlan0:
CTRL-EVENT-EAP-PEER-CERT depth=0
subject='/O=Unknown/OU=Unknown/CN=acs1-av-campus'
Oct 21 10:43:11 localhost wpa_supplicant[3296]: wlan0:
CTRL-EVENT-EAP-PEER-CERT depth=0
subject='/O=Unknown/OU=Unknown/CN=acs1-av-campus'
Oct 21 10:43:12 localhost wpa_supplicant[3296]: EAP-MSCHAPV2:
Authentication succeeded
Oct 21 10:43:12 localhost wpa_supplicant[3296]: wlan0:
CTRL-EVENT-EAP-SUCCESS EAP authentication completed successfully
Oct 21 10:43:12 localhost wpa_supplicant[3296]: wlan0: WPA: Key
negotiation completed with 40:f4:ec:1b:32:bf [PTK=CCMP GTK=CCMP]
Oct 21 10:43:12 localhost wpa_supplicant[3296]: wlan0:
CTRL-EVENT-CONNECTED - Connection to 40:f4:ec:1b:32:bf completed [id=0
id_str=]
I'm running a fresh (<1week) Debian testing install, currently with the
legacy Gnome desktop.
HTH!
Sam