Network Management

How to connect your WLAN Pi network adapters

This guide is for the setup and execution of the new interface management functionality within the WLAN Pi. WLAN Pi now has a centralised approach to managing connectivity via APIs. These APIs exist within the wlanpi-core package and they are updated periodically to introduce new features.

New interface management functionality is now in testing in the latest beta of wlanpi-core and implements the following:

1. The ability to configure wlan interfaces in managed or monitor modes.

2. Configure managed interfaces to connect to Wi-Fi Networks and keep that persistent through reboots

3. The ability to move wlan interfaces into their own ‘namespace’ for isolated use.

   1. A network namespace is an isolated networking domain which network interfaces can be moved in or out.

   2. An application can be instructed to run in a namespace and it will only find the adapters which have been made available in that namespace

Managing Network Interfaces

Many applications can only connect to network via the default route. In the case of a WLAN Pi this can often be the ethernet interface.

One approach to managing the association between applications and the network interface they use is to group the applications with a network interface in what is known as a network namespace.

The example below illustrates how multiple network interfaces can be divided into namespaces, and applications setup to run in a namespace - forcing it to use the only adapter present.