5: Network Settings
PremierWave® 2050 802.11ac Embedded Wi-Fi® User Guide
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Bridge
The PremierWave 2050 gateway bridge bridges traffic between an Ethernet and WLAN interface.
For example, br0 is a bridge between eth0 and wlan0. For USB RNDIS interface, USB 1 must be
configured as an Ethernet device.
When a bridge is enabled, the
configuration is used for configuring direct
connections into the device over the primary interface; the
configuration
is ignored. Both the Ethernet and WLAN link configurations are used the same as when the bridge
is disabled.
Bridging MAC Address specifies the MAC address of bridgeable traffic between the Ethernet and
WLAN interfaces. When bridging is active, this MAC Address will be used as the MAC address of
the WLAN interface. Packets received on the Ethernet interface from this address will be bridged
to the WLAN interface (except traffic directed at the Primary Interface). If this field is not
configured, then the device waits for the first packet to arrive on the Ethernet interface and uses
the source address as the bridging address.
Bridging IP Address specifies the IP address of the bridged client.
When bridging is active, this IP Address will be used to create a static route between this device
and the bridged client.
This route is required for connecting to the bridged client from devices connected via the access
point network and from this device.
If Auto Detect IP Address is enabled, then the device will attempt to learn the IP Address by using
the source or destination IP address of packets arriving on the Ethernet interface.
Warning:
Enabling Auto Detect IP Address may affect the performance of running
processes during the learning phase.
During initialization, the bridging subsystem enables and controls both eth0 and wlan0 networks.
These are important aspects to keep in mind:
If the eth0 physical link is inactive, wlan0 is the primary interface.
If the eth0 physical link is active, eth0 is the primary interface.
When the eth0 link is active, the wlan0 link is established. Additionally, the bridging MAC address
is acquired using preconfiguration or auto-detection, and bridging enters the Active state. If either
link goes down, bridging reverts to the Inactive state.
When in the Active state, all packets that arrive on the wlan0 interface are bridged out (through)
the eth0 interface. Similarly, all packets that arrive on the eth0 interface are bridged out (through)
the wlan0 interface. However, exceptions to this behavior include:
Ethernet packets directed specifically to the Ethernet (eth0) MAC address are terminated
internally and are not bridged to WLAN.
An ARP request for the primary interface IP address is terminated internally and is not bridged
to the WLAN.
Ethernet packets that do not originate from the bridging MAC Address are discarded.
Bridge Status and Configuration
View-only status information on the Bridge1 (br0) Status page displays whether bridging is
currently enabled, active, and the following (if any): Ethernet link, WLAN link, primary interface,
bridging MAC, Ethernet MAC, WLAN MAC, bridging IP address, and bridging IPv6 address.
