6 Batman advanced is a new approach to wireless networking which
7 does no longer operate on the IP basis. Unlike the batman daemon,
8 which exchanges information using UDP packets and sets routing
9 tables, batman-advanced operates on ISO/OSI Layer 2 only and uses
10 and routes (or better: bridges) Ethernet Frames. It emulates a
11 virtual network switch of all nodes participating. Therefore all
12 nodes appear to be link local, thus all higher operating proto-
13 cols won't be affected by any changes within the network. You can
14 run almost any protocol above batman advanced, prominent examples
15 are: IPv4, IPv6, DHCP, IPX.
17 Batman advanced was implemented as a Linux kernel driver to re-
18 duce the overhead to a minimum. It does not depend on any (other)
19 network driver, and can be used on wifi as well as ethernet lan,
20 vpn, etc ... (anything with ethernet-style layer 2).
25 Load the batman-adv module into your kernel:
27 # insmod batman-adv.ko
29 The module is now waiting for activation. You must add some in-
30 terfaces on which batman can operate. After loading the module
31 batman advanced will scan your systems interfaces to search for
32 compatible interfaces. Once found, it will create subfolders in
33 the /sys directories of each supported interface, e.g.
35 # ls /sys/class/net/eth0/batman_adv/
36 # iface_status mesh_iface
38 If an interface does not have the "batman_adv" subfolder it prob-
39 ably is not supported. Not supported interfaces are: loopback,
40 non-ethernet and batman's own interfaces.
42 Note: After the module was loaded it will continuously watch for
43 new interfaces to verify the compatibility. There is no need to
44 reload the module if you plug your USB wifi adapter into your ma-
45 chine after batman advanced was initially loaded.
47 To activate a given interface simply write "bat0" into its
48 "mesh_iface" file inside the batman_adv subfolder:
50 # echo bat0 > /sys/class/net/eth0/batman_adv/mesh_iface
52 Repeat this step for all interfaces you wish to add. Now batman
53 starts using/broadcasting on this/these interface(s).
55 By reading the "iface_status" file you can check its status:
57 # cat /sys/class/net/eth0/batman_adv/iface_status
60 To deactivate an interface you have to write "none" into its
63 # echo none > /sys/class/net/eth0/batman_adv/mesh_iface
66 All mesh wide settings can be found in batman's own interface
69 # ls /sys/class/net/bat0/mesh/
70 # aggregated_ogms bonding orig_interval vis_mode
73 There is a special folder for debugging informations:
75 # ls /sys/kernel/debug/batman_adv/bat0/
76 # originators socket transtable_global transtable_local
80 Some of the files contain all sort of status information regard-
81 ing the mesh network. For example, you can view the table of
82 originators (mesh participants) with:
84 # cat /sys/kernel/debug/batman_adv/bat0/originators
86 Other files allow to change batman's behaviour to better fit your
87 requirements. For instance, you can check the current originator
88 interval (value in milliseconds which determines how often batman
89 sends its broadcast packets):
91 # cat /sys/class/net/bat0/mesh/orig_interval
94 and also change its value:
96 # echo 3000 > /sys/class/net/bat0/mesh/orig_interval
98 In very mobile scenarios, you might want to adjust the originator
99 interval to a lower value. This will make the mesh more respon-
100 sive to topology changes, but will also increase the overhead.
106 To make use of your newly created mesh, batman advanced provides
107 a new interface "bat0" which you should use from this point on.
108 All interfaces added to batman advanced are not relevant any
109 longer because batman handles them for you. Basically, one "hands
110 over" the data by using the batman interface and batman will make
111 sure it reaches its destination.
113 The "bat0" interface can be used like any other regular inter-
114 face. It needs an IP address which can be either statically con-
115 figured or dynamically (by using DHCP or similar services):
117 # NodeA: ifconfig bat0 192.168.0.1
118 # NodeB: ifconfig bat0 192.168.0.2
119 # NodeB: ping 192.168.0.1
121 Note: In order to avoid problems remove all IP addresses previ-
122 ously assigned to interfaces now used by batman advanced, e.g.
124 # ifconfig eth0 0.0.0.0
130 If you want topology visualization, at least one mesh node must
131 be configured as VIS-server:
133 # echo "server" > /sys/class/net/bat0/mesh/vis_mode
135 Each node is either configured as "server" or as "client" (de-
136 fault: "client"). Clients send their topology data to the server
137 next to them, and server synchronize with other servers. If there
138 is no server configured (default) within the mesh, no topology
139 information will be transmitted. With these "synchronizing
140 servers", there can be 1 or more vis servers sharing the same (or
141 at least very similar) data.
143 When configured as server, you can get a topology snapshot of
146 # cat /sys/kernel/debug/batman_adv/bat0/vis_data
148 This raw output is intended to be easily parsable and convertable
149 with other tools. Have a look at the batctl README if you want a
150 vis output in dot or json format for instance and how those out-
151 puts could then be visualised in an image.
153 The raw format consists of comma separated values per entry where
154 each entry is giving information about a certain source inter-
155 face. Each entry can/has to have the following values:
156 -> "mac" - mac address of an originator's source interface
157 (each line begins with it)
158 -> "TQ mac value" - src mac's link quality towards mac address
159 of a neighbor originator's interface which
160 is being used for routing
161 -> "HNA mac" - HNA announced by source mac
162 -> "PRIMARY" - this is a primary interface
163 -> "SEC mac" - secondary mac address of source
164 (requires preceding PRIMARY)
166 The TQ value has a range from 4 to 255 with 255 being the best.
167 The HNA entries are showing which hosts are connected to the mesh
168 via bat0 or being bridged into the mesh network. The PRIMARY/SEC
169 values are only applied on primary interfaces
175 All error messages, warnings and information messages are sent to
176 the kernel log. Depending on your operating system distribution
177 this can be read in one of a number of ways. Try using the com-
178 mands: dmesg, logread, or looking in the files /var/log/kern.log
179 or /var/log/syslog. All batman-adv messages are prefixed with
180 "batman-adv:" So to see just these messages try
182 # dmesg | grep batman-adv
184 When investigating problems with your mesh network it is some-
185 times necessary to see more detail debug messages. This must be
186 enabled when compiling the batman-adv module. When building bat-
187 man-adv as part of kernel, use "make menuconfig" and enable the
188 option "B.A.T.M.A.N. debugging".
190 Those additional debug messages can be accessed using a special
193 # cat /sys/kernel/debug/batman_adv/bat0/log
195 The additional debug output is by default disabled. It can be en-
196 abled during run time. Following log_levels are defined:
198 0 - All debug output disabled
199 1 - Enable messages related to routing / flooding / broadcasting
200 2 - Enable route or hna added / changed / deleted
201 3 - Enable all messages
203 The debug output can be changed at runtime using the file
204 /sys/class/net/bat0/mesh/log_level. e.g.
206 # echo 2 > /sys/class/net/bat0/mesh/log_level
208 will enable debug messages for when routes or HNAs change.
214 As batman advanced operates on layer 2 all hosts participating in
215 the virtual switch are completely transparent for all protocols
216 above layer 2. Therefore the common diagnosis tools do not work
217 as expected. To overcome these problems batctl was created. At
218 the moment the batctl contains ping, traceroute, tcpdump and
219 interfaces to the kernel module settings.
221 For more information, please see the manpage (man batctl).
223 batctl is available on http://www.open-mesh.org/
229 Please send us comments, experiences, questions, anything :)
231 IRC: #batman on irc.freenode.org
232 Mailing-list: b.a.t.m.a.n@b.a.t.m.a.n@lists.open-mesh.org
233 (optional subscription at
234 https://lists.open-mesh.org/mm/listinfo/b.a.t.m.a.n)
236 You can also contact the Authors:
238 Marek Lindner <lindner_marek@yahoo.de>
239 Simon Wunderlich <siwu@hrz.tu-chemnitz.de>