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 # aggregate_ogm originators transtable_global vis_mode
71 # orig_interval transtable_local vis_data
74 Some of the files contain all sort of status information regard-
75 ing the mesh network. For example, you can view the table of
76 originators (mesh participants) with:
78 # cat /sys/class/net/bat0/mesh/originators
80 Other files allow to change batman's behaviour to better fit your
81 requirements. For instance, you can check the current originator
82 interval (value in milliseconds which determines how often batman
83 sends its broadcast packets):
85 # cat /sys/class/net/bat0/mesh/orig_interval
88 and also change its value:
90 # echo 3000 > /sys/class/net/bat0/mesh/orig_interval
92 In very mobile scenarios, you might want to adjust the originator
93 interval to a lower value. This will make the mesh more respon-
94 sive to topology changes, but will also increase the overhead.
100 To make use of your newly created mesh, batman advanced provides
101 a new interface "bat0" which you should use from this point on.
102 All interfaces added to batman advanced are not relevant any
103 longer because batman handles them for you. Basically, one "hands
104 over" the data by using the batman interface and batman will make
105 sure it reaches its destination.
107 The "bat0" interface can be used like any other regular inter-
108 face. It needs an IP address which can be either statically con-
109 figured or dynamically (by using DHCP or similar services):
111 # NodeA: ifconfig bat0 192.168.0.1
112 # NodeB: ifconfig bat0 192.168.0.2
113 # NodeB: ping 192.168.0.1
115 Note: In order to avoid problems remove all IP addresses previ-
116 ously assigned to interfaces now used by batman advanced, e.g.
118 # ifconfig eth0 0.0.0.0
124 If you want topology visualization, at least one mesh node must
125 be configured as VIS-server:
127 # echo "server" > /sys/class/net/bat0/mesh/vis_mode
129 Each node is either configured as "server" or as "client" (de-
130 fault: "client"). Clients send their topology data to the server
131 next to them, and server synchronize with other servers. If there
132 is no server configured (default) within the mesh, no topology
133 information will be transmitted. With these "synchronizing
134 servers", there can be 1 or more vis servers sharing the same (or
135 at least very similar) data.
137 When configured as server, you can get a topology snapshot of
140 # cat /sys/class/net/bat0/mesh/vis_data
142 This raw output is intended to be easily parsable and convertable
143 with other tools. Have a look at the batctl README if you want a
144 vis output in dot or json format for instance and how those out-
145 puts could then be visualised in an image.
147 The raw format consists of comma separated values per entry where
148 each entry is giving information about a certain source inter-
149 face. Each entry can/has to have the following values:
150 -> "mac" - mac address of an originator's source interface
151 (each line begins with it)
152 -> "TQ mac value" - src mac's link quality towards mac address
153 of a neighbor originator's interface which
154 is being used for routing
155 -> "HNA mac" - HNA announced by source mac
156 -> "PRIMARY" - this is a primary interface
157 -> "SEC mac" - secondary mac address of source
158 (requires preceding PRIMARY)
160 The TQ value has a range from 4 to 255 with 255 being the best.
161 The HNA entries are showing which hosts are connected to the mesh
162 via bat0 or being bridged into the mesh network. The PRIMARY/SEC
163 values are only applied on primary interfaces
169 All error messages, warnings and information messages are sent to
170 the kernel log. Depending on your operating system distribution
171 this can be read in one of a number of ways. Try using the com-
172 mands: dmesg, logread, or looking in the files /var/log/kern.log
173 or /var/log/syslog. All batman-adv messages are prefixed with
174 "batman-adv:" So to see just these messages try
176 # dmesg | grep batman-adv
178 When investigating problems with your mesh network it is some-
179 times necessary to see more detail debug messages. This must be
180 enabled when compiling the batman-adv module. When building bat-
181 man-adv as part of kernel, use "make menuconfig" and enable the
182 option "B.A.T.M.A.N. debugging".
184 The additional debug output is by default disabled. It can be en-
185 abled either at kernel modules load time or during run time. To
186 enable debug output at module load time, add the module parameter
187 debug=<value>. <value> can take one of four values.
189 0 - All debug output disabled
190 1 - Enable messages related to routing / flooding / broadcasting
191 2 - Enable route or hna added / changed / deleted
192 3 - Enable all messages
196 # modprobe batman-adv debug=2
198 will load the module and enable debug messages for when routes or
201 The debug output can also be changed at runtime using the file
202 /sys/module/batman-adv/parameters/debug. e.g.
204 # echo 2 > /sys/module/batman-adv/parameters/debug
206 enables debug messages for when routes or HNAs
208 The debug output is sent to the kernel logs. So try dmesg, lo-
209 gread, etc to see the debug messages.
215 As batman advanced operates on layer 2 all hosts participating in
216 the virtual switch are completely transparent for all protocols
217 above layer 2. Therefore the common diagnosis tools do not work
218 as expected. To overcome these problems batctl was created. At
219 the moment the batctl contains ping, traceroute, tcpdump and
220 interfaces to the kernel module settings.
222 For more information, please see the manpage (man batctl).
224 batctl is available on http://www.open-mesh.org/
230 Please send us comments, experiences, questions, anything :)
232 IRC: #batman on irc.freenode.org
233 Mailing-list: b.a.t.m.a.n@open-mesh.net (optional subscription
234 at 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>