Meshenger is a Forban-inspired messaging software used for a speculative broadcast communication project. The starting point is an electronic messaging system running on a wireless mesh network. The messages propagate through the network when devices that come in contact with each other synchronize their content. It is non-hierarchical, every node receives, relays and broadcasts messages.
Using Meshenger, devices detect each other by continously broadcasting an identifier packet while listening to those of other nodes. As soon as two (or more) nodes detect each other they will try to synchronize the messages on each node.
The users of the network can interface with the nodes to send or receive messages by using the webbrowser of their smartphone or computer. The messages can be received and sent at any time, but they are only synchronized in the network when other nodes are encountered.
Meshenger is supposed to run on an Open-WRT router that has been configured to work in mesh networks (for a configuration how-to see below).
Meshenger requires routers that both support Open-WRT and have at least one USB port (List of Open-WRT routers here). We have used the following models: TP-Link MR-3020, TP-Link TP-WR703n and TP-WR842nd.
Open-WRT have a guide for each supported device that tells how to best flash your specific device with Open-WRT. (Article on flashing)
After flashing proceed through the first login as described here.
You are going to need to have an internet connection to your router, the easiest thing is to hook it up to the router.
Alternatively if you use OSX you can enable internet sharing (make sure to set your OSX machine as the gateway and DNS server for your router in /etc/config/network)
If after flashing something goes wrong, you can reset the whole router in failsafe mode see here.
Below you will find the manual configuration steps necessary to install Meshenger. We did however create some scripts to help you automate the process.
Read more here
To add: stop Luci from running!
$ /etc/init.d/uhttpd disable
Saves a lot of resources!
To use your router for Meshenger you're going to need to run the whole filesystem from a USB-Drive.
Make sure that said USB-Drive is formatted as such:
- one ext4 partition
- one linux-swap partition (32mb seems to be sufficient so far)
Next enable USB-Storage on the router:
$ opkg update
$ opkg install 'block-mount kmod-usb-storage kmod-usb2 kmod-fs-ext4
To check if it works try $ ls /dev/. You shoud see sda, sda1 and sda2
Now mount the USB-Drive:
$ mkdir /mnt/sda1
$ mount -t ext4 /dev/sda1 /mnt/sda1
Copy the whole filesystem to the USB-Drive:
$ mkdir -p /tmp/cproot
$ mount --bind / /tmp/cproot
$ tar -C /tmp/cproot -cvf - . | tar -C /mnt/sda1 -xf -
$ umount /tmp/cproot
Edit fstab
$ vi /etc/config/fstab
Make config mount look like:
config mount
option target /
option device /dev/sda1
option fstype ext4
option options rw,sync
option enabled 1
option enabled_fsck 0
Reboot the device ($ reboot -f) and use $ df -h to confirm device now runs off the USB-Drive
Next we configure the swap partition
$ mkswap /dev/sda2
$ swapon /dev/sda2
Edit fstab again now make the swap look like this:
config mount
option device /dev/sda2
option enabled
The next section is on how to set up the network interfaces to work with B.A.T.M.A.N the mesh networking protocol. It is more or less a summary of what's written here.
$ vi etc/config/wireless and edit the wireless interface to look like this:
Dont forget to remove the line that disables wireless
config wifi-iface 'wmesh'
option device 'radio0'
option ifname 'adhoc0'
option network 'mesh'
option mode 'adhoc'
option ssid 'mesh'
option bssid '66:66:66:66:66:66'
Next up is $ vi etc/config/network where we add this interface:
config interface 'mesh'
option ifname 'adhoc0'
option mtu '1528'
option proto 'none'
Install B.A.T.M.A.N and IP6 support.
$ opkg install kmod-batman-adv kmod-ipv6
Then edit $ /etc/config/batman-adv to tell it which interface to use.
config mesh 'bat0'
option interfaces 'adhoc0'
option 'aggregated_ogms'
option 'ap_isolation'
option [..]
$ /etc/init.d/network restart to make the changes take effect.
If you have set this up properly on more than one node, the nodes should be able to see each other. Test with $ batctl -o
Make sure that you have the same version of batctl and openwrt on all nodes you plan to use.
$ uname -a && batctl -v to see the version information.
For the front-end, the client user interface, we must have a captive portal running. These are the first steps in enableing another wireless interface for the hotspot
Add the following lines in the following config files and restart the network:
$ vi /etc/config/network
config interface 'hotspot'
option 'iface' 'radio0' #use your excisting wifi device (look in config/wireless below)
option 'proto' 'static'
option 'ipaddr' '192.168.2.1'
option 'netmask' '255.255.255.0'
option 'type' 'bridge'
$ vi /etc/config/wireless
config wifi-iface
option 'device' 'radio0' #use your excisting wifi device, look in the list above.
option 'ssid' 'meshtest1' #use a unique name for your network?
option 'network' 'hotspot'
option 'mode' 'ap'
option 'encryption' 'none'
option 'isolate' '1'
$ vi /etc/config/dhcp
config dhcp hotspot
option 'interface' 'hotspot'
option 'start' '100'
option 'limit' '150'
option 'dynamicdhcp' '1'
$ vi /etc/config/firewall enable handing out dhcp addresses to wifi clients
config 'zone'
option 'name' 'hotspot'
option 'input' 'ACCEPT'
option 'forward' 'ACCEPT' #was REJECT
option 'output' 'ACCEPT'
config 'rule'
option 'src' 'hotspot'
option 'dest_port' '53'
option 'proto' 'tcpudp'
option 'target' 'ACCEPT'
config 'rule'
option 'src' 'hotspot'
option 'src_port' '67-68'
option 'dest_port' '67-68'
option 'proto' 'udp'
option 'target' 'ACCEPT'
$ /etc/init.d/network restart
$ /etc/init.d/firewall restart
$ /etc/init.d/dnsmasq restart
Or better, restart the router with $ reboot -f
The Meshenger webinterface is now available at http://192.168.2.1 when connected to its associated hotspot, in this case 'meshtest1'.
We want connecting clients to be redirected to our webapp, no matter what url they request. To do so we need to add some firewall rules, configure dhcp and dnsmasq.
Add the following firewall rules:
$ vi /etc/config/firewall
config 'rule'
option 'target' 'ACCEPT'
option 'src' 'hotspot' # guest wifi interface
option 'proto' 'tcp'
option '_name' 'Website' # this can maybe go?
option 'dest_port' '80'
config 'redirect'
option 'proto' 'tcp'
option '_name' 'Website' # this can maybe go?
option 'src' 'hotspot' # guest wifi interface
option 'src_dport' '80'
option 'dest_port' '80'
option 'dest_ip' '192.168.2.1' # ip of webserver
In the dnsmasq section of the dhcp config (first section) add the following line:
$ vi /etc/config/dhcp
list server '//192.168.2.1'
In the dnsmasq config (first section) add the following line(s):
$ vi /etc/dnsmasq.conf
# Redirect all dns requests to meshenger
address=/#/192.168.2.1
Restart dnsmasq to apply the changes:
$ /etc/init.d/dnsmasq restart
Now all http requests will be directed to Meshenger! If it doesn't work, check your DNS settings of the client your're using (aka your computer, phone, fapfapfaplet). Make sure google's 8.8.8.8 is not there and set 192.168.2.1 as the dns server.
Create a file in $ /etc/init.d/ called meshenger and paste the script below:
#!/bin/sh /etc/rc.common
#meshenger startup script
START=101
#STOP=15
start() {
echo 'starting Meshenger'
/usr/bin/python /root/meshenger/main.py &
}
stop() {
echo 'Killing Meshenger'
killall python
}
Make the file executable
$ chmod a+x /etc/init.d/meshenger
Now you can start/stop meshenger as a service, to enable the meshenger as srevice on boot run
$ /etc/init.d/meshenger enable
To start/stop/disable replace 'enable' with start, stop or disable.
Get the dependencies and clone the git
$ opkg install python git
$ git clone git://github.com/jngrt/meshenger.git
To launch the Meshenger script (or python script in this case), we have to run it as a 'Service'. Befor we can do so we need to know some variable.
Find out where your Python binary is located:
$ which python
This command outputs your path, for example: /usr/bin/python, remember this path
Alot of processes are started at boot, and we want to make sure our script runs after the system has booted completely. To find out the boot order, look in the rc.d folder:
$ ls /etc/rc.d
This will output a list of startup sctipts with prefixes like S10-, S20-, S30-. The numbers define the boot order, the higher, the later. Remember the highest 'S'(cript) number. We need to run our script after the last one.
Create a new file in /etc/init.d/
$ vi /etc/init.d/meshenger
And paste the script below and correct your path to pyton and boot order number, both found above.
#!/bin/sh /etc/rc.common
#meshenger startup script
START=99 #the boot order number, note in our case the SAME number as the highest one found.
SERVICE_DAEMONIZE=1 #start as service, important!
start(){
sleep 10 #make sure booting is finished
echo 'starting meshenger'
/usr/bin/python /root/meshenger/main.py & #path to python binary, space, full path to your script
}
stop(){
echo 'stopping meshenger'
killall python
}
Make sure both your script (main.py) and the init.d script are executable!
$ chmod +x /etc/init.d/meshenger
$ chmod +x /root/meshenger/main.py
Now we have to activate the script we just pasted and make it run as service, on every (re)boot.
$ /etc/init.d/meshenger enable
This creates a symlink in /etc/rc.d with the boot order number prefix you provided in the init.d script (S99-meshenger). You can also start and stop the service manually with:
$ /etc/init.d/meshenger start
$ /etc/init.d/meshenger stop
That's all, reboot and see if it works ( $ ps | grep python )!
If you want, you can hook your box up to the internet and manage it remotely. This is not in the scope of this project but I'll share the steps with you:
$ vi /etc/config/firewall
config 'rule'
option 'src' 'wan'
option 'dest_port' '22'
option 'target' 'ACCEPT'
option 'proto' 'tcp'
$ /etc/init.d/firewall restart
Enable user iptable script:
$ vi vi /etc/firewall.user
iptables -t nat -A prerouting_wan -p tcp --dport 22 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A input_wan -p tcp --dport 22 -j ACCEPT
$ /etc/init.d/firewall restart
Add the line below in your dropbear config
$ vi /etc/config/dropbear
option 'GatewayPorts' 'on'
$ /etc/init.d/dropbear restart
Now you can acces your router, via ssh, from the internet. Don't forget to add portforwarding on you're modem/router! Next up, http access from the internet!
If you want, you can host Meshenger or your own homepage on the internet. This is not in the scope of this project but I'll share the steps with you:
Add the following lines in your firewall config, and restart the firewall:
$ vi /etc/config/firewall
config 'redirect'
option 'src' 'wan'
option 'src_dport' '80'
option 'dest' 'lan'
option 'dest_ip' '192.168.1.1'
option 'dest_port' '80'
option 'proto' 'tcp'
config 'rule'
option 'src' 'wan'
option 'dest_port' '80'
option 'target' 'ACCEPT'
option 'proto' 'tcp'
$ /etc/init.d/firewall restart
Now either run Meshenger, or run a simple http server (to share files, or whatever) from any directory with this Python oneliner:
python -m SimpleHTTPServer 80
After forwarding the correct ports on your home router/modem (from any ip on port 80 to your openwrt box (lan) ip on port 80) your website will now be accessible from outside (wan) through your external IP!