WWAN - Wireless Wide-Area-Network

The Wireless Wide-Area-Network interface provides access (through a wireless modem/wwan) to wireless networks provided by various cellular providers.

VyOS uses the interfaces wwan subsystem for configuration.

Configuration

Common interface configuration

set interfaces wwan <interface> address <address | dhcp | dhcpv6>

Configure interface <interface> with one or more interface addresses.

  • address can be specified multiple times as IPv4 and/or IPv6 address, e.g. 192.0.2.1/24 and/or 2001:db8::1/64

  • dhcp interface address is received by DHCP from a DHCP server on this segment.

  • dhcpv6 interface address is received by DHCPv6 from a DHCPv6 server on this segment.

Note

When using DHCP to retrieve IPv4 address and if local customizations are needed, they should be possible using the enter and exit hooks provided. The hook dirs are:

  • /config/scripts/dhcp-client/pre-hooks.d/

  • /config/scripts/dhcp-client/post-hooks.d/

Example:

set interfaces wwan wwan0 address 192.0.2.1/24
set interfaces wwan wwan0 address 2001:db8::1/64
set interfaces wwan wwan0 address dhcp
set interfaces wwan wwan0 address dhcpv6
set interfaces wwan <interface> description <description>

Set a human readable, descriptive alias for this connection. Alias is used by e.g. the show interfaces command or SNMP based monitoring tools.

Example:

set interfaces wwan wwan0 description 'This is an awesome interface running on VyOS'
set interfaces wwan <interface> disable

Disable given <interface>. It will be placed in administratively down (A/D) state.

Example:

set interfaces wwan wwan0 disable
set interfaces wwan <interface> disable-link-detect

Use this command to direct an interface to not detect any physical state changes on a link, for example, when the cable is unplugged.

Default is to detects physical link state changes.

Example:

set interfaces wwan wwan0 disable-link-detect
set interfaces wwan <interface> mtu <mtu>

Configure MTU on given <interface>. It is the size (in bytes) of the largest ethernet frame sent on this link.

Example:

set interfaces wwan wwan0 mtu 1600
set interfaces wwan <interface> ip adjust-mss <mss | clamp-mss-to-pmtu>

As Internet wide PMTU discovery rarely works, we sometimes need to clamp our TCP MSS value to a specific value. This is a field in the TCP options part of a SYN packet. By setting the MSS value, you are telling the remote side unequivocally ‘do not try to send me packets bigger than this value’.

Note

This command was introduced in VyOS 1.4 - it was previously called: set firewall options interface <name> adjust-mss <value>

Hint

MSS value = MTU - 20 (IP header) - 20 (TCP header), resulting in 1452 bytes on a 1492 byte MTU.

Instead of a numerical MSS value clamp-mss-to-pmtu can be used to automatically set the proper value.

set interfaces wwan <interface> ip arp-cache-timeout

Once a neighbor has been found, the entry is considered to be valid for at least for this specific time. An entry’s validity will be extended if it receives positive feedback from higher level protocols.

This defaults to 30 seconds.

Example:

set interfaces wwan wwan0 ip arp-cache-timeout 180
set interfaces wwan <interface> ip disable-arp-filter

If set the kernel can respond to arp requests with addresses from other interfaces. This may seem wrong but it usually makes sense, because it increases the chance of successful communication. IP addresses are owned by the complete host on Linux, not by particular interfaces. Only for more complex setups like load-balancing, does this behaviour cause problems.

If not set (default) allows you to have multiple network interfaces on the same subnet, and have the ARPs for each interface be answered based on whether or not the kernel would route a packet from the ARP’d IP out that interface (therefore you must use source based routing for this to work).

In other words it allows control of which cards (usually 1) will respond to an arp request.

Example:

set interfaces wwan wwan0 ip disable-arp-filter
set interfaces wwan <interface> ip disable-forwarding

Configure interface-specific Host/Router behaviour. If set, the interface will switch to host mode and IPv6 forwarding will be disabled on this interface.

set interfaces wwan wwan0 ip disable-forwarding
set interfaces wwan <interface> ip enable-directed-broadcast

Define different modes for IP directed broadcast forwarding as described in RFC 1812 and RFC 2644.

If configured, incoming IP directed broadcast packets on this interface will be forwarded.

If this option is unset (default), incoming IP directed broadcast packets will not be forwarded.

set interfaces wwan wwan0 ip enable-directed-broadcast
set interfaces wwan <interface> ip enable-arp-accept

Define behavior for gratuitous ARP frames who’s IP is not already present in the ARP table. If configured create new entries in the ARP table.

Both replies and requests type gratuitous arp will trigger the ARP table to be updated, if this setting is on.

If the ARP table already contains the IP address of the gratuitous arp frame, the arp table will be updated regardless if this setting is on or off.

set interfaces wwan wwan0 ip enable-arp-accept
set interfaces wwan <interface> ip enable-arp-announce

Define different restriction levels for announcing the local source IP address from IP packets in ARP requests sent on interface.

Use any local address, configured on any interface if this is not set.

If configured, try to avoid local addresses that are not in the target’s subnet for this interface. This mode is useful when target hosts reachable via this interface require the source IP address in ARP requests to be part of their logical network configured on the receiving interface. When we generate the request we will check all our subnets that include the target IP and will preserve the source address if it is from such subnet. If there is no such subnet we select source address according to the rules for level 2.

set interfaces wwan wwan0 ip enable-arp-announce
set interfaces wwan <interface> ip enable-arp-ignore

Define different modes for sending replies in response to received ARP requests that resolve local target IP addresses:

If configured, reply only if the target IP address is local address configured on the incoming interface.

If this option is unset (default), reply for any local target IP address, configured on any interface.

set interfaces wwan wwan0 ip enable-arp-ignore
set interfaces wwan <interface> ip enable-proxy-arp

Use this command to enable proxy Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) on this interface. Proxy ARP allows an Ethernet interface to respond with its own MAC address to ARP requests for destination IP addresses on subnets attached to other interfaces on the system. Subsequent packets sent to those destination IP addresses are forwarded appropriately by the system.

Example:

set interfaces wwan wwan0 ip enable-proxy-arp
set interfaces wwan <interface> ip proxy-arp-pvlan

Private VLAN proxy arp. Basically allow proxy arp replies back to the same interface (from which the ARP request/solicitation was received).

This is done to support (ethernet) switch features, like RFC 3069, where the individual ports are NOT allowed to communicate with each other, but they are allowed to talk to the upstream router. As described in RFC 3069, it is possible to allow these hosts to communicate through the upstream router by proxy_arp’ing.

Note

Does not need to be used together with proxy_arp.

This technology is known by different names:

  • In RFC 3069 it is called VLAN Aggregation

  • Cisco and Allied Telesyn call it Private VLAN

  • Hewlett-Packard call it Source-Port filtering or port-isolation

  • Ericsson call it MAC-Forced Forwarding (RFC Draft)

set interfaces wwan <interface> ip source-validation <strict | loose | disable>

Enable policy for source validation by reversed path, as specified in RFC 3704. Current recommended practice in RFC 3704 is to enable strict mode to prevent IP spoofing from DDos attacks. If using asymmetric routing or other complicated routing, then loose mode is recommended.

  • strict: Each incoming packet is tested against the FIB and if the interface is not the best reverse path the packet check will fail. By default failed packets are discarded.

  • loose: Each incoming packet’s source address is also tested against the FIB and if the source address is not reachable via any interface the packet check will fail.

  • disable: No source validation

set interfaces wwan <interface> ipv6 address autoconf

SLAAC RFC 4862. IPv6 hosts can configure themselves automatically when connected to an IPv6 network using the Neighbor Discovery Protocol via ICMPv6 router discovery messages. When first connected to a network, a host sends a link-local router solicitation multicast request for its configuration parameters; routers respond to such a request with a router advertisement packet that contains Internet Layer configuration parameters.

Note

This method automatically disables IPv6 traffic forwarding on the interface in question.

Example:

set interfaces wwan wwan0 ipv6 address autoconf
set interfaces wwan <interface> ipv6 address eui64 <prefix>

EUI-64 as specified in RFC 4291 allows a host to assign iteslf a unique 64-Bit IPv6 address.

Example:

set interfaces wwan wwan0 ipv6 address eui64 2001:db8:beef::/64
set interfaces wwan <interface> ipv6 address no-default-link-local

Do not assign a link-local IPv6 address to this interface.

Example:

set interfaces wwan wwan0 ipv6 address no-default-link-local
set interfaces wwan <interface> ipv6 disable-forwarding

Configure interface-specific Host/Router behaviour. If set, the interface will switch to host mode and IPv6 forwarding will be disabled on this interface.

Example:

set interfaces wwan wwan0 ipv6 disable-forwarding
set interfaces wwan <interface> ipv6 adjust-mss <mss | clamp-mss-to-pmtu>

As Internet wide PMTU discovery rarely works, we sometimes need to clamp our TCP MSS value to a specific value. This is a field in the TCP options part of a SYN packet. By setting the MSS value, you are telling the remote side unequivocally ‘do not try to send me packets bigger than this value’.

Note

This command was introduced in VyOS 1.4 - it was previously called: set firewall options interface <name> adjust-mss6 <value>

Hint

MSS value = MTU - 40 (IPv6 header) - 20 (TCP header), resulting in 1432 bytes on a 1492 byte MTU.

Instead of a numerical MSS value clamp-mss-to-pmtu can be used to automatically set the proper value.

set interfaces wwan <interface> ipv6 accept-dad <1-3>

Whether to accept DAD (Duplicate Address Detection).

  • 0: Disable DAD

  • 1: Enable DAD (default)

  • 2: Enable DAD, and disable IPv6 operation if MAC-based duplicate link-local address has been found.

Example:

set interfaces wwan wwan0 ipv6 accept-dad 2
set interfaces wwan <interface> ipv6 dup-addr-detect-transmits <n>

The amount of Duplicate Address Detection probes to send.

Default: 1

Example:

set interfaces wwan wwan0 ipv6 dup-addr-detect-transmits 5
set interfaces wwan <interface> vrf <vrf>

Place interface in given VRF instance.

See also

There is an entire chapter about how to configure a VRF, please check this for additional information.

Example:

set interfaces wwan wwan0 vrf red

DHCP(v6)

set interfaces wwan <interface> dhcp-options client-id <description>

RFC 2131 states: The client MAY choose to explicitly provide the identifier through the ‘client identifier’ option. If the client supplies a ‘client identifier’, the client MUST use the same ‘client identifier’ in all subsequent messages, and the server MUST use that identifier to identify the client.

Example:

set interfaces wwan wwan0 dhcp-options client-id 'foo-bar'
set interfaces wwan <interface> dhcp-options host-name <hostname>

Instead of sending the real system hostname to the DHCP server, overwrite the host-name with this given-value.

Example:

set interfaces wwan wwan0 dhcp-options host-name 'VyOS'
set interfaces wwan <interface> dhcp-options vendor-class-id <vendor-id>

This option is used by some DHCP clients to identify the vendor type and possibly the configuration of a DHCP client. The information is a string of bytes whose contents are specific to the vendor and are not specified in a standard.

The vendor-class-id option can be used to request a specific class of vendor options from the server.

Example:

set interfaces wwan wwan0 dhcp-options vendor-class-id 'VyOS'
set interfaces wwan <interface> dhcp-options no-default-route

Only request an address from the DHCP server but do not request a default gateway.

Example:

set interfaces wwan wwan0 dhcp-options no-default-route
set interfaces wwan <interface> dhcp-options default-route-distance <distance>

Set the distance for the default gateway sent by the DHCP server.

Example:

set interfaces wwan wwan0 dhcp-options default-route-distance 220
set interfaces wwan <interface> dhcp-options reject <address>

Reject DHCP leases from a given address or range. This is useful when a modem gives a local IP when first starting.

  • address can be specified multiple times, e.g. 192.168.100.1 and/or 192.168.100.0/24

Example:

set interfaces wwan wwan0 dhcp-options reject 192.168.100.0/24
set interfaces wwan <interface> dhcp-options user-class <string>

This option is used by some DHCP clients as a way for users to specify identifying information to the client. This can be used in a similar way to the vendor-class-identifier option, but the value of the option is specified by the user, not the vendor.

Example:

set interfaces wwan wwan0 dhcp-options user-class VyOS
set interfaces wwan <interface> dhcpv6-options duid <duid>

The DHCP unique identifier (DUID) is used by a client to get an IP address from a DHCPv6 server. It has a 2-byte DUID type field, and a variable-length identifier field up to 128 bytes. Its actual length depends on its type. The server compares the DUID with its database and delivers configuration data (address, lease times, DNS servers, etc.) to the client.

set interfaces wwan wwan0 duid '0e:00:00:01:00:01:27:71:db:f0:00:50:56:bf:c5:6d'
set interfaces wwan <interface> dhcpv6-options no-release

When no-release is specified, dhcp6c will send a release message on client exit to prevent losing an assigned address or prefix.

set interfaces wwan wwan0 dhcpv6-options no-release
set interfaces wwan <interface> dhcpv6-options parameters-only

This statement specifies dhcp6c to only exchange informational configuration parameters with servers. A list of DNS server addresses is an example of such parameters. This statement is useful when the client does not need stateful configuration parameters such as IPv6 addresses or prefixes.

set interfaces wwan wwan0 dhcpv6-options parameters-only
set interfaces wwan <interface> dhcpv6-options rapid-commit

When rapid-commit is specified, dhcp6c will include a rapid-commit option in solicit messages and wait for an immediate reply instead of advertisements.

set interfaces wwan wwan0 dhcpv6-options rapid-commit
set interfaces wwan <interface> dhcpv6-options temporary

Request only a temporary address and not form an IA_NA (Identity Association for Non-temporary Addresses) partnership.

set interfaces wwan wwan0 dhcpv6-options temporary

DHCPv6 Prefix Delegation (PD)

VyOS 1.3 (equuleus) supports DHCPv6-PD (RFC 3633). DHCPv6 Prefix Delegation is supported by most ISPs who provide native IPv6 for consumers on fixed networks.

set interfaces wwan <interface> dhcpv6-options pd <id> length <length>

Some ISPs by default only delegate a /64 prefix. To request for a specific prefix size use this option to request for a bigger delegation for this pd <id>. This value is in the range from 32 - 64 so you could request up to a /32 prefix (if your ISP allows this) down to a /64 delegation.

The default value corresponds to 64.

To request a /56 prefix from your ISP use:

set interfaces wwan wwan0 dhcpv6-options pd 0 length 56
set interfaces wwan <interface> dhcpv6-options pd <id> interface <delegatee> address <address>

Specify the interface address used locally on the interface where the prefix has been delegated to. ID must be a decimal integer.

It will be combined with the delegated prefix and the sla-id to form a complete interface address. The default is to use the EUI-64 address of the interface.

Example: Delegate a /64 prefix to interface eth8 which will use a local address on this router of <prefix>::ffff, as the address 65534 will correspond to ffff in hexadecimal notation.

set interfaces wwan wwan0 dhcpv6-options pd 0 interface eth8 address 65534
set interfaces wwan <interface> dhcpv6-options pd <id> interface <delegatee> sla-id <id>

Specify the identifier value of the site-level aggregator (SLA) on the interface. ID must be a decimal number greater then 0 which fits in the length of SLA IDs (see below).

Example: If ID is 1 and the client is delegated an IPv6 prefix 2001:db8:ffff::/48, dhcp6c will combine the two values into a single IPv6 prefix, 2001:db8:ffff:1::/64, and will configure the prefix on the specified interface.

set interfaces wwan wwan0 dhcpv6-options pd 0 interface eth8 sla-id 1

WirelessModem (WWAN) options

set interfaces wwan <interface> apn <apn>

Every WWAN connection requires an APN which is used by the client to dial into the ISPs network. This is a mandatory parameter. Contact your Service Provider for correct APN.

Operation

show interfaces wwan <interface>

Show detailed information on given <interface>

vyos@vyos:~$ show interfaces wwan wwan0
wwan0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state UNKNOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 02:c2:f3:00:01:02 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet 10.155.144.12/30 brd 10.155.144.15 scope global dynamic wwan0
       valid_lft 7012sec preferred_lft 7012sec
    inet6 fe80::c2:f3ff:fe00:0102/64 scope link
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever

    RX:  bytes  packets  errors  dropped  overrun       mcast
           640        2       0        0        0           0
    TX:  bytes  packets  errors  dropped  carrier  collisions
          3229       16       0        0        0           0
show interfaces wwan <interface> summary

Show detailed information summary on given <interface>

vyos@vyos:~$ show interfaces wwan wwan0 summary
  --------------------------------
  General  |            dbus path: /org/freedesktop/ModemManager1/Modem/0
           |            device id: 79f4e9cc2e9fc8d4a3b8c8f6327c2e363170194d
  --------------------------------
  Hardware |         manufacturer: Sierra Wireless, Incorporated
           |                model: MC7710
           |             revision: SWI9200X_03.05.29.03ap r6485 CNSHZ-ED-XP0031 2014/12/02 17:53:15
           |         h/w revision: 1.0
           |            supported: gsm-umts, lte
           |              current: gsm-umts, lte
           |         equipment id: 358xxxxxxxxxxxx
  --------------------------------
  System   |               device: /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:13.0/usb3/3-1/3-1.3
           |              drivers: qcserial, qmi_wwan
           |               plugin: Generic
           |         primary port: cdc-wdm0
           |                ports: ttyUSB0 (qcdm), ttyUSB2 (at), cdc-wdm0 (qmi), wwan0 (net)
  --------------------------------
  Numbers  |                  own: 4917xxxxxxxx
  --------------------------------
  Status   |                 lock: sim-pin2
           |       unlock retries: sim-pin (3), sim-pin2 (3), sim-puk (10), sim-puk2 (10)
           |                state: connected
           |          power state: on
           |          access tech: lte
           |       signal quality: 63% (recent)
  --------------------------------
  Modes    |            supported: allowed: 2g; preferred: none
           |                       allowed: 3g; preferred: none
           |                       allowed: 4g; preferred: none
           |                       allowed: 2g, 3g; preferred: 3g
           |                       allowed: 2g, 3g; preferred: 2g
           |                       allowed: 2g, 4g; preferred: 4g
           |                       allowed: 2g, 4g; preferred: 2g
           |                       allowed: 3g, 4g; preferred: 3g
           |                       allowed: 3g, 4g; preferred: 4g
           |                       allowed: 2g, 3g, 4g; preferred: 4g
           |                       allowed: 2g, 3g, 4g; preferred: 3g
           |                       allowed: 2g, 3g, 4g; preferred: 2g
           |              current: allowed: 2g, 3g, 4g; preferred: 2g
  --------------------------------
  Bands    |            supported: egsm, dcs, pcs, utran-1, utran-8, eutran-1, eutran-3,
           |                       eutran-7, eutran-8, eutran-20
           |              current: egsm, dcs, pcs, utran-1, utran-8, eutran-1, eutran-3,
           |                       eutran-7, eutran-8, eutran-20
  --------------------------------
  IP       |            supported: ipv4, ipv6, ipv4v6
  --------------------------------
  3GPP     |                 imei: 358xxxxxxxxxxxx
           |          operator id: 26201
           |        operator name: Telekom.de
           |         registration: home
  --------------------------------
  3GPP EPS | ue mode of operation: ps-1
  --------------------------------
  SIM      |            dbus path: /org/freedesktop/ModemManager1/SIM/0
  --------------------------------
  Bearer   |            dbus path: /org/freedesktop/ModemManager1/Bearer/0
show interfaces wwan <interface> capabilities

Show WWAN module hardware capabilities.

vyos@vyos:~$ show interfaces wwan wwan0 capabilities
Max TX channel rate: '50000000'
Max RX channel rate: '100000000'
Data Service: 'simultaneous-cs-ps'
SIM: 'supported'
Networks: 'gsm, umts, lte'
Bands: 'gsm-dcs-1800, gsm-900-extended, gsm-900-primary, gsm-pcs-1900, wcdma-2100, wcdma-900'
LTE bands: '1, 3, 7, 8, 20'
show interfaces wwan <interface> firmware

Show WWAN module firmware.

vyos@vyos:~$ show interfaces wwan wwan0 firmware
Model: MC7710
Boot version: SWI9200X_03.05.29.03bt r6485 CNSHZ-ED-XP0031 2014/12/02 17:33:08
AMSS version: SWI9200X_03.05.29.03ap r6485 CNSHZ-ED-XP0031 2014/12/02 17:53:15
SKU ID: unknown
Package ID: unknown
Carrier ID: 0
Config version: unknown
show interfaces wwan <interface> imei

Show WWAN module IMEI.

vyos@vyos:~$ show interfaces wwan wwan0 imei
ESN: '0'
IMEI: '358xxxxxxxxxxxx'
MEID: 'unknown'
show interfaces wwan <interface> imsi

Show WWAN module IMSI.

vyos@vyos:~$ show interfaces wwan wwan0 imsi
IMSI: '262xxxxxxxxxxxx'
show interfaces wwan <interface> model

Show WWAN module model.

vyos@vyos:~$ show interfaces wwan wwan0 model
Model: 'MC7710'
show interfaces wwan <interface> msisdn

Show WWAN module MSISDN.

vyos@vyos:~$ show interfaces wwan wwan0 msisdn
MSISDN: '4917xxxxxxxx'
show interfaces wwan <interface> revision

Show WWAN module hardware revision.

vyos@vyos:~$ show interfaces wwan wwan0 revision
Revision: 'SWI9200X_03.05.29.03ap r6485 CNSHZ-ED-XP0031 2014/12/02 17:53:15'
show interfaces wwan <interface> signal

Show WWAN module signal strength.

vyos@vyos:~$ show interfaces wwan wwan0 signal
LTE:
RSSI: '-74 dBm'
RSRQ: '-7 dB'
RSRP: '-100 dBm'
SNR: '13.0 dB'
Radio Interface:   'lte'
Active Band Class: 'eutran-3'
Active Channel:    '1300'
show interfaces wwan <interface> sim

Show WWAN module SIM card information.

vyos@vyos:~$ show interfaces wwan wwan0 sim
Provisioning applications:
Primary GW:   slot '1', application '1'
Primary 1X:   session doesn't exist
Secondary GW: session doesn't exist
Secondary 1X: session doesn't exist
Slot [1]:
Card state: 'present'
UPIN state: 'not-initialized'
UPIN retries: '0'
UPUK retries: '0'
Application [1]:
Application type:  'usim (2)'
Application state: 'ready'
Application ID:
A0:00:00:00:87:10:02:FF:49:94:20:89:03:10:00:00
Personalization state: 'ready'
UPIN replaces PIN1: 'no'
PIN1 state: 'disabled'
PIN1 retries: '3'
PUK1 retries: '10'
PIN2 state: 'enabled-not-verified'
PIN2 retries: '3'
PUK2 retries: '10'

Example

The following example is based on a Sierra Wireless MC7710 miniPCIe card (only the form factor in reality it runs UBS) and Deutsche Telekom as ISP. The card is assembled into a PC Engines APU4.

set interfaces wwan wwan0 apn 'internet.telekom'
set interfaces wwan wwan0 address 'dhcp'

Supported Modules

The following hardware modules have been tested successfully in an PC Engines APU4 board:

  • Sierra Wireless AirPrime MC7304 miniPCIe card (LTE)

  • Sierra Wireless AirPrime MC7430 miniPCIe card (LTE)

  • Sierra Wireless AirPrime MC7455 miniPCIe card (LTE)

  • Sierra Wireless AirPrime MC7710 miniPCIe card (LTE)

  • Huawei ME909u-521 miniPCIe card (LTE)

  • Huawei ME909s-120 miniPCIe card (LTE)

Firmware Update

All available WWAN cards have a build in, reprogrammable firmware. Most of the vendors provide a regular update to the firmware used in the baseband chip.

As VyOS makes use of the QMI interface to connect to the WWAN modem cards, also the firmware can be reprogrammed.

To update the firmware, VyOS also ships the qmi-firmware-update binary. To upgrade the firmware of an e.g. Sierra Wireless MC7710 module to the firmware provided in the file 9999999_9999999_9200_03.05.14.00_00_generic_000.000_001_SPKG_MC.cwe use the following command:

$ sudo qmi-firmware-update --update -d 1199:68a2 \
   9999999_9999999_9200_03.05.14.00_00_generic_000.000_001_SPKG_MC.cwe