[SOLVED] Connect PC with only Ethernet ports (no USB) to Wlan

[Tweephood]

Hi Everyone,

Hope I'm posting in the correct section.

I'm looking for a Ethernet->Wlan bridge with 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequencies that can be managed through CLI (SSH?).
[edit] I need to connect a PC to a Wlan network via Ethernet
To be more specific, I explain the context:

What I need to do?

I have an Ubuntu 18.04 machine with Ethernet ports and I need to:

• Connect my machine to the [DEVICE] (the one I'm looking for) via Ethernet
• Connect my machine to a Wlan network through the [DEVICE]
• Switch between 2.4GHz and 5GHz
• Switch between multiple Access Points/Routers

All the previous actions need to be executed from a Command Line Interface from the machine itself.
Since I'll be often switching between routers and frequencies, I need a consistent and robust product.
Note: My machine does not have any USB port.

Is there a device that can do that?

 

[bill001g]

I am unclear what you really want since what you link are routers and not bridge or AP.

I would look at the products from ubiquiti. These are sorta between large enterprise and consumer equipment. They allow SSH access. The AP are pretty easy to configure via command line. They also sell router and actual bridge units. These units tend to be a lot cheaper than enterprise devices and price competitive with most consumer units. Even though you want command line they include a central management console that allows you to control all the AP from one machine. You most times must enable the SSH via the gui I think it is off by default.

 

[Tweephood]

I am unclear what you really want since what you link are routers and not bridge or AP.

Yes, but I've noticed that they both have a bridge option. Maybe I'm not using the proper terminology: the core of my problem is how to connect a machine with only Ethernet ports (no USB) to a Wlan network.

I would look at the products from ubiquiti.

I'll have a look at these products; if I find what I need I post it back there and accept your answer!

 

[bill001g]

There are 2 basic type of bridging. The more common acts a destination for end machines to connect to. It is sometime called a server-bridge but most commonly this is called a AP. The other kind of bridge is a client-bridge. This allow the device to act as a end station and connect to a AP or router.

 

[Tweephood]

UPDATE:
Ubiquiti AirGateway AG-PRO-INS seems a really good product, but I couldn't understand if it's operable via CLI and I'm not sure it acts as a client bridge.

I also edited the question adding an image and removing confusing parts.

 

[bill001g]

This product I am not familiar with. It appears to run the standard AIROS they run on all their other platforms but I think this device is designed to act as a AP to connect to a outdoor bridge. In general the airos lets you run the device in either format.

It is the AIROS that support the ssh so it should be the same but I know nothing about that product

The ones I have used are things like nanostation. Which exact model you want is going to depend on the radio frequencies you use and if you need 802.11ac or 802.11n. These are outdoor use boxes but they work indoors. If you want omni directional antenna rather than the directional ones they sell bullet units without antenna but these are much more costly that the nano stations. I have no clue why the pricing works that way.

 

[jsmithepa]

[DEVIDE] = a WIFI router with CLIENT MODE.

 

[bill001g]

[DEVIDE] = a WIFI router with CLIENT MODE.

That would be too easy. He wants a line mode interface not gui.

 

[jsmithepa]

That would be too easy. He wants a line mode interface not gui.

LOL. I do conveniently ignore those requests when posters don't explain why they wanna do complicated wacky things.

 

[Tweephood]

LOL. I do conveniently ignore those requests when posters don't explain why they wanna do complicated wacky things.

I am thankful for your contribution and I've start to search also with key-word Wifi Router Client Mode.
I excluded some information because I thought they were only adding confusion, but seems that I obtained the opposite result. Here are some details on why I need this [DEVICE]:
I have 3 rooms, each one with a router.
In a 4th room I have a PC with Ubuntu 18.04 installed.
I need to frequently check from these rooms the connection to each of these routers, both 2.4GHz and 5GHz.
I want to do that with an automated script.
The same operation done by hand would be:

• take a laptop with wlan connection
• connect to router A, 2.4GHz
• connect to Google
• do a speed check
• Connect to router A, 5GHz
• connect to Google
• do a speed check
• Connect to Router B, 2.4GHz
• connect to google
• ...

NOTE: for reasons that I can't control or influence, I am not able to use a laptop with wlan connection, and I can't add boards in the PC: I can only use a ethernet port to connect to the Wlan.
@bill001g is already helping me so much, but I'm not really experienced in this field and any suggestion that helps me to help you to help me is more than welcome!

 

[bill001g]

Maybe a alternative but it still requires coding of some form. You might get by with 3 wifi nics likely USB unless you have lots of slots.

If you can use different subnets on the 3 router you can leave them all connected. To change networks all you would do is change the default route to point the other. If you can come up with a different testing method where you for example could use different destination IP for internet destinations you could actually for example leave constant ping up to all at the same time. If the IP lan subnet is duplicated it will make things more complex but it is mostly just dynamically configuring the ip addresses in the adapter the wifi itself would stay connected.

Even if you use your method to do the wifi change function in the bridge I suspect you may still have to do things with your network because you might have issue with the arp table entries since the mac address may not match the ip when you change networks. Now the other thing the ubiquiti devices do is they can run as a router with the wan on wifi rather than a bridge. This way the NAT might help with some of these issues.

Either way I suspect you have lots of code to write.

 

[Tweephood]

Thank you for your help, @bill001g ; As you foretold, I had to write a lot of code.
I've tried to solve my problem with the Ubiquiti AirGateway AG-PRO-INS, but I wasn't even able to configure it as a bridge, even after a long discussion on the forum and private assistance from a Ubiquiti's specialist.

After this negative experience and realizing that there aren't many devices that can act as a bridge AND be configurable through CLI (except some expensive device from Cisco and others), I decided that I had to choose a reliable device and automate the GUI.

The device I've chosen is the TP-LINK TL-WR902AC, which is cheap and reliable, and automated the GUI with Selenium to switch to different WiFis.

I'm sorry @jsmithepa felt like I didn't explain why wanna do complicated wacky things: any suggestion is welcome to explain better my problem or the solution I found.