[Trac #901] Problems pinging WDS-enabled access points.

[Zarro Boogs per Child]

#901: Problems pinging WDS-enabled access points.
----------------------+-----------------------------------------------------
 Reporter:  jcardona  |       Owner:  blizzard 
     Type:  defect    |      Status:  new      
 Priority:  normal    |   Milestone:  Untriaged
Component:  distro    |    Keywords:           
----------------------+-----------------------------------------------------
 The current version of the hardware MAC does not support the new frame
 type defined in 802.11s (type 0x3).  Because of this, mesh frames are
 implemented as standard WDS (type 0x2, 4-addr) frames augmented with the
 new 802.11s mesh fields.  This causes collisions with WDS-enabled APs, in
 particular with APs that automatically learn about other WDS nodes.

 To test:

 Setup: 1 xo + 1 Linksys WRT54G Access Point v3.1 or other WDS-enabled AP

 Steps:
  1. Associate to AP
  2. Assign static address to eth0
  3. ping some nodes in the mesh
  4. ping AP

 Result:  ping to AP will fail, no ARP entry is created for the AP

 More detail:  Step 3 produces broadcast WDS arp requests (ARP requests
 into the
 mesh).  The AP, as it supports WDS will receive those requests and record
 xo as a WDS node.  In step 4. the xo will send a broadcast 3-addr ARP
 request, intended for the AP.  The AP, will reply to the ARP in 4-addr
 format,
 which will then be (mis)interpreted by the firmware as a mesh frame.

-- 
Ticket URL: <http://dev.laptop.org/ticket/901>
One Laptop Per Child <http://laptop.org/>