I'm trying to set up an Ubuntu server as a wireless access point but having some difficulty getting it all to work. I'm using the following netplan config:
network:
version: 2
renderer: NetworkManager
ethernets:
eth0:
dhcp4: no
dhcp6: no
wifis:
wlan0:
dhcp4: no
dhcp6: no
access-points:
"SSID":
password: "password"
mode: ap
bridges:
br0:
interfaces:
- eth0
- wlan0
addresses: [10.0.0.2/24]
routes:
- to: default
via: 10.0.0.1
macaddress: <eth0 mac address>
dhcp4: no
dhcp6: no
One issue I'm having is that with this configuration if the wifi adaptor is present netplan refuses to assign any of the statically configured IP addresses to any interface. If I remove the wifi adaptor from the system and change no configuration settings the bridge interface correctly comes up with the static IP address. Edit - interestingly, this isn't true on fresh boot, the bridge seems to come online correctly in that case.
The other issue I'm having is that clients fail to connect. Initially even with the HWE kernel a failed connection would cause a kernel panic, which for some reason would happen again on reboot even if the client didn't reattempt a connection. After upgrading to 23.04 for some reason only some clients cause a kernel panic, but all fail to connect.
In case it's relevant I'm using a Netgear A8000, I tried both 22.04 LTS with the HWE kernel and upgrading to 23.04 as above - the adaptor should be supported in both cases in AP mode as per https://github.com/morrownr/USB-WiFi/blob/main/home/USB_WiFi_Adapters_that_are_supported_with_Linux_in-kernel_drivers.md (I have applied the udev workaround to direct the kernel to use the appropriate driver).
Does anyone have any advice for troubleshooting this? Everything seems to line up with working configurations others have used.