From: Jim Thompson (jim_at_netgate.com)
Date: 2002-09-26 23:58:15 UTC
even with hostap, the f/w generates beacons, I don't remember exactly,
but it may generate probe response
frames as well.
In order to support 'ANY' incoming ESSID, you'll first need to be able to generate probe responses for any requested essid (including a zero length essid), and then
Cisco, apparently, as the ability to respond to any probe request with the APs bssid, and then ignore the ESSID in the association request.
"ANY" is a perfectly valid ESSID, though some manufacturers (wrongly) association semantics (zero-length ESSID) with the string "ANY".
Jim
On Thursday, September 26, 2002, at 05:42 PM, Pedro Estrela wrote:
>
> As far as i know, it isn't possible. Each AP uses only one ESSID to
> define
> the L2 network name, and it's up to the clients to choose which
> network will
> they associate.
> Also note that "ANY" isn't a "valid" network name; it's just an
> "wildcard"
> used until the client associates to one single network; afterwards, the
> client always uses that chosen ESSID for all operations.
>
> Pedro Estrela
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Jun Sun" <jsun_at_junsun.net>
> To: <hostap_at_lists.ssh.com>
> Sent: Thursday, September 26, 2002 11:11 PM
> Subject: Can hostap allow association request with any ESSID?
>
>
>>
>> I know if you set ESSID to "ANY" in client drivers (including
>> hostap I believe. True?) then the client can associate with
>> any nearby AP.
>>
>> I like to do the reverse with hostap in master mode. In other words,
>> I want hostap to allow association from a client that has arbitrary
>> ESSID.
>>
>> I tried to set "ANY" as the ESSID when hostap runs in master mode.
>> And got an error message. See below.
>>
>> Is there a way to do what I want to do? Or at least is this
>> even possible? Thanks.
>>
>> Jun
>>
>>
>> [root_at_jstest1 Prism2-2002-05-19]# iwconfig wlan0 essid ANY
>> Error for wireless request "Set ESSID" (8B1A) :
>> SET failed on device wlan0 ; Invalid argument.
>>
>
>