Notes on Networking#

Terminology#

TermDescriptionNotes
SFP+Small Form-factor Pluggable (SFP)
SFISerial Framing Interface (SFI) enables high-speed data transmission in 10G SFP+ and 40G QSFP+ optical modules
SerDesSerializer/Deserializer. An integrated circuit transceiver that converts parallel data into serial data for transmission, and then converts the received serial data back into parallel form
802.11X802.1X (capital X) is a port-based network access control standard used for enterprise Wi-Fi authentication
CCKComplementary Code Keying. A modulation scheme used in the 802.11b wireless standard to achieve data rates of 5.5 Mbps and 11 Mbps in the 2.4 GHz band.
PHYPhysical Layer. The lowest layer (Layer 1) of the OSI networking model, responsible for transmitting and receiving raw bit streams over a physical medium (like radio frequencies, copper, or fiber).
OFDMOrthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing. A digital transmission method that splits a single high-speed data stream into multiple slower data streams transmitted simultaneously over many closely spaced, orthogonal subcarrier frequencies.
U.FL (MHF1/IPEX1)Micro-coaxial RF connector used in compact devices.Standard for the older, wider “mini PCIe” Wi-Fi cards (like the Intel 7260 or older Atheros cards)
MHF4 (IPEX4)Even smaller micro-coaxial RF connector than U.FL.

10G / 10-Gigabit SFI/SFP+#

Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX210/AX211/AX411 160MHz (chip-ID: 8086:2725) signal problems#

Probably caused by using U.FL instead of MHF4.

[    3.762926] iwlwifi 0000:03:00.0: enabling device (0000 -> 0002)
[    3.793061] iwlwifi 0000:03:00.0: Detected crf-id 0x400410, cnv-id 0x400410 wfpm id 0x80000000
[    3.793078] iwlwifi 0000:03:00.0: PCI dev 2725/0024, rev=0x420, rfid=0x10d000
[    3.849265] iwlwifi 0000:03:00.0: TLV_FW_FSEQ_VERSION: FSEQ Version: 0.0.2.41
[    3.849974] iwlwifi 0000:03:00.0: loaded firmware version 86.fb5c9aeb.0 ty-a0-gf-a0-86.ucode op_mode iwlmvm
[    4.567381] iwlwifi 0000:03:00.0: Detected Intel(R) Wi-Fi 6 AX210 160MHz, REV=0x420
[    4.574674] iwlwifi 0000:03:00.0: WRT: Invalid buffer destination
[    4.732038] iwlwifi 0000:03:00.0: WFPM_UMAC_PD_NOTIFICATION: 0x20
[    4.732057] iwlwifi 0000:03:00.0: WFPM_LMAC2_PD_NOTIFICATION: 0x1f
[    4.732071] iwlwifi 0000:03:00.0: WFPM_AUTH_KEY_0: 0x90
[    4.732081] iwlwifi 0000:03:00.0: CNVI_SCU_SEQ_DATA_DW9: 0x0
[    4.733573] iwlwifi 0000:03:00.0: loaded PNVM version 16611aa6
[    4.749012] iwlwifi 0000:03:00.0: Detected RF GF, rfid=0x10d000
[    4.818153] iwlwifi 0000:03:00.0: base HW address: XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX
[    4.858768] iwlwifi 0000:03:00.0 wlp3s0: renamed from wlan0
[ 1795.417097] iwlwifi 0000:03:00.0: Registered PHC clock: iwlwifi-PTP, with index: 1

Why are there MEDIATEK MT7925 802.11be 160MHz 2x2 PCIe Wireless Network Adapter [Filogic 360] (mt7925e, chip-ID: 14c3:7925) txpower quirks?#

user@workstation ~ $ sudo inxi -Nxxx
Network:
  Device-1: MEDIATEK MT7925 802.11be 160MHz 2x2 PCIe Wireless Network Adapter
    [Filogic 360] driver: mt7925e v: kernel pcie: gen: 2 speed: 5 GT/s
    lanes: 1 bus-ID: 07:00.0 chip-ID: 14c3:7925 class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlp7s0 state: up mac: XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX
...


user@workstatino ~ $ iw list | grep Freq -A10
                Frequencies:
                        * 2412.0 MHz [1] (20.0 dBm)
                        * 2417.0 MHz [2] (20.0 dBm)
                        * 2422.0 MHz [3] (20.0 dBm)
                        * 2427.0 MHz [4] (20.0 dBm)
                        * 2432.0 MHz [5] (20.0 dBm)
                        * 2437.0 MHz [6] (20.0 dBm)
                        * 2442.0 MHz [7] (20.0 dBm)
                        * 2447.0 MHz [8] (20.0 dBm)
                        * 2452.0 MHz [9] (20.0 dBm)
                        * 2457.0 MHz [10] (20.0 dBm)
--
...


user@workstation ~ $ iwlist wlp7s0 txpower
wlp7s0    unknown transmit-power information.


          Current Tx-Power=3 dBm        (1 mW)


user@workstation ~ $ sudo iw --debug dev wlp7s0 set txpower fixed 19000
...
-- Debug: Received Message:
--------------------------   BEGIN NETLINK MESSAGE ---------------------------
  [NETLINK HEADER] 16 octets
    .nlmsg_len = 36
    .type = 2 <ERROR>
    .flags = 256 <ROOT>
    .seq = -1774725874
    .port = -92112798
  [ERRORMSG] 20 octets
    .error = 0 "Success"
  [ORIGINAL MESSAGE] 16 octets
    .nlmsg_len = 16
    .type = 39 <0x27>
    .flags = 5 <REQUEST,ACK>
    .seq = -1774725874
    .port = -92112798
---------------------------  END NETLINK MESSAGE   ---------------------------
[105318.427902] wlo1: Limiting TX power to 0 (-128 - 0) dBm as advertised by XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX

How to catch IPv6 router advertisement#

root@vault ~ # tcpdump -i tap100i0 '(udp port 546 or 547) or (icmp6 and (ip6[40] == 133 or ip6[40] == 134))' -n -vv
tcpdump: listening on tap100i0, link-type EN10MB (Ethernet), snapshot length 262144 bytes
20:44:53.569782 IP6 (hlim 255, next-header ICMPv6 (58) payload length: 64) fe80::ca4c:75ff:fe77:a3d9 > ff02::1: [icmp6 sum ok] ICMP6, router advertisement, length 64
        hop limit 64, Flags [managed], pref medium, router lifetime 1800s, reachable time 0ms, retrans timer 0ms
          source link-address option (1), length 8 (1): c8:4c:75:77:a3:d9
            0x0000:  c84c 7577 a3d9
          mtu option (5), length 8 (1):  1500
            0x0000:  0000 0000 05dc
          prefix info option (3), length 32 (4): fd00:0:1400::/64, Flags [onlink, auto], valid time 2592000s, pref. time 604800s
            0x0000:  40c0 0027 8d00 0009 3a80 0000 0000 fd00
            0x0010:  0000 1400 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000