How to use multiple wifi's?

[user1111]

I created a new virtual interface

iw dev wlan0 interface add wlan1 type station

Run iwconfig -a ... to see the interfaces, mine for instance shows the addition of a wlan124

(you can delete using iw dev wlan124 del)

Assign a new mac to that to avoid conflicts

ip link set dev wlan124 address 00:d0:56:f2:b5:12
(I just picked a valid mac at random)

I have to use Fatdog control panel, network, network setup (cli version) to associate and connect that to whatever ssid/access point, as Fatdog's desktop gui network tool didn't work for me with multiple wifi's. ... and great, its all up and running where the same single wifi hardware in my laptop is connected to two different SSID's

I tried to set up namespace based routing ...

To create a new namespace named test:
ip netns add test

Assign a network interface to that
ip link set wlan124 netns test

... but that failed. i.e. my intent was to then/subsequently execute a program in that namespace using something like ...
ip netns exec test <command to run against that namespace>

So fundamentally, two issues :

1. Fatdog gui network controller isn't as functional as the cli based version (that does support multiple wifi associations)

2. How can I direct/route specific commands/programs through to a particular SSID

PS When you have two (or presumably more) wifi ssid's recorded in wpa_gui (Network Tool), the wifi tab Manage Settings aren't preserved across reboots. For instance with two SSID's, one set to 'disabled' and wifi net connected to the other (enabled) interface, after a reboot I find that the disabled interface is enabled and has become the active connection.

[step]

So fundamentally, two issues :

1. Fatdog gui network controller isn't as functional as the cli based version (that does support multiple wifi associations)

2. How can I direct/route specific commands/programs through to a particular SSID

PS When you have two (or presumably more) wifi ssid's recorded in wpa_gui (Network Tool), the wifi tab Manage Settings aren't preserved across reboots. For instance with two SSID's, one set to 'disabled' and wifi net connected to the other (enabled) interface, after a reboot I find that the disabled interface is enabled and has become the active connection.

1. That's correct. Network Tool (the GUI) is designed for a single wifi association. If multiple radios are available one can choose a default radio with Fatdog Wireless Antenna but fundamentally it's still a single wifi association.

2. Have you tried executing ip route inside the network namespace where you moved your other wifi interface? Something like ip netns exec test ip route ... I'd try moving the interface into the namespace first then setting it up from there (address, connection). However, I'm not sure that it's supported for a virtual wlan. Possibly it could be done for a physical interface depending on the driver's capabilities.

PS To effect the 'enabled'/'disabled' status change in the GUI you need to click Edit and save interface settings, no need to change any of the fields. I know, it isn't intuitive.

[user1111]

Thanks Step. The edit/save tip did the trick

For the routing I've gone down the simpler path of just taking down the relevant (primary) interface before setting up the ssh tunnel that I'm using, and then bringing the primary interface back up again. The secondary interface that I'm attaching to the ssh tunnel is a guest wifi, so if cracked that blocks potential access to our router admin.