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Getting the MAC address of teh 5 GHz band
I have a R6300v2 dual band router and need to know the mac address of the 5 GHz band so that I can wirelessly attach a wireless access point. Is there a way to find this other than trying every possi...
antinode wrote:
> [...] need to know the mac address of the 5 GHz band so that I can
> wirelessly attach a wireless access point.
At least one of us seems to be confused. I didn't think that a radio
("band") had a MAC address (which might be why ADVANCED > ADVANCED Home
shows only two: one for the LAN ("Router Information"), one for the WAN
("Internet Port")).I no longer run stock firmware. The third-party firmware that I am currently using does, in fact, use a different MAC on its 5 GHz interface. If the stock firmware doesn't show the MAC address, there are several other ways to figure it out. The simplest may be to connect a computer to the 5 GHz band, run arp -a from a Command Prompt (Windows) or Terminal (Mac) and look for the MAC address listed next to the router's IP address.
On Windows, you can also run netsh wlan show interfaces. The MAC address will be listed as the BSSID. On a Mac, hold down the Option key and click on the Wi-Fi icon on the top right. The BSSID will be listed there.
If you have a Wi-Fi analyzer app, the BSSID will often be listed.
Also, in my experience, "wireless access point" is normally used to
describe a device which is connected by wire to a primary router, and
which offers wireless access in its vicinity. See, for example, in the
R6300v2 User Manual, "Wireless Access Point (AP)", page 100.Technically, every router is the combination of a wireless access point, switch, firewall and IP router. The wireless access point is internally wired to the IP router through the switch.
Perhaps it would help if you described in basic terms exactly what
you want to achieve, rather than ask how to obtain some particular
information which may not exist, in order to do something which may be
self-contradictory.OP stated that he is trying to create a wireless connection to another Access Point. IOW, he is creating a wireless bridge, possibly using WDS. WDS, in particular, requires the MAC address to be known.
> [...] need to know the mac address of the 5 GHz band so that I can
> wirelessly attach a wireless access point.
At least one of us seems to be confused. I didn't think that a radio
("band") had a MAC address (which might be why ADVANCED > ADVANCED Home
shows only two: one for the LAN ("Router Information"), one for the WAN
("Internet Port")).
Also, in my experience, "wireless access point" is normally used to
describe a device which is connected by wire to a primary router, and
which offers wireless access in its vicinity. See, for example, in the
R6300v2 User Manual, "Wireless Access Point (AP)", page 100.
Perhaps it would help if you described in basic terms exactly what
you want to achieve, rather than ask how to obtain some particular
information which may not exist, in order to do something which may be
self-contradictory.
If you don't already have it, then visit http://netgear.com/support ,
put in your model number, and look for Documentation. Get the User
Manual.
antinode wrote:
> [...] need to know the mac address of the 5 GHz band so that I can
> wirelessly attach a wireless access point.
At least one of us seems to be confused. I didn't think that a radio
("band") had a MAC address (which might be why ADVANCED > ADVANCED Home
shows only two: one for the LAN ("Router Information"), one for the WAN
("Internet Port")).
I no longer run stock firmware. The third-party firmware that I am currently using does, in fact, use a different MAC on its 5 GHz interface. If the stock firmware doesn't show the MAC address, there are several other ways to figure it out. The simplest may be to connect a computer to the 5 GHz band, run arp -a from a Command Prompt (Windows) or Terminal (Mac) and look for the MAC address listed next to the router's IP address.
On Windows, you can also run netsh wlan show interfaces. The MAC address will be listed as the BSSID. On a Mac, hold down the Option key and click on the Wi-Fi icon on the top right. The BSSID will be listed there.
If you have a Wi-Fi analyzer app, the BSSID will often be listed.
Also, in my experience, "wireless access point" is normally used to
describe a device which is connected by wire to a primary router, and
which offers wireless access in its vicinity. See, for example, in the
R6300v2 User Manual, "Wireless Access Point (AP)", page 100.
Technically, every router is the combination of a wireless access point, switch, firewall and IP router. The wireless access point is internally wired to the IP router through the switch.
Perhaps it would help if you described in basic terms exactly what
you want to achieve, rather than ask how to obtain some particular
information which may not exist, in order to do something which may be
self-contradictory.
OP stated that he is trying to create a wireless connection to another Access Point. IOW, he is creating a wireless bridge, possibly using WDS. WDS, in particular, requires the MAC address to be known.
TheEther wrote:On Windows, you can also run netsh wlan show interfaces. The MAC address will be listed as the BSSID.
That worked. Many thanks. On my other wireless routers the MAC address for the 5 GHz band ws one higher in the hex code but on this one it turned out to be one lower.
Now to see if I can get a WAC120 I have lying around to talk to it. I have a WNDR3700v1 running dd-wrt that works as a repeater bridge working now, but it has a flaky power plug so it isn't a permanent solution.
> [...] I have a WNDR3700 router on which I installed dd-wrt [...]
Swell. What's on the R6300v2?
> [...] The third-party firmware that I am currently using does, in
> fact, use a different MAC on its 5 GHz interface. [...]
Ok. Around here (D7000, V1.0.1.54_1.0.1; MacBook (13-inch, Aluminum,
Late 2008)), the D7000 reports:
LAN: 50:6A:03:E9:AE:86
WAN: 50:6A:03:E9:AE:87
mba$ arp -a # MacBook, wireless, Channel 157 (5GHz, 40MHz)
gw.antinode.info (10.0.0.1) at 50:6a:3:e9:ae:86 on en1 ifscope [ethernet]
[...]
pro3$ arp -a # Mac Pro, wired
gw.antinode.info (10.0.0.1) at 50:6a:3:e9:ae:86 on en0 ifscope [ethernet]
[...]
And that was as far as I got, originally. However, ...
The Mac System Information (Wi-Fi) report says:
Current Network Information:
<my_SSID>:
PHY Mode: 802.11n
BSSID: 50:6a:03:e9:ae:88
Channel: 157,1
Country Code: US
Network Type: Infrastructure
Security: WPA2 Personal
Signal / Noise: -64 dBm / -87 dBm
Transmit Rate: 162
MCS Index: 12
Other Local Wi-Fi Networks:
<my_SSID>:
PHY Mode: 802.11n
BSSID: 50:6a:03:e9:ae:86
Channel: 4
Network Type: Infrastructure
Security: WPA2 Personal
Signal / Noise: -50 dBm / -92 dBm
[...]
As I read that, the 5GHz wireless appears to get its own BSSID
(LAN+2 = WAN+1), while the 2.4GHz BSSID looks the same as the LAN MAC
address. But, given the "arp -a" reports, it's not immediately obvious
(to me) what's significant in all that. And I have not found anything
in the D7000 web interface which reveals the BSSID values.
> [...] IOW, he is creating a wireless bridge, possibly using WDS. [...]
Ideally, speculation about what's "possibly" being done would be
unnecessary.
> WDS, in particular, requires the MAC address to be known.
Knowing nothing, it appears to me that these BSSIDs may be used as
MAC addresses in the wireless world, which is distinct enough from the
wired LAN to allow reuse of the LAN MAC for the 2.4GHz radio. But a
guided guess at the 5GHz BSSID might be more useful than an "arp -a"
report.
Interesting and educational. Everything's complicated.
antinode wrote:> [...] I have a WNDR3700 router on which I installed dd-wrt [...]
Swell. What's on the R6300v2?Latest Netgear firmware.
> Latest Netgear firmware.
An actual version number would be more useful than your estimate of
what's "Latest" (today). But thanks.