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Accel-ppp on OpenWrt with MESHdesk

Background

• One of the primary goals of MESHdesk is to allow rapid WiFi deployment using Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware with Open Source firmware.
• Another goal is the ability to manage the network usage.
• For bandwidth and data usage we include a captive portal.
• An alternative to a captive portal is PPPoE.
• We introduced PPPoE client support in MESHdesk and APdesk around 2021.
• PPPoE is used by most WISPs.
  • In South Africa (and probably most other countries) the PPPoE server of choice is provided by Mikrotik's RouterOS.
  • This is combined with the CPE of choice (Which is typically Ubiquiti).

• There is already a rock solid and feature rich Open Source PPPoE server called Accel-ppp available for Linux.
• Being a firm believer in Open Source we aim to provide a fully Open Source system, end-to-end, for Internet providers.
• We just needed to get Accel-ppp compiled and running on OpenWrt.
• Thereafter to integrate it with MESHdesk and APdesk.
• This was no small task but thanks to the work done by others in the past we could develop this last missing piece of the puzzle.
• With this part completed we can offer Internet providers a managed alternative which could serve as a drop-in replacement for their current vendor specific PPPoE servers.

POC using a $15 AP

• I like fishing and its much more fun to catch a big fish using a light line.
• For this Proof Of Concept (POC) we decided to also go light with the hardware.
• The Xiaomi 4C were on special so we grabbed a couple of them.
• The special's price equate to ~15USD per device.

POC networks

Jhb-South (Main Mesh)

• We used the Wizard in RADIUSdesk to create a cloud called Jhb-South.
• We edit the Jhb-South mesh Exit Points:
  • Remove the bridge exit point
  • Add a PPPoE server exit point.
  • This connects then with the Jhb-South Wireless SSID

• Jhb-South will be our main mesh network where various APs will connect to using WiFi and PPPoE.

Client Mesh Networks

• We create two client mesh networks called Jhb-South-Unit1 and Jhb-South-Unit2.
• These can typically be a unit in a gated community.

PPPoE RADIUS Users

• We create Permanent Users which will be used by the gateway AP of the Client Mesh Networks.
• Since Accel-ppp can serve as a drop in replacement to Mikrotik we can use the old Mikrotik attributes as is.
• Accel-ppp will interpret them and apply the desired shaping.