Updated June, 17 2013 : bad copy/paste, script did not work! Arghhh. Now fixed!
#!/bin/bash
#
# Wifi Repeater/Range extender script
#
# last modified 12/Apr/2013
# - adapted for Debian (tested under 7.0 Wheezy)
#
# http://agentoss.wordpress.com / fredo696@gmail.com
#
# thanks to : http://www.aerospacesoftware.com/howtos/Laptop-NAT-Howto.html
#
# hardware requirements : 2 wireless NICs
# software requirements : iptables, wpa_supplicant, hostapd, dnsmasq, dhcpcd (or equivalent)
#
# This is a standalone script, it will not use your existing configuration files
# (wpa_supplicant/hostapd)
#
# Both wireless interfaces will use WPA/WPA2 encryption.
#
# BEFORE STARTING THIS SCRIPT :
# - you must have root rights
# - stop your wireless connection manager (networkmanager, wicd, etc...)
# - disable your firewall
# - disable power management (prevent the computer to go into suspend mode when unused)
#
# This script has been tested on OpenSUSE 12.2, Debian 7.0
# but should work on other Linux systems with minor adaptations.
# this is the wireless interface we use to connect to our main AP
WLAN_STA="wlan0"
# enter here your SSID and WPA passphrase
WLAN_STA_SSID="YOUR_EXISTING_SSID"
WLAN_STA_PASSPHRASE="your$existing$passphrase"
# this is the wireless interface we use to create our new AP (the "repeater" AP)
WLAN_AP="wlan1"
# your new AP's SSID
WLAN_AP_SSID="REPEAT_$WLAN_STA_SSID"
# Be sure to use different channels for the 2 AP's for best performance
WLAN_AP_CHANNEL=6
WLAN_AP_IP="192.168.7.1"
WLAN_AP_DHCP_RANGE="192.168.7.10,192.168.7.20"
# we can use the same passphrase (or not)
WLAN_AP_PASSPHRASE=$WLAN_STA_PASSPHRASE
# temp files (will contain clear passphrases!)
HOSTAP_TEMP_CONF="/root/hostap_temp.conf"
WPASUPPLICANT_TEMP_CONF="/root/wpasupplicant_temp.conf"
# Path for used commands (adapt to your system)
#DHCPCD="/sbin/dhcpcd"
#for Debian we use dhclient (installed by default)
DHCPCD=$(which dhclient)
HOSTAPD=$(which hostapd)
WPASUPPLICANT=$(which wpa_supplicant)
DNSMASQ=$(which dnsmasq)
IPTABLES=$(which iptables)
# Main program
# check if we are root
if [ $EUID -ne 0 ]; then
echo `basename $0` ": this script must be run as root!" 1>&2
exit 1
fi
# check for software we need
if [ ! -x $DHCPCD ]; then
echo "FATAL: $DHCPCD not found!"; exit 1
fi
if [ ! -x $HOSTAPD ]; then
echo "FATAL: $HOSTAPD not found!"; exit 1
fi
if [ ! -x $WPASUPPLICANT ]; then
echo "FATAL: $WPASUPPLICANT not found!"; exit 1
fi
if [ ! -x $DNSMASQ ]; then
echo "FATAL: $DNSMASQ not found!"; exit 1
fi
if [ ! -x $IPTABLES ]; then
echo "FATAL: $IPTABLES not found!"; exit 1
fi
# check for wireless interfaces
ifconfig $WLAN_STA 1>&2>/dev/null
if [[ $? -ne 0 ]]; then
echo "FATAL: Wireless interface $WLAN_STA unavailable!"; exit 1
fi
ifconfig $WLAN_AP 1>&2>/dev/null
if [[ $? -ne 0 ]]; then
echo "FATAL: Wireless interface $WLAN_AP unavailable!"; exit 1
fi
# some cleanup
# stop network-manager or wicd daemons if running
service network-manager stop 2>/dev/null
service wicd stop 2>/dev/null
# kill existing wireless connections from previous execution of this script
$DHCPCD -x $WLAN_STA 2>/dev/null
$DHCPCD -x $WLAN_AP 2>/dev/null
killall wpa_supplicant 2>/dev/null
# kill running hostapd daemon if it exists
killall hostapd 2>/dev/null
# kill dnsmasq dhcp
killall dnsmasq 2>/dev/null
# empty existing temp.conf files, for security
>$HOSTAP_TEMP_CONF
>$WPASUPPLICANT_TEMP_CONF
# stop the repeater? then just exit, we have already cleaned up!
if [ "$1" == "stop" ]; then
echo "Repeater has been stopped."
exit 0;
fi
# else, continue and create our repeater AP
echo "Please wait, starting up... "
# create temp wpa_supplicant.conf file for our STA interface
cat >$WPASUPPLICANT_TEMP_CONF <$HOSTAP_TEMP_CONF <<EOF
interface=$WLAN_AP
country_code=FR
ieee80211d=1
ssid=$WLAN_AP_SSID
hw_mode=g
channel=$WLAN_AP_CHANNEL
wme_enabled=0
macaddr_acl=0
auth_algs=1
wpa=2
wpa_passphrase=$WLAN_AP_PASSPHRASE
wpa_key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
wpa_pairwise=TKIP
rsn_pairwise=CCMP
EOF
# start the STA interface (my router has a DHCP server)
$DHCPCD $WLAN_STA
if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
echo "FATAL: unable to start $WLAN_STA interface! ($DHCPCD)"; exit 1
fi
# start hostapd daemon to create the "repeater" AP
$HOSTAPD -B $HOSTAP_TEMP_CONF
if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
echo "FATAL: unable to start $WLAN_AP interface ($HOSTAPD)!"; exit 1
fi
# assign an IP address to the AP, and start a new DHCP server
ifconfig $WLAN_AP $WLAN_AP_IP netmask 255.255.255.0
$DNSMASQ --dhcp-range=$WLAN_AP_DHCP_RANGE --interface=$WLAN_AP
if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
echo "FATAL: unable to start dhcp server! ($DNSMASQ)"; exit 1
fi
# enable packet forwarding and add firewall rules to allow forwarding packets
# between our 2 network interfaces.
IF_IN=$WLAN_STA
IF_OUT=$WLAN_AP
sysctl -w net.ipv4.ip_forward=1
$IPTABLES -F
$IPTABLES -X
$IPTABLES -P INPUT ACCEPT
$IPTABLES -P OUTPUT ACCEPT
$IPTABLES -P FORWARD ACCEPT
$IPTABLES -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o $IF_IN -j MASQUERADE
$IPTABLES -A FORWARD -i $IF_IN -o $IF_OUT -m state --state RELATED,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
$IPTABLES -A FORWARD -i $IF_OUT -o $IF_IN -j ACCEPT
echo -e "\nWireless repeater access point \"$WLAN_AP_SSID\" is *up* and running!\n"
echo -e "To kill it : `basename $0` stop"
exit 0
