I wanted to know if it is possible to do a pre-association of a station with a new AP that is not discovered yet through the scanning process, but the station is currently associated with an old AP so the distribution system (DS) can request that information to forward to the new AP and then make a pre-association (still the client can't see the new AP).
I want to implement something like this.
1- The client sends an association request.
2- The old AP receives that request. At the same time the old AP delivers that information to the new AP through the DS.
3. The old AP sends an association response that the client hears, and therefore traffic is flowing through this old AP.
4. The new AP sends an association responses that the client doesn't hear. That doesn't matter to me, what really matters is that the AP can put the client in the "associated table" just like a switch does with the mac-address table.
I appreciate all research, info, ideas, etc.
To me, the main issue here is "how to previously know who is 'the new AP'?". To do that you're assuming that you know 'to where' the client is moving and that 'the new AP' is on its way?! It still confused to me... could you better elaborate the question, so I may understand it and potentially help you?
yes I'm assuming that the client will be moving to the new AP, but for me that is not relevant now. I discovered a useful tool called hostapd in wich I can manage AP's functions at a low level.
The hostapd is a user space daemon (BSD-like) for access point and authentication servers. Is it that one?! How do you intend to use it? Let me see if I really got your idea (steps)... The first step means that the client will send a sort of "I-AM-GETTING-OUT-OF-HERE-TO-X" message to the old Access Point? If so, the second step assume that "At the same time the old AP delivers that information to the new AP through the DS". Here is my point.. How the client will specify the "X" AP. Moreover, without this information, to which AP the "old AP" will deliver any information? That why, for me, this is of paramount importance. Well, but pehaps I have just misunderstood your idea...
Yes that is the hostapd, nice utility by the way.
Well the client will use the common association and authentication methods to connect to the first AP but then I'll manage association and authentication using the DS, which is programmable. So the client is dumb in that way because all the intelligence relies on the DS.
So, the basic idea is that the "new AP" (wherever is it) will communicate through DS with a message "CLIENTE-X-IS-COMING" to the "old AP"?! If so, we will come to the same problem. Otherwise, you will create an approach do control all DS... how about the scalability?
The main idea is that when the first client connects to the old AP, it distributes through the DS the station capabilities so the neighborhood (new APs) has a lot of information to associate that station, using hostapd. Using this type of strategy I'm able to do preasociation.
About the scalability I haven't researched that for now.
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