Default settings

Overview

Creating a software routed access point (AP) requires the installation and setup of several Linux services. RaspAP uses a "known-good" default configuration as a starting point. This facilitates a faster setup by not prompting the user for various network settings during the installation. More importantly, it eliminates guesswork that can lead to conflicts down the road. When the manual or quick installation is completed, the user will have a functional AP that they can then administer with RaspAP's web interface.

While this project handles every facet of this process for you, it's still recommended that users familiarize themselves with the steps involved in building an AP from start to finish.

Configuration directory

To every extent possible, RaspAP's default settings are contained within the project's /config folder. The networking defaults, DNS servers, wireless regulatory data and so on are found here. In this way, the user may modify RaspAP's baseline application settings without touching code.

The exception to this is hostapd.conf which is managed by includes/hostapd.php and effectively rewritten depending on user input. This is due to the complexity of this configuration relative to other services managed by the project. For this reason, manual edits to this file will not be preserved.

Baseline configurations for dhcpcd, dnsmasq (described below) and bridged AP configurations are contained here.

Managing config values

The interface itself, default Linux file paths and so on may be changed by modifying the project's configuration file config.php.

Note: The file config/config.php is copied during the installation to includes/config.php and ignored by Git. This way, users can modify includes/config.php without git pull or upgrades complaining about local changes. The file includes/defaults.php loads corresponding default values if they are not set.

For example, RaspAP's interface may be customized simply by changing the following values:

// Optional services, set to true to enable.
define('RASPI_WIFICLIENT_ENABLED', true);
define('RASPI_HOTSPOT_ENABLED', true);
define('RASPI_NETWORK_ENABLED', true);
define('RASPI_DHCP_ENABLED', true);
define('RASPI_ADBLOCK_ENABLED', false);
define('RASPI_OPENVPN_ENABLED', false);
define('RASPI_TORPROXY_ENABLED', false);
define('RASPI_CONFAUTH_ENABLED', true);
define('RASPI_CHANGETHEME_ENABLED', true);
define('RASPI_VNSTAT_ENABLED', true);
define('RASPI_SYSTEM_ENABLED', true);
define('RASPI_MONITOR_ENABLED', false);

The constants defined for Linux configuration file paths are typical and needn't be changed, in most cases. However, you could easily do so simply by modifying this file.

Networking defaults

The default AP interface used by RaspAP is wlan0. This is a typical setting if you are using the RPi's onboard wireless adapter. You can change this to a different interface by modifying the following value in config.php:

define('RASPI_WIFI_AP_INTERFACE', 'wlan0');

Note: If a second wireless adapter is configured for your device, for example bound to the wlan1 interface, RaspAP will automatically detect it and assign it as the default wireless client interface. You may change this setting simply by selecting wlan1 as the AP interface in the Hotspot > Basic panel. After restarting the hotspot, RaspAP will use wlan0 as the client interface.

Default values for the dnsmasq and dhcpcd services can be modified as well. The file config/defaults.json was introduced with the version 2.6 release. This file is copied during the installation to /etc/raspap/networking/, so any changes to it must be made here.

The defaults.json file uses the standard JSON data-interchange format. For example, the default dhcp settings for wlan0 are displayed below:

"dhcp": {
    "wlan0": { 
      "static ip_address": [ "10.3.141.1/24" ],
      "static routers": [ "10.3.141.1" ],
      "static domain_name_server": [ "1.1.1.1 8.8.8.8" ],
      "subnetmask": [ "255.255.255.0" ]
    }

Likewise, the DHCP ranges for both wlan0 and the virtual uap0 interface are shown below:

"dnsmasq": {
    "wlan0": {
      "dhcp-range": [ "10.3.141.50,10.3.141.255,255.255.255.0,12h" ]
    },
    "uap0": {
      "dhcp-range": [ "192.168.50.50,192.168.50.150,12h" ]
    }

These default settings are defined as fallback values. That is, if a user-defined value is undefined these will be used in their place.

DNS servers

The list of hosted DNS servers available in the Upstream DNS servers panel in DHCP > Advanced may be modified to suit your needs. The file config/dns-servers.json contains a JSON formatted collection of hostnames and IPv4 addresses, like so:

"Google": [
    "8.8.4.4",
    "8.8.8.8"
  ],
  "OpenDNS": [
    "208.67.220.220",
    "208.67.222.222"
  ],
  "Quad9": [
    "9.9.9.9"
  ],

Edits to this file in place will immediately be reflected in the user interface.

Wireless regulatory data

802.11 wireless AC support is not simply a function of your device's hardware capabilities. It must also take into account regulatory restrictions of the wireless spectrum. The regulatory info for brcmfmac, the kernel driver that supports the Broadcom wireless chipset, is embedded in the firmware of RPi models 3B+ and 4.

There are lots of international issues with Wi-Fi that restrict channel use, transmission power, etc. on a regional and per-country basis. As a result, only combinations of certain frequencies (channels) and countries are capable of hosting an AC access point with the RPi's wireless adapter.

Based on rigorous testing of RaspAP's AC wireless mode with supported RPi hardware, the file config/wireless.json was developed to capture regulatory data as it applies here. For example, the countries that permit 5 GHz low-power AC channels (according to brcmfmac) are defined below:

"5Ghz_max48ch": {
        "countries": [ "NL","US" ],
        "channels": [ 36, 40, 44, 48 ]
    }

If you think your country might support AC wireless, this file may be modified in place and the options reflected in the Hotspot > Basic panel. See this FAQ for more information.

Restoring settings

If you've modified RaspAP's default configuration and the AP no longer works as expected, the defaults may be restored simply by running the Quick installer again or by following the steps described in the manual installation.