FAQ - Kerlink Gateway

Gateways Kerlink Gateways
83

There is a wrong link in the how to. This old software does not send a status update. Just replaced it. Please try again.

84

cool
 will update it tomorrow


maybe it would be nice to be able to automatically alter the status messages in both the api and the TTN-specific packetforwarder software so that the “remark” on ttnstatus.org is also automatically filled
 instead of having to manual: New Gateway Registration ?

i’ve seen local_conf.json files having stuff like:

"gateway_conf": {
    /* Email of gateway operator, max 40 chars*/
    "contact_email": "", 
    /* Public description of this device, max 64 chars */
    "description": ""    
}
85

Yes! and also the interactive map with long latitude. I beleve those field are only possible with the poly packed forwarder. But that’s it the one in de dota file I updated yesterday.

86

Greeting. Where I can configure PPPoE connection in Kerlink Gateway? Now, I can connecting with 3G (i have staion with 3g modem modification) and DHCP. But, when I haven’t DHCP-server, how my gateway will receive the Internet?

87

on my kerlink’s firmware the pppd libs are there ( e.g. ./usr/lib/pppd/2.4.5/rp-pppoe.so )

so you should be able to configure pppoe like any other linux pppoe client (google for a pppoe client setup guide)

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88

If you’re still figuring out how to configure the Kerlink to use GPRS/3G, things to consider are: choose your ip_link address in /knet/knetd.xml wisely as the auto connect mechanism depends on this. Also make sure the poly packet forwarder is restarted whenever there is an interface change (i.e. ppp0 comes up/goes down) as it will break your IP config if it isn’t.

Read more here: https://ipv6.net/blog/how-to-configure-the-kerlink-iot-gateway-using-the-gprs3g-modem/

Cheers!
Erwin

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89

I`m trying to add a Kerklink Gateway to the TheThingsNetwork but the local config file seems to be invalid. I cannot figure out how to get the gateway_ID correct. It is MAC based right?

{ "gateway_conf": { "gateway_ID": "xxxxxx", "serv_port_up": 1700, "serv_port_down": 1700, "server_address": "croft.thethings.girovito.nl", "forward_crc_valid": true, "forward_crc_error": false, "forward_crc_disabled": true } }

90

I think it is not MAC based, but serial number. Look at the format in the other gateways, it should be something like “AA555A0008060599”.

91

I did not find any serial number on the casing or inside the Kerlink which reseambles the AA555 number

92

from the manual ;

Please note that the pkt-fwd.sh script will automatically update the gateway_ID field in local_conf.json file, based on the gateway MAC address, so that it is sure to use a unique gateway ID on the network.
Revision 0.7 – August 13th 2015 Page 10 of 11 www.semtech.com ©2014 Semtech Corporation

WIRELESS & SENSING PRODUCTS
For example, if the gateway’s MAC address is 02:4B:08:04:00:53, the gateway_ID in local_conf.json will be “xxxxxxxx08040053”. The last 8 digits of the gateway_ID correspond to the last 8 digits of the MAC address.

93

I don`t think this script wil do that ?

BASE="/mnt/fsuser-1/thethingsnetwork" cd ${BASE} export LD_LIBRARY_PATH="$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:/usr/lib" killall poly_pkt_fwd modem_off.sh sleep 3 modem_on.sh sleep 3 ./poly_pkt_fwd

Maybe i did something wrong a first setup to begin with

94

i did a quick dump of gateways on the TTN and if indeed Kerlink starts with AA55 then it looks like the gateway id start withs AA 55 5A 00 followed by 4 (mac) bytes

gateways/AA555A00080605B7/status
gateways/AA555A0008060778/status
gateways/AA555A00080E0021/status
gateways/AA555A00080E014A/status

95

The gateway_ID is based on the following (Kerlink):

The dota file runs a script to set the mac address. It is a combination of 0000 + 024b08 + the mac address of the Lora chip. This can can be found on a sticker on the case ( in de form of 0x080*****).

The script is as follows:

#!/bin/sh

MAC_ADDR_COMMON="024b08"
KNET_ID=$(get_uvar ethaddr | awk -F\: '{print tolower($4$5$6)}')
MAC_ADDR=${MAC_ADDR_COMMON}${KNET_ID}

# customize the json file with gateway MAC address

echo "{"                                              > ./mnt/fsuser-1/thethingsnetwork/local_conf.json
echo "  \"gateway_conf\": {"                         >> ./mnt/fsuser-1/thethingsnetwork/local_conf.json
echo "      \"gateway_ID\": \"0000${MAC_ADDR}\","    >> ./mnt/fsuser-1/thethingsnetwork/local_conf.json
echo "      \"serv_port_up\": 1700,"			>> ./mnt/fsuser-1/thethingsnetwork/local_conf.json
echo "      \"serv_port_down\": 1700,"			>> ./mnt/fsuser-1/thethingsnetwork/local_conf.json
echo "      \"server_address\": \"croft.thethings.girovito.nl\"," >> ./mnt/fsuser-1/thethingsnetwork/local_conf.json
echo "      \"forward_crc_valid\": true,"			>> ./mnt/fsuser-1/thethingsnetwork/local_conf.json
echo "      \"forward_crc_error\": false,"			>> ./mnt/fsuser-1/thethingsnetwork/local_conf.json
echo "      \"forward_crc_disabled\": true"			>> ./mnt/fsuser-1/thethingsnetwork/local_conf.json
echo "  }"                                           >> ./mnt/fsuser-1/thethingsnetwork/local_conf.json
echo "}"                                             >> ./mnt/fsuser-1/thethingsnetwork/local_conf.json

I believe AA555A00 is the common address of the Multitech gateways, followed by the same 080***** which is the mac address of the Lora chip.

96

thanks what is the name and the path of the script ?

97

It’s in the root of the dotafile and called end_dota.sh.

98

Hello all,

I am trying to enable the so called udp_transmitter on a Kerlink gateway, however I cannot do it since I cannot upload anythign to the built-in FTP server of the Kerlink, I always get a > remote open(/tx_data/message.json) permission denied , someone with the same issue? Some solution available?

Thanks

99

On the Kerlink wiki:

FTP server

To access the board with FTP, you must use an anonymous acces without password. The share directory will be /var/ftp.

If you want modify FTP permissions, you must edit /etc/vsftpd.conf file. You can find help here.

100

THanks @Fokko , I will take a look into it.

101

Hello @Fokko

I would like to install the poly-pkt-fwd in my Kerlink gateway, I have been reading the wiki but it seems a bit outdated, specially regarding the software to be installed. Looking into TTN git repository I have found the dota file dota_thethingsnetwork_v1.3_EU.tar.gz, my question is rather simple, where should I place this file? Are there dependencies?

Looking through the files, it seems that I only have to run the script begin_dota.sh and it takes care of installing the forwarder, however I would like to be sure about this. Likewise, I have reading about the gateway_ID parameter, I see that end_dota.sh generates the MAC_ADDR from the ethaddr, does this mean that I don’t have to do anything to have the proper MAC address set?

Thanks again!

regards!

102

We have followed the instructions on the wiki page (great page and description BTW!) to install our Kerlink gateway within our Lab in Amstelveen.

A few things to change/add:

  • It is described that: “Copy the content of produsb.zip and the dotafile onto an empty USB flash drive formatted in FAT-32. Make sure there is no .log file.” The link although for the packet forwarder gives a “dota_thethingsnetwork_v1.3_EU.tar.gz” file which must be renamed to “produsb.tar.gz” otherwise the update will not work.

  • To check whether data is being sent/received you provide for tcpdump -i eth0 -n -vvvX host 54.229.214.112 this is pointing to packets from croft not from/to router.eu.thethings.network

  • First setup we did with a GPRS connection and the configuration on our kerlink looks a bit different than yours. These settings we could not find and when we added them it did not work:

    <>CONNECT link_timeout\="30"/>
<>CONNECT ip_link="192.168.4.90"/>

    So we left them out and it works!

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