Route external networks using Thread.

[khrono252]

I have been doing a lot of tests using a Thread border router from ESP but can`t find a way to do this.

It seems that modifying the on mesh prefix to match the global address and setting manual routes gets a ICMP6 request to get inside the Thread network and be routed from BR1 to BR2.

I have some questions:
Can I have more than one on mesh prefix set on my network?
I should use a different kind of prefix?

For some reason when I add a manual route to the br1 after adding my prefix the prefix gets removed.

prefix add 2a0c:5a82:8100:6b00::/64 paosr low
route add 2a0c:5a82:8100:6b00::/64 med

Does someone know if this can be set on my network?

Any help will be appreciated.

[jwhui]

A Thread network can only be configured with one On-Mesh Prefix. However, a Thread network may be configured with multiple Off-Mesh Routable Prefixes.

In your diagram, it's not clear where the links are. For example, does the Linux box have one Ethernet connection to OT BR1 and a separate Ethernet connection to the Internet? Can you update your diagram to clearly show the separate Ethernet / Wi-Fi /Thread subnets?

[jwhui]

For this to work, you'll need to:

1. Configure each subnet with a different IPv6 prefix - this makes it possible for devices to address each other across the three different subnets.
2. Configure the Thread network with two separate routes to the Ethernet prefix and Wi-Fi prefix - this makes it possible for Thread devices to know which BR to send packets to.

Note that the routes configured on the Thread network must be different than the prefix configured on Thread network.

[khrono252]

This is what Im testing right now.

BR1 settings:
route
fd4a:2a45:11a3:2:0:0::/96 sn low 5800
::/0 s med 5800
2a0c:5a82:8100:6b00::/64 med 5800

prefix
fd4a:2a45:11a3:1::/64 paros low 5800
fdac:c4fd:616e:bde3::/64 pars low 5800

netdata show
Prefixes:
fd4a:2a45:11a3:1::/64 paros low 5800
2a0c:5a82:8100:6b00::/64 pars low a000
fdac:c4fd:616e:bde3::/64 pars low 5800
Routes:
fd4a:2a45:11a3:2:0:0::/96 sn low 5800
fc00::/7 sa med a000
::/0 s med 5800
2a0c:5a82:8100:6b00::/64 med 5800
fdac:c4fd:616e:bde3::/64 s med a000
Services:
44970 5d fd0e73ab6a3c15ba12ac877207a5f24ad120 s a000 1
44970 5d fd0e73ab6a3c15ba6a54833506852572d120 s 5800 1
44970 01 04000500000e10 s 5800 0
Contexts:
fd4a:2a45:11a3:1::/64 2 c
2a0c:5a82:8100:6b00::/64 1 c
fdac:c4fd:616e:bde3::/64 3 c

BR2 settings:
route
fc00::/7 sa med a000
fdac:c4fd:616e:bde3::/64 s med a000
Done

prefix
2a0c:5a82:8100:6b00::/64 pars low a000

netdata show
Prefixes:
fd4a:2a45:11a3:1::/64 paros low 5800
2a0c:5a82:8100:6b00::/64 pars low a000
fdac:c4fd:616e:bde3::/64 pars low 5800
Routes:
fd4a:2a45:11a3:2:0:0::/96 sn low 5800
fc00::/7 sa med a000
::/0 s med 5800
2a0c:5a82:8100:6b00::/64 med 5800
fdac:c4fd:616e:bde3::/64 s med a000
Services:
44970 5d fd0e73ab6a3c15ba12ac877207a5f24ad120 s a000 1
44970 5d fd0e73ab6a3c15ba6a54833506852572d120 s 5800 1
44970 01 04000500000e10 s 5800 0
Contexts:
fd4a:2a45:11a3:1::/64 2 c
2a0c:5a82:8100:6b00::/64 1 c
fdac:c4fd:616e:bde3::/64 3 c

Im seeing that the thread network propagates the prefixes and the routes, also assigns IP addresses to all the nodes in the network.
I tried to ping from Linux 1 to Linux 2 but the ICMP6 message gets stuck in the second border router.

For example, ping from Linux 2 to Linux 1 looks like this:
Linux 2 -> BR2 -> BR1

BR1 logs:
I(31398956) OPENTHREAD:[I] MeshForwarder-: Received IPv6 ICMP6 msg, len:104, chksum:5599, ecn:no, from:0xa000, sec:yes, prio:normal, rss:-28.0
I(31398956) OPENTHREAD:[I] MeshForwarder-: src:[fdac:c4fd:616e:bde3:223:c1ff:fe3e:47fe]
I(31398956) OPENTHREAD:[I] MeshForwarder-: dst:[2a0c:5a82:8100:6b00:---:----:----:---]
ip6_input: packet accepted on interface XX
ip6_input: packet not for us.
ip6_forward: not bouncing packets back on incoming interface.

So I have different prefixes for each network and the Off-Mesh prefix was added on each router. Routes are added on each router.
I'm missing something but I'm not sure what could be.

[jwhui]

You have configured the same prefix fdac:c4fd:616e:bde3::/64 as an on-mesh prefix and external routes.

As I noted above, external routes should not be the same as the on-mesh prefix. External routes point to prefixes that are assigned to networks outside the Thread network.

[khrono252]

I'm trying the following setup:

BR2: 
netdata show
Prefixes:
fd4a:2a45:11a3:1::/64 paros low 5800
fdac:c4fd:616e:bde3::/64 pars low a000
Routes:
fd4a:2a45:11a3:2:0:0::/96 sn low 5800
fc00::/7 sa med a000
::/0 s med 5800
fdac:c4fd:616e:bde3:223:c1ff::/96 med a000
Services:
44970 5d fd0e73ab6a3c15ba12ac877207a5f24ad120 s a000 1
44970 5d fd0e73ab6a3c15ba6a54833506852572d120 s 5800 1
44970 01 04000500000e10 s 5800 0
Contexts:
fd4a:2a45:11a3:1::/64 2 c
fdac:c4fd:616e:bde3::/64 3 c
Commissioning:
51152 - - -
Done

BR1 : 
Prefixes:
fd4a:2a45:11a3:1::/64 paros low 5800
fdac:c4fd:616e:bde3::/64 pars low a000
Routes:
fd4a:2a45:11a3:2:0:0::/96 sn low 5800
fc00::/7 sa med a000
::/0 s med 5800
fdac:c4fd:616e:bde3:223:c1ff::/96 med a000
Services:
44970 5d fd0e73ab6a3c15ba12ac877207a5f24ad120 s a000 1
44970 5d fd0e73ab6a3c15ba6a54833506852572d120 s 5800 1
44970 01 04000500000e10 s 5800 0
Contexts:
fd4a:2a45:11a3:1::/64 2 c
fdac:c4fd:616e:bde3::/64 3 c
Commissioning:
51152 - - -
Done

Prefixes and routes that were setup in BR2 are being propagated to BR1 but when I try to send an ICMP6 message this is what happens:

Linux 1 -> BR1 
BR1 logs: 
ip6_input: packet accepted on interface XX
ip6_input: packet not for us.
ip6_forward: forwarding packet to fdac:c4fd:616e:bde3:223:c1ff:fe3e:47fe
I(287276136) OPENTHREAD:[N] Ip6-----------: Failed to find valid route for: fdac:c4fd:616e:bde3:223:c1ff:fe3e:47fe

If there is a route set and is already propagated why is BR1 unable to find a valid route?
Route already has a different prefix.

[jwhui]

It looks like you have:

• fdac:c4fd:616e:bde3::/64 assigned to the Thread network
• fdac:c4fd:616e:bde3:223:c1ff::/96 configured as an external route

Can you try a configuration that does not share the same /64 prefix across both the Thread network and external network?