The Raspberry Pi as a Portable router with RaspAP

Make your RPi work as a router that you can trust on your trips while connecting to unknown networks.

There are 2 modalities:

• RPi + RaspAP as Wifi Repeater
  • A Raspberry Pi (Im using a Pi4 2gb, ARM32) with Raspberry Pi OS installed
  • Ethernet Cable
  • We will use Ethernet to connect the RPi to Internet and then server an amplified WIfi signal with the built in Wifi
• RPi + RaspAP as Wifi AP
  • A Raspberry Pi, ofc
  • A Wifi dongle / usb stick compatible

And there is also a containerized (Docker) way to use RaspAP

RaspAP is All You Need

• https://github.com/RaspAP/raspap-webgui

The Official docs are using RaspOS Lite 32bits

cat /etc/os-release #will specify the OS name, example RaspOS `bookworm`
uname -a #kernel check

RaspAP Quick Setup

• https://github.com/RaspAP/raspap-webgui?tab=readme-ov-file#quick-installer

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get full-upgrade
sudo reboot
 
sudo raspi-config #to select your wifi country: localization options -> WLAN country
 
curl -sL https://install.raspap.com | bash

The built in wlan0, will be generating our hotspot (by default)

Following a reboot, the wireless AP network will be configured as follows:

IP address: 10.3.141.1
Username: admin 
Password: secret
DHCP range: 10.3.141.50 — 10.3.141.255
SSID: raspi-webgui
Password: ChangeMe

You can check the status of the services with:

#sudo systemctl status
sudo systemctl status hostapd #allows your Raspberry Pi to act as a wireless access point
sudo systemctl status dnsmasq #provides DNS and DHCP services, including handing out IP addresses to connected clients.

#sudo systemctl status raspap
#sudo systemctl disable raspapd.service

sudo systemctl status lighttpd #web interface running

The wireless interface should also be ready:

ip a
#iwconfig

You should be able to access the Web UI interface from any local network device at http://your_rpi_localip.

Dont Forget to Enable the WLAN0 to connect to RaspAP

Remember, the default AP WIFI pass is ChangeMe, you can configure it by accessing the UI: 10.3.141.1 when connected to the AP

RaspAP with Docker

We can also combine RaspAP with Docker to make a perfect bundle:

1. Get Docker and Portainer UI Ready
2. Run RaspAP as Docker container with: as per Official Github

#sudo systemctl status docker

docker run --name raspap -it -d --privileged --network=host -v /sys/fs/cgroup:/sys/fs/cgroup:ro --cap-add SYS_ADMIN ghcr.io/raspap/raspap-docker:latest

Web GUI should be accessible on http://localhost by default

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Aknowledgments

• For WIFI AP (WIFI 2 WIFI):
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PvDqb66Rw4
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlHWnKVpygw&t=1528s
• For WIFI extender mode:
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nifXL_5MZeM&t=54s
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z85ma0xTakE
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdNK2p3RhB0

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FAQ

• The Wifi adapter must be OpenWRT compatible (?)

• https://github.com/morrownr/USB-WiFi?tab=readme-ov-file

  • https://github.com/morrownr/USB-WiFi/blob/main/home/AP_Mode/Bridged_Wireless_Access_Point.md

WIFI Repeaters for RaspAP

Adapters working out of the box for Linux Kernel here

• TP-LINK Archer T3U Plus
• TPLINK: TL-WN821N
• Edimax EW-7611ULB (Recommended in the docs)

How to Use a VPN with RaspAP

• OpenVPN
• Wireguard Compatible
• VPN Providers support: Mullvad, NordVPN…

How to make a RPi Pico W local AP

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZNoXXIEPbg
• https://shillehtek.com/blogs/news/creating-a-wireless-network-with-raspberry-pi-pico-w-ap-mode-walkthrough-part-1