CLI Commands Reference¶

This document provides a comprehensive reference for command-line tools used in OpenWrt mesh network administration.

Batman-adv Commands (batctl)¶

The batctl utility is the primary tool for managing and debugging batman-adv mesh networks.

Viewing Mesh Status¶

Originators (Routing Table)¶

batctl o

Shows all nodes in the mesh and their routing metrics:

   Originator        last-seen (#/255) Nexthop           [outgoingIF]
 * aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:01    0.040s   (255) aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:01 [  lan3.100]
   aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:02    0.500s   (220) aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:01 [  lan3.100]

Column	Description
`*`	Best route selected
`Originator`	MAC address of mesh node
`last-seen`	Time since last OGM received
`(#/255)`	TQ value (transmission quality)
`Nexthop`	Next hop MAC address
`[outgoingIF]`	Interface to use

Neighbors¶

batctl n

Shows directly connected neighbors:

IF             Neighbor              last-seen
lan3.100       aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:01     0.040s
mesh0          aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:02     0.500s

Interfaces¶

batctl if

Shows interfaces attached to batman-adv:

lan3.100: active
lan4.100: active
mesh0: active

Gateway List¶

batctl gwl

Shows available gateways and their bandwidth:

  Router            ( TQ) Next Hop          [outgoingIF]  Bandwidth
* aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:01 (255) aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:01 [  lan3.100]: 100.0/100.0 MBit

Gateway Mode¶

batctl gw_mode

Shows current gateway mode: server, client, or off.

Translation Tables¶

Local Clients¶

batctl tl

Shows clients connected to this node.

Global Clients¶

batctl tg

Shows all clients across the mesh.

Debugging¶

Ping (Layer 2)¶

batctl ping <MAC-address>

Ping by MAC address through the mesh.

Traceroute¶

batctl traceroute <MAC-address>

Trace route to destination through mesh.

Statistics¶

batctl s

Shows batman-adv statistics.

TQ Value Reference¶

TQ Value	Quality	Action
255	Perfect	No action needed
200-254	Good	Normal operation
150-199	Fair	Check for interference
100-149	Poor	Investigate link
< 100	Bad	Fix immediately

UCI Configuration Commands¶

UCI (Unified Configuration Interface) is OpenWrt's configuration system.

Viewing Configuration¶

# Show all of a config file
uci show network

# Show specific value
uci get network.lan.ipaddr

# Show in export format
uci export network

# Show uncommitted changes
uci changes

Modifying Configuration¶

# Set a value
uci set network.lan.ipaddr='10.11.12.1'

# Add to a list
uci add_list dhcp.lan.dhcp_option='6,10.11.12.1'

# Delete a setting
uci delete network.wan

# Commit changes
uci commit network

Common UCI Commands¶

Command	Description
`uci show <config>`	Display config in dot notation
`uci export <config>`	Display config in UCI format
`uci get <config>.<section>.<option>`	Get specific value
`uci set <config>.<section>.<option>=<value>`	Set value
`uci delete <config>.<section>`	Delete section
`uci add <config> <type>`	Add new section
`uci commit <config>`	Save changes
`uci revert <config>`	Discard changes
`uci changes`	Show pending changes

Configuration Files¶

File	Purpose
`/etc/config/network`	Network interfaces, VLANs
`/etc/config/wireless`	WiFi configuration
`/etc/config/dhcp`	DHCP server settings
`/etc/config/firewall`	Firewall zones and rules
`/etc/config/system`	Hostname, timezone
`/etc/config/dropbear`	Dropbear SSH settings
`/etc/config/luci`	LuCI web interface

Network Commands¶

Interface Information¶

# List all interfaces (brief)
ip -br link show

# Show IP addresses
ip -br addr show

# Show specific interface
ip addr show bat0

# Interface statistics
ip -s link show bat0

Routing¶

# Show routing table
ip route show

# Show default route
ip route show default

# Add static route
ip route add 192.168.100.0/24 via 10.11.12.1

# Show routing rules
ip rule show

ARP/Neighbors¶

# Show ARP cache
ip neigh show

# Clear ARP cache
ip neigh flush all

Bridge Commands¶

# Show bridge members
brctl show

# Show bridge MAC table
brctl showmacs br-lan

# Show STP status
brctl showstp br-lan

Testing Connectivity¶

# Basic ping
ping -c 5 10.11.12.2

# Ping with specific interface
ping -I bat0 10.11.12.2

# MTU testing
ping -M do -s 1472 10.11.12.2

# Traceroute
traceroute -n 10.11.12.2

# Test specific port
nc -zv 10.11.12.2 22

Wireless Commands (iw)¶

Device Information¶

# List wireless devices
iw dev

# Radio information
iw phy phy0 info

# Current channel
iw dev wlan0 info

Scanning¶

# Scan for networks (may briefly disrupt connections)
iw dev wlan0 scan | grep -E "(SSID|signal|freq)"

Station Information¶

# Connected stations (AP mode)
iw dev wlan1 station dump

# Mesh peers (802.11s)
iw dev mesh0 station dump

# Survey data (noise, busy time)
iw dev wlan0 survey dump

Signal Quality¶

# Check signal strength for a station
iw dev wlan1 station dump | grep signal

Package Management (opkg)¶

Querying Packages¶

# List installed packages
opkg list-installed

# Search for packages
opkg list | grep batman

# Show package info
opkg info batctl-full

# Check for upgrades
opkg list-upgradable

Installing/Removing¶

# Update package lists
opkg update

# Install package
opkg install batctl-full

# Remove package
opkg remove batctl-full

# Install from URL
opkg install http://example.com/package.ipk

Common Packages¶

Package	Description
`batctl-full`	Batman-adv control tool
`kmod-batman-adv`	Batman-adv kernel module
`wpad-mesh-mbedtls`	WiFi daemon with mesh support
`openssh-server`	OpenSSH server
`collectd`	Metrics collection
`vnstat`	Bandwidth monitoring

Service Management¶

Init Scripts¶

# Start service
/etc/init.d/network start

# Stop service
/etc/init.d/network stop

# Restart service
/etc/init.d/network restart

# Reload configuration
/etc/init.d/network reload

# Enable at boot
/etc/init.d/network enable

# Disable at boot
/etc/init.d/network disable

# Check status
/etc/init.d/network status

Common Services¶

Service	Description
`network`	Network interfaces
`wireless`	WiFi (via `wifi` command)
`firewall`	Firewall rules
`dnsmasq`	DHCP/DNS server
`sshd`	OpenSSH server
`dropbear`	Dropbear SSH server
`collectd`	Metrics collection
`vnstat`	Bandwidth tracking
`cron`	Scheduled tasks

WiFi Commands¶

# Reload wireless config
wifi reload

# Bring up all radios
wifi up

# Bring down all radios
wifi down

# Show wireless status
wifi status

System Commands¶

System Information¶

# OpenWrt version
cat /etc/openwrt_release

# Kernel version
uname -a

# System uptime
uptime

# Memory usage
free -m

# Disk usage
df -h

# CPU info
cat /proc/cpuinfo

Logging¶

# View system log
logread

# Follow log (live)
logread -f

# Filter by service
logread | grep batman

# Kernel messages
dmesg

# Filter kernel errors
dmesg | grep -i error

Process Management¶

# List processes
ps

# Top processes by CPU
top -b -n 1

# Find process by name
pgrep dnsmasq

# Kill process
kill <pid>

Backup and Restore¶

# Create backup
sysupgrade -b /tmp/backup.tar.gz

# Restore backup
sysupgrade -r /tmp/backup.tar.gz

# Flash firmware (keep settings)
sysupgrade /tmp/firmware.bin

# Flash firmware (wipe settings)
sysupgrade -n /tmp/firmware.bin

# Factory reset
firstboot && reboot

Firewall Commands¶

nftables (Modern)¶

# List all rules
nft list ruleset

# List specific table
nft list table inet fw4

# Flush all rules (careful!)
nft flush ruleset

iptables (Legacy)¶

# List filter rules
iptables -L -v -n

# List NAT rules
iptables -t nat -L -v -n

# Enable packet tracing
iptables -t raw -A PREROUTING -p icmp -j TRACE

Diagnostic Script¶

Create a comprehensive diagnostic script:

#!/bin/sh
# Save as /tmp/diag.sh

echo "=== System ==="
cat /etc/openwrt_release | grep DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION
uptime
free -m | head -2

echo -e "\n=== Network ==="
ip -br addr show | grep -E "(bat0|br-lan)"
ip route show default

echo -e "\n=== Batman Mesh ==="
batctl if
echo "Neighbors: $(batctl n | wc -l)"
batctl gwl

echo -e "\n=== Wireless ==="
iw dev | grep -E "(Interface|ssid|channel)"

echo -e "\n=== Services ==="
for svc in network firewall dnsmasq sshd collectd; do
  /etc/init.d/$svc status 2>/dev/null || echo "$svc: not running"
done

echo -e "\n=== Recent Errors ==="
logread | grep -i error | tail -5

Run with:

sh /tmp/diag.sh

Quick Reference Card¶

Most Common Commands¶

Task	Command
View mesh nodes	`batctl o`
View neighbors	`batctl n`
View gateways	`batctl gwl`
View interfaces	`ip -br addr`
View routes	`ip route`
View logs	`logread`
Restart network	`/etc/init.d/network restart`
Reload wireless	`wifi reload`
Update packages	`opkg update`
System backup	`sysupgrade -b /tmp/backup.tar.gz`

Emergency Commands¶

Situation	Command
Network broken	`/etc/init.d/network restart`
Can't SSH	Serial console: 115200 8N1
Factory reset	`firstboot && reboot`
Rollback config	`uci revert; /etc/init.d/network restart`