Help with retrieving /interface/wireless > scan data

tnakir · Thu Aug 19, 2010 4:37 pm

Hi, I need to make a script that collects data from /interface/wireless/> scan "wlan1" and sends it to the specific mail daily.

I've got everything figured out except for this:

:local wirelesslist [scan $interface1 freeze-frame-interval=0:0:02];

Problem with the scan is that you have to stop it manualy by hitting Q key. In the script the scan is running continously (i guess) so I'm practicly stuck in endless loop. Is there any way I could perform the scan once or simulate user Q input.

Thank you

Chupaka · Thu Aug 19, 2010 5:30 pm

use "duration" parameter

tnakir · Fri Aug 20, 2010 9:32 am

:global interface1 "wlan1";

:global wirelesslist1 ""; 

/interface
wireless

:global wirelesslist1 [scan $interface1 duration=5];

:log info "sending mail"

/tool
e-mail
send server="mail.something.com:25" user="user" password="somepwd" from="sender" to="recipient" subject="list" body="body with wireless lists";

this is the part of the code. It does scan the wireless networks for 5 seconds, but it doesn't continue with execution. The log doesn't show the input???

EDIT: I managed to proceed with executing, there is another problem (sorry, but i'm a scripting n00b).

wirelesslist1 is NULL???

how can i retrieve data returned from the scan?

This does not work either:

:foreach myVar in=[scan wlan1 duration=3] do={;
:log info "loop";
:};

neither does this

:global myVar [scan wlan1 duration=2];
:put $myVar;

tnakir · Wed Aug 25, 2010 9:54 am

Anyone?

lorell · Tue Apr 19, 2011 10:45 am

Come on people, Ubiquiti does this well. And we're better than them, right? How do we get this?

I have tried:

:global scanstr [/interface wireless scan wlan1 duration=10];
:put "$scanstr";

And it does not work.

> :environment print
"scanstr"=[:nothing]

lorell · Tue Apr 19, 2011 10:48 am

Do we have to write our own scan script?

(i.e. foreach value in scanlist, do something really smart and dump it to a file or variable / when finished grab it in the dude or via ssh or push it via syslog)

bburley · Wed Apr 20, 2011 5:55 am

Here is one solution using the newer version of Tera Term which you can get here;

http://en.sourceforge.jp/projects/ttssh ... -4.68.exe/

; Filename: MikroTik_Wlan_Scan.ttl
; Tera Term Script (use newer version 4.6x)
; Author: Bob Burley - April 19, 2011

; Initialize Variables
deviceUsernamePrompt='Login:'
devicePasswordPrompt='Password:'
deviceUsername="admin"
devicePassword="xxxxxxxx"
commandPrompt='] >'
deviceIPaddress="1.1.1.1"
host=deviceIPaddress
strconcat host ':23 /nossh /T=1'
outputFilename='ScanList.txt'

; Regular Expression for matching - could still use some fine tuning
; The Band '2.4ghz-b' is hard-coded in this string and needs tweaking to allow different bands
regexStr='^\w{1,5}\s{1,5}\h{2}:\h{2}:\h{2}:\h{2}:\h{2}:\h{2}\s.{1,12}\s2\.4ghz-b\s{3}\d{4}\s-\d{2}\s-\d{2,3}\s\d{2}'

; Connect to device
connect host
wait deviceUsernamePrompt
sendln deviceUsername
wait devicePasswordPrompt
sendln devicePassword
wait CommandPrompt

; Delete previous file if present and you are not using append mode
filesearch outputFilename
if result filedelete outputFilename

; Open Output File
; Last parameter: 0 = Overwrite - 1 = Append
fileopen outputFile 'ScanList.txt' 0

; Write header lines to file
; This is manually written because these lines appear multiple times during the scan
filewriteln outputFile 'Flags: A - active, B - bss, P - privacy, R - routeros-network, N - nstreme'
filewriteln outputFile '      ADDRESS           SSID       BAND       FREQ SIG NF   SNR RADIO-NAME'

; the command prompt appears multiple times during the scan,
; so 'end' detection is done with this 3 second timeout
timeout=3

; Start the WLAN Scan and run for 5 seconds
sendln '/interface wireless scan 0 duration=5'
; flush the command just entered from the buffer
flushrecv

; detect output lines that match the Regular Expression
:loop1
waitregex regexStr
outputLine=inputstr
if result filewrite outputFile outputLine
; detect timeout
if result=0 goto exit1
goto loop1

:exit1
fileclose outputFile
sendln '/quit'

; The output file will contain duplicate entries
; Additional scripting is required to process the output file

troy · Wed Apr 20, 2011 6:54 pm

The other day, I accidentally issued a scan on a CPE unit. It didn't come back right away, but after a few seconds, it dumped the scan results right into my terminal window. The TCP stream survived the few seconds it took to complete the scan and re-associate with the AP.

I tried this from a mac-telnet session... it didn't survive

lorell · Thu Apr 21, 2011 6:20 am

bburley:

Thanks for the script and the intro to Tera Term. I used your script and it does need a few tweaks. It has the same flaw that I am already dealing with which is that I am wanting to run the script from across the wireless link and the scan command cuts the wireless link.

janisk · Tue Apr 26, 2011 3:58 pm

if you initiate scan on wireless interface it will drop connected users and initiate scan, as you already noted, TCP connection can survive link disconnection/reconnection period and user is able to see the results. This is why duration argument was introduced so it is possible to get back fast enough, before session is taken down.

Lupin · Mon May 02, 2011 9:20 am

Why you (mikrotik staff) don't enable the option to save the scans, snooper or freq.usage on a file?
As mentioned before, it doesn't work.. It's too difficult?

(waiting for a serious explanation..)

WirelessRudy · Wed Jul 06, 2011 7:22 pm

I am very disappointed this feature is still not covered by MT nor anyone has been able to produce a working script that gives us the wireless scan (or other wireless tool results like snoop etc) results and prints it to a file we can have it send to mail or server for further processing.

I see several attempts in the forum but so far not a good working one. Or am I missing something here?
Its only that I really don't seem to understand the scripting language and don't have the time to spend loads of time to find out.
I have to run a network with all its issues. Interference in the working freq's is my main issue nowadays and I need to find freq's for an AP-client network that is relative free of interfering freq's.
Running the scan on the AP is not enough because some remote clients are getting interferences from competition the AP won't see!
Or an AP might pick up an interfering freq. with -80 or so while some distant CPE picks same ´foreign´ AP with -50 which pushes him of the air.....

To visit each and every client to do a manual scan takes some weeks and it has to happen on a regular period.

A smart script should be able to do this for me remotely?

tnakir · Fri Sep 16, 2011 1:22 pm

I tried these approaches:
- RouterOS scripting
- RouterOS API
- I programmed application that does SSH connection to router
and none worked. Still searching for the solution.

It would be very helpful if you could do some feature like

/interface wireless scan 0 duration=5 outputfile=something

which would scan the ether for 5 seconds and export all SSID-s to a file which we could download via sftp or something.

Another solution which would work would be some other kind of scan function (interface scans SSID-s for N seconds, and prints all SSID-s it gathered in that interval) like

/interface wireless scanonce  0 duration 5

So MT guys, any chance we could get something like this in future versions of RouterOS? It would be very helpfull...

EDIT: I managed to retrieve data via API. The thing is, API doesn't return ROS version and flags.

skot · Thu Apr 19, 2012 12:25 am

WirelessRudy has requested this on the Feature Requests page. Search for "Save wireless scan" to find it.

I would like to add my name, but the wiki is currently not accepting new accounts

Adrin · Mon Nov 11, 2013 1:35 pm

Hello,

it is also possible to connect locally and save scan output to file. Like this:
/system ssh address=127.0.0.1 port=22 command="/in wi scan wlan1 duration=8s" output-to-file=scan.txt

With ssh-keys it should connect without asking for password.

jwebb1975 · Sat Feb 14, 2015 6:42 pm

Hey everyone...I am going to revive this thread. Has someone, or has mikrotik, implemented the ability to do a remote scan or a scan and save to text file which can be emailed (maybe parsed elsewhere to make presentable). I have tinkered with this for hours, searched for hours and have not had any luck finding something for scan or frequency-scan or the best one would be a snoop for "n" for network scan.

ploquets · Wed Jul 13, 2016 10:49 pm

2016 and we have nothing about this feature yet?

how to choose a clear channel if we can't see the other end remotely ?

Would be very very very very nice if Mikrotik Staff could implement something like this, but before the miraculous version 7 come out.

Thu Jul 14, 2016 4:57 am

Have you noticed the background scan function?

WirelessRudy · Thu Jul 14, 2016 7:13 pm

Have you noticed the background scan function?

What use is the background scan function?
1. It is not possible on a 'station-mode' unit.
2. ac units don't support scan function.
3. The scan function itself doesn't 'see' all. For instance it doesn't see ubnt equipment with frequency shift.
3b The scan only 'sees' 20Mhz or wider channels. Any usage of 5 and 10Mhz is won't see unless set in the "Channels" portion and in the "Scan list".
4. To have the scan performing a scan in the band you work in you have to set that range in the "Scan list" part of the wireless config and as a result the unit has to scan in that whole band after a disconnect to connect again which can take up several 10ths of seconds. If client has PPoE tunnel the tunnel is broken and if PPoE server uses dynamic IP's their is a good change the station has a new IP assigned. Your winbox connection to the client is lost and with it all possible scan data.
5. 'Scan' only 'sees' 802.11a/n/c or b/g protocol radio signals.
Mikrotik indeed is running way behind on most competitors in regard of scan functionality.
To fight interference around clients you need to know what the spectrum is doing there. So you need a spectral scan. Now you can spend several hundreds of dollars into a spectral scanner and go to the clients location every time you need to perform a scan but that ain't workable.
In present day's situation you need to perform regurlar spectral checks on a monthly base. Client units should have something made available. If not this is just another reason why user move away to another platform....

Thu Jul 14, 2016 9:45 pm

1) Not true. Just tested on such station (actually station-bridge mode): station scanned while there was uninterrupted traffic flowing both ways and the winbox was connected over the scanning wlan.
2) Not true. Really funny idea to have a client without working scan. How could it connect to ap without it?
3) Does not see airmax. Like ubnt does not see nv2, because the protocols ar proprietary. Not sure how superchannel works on ac, so I cannot say.

Generally, why you think that this topic is about ac?

WirelessRudy · Fri Jul 15, 2016 11:50 am

1) Not true. Just tested on such station (actually station-bridge mode): station scanned while there was uninterrupted traffic flowing both ways and the winbox was connected over the scanning wlan.
2) Not true. Really funny idea to have a client without working scan. How could it connect to ap without it?
3) Does not see airmax. Like ubnt does not see nv2, because the protocols ar proprietary. Not sure how superchannel works on ac, so I cannot say.

Generally, why you think that this topic is about ac?

1). Ok, But then please explain this;
Capture on no scan.JPG
it just doesn't work. On ANY of our MT units. So its software/hardware wide issue.
2). Sorry, you are right. ac does support scan. But not spectral scan. And as is shown in no. 4 and 5 the scan in itself is not a very useful feature for professional netops. You need a spectral scan.
3). A spectral scan should see all signals. Because all signals can create noise. In fact we don't care about the technology; babyphone, bluetooth, airmax, Wimax, tdma or whatever. Noise is noise and if you want a good working channel you'd better find one with little noise.
And why do you think ubnt can't see NV2? As well as I can see airmax they can see NV2......

Why do I think this topic is about ac?
Well, for one I am one of the several that started discussion on the scan in-availability in several treads in the forum. Some in this tread even revere to me.
And nowhere is stated in this tread 'ac' is not included in this topic.
Off course this should be about ac. This is the latest product line so why should we talk about shortcomings in a product line where same short comings are even more prominent in the latest product line?
(Its like BMW had a car series that had regular broken windshield (front windows) and now their newest model are just supplied with the steelplate in place. Problem solved! You now only have to drive blind! Just as the new ac product line is sort of 'blind' in a ever more crowded spectrum.)
In stead of rejecting some of my points you'd better acknowledge and try to find a solution for your users....

For the interested reader, we have a bypass to solve the issue;
- Just fit your obsolete single stream 'a/b/g/n' radio or outdated OmniTik at the AP for spectral scan purposes. All it need is extra cable and a power supply and you can make as much spectral scan as you'd wish for as long as you want.
It doesn't help on the client side though...... but I'll think that is what you have to live with for a long time to come if you are a Mikrotik fan like me.....

Fri Jul 15, 2016 3:22 pm

Can you try again with 6.35.4? I did the test with this version using wireless-rep package while you are using 6.35.2, as shown on your picture...

This topic is from year 2010, so it was not about ac at all for sure. You have just brought it here. Nothing against you, you are right, the ac should handle spectral scan and narrow bands, but this topic was not about it. There are other topics already discussing it, so no need to have it here again...

WirelessRudy · Fri Jul 15, 2016 4:46 pm

Can you try again with 6.35.4? I did the test with this version using wireless-rep package while you are using 6.35.2, as shown on your picture...

This topic is from year 2010, so it was not about ac at all for sure. You have just brought it here. Nothing against you, you are right, the ac should handle spectral scan and narrow bands, but this topic was not about it. There are other topics already discussing it, so no need to have it here again...

Capture on no scan 2.JPG

Fri Jul 15, 2016 8:37 pm

Cannot give you more than my picture...

Background%20Scan.jpg

BobcatGuy · Tue Jul 19, 2016 2:32 am

I too have this issue, I was impressed to see it have the checkbox option to run a background scan, and I got the same error. Oddly enough, the " Background Scan" check box is no longer visible. I am using this on a netmetal5 921 series. So I too can confirm that it doesn't work. Not sure if it was ever supposed to with this particular device, but when an option shows up, then is missing later, I really have to wonder what is going on.

note, no upgrades to version were done. and using latest 6.35.4

I too tried the telnet to the device, start the scan with /interface wireless scan and I only one time got the list returned upon connection. However, every other time I got the list populate, then clears.. ArGH! almost had it.

I too agree that this is kind of a needed working option. I am trying to figure out what changed at one site, and I do not want to drive to it to connect locally. I guess I should buy a LTE data stick!

p

Tue Jul 19, 2016 7:12 am

Do you use wireless - rep package? How it is possible it works for me and not for you? Are you using 802.11 protocol?

BobcatGuy · Tue Jul 19, 2016 7:58 am

Well, see, I would know this if I actually read EVERY word on this topic, but I skimmed through it and didn't see the wireless-rep package. Also, you mentioned it once before your last post, however, didn't mention that it worked only with 802.11. Which makes sense.

So two things are at work here.. 1 I don't read, and 2 why didn't anyone tell me this before I uninstalled it that this was why my "background scan" check box disappeared.

3. I was using Nstreme, but tried switching my link to 802.11 for a bit to try and it worked!

So, For the next guy who is a quick reader.. READ THIS!!!

Install WIRELESS-REP package for this to work
Ensure you are using 802.11 for this feature to work. it does not work while using NSTREME
It does however work for the Station bridge mode on the client side.

So yeah, I think it was just a misunderstanding of what modes the deive has to be on for the other guy who cant get it to work. switching to 802.11 for a short time is ok for me as I only run private low use links, not in a WISP set up. Others may not have this option, but now they know.

**** OH WOW! ** Even a save-file option /interface wireless scan background save-file scan.txt YAY!
I think I will read slower more often!

Tue Jul 19, 2016 9:18 am

Congratulations to your re-invented ability to read. It is very useful...

Never mind, I have sometimes the same problem - overlooking obvious things.
Enjoy the background scan!

WirelessRudy · Tue Jul 19, 2016 11:00 am

Congratulations to your re-invented ability to read. It is very useful...
Never mind, I have sometimes the same problem - overlooking obvious things.
Enjoy the background scan!

If I would follow all posts in this forum not to miss anything I would'n make no more sense since I wouldn't have any more time to run a network......
Options, and when they don't work (not a bug but a design lack) should be mentioned in a proper maintained manual. Not one of the best issues at MT.

Tue Jul 19, 2016 12:22 pm

It is clearly written in the manual too:
http://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Manual:In ... eless#Scan

WirelessRudy · Tue Jul 19, 2016 12:32 pm

It is clearly written in the manual too:
http://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Manual:In ... eless#Scan

Oeps, your right. Seldom read the manual anymore. Habit from the past I guess when the manual was about century behind developments.... Sorry.

Tue Jul 19, 2016 1:30 pm

That's the problem of most people here. Fortunately the manual is quite updated when something changes. Everyone needs to read it again freshly before starting to complain...

elcad · Wed Aug 17, 2016 2:58 pm

Unfortunately, I fulfilled all requests given in manual at: http://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Manual:In ... eless#Scan but background scan is still NOT allowed in station mode! I have latest "stable" firmware ver. 6.36 .

I continue at http://forum.mikrotik.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=111167 , as there is clear description of problem in nutshell and clear pictures about how things don´t work. Here are too much words without result. My device is as described SXT 5 ac and mentioned software version: 6.36 . It don´t work ! Reason could be, that some core information/condition is here and in manual missing... I am sorry, "jarda"... Till now..useless, no result...

But anyway, thanks for your effort.

elcad · Wed Aug 17, 2016 4:47 pm

Problem particulary solved at page: http://forum.mikrotik.com/viewtopic.php ... 11#p552711

dougunder · Sat May 04, 2019 12:07 am

Super old post but the first that came up googling my issue.
I'm updating as I've solved the issue raised.
I can retrieve scan report no problem. We have a script that pulls a bunch of stats and posts them to a Slack channel.

What I'd like to do is display only entries <-60 or -55 which unfortunately doesn't seem possible

My CS guys keep missing the relevant entries in the useless fluff

Here is what we do:
First we scan

:global STATTOFILE do={
/interface {
wireless {
scan wlan1 background=yes duration=5s save-file=wlan1scan.txt;
scan wlan2 background=yes duration=5s save-file=wlan2scan.txt;
registration-table print file=regtab.txt
}
}
}

Then we put the files to variables
:global FILESTOVAR do={
:global 2GSCAN [/file get wlan1scan.txt contents];
:global 5GSCAN [/file get wlan2scan.txt contents];
:global REGTABLE [/file get regtab.txt contents]
}

Finally we push those variable to a Slack channel. Could be made to work with any JSON type API.
This contains a lot more then I've explained here, as this was only about background scans.

:global HAPPUSH do={
:global SLACK;
:global 2GSCAN;
:global 5GSCAN;
:global WIFIVER;
:global SERIAL;
:global 2GFREQ;
:global 5GFREQ;
:global 2GCCQ;
:global 5GCCQ;
:global ETHER5SPD;
:global VER;
:global FREESPACE;
:global UPTIME;
:global REGTABLE;
:global ETHERSTAT;
:global MODEL;
:global CRITLOG;
:global WIFILOG;
:global IFLOG;
/tool fetch mode=https url=$SLACK http-method=post http-data="parse=none&payload={\"attachments\": [ { \"title\": \"$MODEL\n$SERIAL\nUptime\n$UPTIME\nFree HD Space\n$FREESPACE kb\nFW Version $VER\nWiFi Ver: $WIFIVER \n2G Freq $2GFREQ\n5G Freq $5GFREQ\n2G CCQ $2GCCQ\n5G CCQ $5GCCQ\nEther5 Speed\n$ETHER5SPD\nOnline Devices\n Ethernet\n$ETHERSTAT\nWireless\n $REGTABLE\", \"text\": \"2.4Ghz Background Scan\n $2GSCAN\n 5Ghz Background Scan\n $5GSCAN\nSelected Logs:\nCritical\n$CRITLOG\n Wifi\n$WIFILOG\nInterface\n$IFLOG \"}]}"
};

This works great! I really would like to do a bit more parsing though to make it easier for CS to understand.

Our devices are all managed with TR-069 (avsystems) which is how we request the report.

Help with retrieving /interface/wireless > scan data

Help with retrieving /interface/wireless > scan data

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