Recently I've come across the notion of 'virtual WiFi AP'. For concrete examples of references to this notion, refer to these pointers: 1,2,3.
I'm a bit confused about what virtual APs actually are.
My questions are:
- What exactly is a virtual AP?
- Are there multiple ways of implementing a virtual WiFi AP? Which? What do they consist in?
- For example, I suspect that one way to create virtual APs is configuring the WiFi daemon with multiple SSIDs (e.g.
hostapd
as explained in this guide). - Are there other ways, besides daemon configurations? E.g. based on virtualization, which would allow the state of an AP (e.g. current connections, crypto material like PMKs, etc.) to be 'migrated' between physical devices, like virtual machines?
- For example, I suspect that one way to create virtual APs is configuring the WiFi daemon with multiple SSIDs (e.g.
Best Answer
Depends on which vendor or product you are talking about. In general, I would define a virtual AP as a "logical AP" rather than a physical AP device. This may involve providing multiple logical APs on a single physical device or treating multiple physical devices as a single logical AP.
Yes, there are different ways of creating a "virtual AP." Here are some of the examples of which I am aware (and am by no means confident there aren't more):