6LoWPAN Whitelist

This document is intended as a walk-through for setting up a 6LoWPAN Bluetooth device whitelist using the joiner script here:

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/linaro-technologies/iot-gateway-files/master/bluetooth_6lowpand.sh

Warning

This guide assumes you are working on an IoT Gateway device such as a 96Boards Hikey using a prebuilt image from here:

http://builds.96boards.org/snapshots/reference-platform/debian-iot/

These images will include the above script as /usr/bin/bluetooth_6lowpand

Note

Prior to starting this walk through, please power off any IoT devices in your area.

Enable the whitelist feature

To enable the whitelist, use the following commands:

sudo service bluetooth_6lowpand stop
sudo bluetooth_6lowpand --whitelist_on
sudo bluetooth_6lowpand --whitelist_clear
sudo service bluetooth_6lowpand start

How to Find Devices for the Whitelist

Now that the whitelist is enabled, you can find the beaconing devices using the following command:

sudo hcitool lescan

While leaving this command running, power on the IoT Devices you wish to add to the whitelist. You should see an additional line appear as each device is powered on.

The following is an example of the output from this command:

LE Scan ...
D6:E7:D2:E8:6C:9F (unknown)
D6:E7:D2:E8:6C:9F Linaro IPSP node

Write down all of the “Linaro IPSP node” Bluetooth addresses, as you will need these for the next steps.

Add a Device to the Whitelist

Next, add each Bluetooth address to the whitelist with the following command:

# btaddress is formatted: ##:##:##:##:##:##
sudo bluetooth_6lowpand --whitelist_add <btaddress>

As you run each command, you may notice that the bluetooth_6lowpand service will join the device during its next scan.

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Once you’ve added all of the devices, you’re done! If you require no further changes, you can skip the rest of this guide.

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Additional Commands

List the devices in the whitelist

To list the devices currently in the bluetooth_6lowpand whitelist, use the following command:

sudo bluetooth_6lowpand --whitelist_list

Remove a device from the whitelist

To remove a device from the whitelist, use the following command:

# btaddress is formatted: ##:##:##:##:##:##
sudo bluetooth_6lowpand --whitelist_remove <btaddress>

Note

If a device is currently joined to the 6lowpan network, it will be disconnected once this command is run.

Disable the whitelist feature

To turn off the whitelist feature, use the following commands:

sudo service bluetooth_6lowpand stop
sudo bluetooth_6lowpand --whitelist_off
sudo service bluetooth_6lowpand start