iwd not reporting virtual devices

Question

Using iw I've created a virtual interface called wlan1.

iw dev wlan0 interface add wlan1 type __ap

This leaves me with the following two interfaces:

~> iw dev
phy#0
        Interface wlan1
                ifindex 8
                wdev 0x5
                addr c0:ee:40:64:4a:1d
                type AP
                txpower 23.00 dBm
        Interface wlan0
                ifindex 7
                wdev 0x4
                addr c0:ee:40:64:4a:1c
                type managed
                txpower 23.00 dBm

When running iwctl to list devices and APs I'm not seeing wlan1.

~> iwctl ap list
                          Devices in Access Point Mode
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Name                  Started
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No devices in access point mode available.

~> iwctl device list
                                    Devices
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Name                  Address               Powered     Adapter     Mode
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  wlan0                 c0:ee:40:64:4a:1c     on          phy0        station

When previously using wpa_supplicant and NetworkManager this virtual interface (wlan1) was usable in AP mode. The radio does support AP+STA mode.

~> iw phy
   ...
        valid interface combinations:
                 * #{ AP } <= 3, #{ managed, P2P-client, P2P-GO } <= 2,
                   total <= 3, #channels <= 1
                 * #{ IBSS } <= 1,
                   total <= 1, #channels <= 1
   ...

So I'm left wondering if iwd supports virtual interfaces created with the iw utility and if so what am I missing?

Answer 1

My issue was that iwd destroys existing interfaces and creates new ones for what it finds. You can tell iwd to preserve an interfaces, it provides a few options.

In your main.conf

[General]
UseDefaultInterface=true

or when launching iwd daemon:

    -i, --interfaces       Interfaces to manage
    -I, --nointerfaces     Interfaces to ignore
    -p, --phys             Phys to manage
    -P, --nophys           Phys to ignore