Hey guys, I got recommended here and looking for advice and recommendations on specific wireless routers from your company.
I have a project I am trying to get off the ground. I have a laptop with a Ubuntu apache webserver running on it. I want to have 50 concurrent users to access the webserver with as minimal performance degradation as possible i.e everything must run smooth. Clients will be tablet PC and will use a simple webrowser. And the users and webserver will be in the same room, I am not looking to connect them behind walls.
The information fetched and returned by the clients will NOT be heavy, like streaming videos, down and up videos etc … BUT the server requests will be multiple and consistent. I anticipate for each user that each send or receive is about 10-30 kbps because it is just a question and answer type of webpages with some images, one question on one page. For more information here:
I have a working prototype already with a home based router but I believe this cannot handle what I want to achieve so I want hardware and setup advice from you.
I have a few options when choosing:
Buy one router to handle 50 concurrent users.
Buy one router and some APs.
I am hoping for option one because my project is portable and for me to deploy one router would make it easier when I am offsite. But I read that no router can handle 50 concurrent users. They can handle 50 users but not at the same time. I am not a techie but I am not sure.
Option 2 is possible if option 1 is not but that means I would have to find an extra power supply for the APs and not just for the router. Also, I have heard APs and the router may conflicted wirelessly, not sure if I am right.
Anyway, please help and let me know what you think. I think home routers definately can’t handle it so maybe one of your higher performance routers can help. Show me a budget or middle so I can choose from.
What are the room dimensions?
Server needs to be connected by wire and powerful enough. Mikrotik can handle even more concurrent clients but local situation matters.
So you think I have to go for option two? One router and two APs is the best setup? Any one of your other hardware which I do what I want to do with one AP?
Also if I follow your suggestion and say I have a desk with my laptop web server on it. Can I place the router and the Hap lite devices on the same desk and it will have no interference from each other? Or do I need to spread the Haps around the room?
2 or 3,it is subject to try. Do not put them on one side, better to put the hap lites into the false ceiling spread over the class and connect them by wire. The server should be connected by wire too. No need for any additional router, the rb941 can do all the necessary job.
Hey guys, thanks for the help and I will try out 2 APs for now. I feel confident that your suggestions are right. I am surprise I do not need a router because every one else said I needed one! Anyway, no worries, I’ll try with your 2APs first, if I have to add router then I will.
Because it is a portable project and it is not my school, I am unable to fix the APs in one set place and so I would need to move the entire setup to different schools everyday. But anyway, I got the general idea and I will spread the APs in one corner and the opposite corner of the classroom and hardwire them, as much as I can.
It will be very easy. Have both devices with bridged all interfaces together with ap bridge mode on wlan. One device will have a DHCP server on bridge, second dhcp client. No connection to internet, nothing else. Use dhcp static assignment for the second ap and for the server. Then just plug wires in between to whatever ethernet they fit and it will be working. You just need to tell the students the correct address to the server.
If you will have problems, you can always add third ap, if necessary.
Enjoy and keep us informed about your real results.
If it is a problem to get power to the second AP you could use other Mikrotik equipment that could Power the second AP through Power Over Ethernet.
But first I would have tried with only one unit with dual radio unit first, and get about half of the users to use the 2,4GHz network and half of the users to use the 5GHz network.
HAP AC - https://routerboard.com/RB962UiGS-5HacT2HnT
for example..
nice idea. But the cost will matter too, I am sure. And the technical complications to explain the students that they should connect to 5g if they can, is so time consuming… just imagine, he is moving teacher, so costs and simplicity will be the most needed, I believe.
I was worried about power too. PoE sounds like one solution and I actually seen a video of Hap Lite being powered by a Powerbank which was cool!
And Jarda maybe right too, it is difficult to enable 20 students let alone 50 … but it is a thought I am willing to try in the future. Maybe I can set software on their tablets automatically and some get 2.4 and some get 5GHz.
They will transfer almost nothing and each in different time so I believe just one hap lite in the middle of the class above the heads would do the job alone. There will be no client more far than some 8meters from the ap with no obstacles. Two of them is quite safe if properly placed.
Hey guys, I’ve finally has some time to set up these Hap AC Lites. Questions on the setup as I am unshamefully a noob, sorry! I am sure the master is working but not sure if the AP bridge to the slave is, how do I test?
Question, master poE LED out is red. Is this normal?
Please check the youtube video. I set the master DHCP server and unticked it on the slave.
Sorry, one more question. Since there are 2 bands in my setup and I have 50 users, does that mean I should tell half of the class to use one band the other half the other band?
The red light is normal when it is pushing power out of the Ethernet port.
As for the different bands, it is easiest to just have one SSID for both and let the client device make the decision as to what band to connect to. If it supports both 2.4 and 5Ghz most devices will decide to connect to 5Ghz automatically, and will fall back to 2.4
