I have been playing around with some different setups with Mikrotik. I’m sure I’m not the first person to ask a bridge question like this, but I can’t find an answer.
Here is the setup.
Mikrotik 2.4 AP, running in AP bridge mode. There is a bridge containing wlan1 and ether1, with a private IP address set on this bridge for management. There is no WDS or anything else enabled.
With a Deliberant, I can set it in bridge mode, set as a client, and with a private IP address on the LAN port for management, and put a public IP address in my computer and browse the Internet from my computer. Easy to set up and works well.
I have tried to duplicate this setup with Mikrotik 133c boards, trying everything I can, and the closest thing I could come up with that worked was putting a public IP address on the wlan of the 133c board and NATing the ether1 interface behind a private IP address.
The most obvious thing to try on the CPE equipment is a bridge containing ether1 and wlan1, but that failed. I have also tried about 14 other things and moving the public IP address to my computer (private management IPs on the Routerboard) fails to browse every time, but I really need it to work like the Deliberant CPE running in bridge mode.
And yes, I have seen the wiki on a transparent bridge. It has WDS enabled. I’m just wondering how the Deliberant is doing a bridge like it is on an AP with no WDS enabled, and I can’t get the RouterBoard to do the same thing?
if you want bridge using MT RouterOS then set up WDS as that is good method to bridge interfaces as RouterOS can handle a lot of different configurations and not only bridge.
you should consider learning networking basics (osi lelvels) and possible communication methods over each layer.
Ok, as stated, I know how to make a transparent bridge with WDS, and I know that RouterOS is very configurable.
I just would like to know how I come I can take a Deliberant, in “bridge mode” and hit a Mikrotik AP in “AP bridge mode”, and make a bridge with no WDS, and yet I can’t do the same thing with a RouterOS board. It seems to me that if a Deliberant can do it, the Routerboard should be able to do it as well.
I’ve used the Deliberant products many times - I think what you may have missed here is the you have the Deliberant set in bridge mode - effectively bridging everything from LAN to WLAN and back again. To do the same thing in MT you’d have to bridge your Ethernet and Wlan interface…then it should act the same as the Deliberant…
Also check your system’s packages - you may have something missing that you need. You don’t need to have everything runnig in there just make sure you have what you need…
If you would like the mikrotik to behave like a Deliberant or other client, then simply add a bridge, and add the wlan and ether interfaces to the bridge.
It will now work simular to a regular client bridge.
Configure AP with dynamic WDS on the sector which you would like to connect.
Setup Mikrotik client as stationwds and build a bridge with wlan1 and ether1 included.
This, of course, assumes that you have given the bridge a static ip address.
If you would like the mikrotik to behave like a Deliberant or other client, then simply add a bridge, and add the wlan and ether interfaces to the bridge.
If you have that actually working, I would love to see it. I have yet to do that on a client and have it work.
I did find someone that actually answered my question:
All wireless bridges in effect are pseudo bridges because 802.11 does NOT
allow bridging a wireless CLIENT interface, that’s the whole problem in a
nut shell. You can bridge AP’s all day long but not clients and still be
in compliance with the standard, so here enters the pseudo bridge,
manufacturer’s way of bridging clients, and each is unique and proprietary.
If you want to bridge MT, either upgrade to 3.0 (release candidate 2 I
believe) and use their version of pseudo bridge or use WDS. Those are the
only ways.