cAP AC connects & disconnects continually with CAP

RouterOS Beginner Basics
1

I’ve never done a big enough Mikrotik deployment to really merit looking at CAP but I’ve got a eight AP new project so thought it would be a good time to re-visit it. I got it working in the lab over a year ago and made some notes but it’s not working. The equipment is as follows:

  • RouterBoard 2011UIAS - main router where CAPSMAN is running
  • hEX PoE 5 Port Gigabit Router - configured as a switch uplinked to above and used to power/connect the cAP AC
  • cAP AC - access points

Everything works a treat when I manually configure the cAP AC as an access point/switch, i.e. remove all routing and firewall configuration.

I’ve gone through the configuration of CAPSMAN on the router following my instructions from last time and enabled CAPS on the cAP AC. The problem is at each end, the cAP AC appears for about 30 seconds in CAPSMAN, shows it’s been managed by CAPS on the cAP AC and Wi-Fi network appears. Then 30 seconds later, it disappears from CAPSMAN and cAP AC shows it’s not managed. Wait a while and it re-appears.

I’m afraid I don’t have access to the kit right now to grab screenshots.

Any ideas?

2

… again youtube …

3

For what it’s worth, this is the video I followed plus my instructions:

Configuration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGFKfyzHnsM
5GHz: http://forum.mikrotik.com/t/capsman-5ghz/121104/1


  1. Add channels (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_WLAN_channels), 20MHz control channel, 2ghz-onlyn:
  • Channel1: 2412
    • Channel6: 2437
    • Channel11: 2467
  1. Add datapath to bridge
  2. Add Security configuration:
  • Authentication: WPA2 PSK
    • Encryption: aes ccm
    • Passphrase: as required
  1. Add configuration:
  • Wireless: mode=ap; SSID=as required;
    • Channel: as required
    • Datapath: as required
    • Security: as required
  1. Add provisioning:
  • Hw supported modes: g for 2.4Ghz and a for 5GHz (not sure about this)
    • Action: create dynamic enabled
    • Name format: identity, prefix AP
  1. CAP manager: enable
4

Yes, my idea is: you mis/not configure something on some place on some point and on some way…

The riddle game again?

Where are the /export of the configurations of each device?

5

I’m afraid I don’t have access to the kit right now to grab screenshots.

I specifically apologised for not been able to get those right now…

6

Do not make screenshot, are completely useless for read all configuration items

The config is… the config, not one image.

OT: (and now I imagine someone in the forum reading this, out of “spite” takes a screenshot of the terminal or something similar…)

7

I think I’ve figured it out. When I reset the configuration as CAPS Mode, it worked fine but when I tried to enable CAP on existing configuration, it didn’t work. So I did the usual trick of comparing the two configurations and my gaze fell upon this key difference. The first is the working CAPS Mode configuration:

/interface bridge port
add bridge=bridge interface=ether1
add bridge=bridge interface=ether2

The second is my configuration from when I’d manually set-up AP/switch, I’d added all ports to the bridge:

/interface bridge port
add bridge=bridge interface=ether1
add bridge=bridge interface=ether2
add bridge=bridge interface=wlan-2g
add bridge=bridge interface=wlan-5g

This causes the problem I describe. Removing the two wlan from the bridge and all is fine. So having the wireless ports added to the bridge when they are managed by CAPs causing a problem.

8

CAPSMAN adds those interfaces automatically. You’re not supposed to add them manually.

9

The problem is that the I’d configured the device manually before it was used with CAP and when you do that, you add all ports to the bridge. So the advise here would be to reset device in CAPs mode to remove any potential conflicting settings.

10

Meh, one should have to write an exam to use capsman.
It would ensure folks learn how to configure the router without capsman.
and then decide if they really wanted to use capsman…

It causes nothing but trouble when a non savvy person buys MT wifi and dives right in…

11

Can you send us capsman and cap log output? What ROS version are you using on both devices?

That might be L2 issues. Try to add static CAP server on APs.

Example:

/interface wireless cap
set bridge=bridge1 caps-man-addresses=192.168.100.1 enabled=yes interfaces=wlan1,wlan

And send us full capsman and cap configuration.

12

It causes nothing but trouble when a non savvy person buys MT wifi and dives right in…

That’s the main reason why RouterOS and Mikrotik isn’t more popular than it is. It’s not plug and play. As a sometime software developer, I love the complexity but there is a massive learning curve compared to other devices, inc. Cisco. It’s power is both it’s strength and weakness at the same time.

When I started using Mikrotik kit, I asked whether there was a reference book I could buy. There isn’t. Thank goodness for YouTube videos but even then you come across conflicting advice and configurations.

What happened here is perfectly understandable - I had configured the access point manually first and not cleared the configuration, therefore it didn’t work. I can see the reason CAPsMAN exists - in a large installation it really helps save time. I installed the system this evening - went well. The ability to change the 2G channel width from 40MHz to 20MHz in one step was great.

Once you’ve climbed that not inconsiderable learning curve, RouterOS is wonderful but hindsight is a wonderful thing. The manual is a reference and not that easy to navigate. I recently had reason to implement NGINX which for somebody not that familiar with Linux is a daunting task. I came across “The Complete NGINX Cookbook” - a stunningly good free manual. RouterOS needs something like that.

13

Doh - school boy error… trying to work out why we’re only getting ~90Mbps. Looking at channels etc. and then realised you’ve plugged the hEX PoE into fast ethernet not gigabit uplink :wink: