Device Farm setup

RouterOS Wireless Networking
1

Hello,

Background:
I have a use case where I need to connect via wireless interface 40-50 devices streaming video. Each video stream is 3-5 Mbps.
All of these devices are located in one room.
I also need all this traffic go via VPN connection, ideally Wireguard-based VPN.

What I was thinking about:

  • 1x MikroTik RB5009UPr+S+IN acting as a router, serving DHCP and NAT on Ethernet interfaces connected to wireless access points, acting as Wireguard VPN client with 2-3 accounts because average speed per VPN account is ~50-70 Mbps
  • use src IP routing on MikroTik RB5009UPr+S+IN to differentiate what traffic to route to what VPN account (assuming VPN accounts belong to the same VPN provider)
  • 3x access points implemented either using hAP ax² routers acting as switch+WIFI APs or using real access points like “wAP ac”
  • have each device group connected to its own AP have separate range of private IPs to
  • use CAPsMAN manager on MikroTik RB5009UPr+S+IN to ensure that there is no infighting between WI-FI APs for spectrum

Questions:

  • will MikroTik RB5009UPr+S+IN be enough for such load
  • what is better, hAP ax² routers acting as switch+WIFI APs or real access points like “wAP ac” (https://mikrotik.com/product/wap_ac#fndtn-specifications)
  • what would be the best way to distribute channel among WI-FI APs assuming that there is also a building WI-FI that can conflict with this set up
2

Is there a real need to use the VPN provider? Taking it out of the equation would simplify your setup a lot.

3

Yes, we are testing streaming service is US, from EU.

4

Well, src ip routing would work.

Since the RB5009 have several ethernet ports, and You want total separation from one group to another, You could set three different subnets, and use one ethernet interface for each.

With only 3 APs, you could use capsman or do it manually. I’m not sure the capsman administrative overhead would be smaller than the manual config of just 3 APs. But it’s up to you - both should work fine.

5

Thank you.
One more Q if you do not mind: what would be the best device to act as an access point? I thought of buying “hAP ax²” but wonder if there are better alternatives?

6

Not at all.
I really don’t know. There are some x3 devices now - but I still didn’t take a look at them.

7

Are the devices sending video or receiving video?

8

The devices are receiving video. All the devices are connected to VPN (US) and receiving a video from streaming service ( movies, series, … ).

9

The main problem here is streaming video over wifi.
The golden rule of wifi is don’t use wifi. :slight_smile:
Look for a way to do away with wifi, for example, connect a USB Ethernet adapter.
On wifi there is no equitable distribution of bandwidth between devices, so surely some devices will get enough bandwidth and others will suffer.
To give advice on which device to choose as an access point you should specify the characteristics of the client devices, what are their wifi capabilities?
My opinion AX devices are better suited for this task, as they have higher performance.
You also do not fit into the VPN budget. You need 250 mbps of bandwidth, which is a minimum of 4 VPN tunnels.
And the locations of access points should be shielded from each other as much as possible. Reinforced reinforced concrete walls with a thickness of more than 60 cm, or special radio-absorbing coatings used in “antenna rooms” are not bad.
I’d look at Cisco, Ruskus, Enterprise level access points.

10

For more equitable bandwidth distribution one could use a PCQ queue.
Given 50 devices and 3 APs, that’s 17 devices per AP.
Given 5 MBps per device, that’s 85 MBps throughput per AP, or around 180 MBps PHY rate under ideal conditions.
I never had such a setup but it doesn’t feel like it’s doable.
I’d use an ethernet cable for all devices if at all possible.
In reality video is not a smooth and predictable flow like voice. Video is a horrendous thing to service, it’s bursty, unpredictable, real-time and you can’t drop any packets.
I feel like you’d need at least 300 MBps PHY rate to make this work.
To me it feels like 8 access points using 40 MHz bandwidth would be able to do it.