hAP AC Lite Setup as Access Point Only

RouterOS Beginner Basics
1

Hello,
I have an hAP AC Lite RB952Ui-5ac2nD-TC. I want it to be just an “access point”, sort of like a “wireless/wired switch” with no DHCP server. The hAP lite connects to my main router via Ethernet cable. The main router is the DHCP server so I don’t want the hAP AC Lite to give out IP addresses. I plan to administer the device only through WinBox so I don’t think I need to assign an IP address to the hAP AC Lite. I’m new with Mikrotik routeros.

Below is how I set it up:

  1. Reset Configuration and not loading any default configurations
  2. Added a bridge and added eth1, eth2, eth3, eth4, eth5, wlan1, wlan2 to the bridge.
  3. Modified the default security profile with dynamic keys, WPA2, SSID, password, etc. Then assigned this profile to wlan1 and wlan2.

It seems to functionally work exactly how I want with both wireless and wired devices getting assigned a IP address from the main router and being able to reach the Intranet and Internet.

Questions:

  1. Is the the best/proper way to setup a device to act only as an Access Point?
  2. Besides the WiFi security settings, are there any security setting, firewall setting or administrative settings that I should add to make this setup more secure?

Thank you.

2

Answers:

  1. It depends on what you prefer to use (I never use Quickset), but the result is the same. You probably have firewall rules, but they are not hit.
  2. you can do a lot of security improvements, but the question is what is required (for you).
3

Thanks for the reply erlinden.

I guess my question was not so much related to Quickset vs Manual setup. It’s more related to how to best configure the device for my target applicaton.

My applications is as follows:

[Wireless Devices] <----RF------> [hAPACLite] <-----Ethernet Cable-----> [PFSense Router] <-----Ethernet Cable-----> [Modem] <----Coaxial Cable-----> [ISP]

I want the hAPCLite to just be a wireless access point only. The PFSense router will do the DHCP and NAT, etc. I don’t see a Quickset options that fits this application so im looking for some feedback if the manual setup I did is the proper/best way to setup the hAPLite for this application. Basically I think I set it up as a wireless switch, but im not sure if this is a good way to do it.

Manual setup steps:

  1. Reset Configuration with no default configurations
  2. Created a bridge and added eth1, eth2, eth3, eth4, eth5, wlan1, wlan2 to the bridge.
  3. Modified the default wifi settings WPA2, SSID, password, etc. Then assigned this profile to wlan1 and wlan2.

Thanks.

4

That is a perfect approach, don’t forget to configure the wireless interfaces (WPA2/AES, fixed channels, correct bandwidths, country code, etc.).

5

Hi all,

I have exactly the same requirement as the originater of this thread. I set the router to bridge mode however. Is that something I was supposed to do? Should I keep the mode at router?

Pranav