OK so I’ve just bought my first pair of MikroTik products. (2x RBMetal2SHPn 's)
I’ve been using Ubiquity gear before this but I’m quiet disappointed in the cheap thin plastic manufacturing of them. Also the limited low power. So I thought I’d give MikroTik a go.
So far I’m wrapped in MikroTik. I love the metal casing and quality of the product. Great accessories included standard like the antenna & mounting hardware. And of course decent power output. Features wise the devices are certainly fully loaded with some nice software.
I can certainly see myself buying a lot more MikroTik products in the near future!
OK So I need a very basic DIY guide for the following.
I just want to set up a very basic link between two sites.
Site “A” has the Internet access. The main router there is a FritzBox 7390. It also runs the DHCP server to farm out IP’s etc.
So I just want a basic setup where the FritzBox sets the MikroTIk devices IP addresses via their MAC addresses and all traffic is passed through from site “A” to site “B” which is just basically another house 500 Meters away LOS and there is a network switch with WiFi for the computers there.
So both sites (“A” & “B”) are all just within the same LAN subnet. (192.168.1.xxx)
What do I need to set? So far I’ve been able to get a WiFi connection between the two MikroTik devices by setting one to AP and the other to CPE but other then that I have not been able to get any connectivity at a network level.
Try the QuickSet feature and set as PTP Bridge.
If that doesn’t work for you, or you want more control over the settings just set them manually.
For the scenario you are describing you will need to add a bridge on both devices and add as ports to this bridge both the ethernet and the wireless interface. That will make them transparent just carrying the traffic from A to B.
Thanks. Yes I think I got it. I saw that. It’s just all so new and different.
I’ve been trying to watch video’s on MikroTik all day but so much to learn.
Anyhow. I think that’s worked because I can now ping and log into the remote (Site “B”) Metal2SHPn.
I have also been able to run a Bandwidth test across the link.
So other then setting the Wireless security etc is that it? Will it now pass the DHCP and DNS etc stuff from the main internet router onto the remote sites network?
Also I wondered about something else. Far more advanced then this, but for later on.
Scenario.
If I plug in together a RB260GSP PoE Switch, + RBMetal9HPn, + RBMetal2SHPn, + RBMetal5SHPn at Site “A” then the same again at Site “B” can the devices be set to share the traffic? As in increase the total bandwidth across the link? Is that possible?
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If the interfaces are bridged it will pass all traffic from the main router to the remote site.
As for the other question. I am not sure that this switch can bond ethernet ports, maybe someone else can give more info. You can do that with any routerboard which has enough ethernet ports. There are wiki on the topic how exactly to do it. But the results with the devices mentioned will be very bad. For bonding to work good you will need to have links that have similar characteristics. For example 2x RBMetal5SHPn <> RBMetal5SHPn. But why make it so complex. If this is about the distance of 500m you can just install two SXT or SXT AC and you will have 100mbit/s with the older SXT and at least 200-300mbit/s with the SXT AC.
Yes I will wait and see if someone knows the answer.
As to why the approach, well this is for another link which is 13+Kilometers LOS.
It’s more about link reliability.
900Mhz gives better penetration through terrain but bandwidth is not so good due to limited spectrum.
2.4Ghz is better then 5.8Ghz but it tends to be highly saturated due to home router AP’s etc and limited channels.
5.8Ghz is good very fast but the higher frequencies suffer the most through a bad path.
Much like HF propagation with Ham Radio, different times of the day, different seasons, different QRM levels, etc, etc all these things result in the different bands performing better or worse at different times.
My idea is that by running all 3 (900Mhz, 2.4Ghz, & 5.8Ghz) I am more likely to maintain a 99.9% link up time if I am lucky.
Also more throughput if more then one device can maintain a link at any time.
Now I really do like the NetMetal 5’s with it’s triple chain TX & 2Watts TX output.
But for now the problem there is 1. Dishes are too expensive to ship, & 2. there are no Tri Polar dishes yet.
Eventually I do hope to go down that track also as I think they are a very nice device. But still only for 5.8Ghz so far.
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Netmetal 5 with mANT will give you very reliable link for that 13km distance. No need for triple chain to achieve that. If you have los don’t worry at all, there will be no problems with weather conditions. Of course if uptime is very important you can make a backup/failover link on some other band. But neither the Metal2 or Metal9 will get you near the 200Mbit+ that you can have with the Netmetal 5.
Maybe it can be avoided with taller mast. But of course I’m speaking in theory here.
Have you tried setting up that link ? What devices and type of antennas did you use ? How are both - tx and rx signals ?
UBNT is not bad but you can disable airmax.
The link is more stable without airmax.
That’s what I mean.
But this is the forum of Mikrotik.
I discuss this not here on this Mikrotik forum
I use both brands and am very satisfied
I am sometimes shopping from this site too.
With the gear you are using for this link I am not surprised you have all kind of problems. Just try what I proposed and if you align and get a good signal you will forget for any problems.
On the AP Bridge side, how do you get the device to display the Signal Meter for antenna alignment?
When I click on “Align” it starts but the link just drips out and all lights go out on the Client and AP sides except flashing on the AP for the first LED.
