I am just wondering what can I actually control (Wireless Laptop Clients) connecting to an AP (EOC-3220 by EngeniusTech) when it is connect to the RB/532 with and Ethernet Cable. I realize that I can Hotspot the interface that is ethernet cabled to the AP. I am just wondering if I would have any control over a non-RouterOS controlled radio, and if so what type of third party AP would it have to be, or am I better off using RouterOS as the router and the AP and take my chance having it hit by lightning. I was hoping to keep the RouterBoard indoors with surge protection and UPS and then just CatV to the Roof Line AP. However, with 50+ Client Devices always in the vacinity I am having trouble keeping the 20 authenticated users from dropping out due to the Radio being hit by the other 30+ looking for free service. I will use the resource available to achieve this, but want to make sure I am not making a stupid assumption.
I don´t know nothing about your AP but I use routerboards to do all. They are AP, Hotspot or whatever and it gives full control on the radios on the board.
How big is the risk of lightning really? I don´t know about the price of your AP but when lightning strikes, the AP has to be replaced. Your AP or the routerboard… If the price difference is small I would go for the all rb setup, gives you much more control and ease to work with… and in that worse case you loose it, have a replacement available..
rgds.
Rudy
To answer your question, I am in Florida, USA which is lightning capitol of the world it seems. We loose AP’s 1-2 times a year in some locations, but we are usually safe. I suppose just letting the RB do both is the best way to handle it, also I want to extend the range to two remote locations, so I may have to just use 4 RB’s so I can do seperate backhauls. Thanks for the help. I am also trying to figure out how to set up traffic rate limits to match the data lines used, so that each connected, authenticated user can share the available data line. I am not to sure how to do the traffic based on percentages…
7mbps/512kbps with 5 users would equal, 1400mbps/101kbps and if there were 10 users then it would be 700kbps/51kbps… I also believe that I can then stop associations to the Wireless at -98 by bumping it up to -80 to disallow distant users. I know this should be another post but you seem to have a clue… lol.
I guess some place get a bit more of ´fun´ then others. Here in Spain, in the region I live I´m happy to three to four mild thunderstorms a year! And I’m a meteo freak! Maybe we should swap places!
Anyway, regarding bandwidth allocations and limitations. On the Wiki of this website as well as in the manuals and discussion on this form several ways of doing such are explained.
When your AP would be a MT board as well as the client CPE then its even more easy, the AP can limit the bandwidth of the clients very easy in both up and download. Its a function of the ´access list´ where the radio´s are listed that are allowed to connect the AP. (this would also server in keeping unwanted users out.)
You also have to think about the general use and overall capacity.
I have for instance 2 x 8Mb ADSL lines as feed to my network winch has now 65 clients each limited to 3Mb/256kb.
Since most of the user here are retired the overall usage is still very low and I still have plenty of capacity left.
But when you have more ´normal´ or even heavy users you probably need more feed capacity or lower speeds assigned to the clients…
rgds
Rudy
That is exactly what I am trying to do, I did use Buffalo AP’s with DD-WRT and chillispot but now the Retired Vacationers are using Skype and trying to watch TV shows from our major TV stations so I am moving to Mikrotik to handle the load better. Also we went from only 10 concurrent user in a 200 lot resort to over 50 trying to use the service. Buffalo’s with DD-wrt are nice because you can replace it for $50.00, but it can’t handle two WDS nodes and 20+ concurrent users. We do use ARADIAL as our RADIUS so we do well with the authentication, but I am not a networking pro by any means, I am just really good with RF and Antennas for Coverage, but that doesn’t make up for my limited knowledge in networking…
Let me know if you have sometime to keep me away from doing stupid things… lol.
hehe
Here in Ontario, Canada, not uncommon in summer to have 3-4 strong thuderstorms in one week!
I have only lost one CPE though, odd really., since one storm did $20,000 damage to my house.