I’ve stated my problem here before when I suspected it was RB112’s causing it. I have now replaced these with RB532’s and the problem persists.
My topology is something like this:
My problem I am experiencing is in a single wlan interface per node ‘mesh’ configuration (AP & backbone on same interface) is that on some nodes clients cannot reach the main Hotspot authentication router, although they do get served their DHCP IP address (most of the time - not always).
This occurs only when I have Static WDS links defined. If nodes are left as Dynamic WDS, then everything works fine, except that latecy goes through the roof as WDS links connect & disconnect to nodes of marginal signal strength.
Has anybody got any light they can shed on my problem?
I have contacted support in the hope of obtaining some insight.
In my diagram I do state “Static WDS & mesh Wlan bridged”
yup yup
The RSTP portion works OK - if you ping through the network, you do get the first few packets duplicated (packet gain) but overall it is OK.
I’ve been fighting with this config for quite a while now, and am ready to ditch it in favour of a split client/backbone type config, or trying Nortel’s mesh network products.
please upgrade your routers to v2.9.28 and set the wds-default-bridge for wireless interface. Then remove the statically added wds bridge ports; and reenable the wireless interface (it will create dynamic wds bridge ports).
Thanks - I have already done that and am going to test the upgrade effects today.
Note that Dynamic WDS does not produce satisfactory performance on WDS-mesh config, and I have re-instated the Static WDS interfaces with the new dynamic brige-ports.
note, that you can also control the dynamic WDS using connect-list and you will get very close to that if you were using static-wds.
But still I think that there should be a solution for your problem. Please email the support output files from the router which is not passing data to the hotspot server.
I have already mailed you the supout files, but I will send them again…
If I stick to Dynamic WDS and using connect-list, I already have the WPA2 option in the list (as in the wiki) - would I then put the MAC-addresses of the other routers I want to connect to before or after this rule?
I don’t want to use the min-signal setting, as some reflections are close to my wanted signals and I don’t want these to connect.
I think this is discussed in some other toppic about that connect-list…
What you can do, if you know all the mac address fo your MESH network, then on each router you can configure the connect list to connect only to those MAC address that you want and the last rule should be connect=no
Note, that you should specify for each MAC address entry the security profile.
A little feedback on the connect-list workaround on dynamic WDS mesh:
Versions prior to 2.9.30 would not work, as the minimum-signal setting for connect-list was -95 prior to that. 2.9.30 fixed this to be -120.
Problem was that the wireless cards were actually more sensitive than the OS, so let signals lower than -95 through the connect-list filter…
I reconfigured the network with unbridged Virtual AP’s with unique SSID for each V-AP, and a hidden SSID bridged dynamic WDS backbone mesh on the same interface using connect-list rules.
Enabled PPPoE server on V-AP, with my original Hotspot server node acting as gateway and NAT to main network. Throughput is quite good using bandwidth test and all running B/G-mode - from around 10Mbps + to close nodes and 2-3Mbps to the furthest nodes.
All is fine and running nice and stable now with PPPoE on each node rather than a centralised hotspot on a completely bridged mesh network.
I intend enabling hotspot on each node too, and running User Manager as RADIUS for subscribers and casual Hotspot users…
It’s quite a big project, so I’ll post feedback if I learn any new tricks along the way…
GWISA , I’m thinking of a project as yours , but I have only theoritical information about WDS , and I’m not using MT as a wireless AP couse i have to use 50m RF cable , i’m using a stand alone AP..
well , how can i get more information about WDS ? I have some questions like why do we need to connect (as your diagram ) node6 to node4 ? isn’t enough to connect node6 to node1 ? is this to only make roaming ?
and is the mac-list in the wds AP’s contains only the other wds ap’s we want to connect to ? wht about the users mac addresses , is thier another list for them ? or we wont put thier mac’s in any list ( i mean mac filtering ) .. I know this is a WDS-beginner questions but if you can answer them or anybody else it will help me very much .. tahnks..
Seeing as I too struggled to get info together on this scenario, I don’t mind sharing what I have learned.
Answers to your q’s:
like why do we need to connect (as your diagram ) node6 to node4 ? isn’t enough to connect node6 to node1 ? is this to only make roaming ?
This is purely for redundancy. It is not a requirement, purely a backup path.
and is the mac-list in the wds AP’s contains only the other wds ap’s we want to connect to ? wht about the users mac addresses , is thier another list for them ? or we wont put thier mac’s in any list ( i mean mac filtering )
Well, as in the wiki example on this site, the authentication methods are used for WDS connections specifically. Anyone else (a client) does not create a WDS connection. The connect-list rules refer to the security profile assigned to that interface, and applicable to WDS only. Also, connect-list refers to AP’s that each node will connect to and not what will connect to it. This is controlled with access-rule list and default-authenticate.
In my final configuration, I created Virtual AP’s with unique SSID’s for the clients to connect, and the backbone controlled by connect-list rules.
Reason for this was although using same SSID’s worked (and therefore allowing ‘roaming’), CPE devices don’t necessarily connect to the new AP with better signal when a different MAC is presented.
So what happened was they would connect to a strong signal, maybe roam and not refresh/repair the network connection, and the CPE would hang on for dear life to the original AP it connected to…
Using unique SSID’s stops transparent roaming (only the first pass for eg laptops) and ensures the client always connects to the strongest signal.
Using PPPoE on each node will also stop roaming, as the connection will drop as they move to a new AP, but this is not really an issue for my clients. They hardly ever work on their laptops while walking around!
only one thing more , is there any master/slave node in the mesh ? i heared that you have to make the first node (which connected to the router by wire) as a master and the other as slaves ..
Yes - if you construct a mesh with more than one path to the gateway & RSTP enabled, then the router which connects to the ‘main’ network/Internet needs a lower priority setting on the bridge than the rest.
you all here talking about using MT as the main AP which i cant becouse the distance between the MT and the main antenna is about 50m which i dont believe it will keep the signal strength as it is , or there is somthing i dont know about that , tell me my friend , as you are a WISP is it better to use MT as the main AP ? or using a stand-alone AP instead ? and if we use MT what about the compatiblity with other nodes which wont be MT ?
Why would 50m be a problem? MT is not an AP, but an OS. Choose your wireless device to suit your needs, as long as it is compatible with the OS. And if you use Routerboards, you can mount the the whole shebang wherever you were going to mount your AP anyway, so there should be no restrictions in your case.
I don’t think you can achieve what I did with mixed AP’s. The routing and RSTP functionality is essential, but maybe not in your case. It could be applied to AP’s connected by LAN, but you’d have no control over the wireless connections. Might be easier to help if you stated your intended onjective clearer…
ok my friend , let’s say that i installed a compatable wirless card in MT PC , now it will be the main AP right ? ok , what if i want to build WDS ? i dont want to use router boards as nodes , can I put a stand alone AP’s as nodes of the WDS mesh ?
if I use Routerboard as node , does it mean that i have to operate it as a router ? or just an AP ?
well , i dont want more complicated network couse I think it would be harder to manage ..
