PTMP NV2 - Cannot see LAN Side of Station AP's

spoonman007 · September 28, 2016, 2:28am

Greetings… I am re-posting as it has been close to 3 months and I have not yet found a solution. This is for the Red Cross in South Sudan. Their basecamp has a number of buildings we are trying to connect with NV2 links. Any assistance/suggestions much appreciated. We have a similar config in a remote part of South Sudan that uses an OmniTik and 5 SXT’s and it is working nicely. I can only get two SXT5ac’s to be seen from the mANTBox 15s… Config is below

I have a mANTBox 15s as my AP Bridge and Qty 5 SXT5ac’s as my Station Bridges… I am using NV2, configs on all 5 SXT5ac’s are identical… Yet I am only able to “See” the LAN side from two of them… The SXT5ac’s are plugged into a 24-port CRS Switch… If I physically connect my laptop to the CRS switch and run Winbox, I can only see the devices that are plugged into the CRS switch (ie. a couple RBcAP’s, the CRS itself, and the SXT5ac…) I am unable to see the rest of the network (mANTBox 15s and other SXT5ac’s)… However, and here is the strange part… if I plug the LAN cable running from the SXT5ac directly to my laptop - I can see the mANTBox 15s and operational SXT’s… Am I missing something here?

Many Thanks for any advice/explanation/solution/suggestion
Spooner

pukkita · September 28, 2016, 1:58pm

What’s the CRS ROS AND firmware versions?

How have you set it up? all ports slaves from port 1?

Have you tried RoMON (just to isolate where the problem is)?

spoonman007 · September 29, 2016, 9:35am

Thanks Pukkita… I am not on-site, I am in Asia at the moment so I will inquire with my contact there. But, yes, CRS configs are “out of the box” - not too much configuration apart from IP Address, identities, etc… basic stuff. But yes all ports slave of port 1. The Switches are CRS125-24G-1S running 6.35.2 I don’t have the firmware version but will get for you ASAP. Thanks again for the help. Sorry, not familiar with RoMON - will investigate.

Spooner

spoonman007 · October 27, 2016, 12:40pm

Hi Pukkita. Finally I heard from the tech on-site in South Sudan. All CRS-125 Switches are at Firmware rev 3.24 and also all are running ROS v6.35.2. Not sure if this helps…

pukkita · October 28, 2016, 1:04pm

Try upgrading to latest 6.37.1, check System > Routerboard Current Firmware is same as Upgrade Firmware version afterwards.

Check all interfaces at Ip > Neighbors Discovery Interfaces are enabled.

spoonman007 · October 28, 2016, 3:20pm

Thanks Pukkita. I am somewhat of a Noob here. I have been reading alot in the forums. I am really looking for guidance on how best to set this up… I believe I may need to do a bit of tuning here… I did a similar PTMP install before back in January of this year in a sub-office in South Sudan using MikroTik AP Bridge: (OmniTIK-U5HnD) and 4 Station Bridges: (SXT 5HPnD) its been working great… Using NV2, simple setup… With the newer equipment released, we decided to go with mANTBox 15s as the Sector and 5 RBSXTG-5HPacD as the station bridges… I set it up basically the same way… With your experience, I just want to verify that I am setup correctly… These antennas - all of them - are in a single compound… The compound is not big… perhaps 150m x 200m I have done nothing with the power levels or any tuning at all… I can get you the Exports next week when I log in remotely… But at the moment. They have no generator power over the weekend (This is South Sudan…) But in the meantime… Here is basically the way I set them up… Perhaps it needs some tuning - no doubt…

Can I please ask you to suggest how you would config in this case? I am concerned about no IT Support on site and failure of the main AP Bridge (for example). Is there a better config that may address my issues - A Mesh for example? WDS?.. I will be on-site Nov. 10th. I want to make sure a solid solution before I depart… I’m sorry to reach out to you directly like this, but there is not really much guidance available in the Wiki on issues like this. Thanks Pukkita.

AP Bridge: mANTBox 15s: (1 Unit)
Power & Winbox Via Ether1
Accept Default Configuration
Update the Firmware
Remove Default Configuration - Reconnect to MAC Address
Wireless: Enable Wlan1, AP Bridge, 5GHzA/N, 20/40 Ce, Auto Frequency, nv2, All Chains, security enabled, passphrase humanity,
Bridge: “AP Bridge”, Add ports to it Ether1 & Wlan1 (transparently Bridge Layer2)
Set IP on AP Bridge - 10.0.90.XXX/24 10.0.90.0
Set Identity
Setup DNS (8.8.8.
Exit (Reboot) & Physically Connect to CRS
From terminal ping 8.8.8.8 + Google.com
Setup SNTP us.pool.ntp.org & pool.ntp.org Enabled-Unicast
Set Clock System-Clock
Click Log Button to ensure RB is right time
From terminal ping 8.8.8.8 + Google.com
Set Admin Password
Perform a Backup BCK-MANTv1
Perform an Export from the root… export file=SCR-MANTv1

STN Bridge: SXT 5HPnD: (5 Units)
Accept Default Configuration
Update the Firmware
Remove Default Configuration - Reconnect to MAC Address
Wireless: Enable Wlan1, Station Bridge, 5GHzA/N, 20/40 Ce, Auto Frequency,
nv2, All Chains, security enabled, passphrase humanity,
Bridge: “Station Bridge”, Add ports to it Ether1 & Wlan1 (transparently Bridge Layer2)
Set Identities & IP Addressing on STN Bridge

SXT-A 10.0.90.XXX/24 10.0.90.0
SXT-B 10.0.90.XXX/24 10.0.90.0
SXT- C 10.0.90.XXX/24 10.0.90.0
SXT- D 10.0.90.XXX/24 10.0.90.0
SXT- E 10.0.90.XXX/24 10.0.90.0

Setup DNS (8.8.8.
Exit (Reboot) - connect via IP
IP Neighbours
From terminal ping 8.8.8.8 + Google.com
Setup SNTP us.pool.ntp.org & pool.ntp.org Enabled-Unicast
Set Clock System-Clock
Click Log Button to ensure RB is right time
From terminal ping 8.8.8.8 + Google.com
Set Admin Password
Perform a Backup eg. BCK-SXTv1
Perform an Export from the root… eg. export file=SCR-SXTv1

pukkita · October 31, 2016, 11:12am

Your setup seems fine, but:

A mANTBox15 has a 120º antenna, whereas you had an omni before. Can all SXT spots be covered by a 120º beam?
You mention you will be using RBSXTG-5HPacD. If this is the case, I’d set both the mANTBox15 and the SXTs in 5GHZ-Only-AC mode.
The best tuning you can do for such small distances is to lower the Tx power on the SXTs, so that none “deafens” the mANTBox, your aim is to keep all SXT’s CCQs in the mANTBox as level as possible.

Regarding power, one of Routerboards biggest advantages, that puts Mikrotik apart from the rest is a very high efficiency power-wise, along with really wide working voltage ranges; mANTBox 15 for example can be powered from 9 to 30V DC; RBSXTG-5HPacD can be powered from 12 to 57V.

That means you could set up a small 12V solar panel along with a 12v battery for the mANT (as long as the cable from the panel to it is kept short; if it’s very long you’d better use 24V solar panel and two 12V batteries) that will rule out the need for local power. No need for generators or AC UPS.

If local power is available, you could use a 12V PSU with battery charging capabilities (DC UPS) along with a small battery; a typical UPS one (7Ah) could keep the mANT running for days.

No need for WDS.

spoonman007 · October 31, 2016, 2:58pm

Fabulous Pukkita. Many Thanks. I will do as suggested. By Power I meant Antenna Power… which you have kindly pointed out that I should lower. 120 Degree does indeed cover as the Mant15 is at one end of the basecamp and the Station Bridges all fall within about a sector of about 70 degrees… Thanks for confirming the config - I still think my issue lies with the CRS-125’s… I asked the tech on-site to replace one of the CRS-125’s with an RB951 and it worked OK… I will know more when I get there Nov. 10th. Thanks so much for the advice and confirmation of the configs Pukkita.
BTW using the Sukam http://www.su-kam.com/power-solution/inverter-ups-home/falcon-sine-wave-ups with a 100AH Battery on out racks - like you said - it runs for days without any power… A great device.

Many Thanks again
James

spoonman007 · November 11, 2016, 9:41am

Hi Pukkita, am on-site. I just had a quick question… We have two mANTBox 15’s up on the pole… The spare one is there just in case there is an issue with the primary… we can plug it in. I seem to be getting different results depending on the setup of the WiFi Frequency… Can you tell me what is best practice… We are in Juba - there is lots of room on the spectrum… I setup all SXT’s as instructed - 5Ghz-AC Only… I just need to know should I set the mANTBox to a fixed frequency and all the SXT’s the same… eg. put them all at 5200? or should I simply put them all at Auto…? And what about the Channel Width? 20/40 Ce? or 20/40 eC? or 20/40/80 eeeC?

Sorry for all the Noob questions. It just that the primary Sector was working well, I could Winbox and see all devices, it was set Auto and 20/40/80 eeeC then for some unknown reason, I could not see any of the SXT’s via Winbox nor any of the equipment that is connected to the rack that the SXT’s are connected to… So I switched to the backup mANTBox, and after powering up I could see them again… But that mANT Box had 20/40 Ce and 5200 fixed frequency…

Thanks for any insight.