I bought a new router and an extra AP, having both the need for a few extra ports and better coverage on the wifi. The router is MikroTik RB4011iGS+RB and I have two mAP 2nd. Previously, I had my old router and one mAP configured as a bridge using the WISP AP settings. It worked smoothly.
I’ve basically used the default configuration on the router. Plugging in the old mAP connected it to the default bridge on the router so wifi was up and running directly.
As for the second mAP, I thought I’d use the same settings, network name, password etc and place it on the other side of our apartment. I’ve got it running and both seem to be transmitting ok but will the wireless device automatically switch to the strongest signal?
Also, I’d like to power at least one of the with PoE. It seems that I then need the input from the router to be ETH1 but it is ETH2, which is the PoE out. When I connect the ETH1 to the router it doesn’t connect. If I look under bridge it says that ETH2 is Root port and ETH1 is designated port. Is switching these roles the solution to this? If so, how?
And a third thing is MAC address and IP address. With both the router and the old mAP I can log in using the IP. With the new mAP I cannot. I’ve set the IP under IP – Addresses to the current IP with the correct and the Bridge interface. As far as I can tell it’s the exact same configuration but only the old mAP accept login via IP. And the MAC on the new keep changing…
If anyone can give me some help on this I’d appreciate it.
@OT: what is the desired high-level network topology (explained in plain English)? My guess is that you want all devices (wired and wireless, regardless the AP serving) to be member of same IP subnet and (as you already noted) wireless devices should seamlessly (as much as possible with wifi) roam between all APs.
And how are APs connected to main router? I certainly hope they will connect using ethernet cable.
If my assumptions are correct, then you can’t really configure APs using quickset, there is no appropriate mode there (a shame actually).
Depending on the threshold of the device, the device will search for the strongest signal. To prevent that it will connect to the 2.4G radio, make sure it’s transmission power is lower than the 5G radio.
Other than that, yes, wireless client will decide to switch to another AP when signal of the old one drops below certain threshold (again client's own setting). If the signal is "too strong", then it might never switch to the better one, in this case it's necessary to lower Tx power of AP.
So, yes, the desired network is the same IP subnet and the two AP are connected to the router through ethernet wire.
I use the WISP Quickset with bridge mode now. Is that a bad alternative?
So concerning which signal the device use, that is solely decided by the settings in the device using the wireless signal? It seems to work fine as it is now as far as I can tell.
Any ideas on what I need to do to set IP on the second mAP so I won’t have to bother with MAC? As far as I can see I’ve done the same thing but I can’t log in using IP with the new mAP.
Also, is it possible to change the roles of the ETH ports on the mAP? It just seem odd that PoE in is set to the ETH port that functions as just that, an ETH port, whereas the one used for incoming, that would have been WAN had I used it alone, is not. It’s more likely that one would want to power this device using PoE rather than using it to power another device, right?
As I wrote, QuitckSet doesn’t offer a profile for “AP only” … which is what you actually need. You can configure mAPs just the way you need them (that’s the beauty of RouterOS), but you’ll have to do it manually:
download and install winbox. It’s a GUI allowing you to connect via MAC … when Mikrotik device is completely config-less and doesn’t have IP address.
disconnect mAP from your LAN, connect management PC to mAP ether2
run winbox, let it discover devices, click MAC address of mAP and connect
reset mAP with no defaults (System → Reset Configuration and enable “No Default Configuration”)
create a new bridge (Interfaces → Bridge → +), add all existing ports to it (it should end up with two ether ports and a wireless port)
either
a) enable DHCP client on bridge (IP → DHCP Client → + … select bridge as interface). To “fix” the IP address of mAP you can later set DHCP lease static (and even change IP address) through management page of main router
b) set static IP address on bridge (IP → addresses → + … select bridge as interface and enter address … pick some address from your LAN IP subnet and don’t forget to include subnet mask … e.g. 192.168.88.2/24). Optionally set static route towards internet (mAP will solely need it for upgrades, wireless clients don’t need it … IP → Routes … leave Dst. address as it is 0.0.0.0/0, but add Gateway - enter LAN IP address of your main router)
connect mAP to main router via ether1
if you folowed step 6a), then verify that DHCP client did obtain a lease: IP → DHCP client → click config line → Status
configure wireless: configure Security Profile, SSID, etc.
After you verified that mAP does get IP address in step #8, you can proceed to configure mAP via WebFig (step #9). If you choose to do it via WebFig, you should unplug/replug ethernet cable of management PC so that management PC obtains correct IP address via DHCP (from your main router).
Important: never ever use QuickSet on mAP again after you configured it manually.
When you successfully configure one mAP this way, do same steps with the other mAP.
If configured this way, there won’t be any WAN ether port … both ports will be equal (mAP will switch traffic between them) and it won’t matter which port is then used to connect to main router (the other can be used to connect another wired client and mAP will act as a switch). You can connect one of mAPs to ether10 on your RB4011 and will be powered via PoE (if it’s not, you have to check PoE out status on RB4011).
I really appreciate you taking the time to write that detailed explanation. Following it was as easy as falling of a bar stool on a late Saturday night.