Trying to set up CAPsMAN: What packages?

hap ax3: main device

wAP ax 1: 2 APs.

How. I have set them up, followed guides, everything, and I just can’t figure it out. WiFi is diabled on the HAP ax3. CAPsMAN is enabled I think, but I’m unsure what wifi packages I need to make it work on each device. Depending on what package is installed, it changes into… wifi and wifi? Capsman is under wifi now, but also in capsman? There’s Capsman v1 and v2 same name but you do them different? I understand now why in my market they sell configured devices for extra.

My goal is just a reliable local network that can switch between the two APs.Being able to set it up from one device is cool, but I don’t NEED that. I want my iphone to switch from one wifi upstairs to the downstairs without me noticing it switched. I can build upon it and add more and more complex features, but I can’t even get basic IP DHCP servers to work without manually setting IP addresses.

Main question: What packages should be installed on each device for wifi to function on the wAPs?

Next: Is there documentation for this new CAPsMAN? I found a guide for WAVESHARE2 that seemed to set it up correctly, but then I had the IP issues. trying to do that I ran into the package issue, and just simply being unsure what packages I should have at all.

guide I used: https://miro.co.za/blog/technical-tips-guides/how-to-set-up-wifiwave2-capsman-for-your-ax-mikrotik-devices Then I realize it’s for a package I don’t have, because it’s included… sort of??

I will gladly reset all of the settings on them and start over if someone can point me in the direction of a good base config.

1 of these:

       routerboard: yes              
        board-name: hAP ac^3         
             model: RBD53iG-5HacD2HnD
     serial-number: F34E0F88A707     
     firmware-type: ipq4000          
  factory-firmware: 6.47.10          
  current-firmware: 6.47.10          
  upgrade-firmware: 7.19.2

2 of these:

       routerboard: yes            
        board-name: wAP ax         
             model: wAPG-5HaxD2HaxD
     serial-number: HHE0ABTAER9    
     firmware-type: ipq5000        
  factory-firmware: 7.16.1         
  current-firmware: 7.16.1         
  upgrade-firmware: 7.19.2  

Which is it? ax3 or ac3?

Generic guide for wifi capsman:

  1. Update everything to latest stable ROS 7 Release via /system/packages. This may take several steps if you are coming from ROS 6.
  2. Uninstall any “wireless” packages, if installed.
  3. Install “wifi-qcom” on ax devices, install “wifi-qcom-ac” on ac devices.
  4. Follow this guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37aff6d14Xk
  5. If you want to provision wireless interface on the manager itself, select them in the radio tab and hit the “provision” button.
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I think I made a typo in the body of the text, the main router is an HAP ac3.

The other two are wAP ax.

Thus, wifi needs to be disabled on the main router HAP ac3 if I understand correctly.

And thank you for your help! I’ve been spinning in circles trying to figure out for my situation of hardware differences.

HAP ac3:


 0    ups            7.19.2   2025-06-20 07:55:02  44.1KiB  
 1    wifi-qcom-ac   7.19.2   2025-06-20 07:55:02  2684.1KiB
 2    container      7.19.2   2025-06-20 07:55:02  116.1KiB 
 3 X  wifi-qcom      7.19.2   2025-06-20 07:55:02  9.5MiB   
 4    routeros       7.19.2   2025-06-20 07:55:02  11.6MiB  
 5 X  wireless       7.19.2   2025-06-20 07:55:02  1928.1KiB

wAP ax:

#1
 0    wifi-qcom      7.19.2   2025-06-20 07:55:02  9.5MiB   
 1    routeros       7.19.2   2025-06-20 07:55:02  11.6MiB  

#2
0 wifi-qcom  7.19.2   2025-06-20 07:55:02  9.5MiB 
1 routeros   7.19.2   2025-06-20 07:55:02  11.6MiB

No, as long as you don’t need dynamically assigned vlan tags you can keep using the ac3’s wifi interfaces and manage them from the same wifi configuration.

If AC3 is the controller, radios need to be configured locally.
Not via capsman.

local wifi interfaces can be controlled by capsman. see 5. from Trying to set up CAPsMAN: What packages? - #2 by whatever

Got it working! Thank you!

Honestly I found that video before, but it confused me. This time knowing what config to apply, I was able to do it for all. Also didn’t realize you had to individually apply the settings.

One confusion: How do you tell which should be 5G and which 2G? And then, how should I go about choosing the TYPE of 2G or 5G. “Managed by CAPsMAN 12:12:12:12:12%bridgeLocal, traffic processing on CAP; SSID: id, channel: whatever” is what each says in red, rather than just “Managed by CAPsMAN”. I guessed by process of elimination, if it didn’t work I swapped it to 5G or 2G.

Lastly, for the AC3. If I enable the wifi on it, will devices still be able to seamlessly transfer from AP to AC3 to other AP?

 0   name="SSID" mode=ap ssid="SSID" country=Philippines security=sec1 
     security.authentication-types=wpa2-psk,wpa3-psk 
     .passphrase="pass" 
     datapath.bridge=bridge 
     channel.band=2ghz-ax .width=20/40mhz 

 1   name="SSID5G" ssid="SSID5G" security=sec1 
     security.authentication-types=wpa2-psk,wpa3-psk 
     .passphrase="pass"  
     datapath.bridge=bridge 
     channel.band=5ghz-ax .width=20mhz

Errm, sorry, but .. no. That’s not what whatever referred to.

There is a difference if an interface is being managed by capsman or is being provisioned.
The later can be done with local interface, yes.
The former not.

From Help pages:

CAPsMAN cannot manage it’s own wifi interfaces using configuration.manager=capsman , it is enough to just set the same configuration profile on local interfaces manually as you would with provisioning rules, and the end result will be the same as if they were CAPs. That being said, it is also possible to provision local interfaces via /interface/wifi/radio menu, it should be noted that to regain control of local interfaces after provisioning, you will need to disable the matching provisioning rules and press “provision” again, which will return local interfaces to an unconfigured state.

When I tried to enable it, it said no connection. Because it was looking for the prior version of CAPsMAN which is one of my main problems with this software. They have the same name.

If that AC3 uses wifi-qcom-ac driver and is being used as capsman controller, then there will be seamless roaming, yes.
Provided you use the same SSID and FT settings on all related radios.
All radios are then being controlled by the same ROS instance (capsman controlled or local).

And there comes the beauty from using that local radio provision trick. Simply use the same config as for any caps radio.

I believe this detail is negligible. If these local interfaces are provisioned, they fall under the control of the provisioning rule. In this state, direct changes to the interfaces are not possible. For example, they behave dynamically when action=create-dynamic-enabled and essentially function similarly to interfaces managed capsman.

Absolutely correct but using provisioning does not make them part of capsman control as you hinted above, similar behavior or not.

Point remains: local radios can not be controlled by capsman.
The minor yet very important detail is that on local radios you can not use configuration.manager=capsman, you have to use configuration.manager=local

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A router+2 AP’s is right on the border of what can be (IMHO) convenient:

so not using it in such a small setup should not be a problem at all.

This is the type of things I think they should be able to have the local network be controlled fully by CAPsMAN. (But to be honest it’s close to the AP for now, so no need to enable.)

A question that was up there, I’m confused about if my confg with wifi is good or not. Also I didn’t see an obvious way to make sure to use the coorect 2G vs 5G.

One confusion: How do you tell which should be 5G and which 2G? And then, how should I go about choosing the TYPE of 2G or 5G.

What do you mean ? Provisioning rules can be used to determine what config is applied to which radio based on band.
Or radio MAC address.
Or regex based on AP name.
Or …
Personally I always use radio MAC address so I perfectly know what gets applied where.

This confuses me even more … can you rephrase that question please ?
And what do you mean with “type” ?

Maybe best to show your full (redacted for sensitive info) config and then specify where exactly you still see problems.
Then we can work from there.