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toxicfusion
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CAPSman Controller device

Thu Jun 10, 2021 2:43 am

Hello,

Looking for some suggestions -

Some of my clients I will utilize an "All-in-One" setup for Router + CAPSMan setup for their network. Depending on size. Typical Deployment now starts with RB4011 as router [Very capable device!!].... [CapsMan, Hotspot + Router functions]

However, I am picking up some larger customers that have 10+ AP's that would be controlled by CAPSMan. Obviously, using a single device is single point of failure, and not ideal solution for every client....

Any thoughts on using "HEX S - RB760iGS" router as the CAPSMan controller for these smaller networks with only 10-15 Access points, or less?

Local Forward mode would be enabled. I do not like the speed of not having local forward enabled....

I figure the RB760iGS is small enough that can stack two(2) of them for Dual caps controller setup for failover. If I was to ever do an install of 25+ AP's, then I would look into another RB4011 or CCR for caps controller..

Anyone use the "RB760iGS" device as Caps Controller? If so, how many APs?

Majority of my small business customer WIFI installs are with MikroTik..... YEP! WIFI5 is plenty for majority of devices...... WIFI6 still has issues [even on other SMB Wifi products]. It is NOT UNTIL you goto enterprise equipment where things work better [Aruba, Ruckus]. Only select customers of mine use say or Aruba AP's. Although, have had great success with TP-LINK EAP series!...
 
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Hominidae
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Re: CAPSman Controller device

Thu Jun 10, 2021 1:59 pm

...unfortunately MT has no redundancy concept for capsman build into RouterOS (AFAIK).

In a smaller site, typically there will be one MT device, that will be the one critical element if it fails...most likely a Router or Switch.
I'd rather focus on PSU redundancy and leave capsman on that single device,, instead of having a hot spare capsman device (where you would need to frequently sync the config changes accoss),
You can/should cater for a cold spare of this device and then import config backups, as usual.
A RB4011 and Hex-X allows for POE-In and an external PSU, so this is also possible here.

With local forwarding set to ON in datapath, performance wise any device will do, in my opinion to cater for number of CAPs, as you mentioned.

Alternatively, see here: viewtopic.php?p=760970
 
toxicfusion
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Re: CAPSman Controller device

Thu Jun 10, 2021 3:46 pm

...unfortunately MT has no redundancy concept for capsman build into RouterOS (AFAIK).

In a smaller site, typically there will be one MT device, that will be the one critical element if it fails...most likely a Router or Switch.
I'd rather focus on PSU redundancy and leave capsman on that single device,, instead of having a hot spare capsman device (where you would need to frequently sync the config changes accoss),
You can/should cater for a cold spare of this device and then import config backups, as usual.
A RB4011 and Hex-X allows for POE-In and an external PSU, so this is also possible here.

With local forwarding set to ON in datapath, performance wise any device will do, in my opinion to cater for number of CAPs, as you mentioned.

Alternatively, see here: viewtopic.php?p=760970
Thank you for your detailed replied! I Agree with you on all coutns ;). Yes, PSU redundancy is probably more important overall for smaller sites; as keeping devices online is critical.

Any thoughts on using individual CHR's in a private cloud environment for each customer? Rather than having CAPSman on-prem, or having the 2nd config sync'd to the CHR instance?? Unsure how that would work with a cloud based CAPS Controller..
 
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Hominidae
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Re: CAPSman Controller device

Thu Jun 10, 2021 4:09 pm

...a CHR and capsman should also work well...and if for the that only purpose you need not that many ressources (single vCore, 128MB RAM perhaps).
Don't even know if a free version, capped at 10Mbps, would do ;-)

With the correct concept for storage behind it, like creating snaps of the vdisks, you could easily migrate the instance once the main one fails.
However, then scaling for a number of customers could be a pain, as well as risking of deploying the wrong one ;-)

...definitly not KISS, I believe.
 
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mkx
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Re: CAPSman Controller device

Thu Jun 10, 2021 7:59 pm

I'd be careful about running CAPs manager off site. If CAP devices loose connectivity towards manager (can be even a very short period of time) they shut down their radios.
 
biomesh
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Re: CAPSman Controller device

Fri Jun 11, 2021 2:24 am

You can have multiple capsman configured throughout your environment. Just set the caps-man-names option on each cap. It is an ordered list of what capsman server(s) to connect to.
 
toxicfusion
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Re: CAPSman Controller device

Fri Jun 11, 2021 5:20 pm

You can have multiple capsman configured throughout your environment. Just set the caps-man-names option on each cap. It is an ordered list of what capsman server(s) to connect to.
Thank you for this tip! So the list works in order of operations.. This would help with timeout and any possible CAP disconnects. Could primary CAPsMan be Router, and secondary be another on-prem device or even cloud based CHR over EoIP.
 
biomesh
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Re: CAPSman Controller device

Sat Jun 12, 2021 3:52 am

Thank you for this tip! So the list works in order of operations.. This would help with timeout and any possible CAP disconnects. Could primary CAPsMan be Router, and secondary be another on-prem device or even cloud based CHR over EoIP.
If they are not on the same layer 2 network/vlan then you also need to set caps-man-addresses so the caps know how to connect to capsman servers.

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