A challenge is that it is not feasible for physical cables to be run between buildings. Distribution must be done by RF links. There are several mounts that are already in place that are ideal for adding APs as these locations already have a weatherhead to allow easy passage of cables into the building for power. At this point there is no requirement for wireless inside the buildings, just covering the outdoor areas around the buildings. Some individual members have their own "repeaters" for connection inside the metal buildings if they want it, the club might support this further in the future, but not at this time. The initial budget is up to $3,000 USD for hardware.
The current system they have is a Ubiquiti UniFi system with a Dream Machine in the office and several of their mesh APs. This was selected by a prior member as it was supposed to be easy and hands off, just set it up and forget it. Unfortunately it's proven a bit difficult. On several occasions over the past three years everything will disconnect and just quit working, requiring manual resets and messing to get everything setup and connected again. The office has no external antenna, and the remote mesh nodes will loose contact for a few minutes several times a day. I have also been unimpressed with UniFi's capabilities at simple things like knowing what IPs are assigned, etc. (this should be simple, right?)
The current network is a very basic flat /24 network with open (unsecured/no authentication required) wireless. It does not even use the "guest network" feature of UniFi. It has been open/unsecured for about 10 years without issue, so they do not want to make a change, but that is something I foresee in the future (at least adding a segmented guest network SSID).
I am a little nervous about using Mikrotik as I am still learning myself. This application would be approaching mini-WISP scale, which is more than I have ever done, but would be a good learning experience. To match what they have now is pretty simple configuration wise, and there is a lot of room to grow.
I am looking for advice on the following:
- Once established, how much effort will be required for network administration? Is this something that can be left unattended most of the time and checked on once every six months?
- What advice do you have for hardware selection and physical configuration?
- What resources (paid okay) are available to help me learn/troubleshoot if I get stuck?
Graphic explanation:
- Blue outline is property boundary
- Red outlines are building footprints
- Blue dots are easy antenna mounting locations
Current setup:
- DreamMachine inside main office
- Unifi Mesh Pro AP at Mnt1 (Good connection)
- Unifi Mesh AP at Mnt2 (Okay connection drops 1-3 times/day)
- Unifi Mesh Pro AP at Mnt 3 (Poor connection drops 1-2 times per hour and bounces between direct connection to DreamMachine and relay via Mnt 2)
Thoughts on future setup:
Mnt1, Mnt2, and Mnt3 all have direct line of sight to the office. The area around the office is also the most used area. I am thinking of a sector antenna for RF links and users around the office with directional antennas at those three mount locations to connect back to the office. Each Mnt location could then have an omnidirectional or sector antenna. Mnt5, and Mnt6 both have line of sight to Mnt3.
It seems to be best practice that the RF links are 5Ghz and the user APs be 2.4 Ghz. With our speeds, should we use all 2.4Ghz, or will it be beneficial for interference at mount locations to have the backhaul be one and distribution to clients be the other?