Need multiple root APs
Is it possible to have multiple Root APs? I need to establish root APs at opposite ends of our campus and line-of-sight cannot be established to a single Root AP.
Is it possible to set up multiple sites, say North Campus, South Campus, and each one have a Root AP?
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@JCDave You can have many root ap but root ap needs wired network cable to the lan.
Her is more information.
https://www.tp-link.com/en/support/faq/2283/
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JCDave wrote
[...] line-of-sight cannot be established to a single Root AP.
As @shberge said, you can have multiple root APs.
Let me add three more remarks you should keep in mind:
- The characteristic of a mesh network is that not all mesh APs need a free LoS to the root AP. Typically, mesh APs are linked with the nearest neighbor (their uplink AP), which not necessarily needs to be the root AP. Only uplink APs in the 1st hop (up to four, see 2.) need a free LoS to the root AP.
- Each AP can feed up to four more mesh APs in the same hop. You can have three hops at maximum.
- A mesh network will not aim at extending the wireless network's client capacity. The mesh was primarily designed to extend the WiFi coverage and to simplify EAP deployment.
This means you should use mutiple root APs anyway if you plan to support an extended client capacity of the network on the campus.
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@R1D2 Thanks!
In our case, we're replacing some point-to-point Engenius bridges that are quite old and have begun to fail. So we're looking at Omada mesh to replace and consolidate those point-to-point links, not so much for outdoor WiFi. In fact, I'm going to hide the SSIDs once everything is set up. Not sure why I don't go ahead and do it now. Just one less thing to worry about while I figure the configuration out I guess.
I now have a second site set up with a Root AP and a Mesh AP that I'm going to hang on the sides of the buildings tomorrow. I'll let everyone know how it goes.
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@JCDave for a PtP link you cannot use a mesh with two root APs.
But you could use a root AP ↔ mesh AP 1st hop ↔ mesh AP 2nd hop ↔ mesh AP 3rd hop setup. Unlike in other mesh concepts, in Omada mesh networks a mesh AP always has exactly one active (linked to) uplink AP, albeit the mesh can re-configure the uplink AP to use if the original uplink AP should fail.
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@R1D2 I have a wired Root AP on the administration building, and a Mesh AP connected to the switch in another building and the students there have Internet access. I just didn't know if it was possible to replicate that same configuration more than once within a given LAN. Everything I saw on the TP-Link website, or in the manual, only describes setting up a single Root AP for a given LAN. But now, I realize that every wired mesh-capable AP can function as a Root AP, so I think I have created what I need for now. I will need to point another Mesh AP to each Root in the future, but it's been good thus far. This is the current, absolutely-not-to-scale, map. The green arrows represent fiber-optic links between buildings. The dashed lightning bolt is one of the future expansion Mesh APs, and I guess I can also connect it to the one on the other house for failover bidirectionally. The curly brace shows what's configured, but will be installed tomorrow. A Root AP on one dorm, and a Mesh AP at the house across the parking lot (and across another street I forgot to show). So, even if we could do a mesh link from the dorm I'm installing tomorrow back to the administration building, we wouldn't want to because of the fiber-optic links. I hope that makes what I've been trying to do make more sense.
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JCDave wrote
I just didn't know if it was possible to replicate that same configuration more than once within a given LAN.
Why not? It's just a plain AP of which you can have plenty in the same LAN, thus it's not a Root AP until a Mesh AP connects to it.
Let's be more precise. An EAP becomes a so-called Root AP only if:
- it is wired to the network and can reach the router/Internet (you can set the IP address it should use to test for upstream connectivity),
- it has at least one other EAP linked to it wirelessly, thus becoming the uplink for this linked EAP.
But now, I realize that every wired mesh-capable AP can function as a Root AP
That's correct. A wired EAP can become a Root AP, but it's not just the cable connection what makes an EAP a Root AP.
For example, see the following topology which (ab)uses the meshnet as a PtP link:
EAP 1 is the Root AP wired to the LAN. EAP 2 is wired, too, but to a laptop. Despite both APs are wired, EAP 2 is still a Mesh AP wirelessly linked to the Root AP.
You don't even need ESSIDs for the APs. For meshing they will choose a 5 GHz WiFi channel with a hidden ESSID anyway (using the BSSID); in my test setup below it is channel 36:
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@RavenKnight, by adding more (wired) EAP225-Outdoors. There is no other way to increase the user capacity of an AP.
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