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Will Mesh Root AP serve WIFI to final clients ?

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Will Mesh Root AP serve WIFI to final clients ?

This thread has been locked for further replies. You can start a new thread to share your ideas or ask questions.
Will Mesh Root AP serve WIFI to final clients ?
Will Mesh Root AP serve WIFI to final clients ?
2020-06-24 02:57:07
Model: EAP225-Outdoor  
Hardware Version: V3
Firmware Version: 3.2

Hi everyone, 

 

I'm planning a network solution that requires Mesh network to reach the furthest places in the project, I downlink from a CPE210 AP in client mode to a EAP225 Outdoor (which should be root for MESH) and plan to do at least 2 hops from there. 

 

Question 1

 

Should Omada be able to manage the new EAP225 in the remote link side? So that I can set it to ROOT in the mesh.

 

Question 2.

 

Lets assume Omada could do it. Once this AP becomes root, I'm able to mesh 1 or more to it "mesh non root APs". fine!.. BUT, will ROOT AP still be available to connect end devices, or it is root dedicated? 

 

Question 3.

 

I read in the user manual that mesh is performed in 5Ghz Radio, Does it mean that Mesh APs will only serve WIFI for endhosts in 2.4Ghz? If so, can we change this behavior, -like switch the radios?

 

Question 4.

 

For this particular APModel, EAP225 Outdoor, what's the signal strength recommended for mesh links in 5Ghz? 

 

 

thanks

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Re:Will Mesh Root AP serve WIFI to final clients ?
2020-06-24 05:52:34 - last edited 2020-06-24 05:55:22

 

SergioT wrote 

Should Omada be able to manage the new EAP225 in the remote link side? So that I can set it to ROOT in the mesh.

 

Omada controller can manage all EAPs in the network, no matter whether the EAP is in the same network or in a subnetwork. A mesh node becomes a root node by simply wiring it to a router, a switch or a wireless backhaul. No further settings are needed in the controller.

 

BUT, will ROOT AP still be available to connect end devices, or it is root dedicated?

 

Depends on your policy. You can either permit clients connecting to the root node or you can deny them to do so.

 

I read in the user manual that mesh is performed in 5Ghz Radio, Does it mean that Mesh APs will only serve WIFI for endhosts in 2.4Ghz? If so, can we change this behavior, -like switch the radios?

 

Yes. If you want to disable the 5 GHz band, just don't create a wireless network for 5 GHz. The 5 GHz radio needs to be enabled for the mesh; it uses a hidden network which can't be used by ordinary clients.

 

For this particular APModel, EAP225 Outdoor, what's the signal strength recommended for mesh links in 5Ghz? 

 

The higher the RSSI, the better. To avoid bottlenecks you should place mesh nodes nearer to their uplink nodes (½ of the max. range of an EAP225-Outdoor, that's 50m). Also make sure there is a free line of sight between the mesh node and its uplink node.

 

Also keep in mind that a mesh will not increase the total user capacity of the network. If you have one root node and 10 mesh nodes connecting to it, the total user capacity for the whole mesh network remains the same as for one EAP225-Outdoor only (that's ~60 to 80 clients depending on their use pattern). Also, bandwidth of the regular 5 GHz network will be cut for those clients using the 5 GHz band. Additionally, 5 GHz clients can cause the Hidden Node Problem if they are far away from the next hop mesh node.

 

A mesh is great if you need to connect a few EAPs which can't be wired to the network for whatever reason, but it's not suitable to serve a big audience.

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Re:Will Mesh Root AP serve WIFI to final clients ?
2020-06-24 17:25:56

Hi @R1D2,

 

Regarding your assertion:
 

"Depends on your policy. You can either permit clients connecting to the root node or you can deny them to do so."
 

-- Is there an easy way to do this?  Through Omada?

 

Access control rules seem to link SSID's to IP Octets (allow or deny).  And similarly MAC filtering rules also seem to link SSID's to lists of MAC addresses (allow or deny).

 

But what cannot be done -- at least I cannot figure out how to:

 

1) Constrain which AP's advertise / permit associations by STA's for only a subset of SSID's.  That is to say, when defining a WLAN group (and the SSID's contained within it) control the propagation of the this group to only a subset of APs.  Alternatively, when making an SSID within a WLAN, limit/disable it from being propagated to certain APs

 

2) Block one or more individual STA's from being to associate with one or more individual AP's.  That is to say, perhaps you have a stubborn STA that likes to associate with the completely wrong AP for inane reason.  For example showing a sticky affinity for the outdoor AP when there is an indoor AP 10 feet away -- that all of the other STA's in the room find and use without issue.

 

So in the Case of the OP's question to this effect, how would you prevent the MESH Master Node from advertising and permitting STA associations for the SSID's that are used in the WLAN that the child MESH nodes are hosting?  Presumably, the Master Node is in this same WLAN?

 

To the OP's other point.  No, the MESH is only 5.8GHz.  You cannot swap the radios.  You can choose to limit clients to 2.4GHz and keep the 5.8GHz free for the MESH, provided the SSID you make (and your clients use) is only assoicated with the 2.4GHz radios.  You do this when you make / edit the SSID. 

 

-Jonathan

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Re:Will Mesh Root AP serve WIFI to final clients ?
2020-06-24 19:44:13

@JSchnee21, to disable a root node's WLAN for clients you just don't bind the WLAN group to this root AP.

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