How to extend wireless coverage without cabling?

[Flavio Boniforti]

Hello everybody.

I'm about to deploy a WLAN-solution across 2 sites with 2 SSIDs and one 2504 controller.

Site A: 2x LAP1142, connected to the PoE ports of the controller.

Site B: 3x LAP1142, connecting to the WLC through an existing VPN tunnel between the two sites.

Now I have a quest: on site B I can't connect cables to each of the LAPs. Only one of them will be connected with an Ethernet cable (at least one has to be cabled, of course!)... My question is: is there any way to have 2 of the 3 LAPs on site B to get somehow "bridged" to the one LAP being cable-connected?

Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

F.

[Scott Fella · Accepted solution]

You can setup the one connected to an ethernet as a root ap and the other aps as a mesh ap.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/tech/tk722/tk809/technologies_white_paper09186a0080b1c101.shtml

[Flavio Boniforti]

Hello Scott, as alway a big THANK YOU for your presence here :-)

Yes, I've seen that paper... as I've not yet gone through the whole paper, I'd like to ask: is this kind of setup possible with just maybe 2 APs out of 5 working in RAP-PAP (Mesh) mode? I mean, my design would be to have the 2 LAPs in site A wired, one LAP on site B wired too, but the other 2 LAPs wireless (meshed)... is this achievable?

Thanks and regards,

F.

[Scott Fella]

Yes... As long as your Root AP (wired rap) is connected to your wired, you can have MAPs connected to that.

Thanks,

Scott Fella

Sent from my iPhone

[Scott Fella]

Just to clarify.... the RAP at site B will connect back to the WLC in site A.  Then you can have mesh ap's (MAPs) connect to that RAP.

[Flavio Boniforti]

Yes of course: the RAP has to be able to communicate with the WLC, wherever it will be placed.

Thanks again!

F.

[Flavio Boniforti]

Scott... hello again!

I was wondering about the setup I realized (2 LAPs in the main site, where the WLC is, and 2 LAPs in a remote site with Mesh).

Now when I connect to WLAN in the remote site, I am obviously surfing through the main site's DSL connection.

Would there be any way to configure the remote LAPs, which are Root AP and Mesh AP, to somehow work in H-REAP mode? From what I've seen in the WLC (Firmware 7.2) the LAPs can be configured only in one of these modes at a time.

Thanks and kind regards,

Flavio.

[Flavio Boniforti]

So here I'm back again...

I've managed to get one RAP and one MAP to be configured and working on my WLC. I've grouped them both into an "AP Group" and created a separate SSID for them.

The MAP lies at my Desk, where I connected my Android-Phone to the SSID of this "meshed" APs. Now, looking at the Client Monitor on the WLC GUI, I see that my Phone is connected to the RAP and not (as I expected because of a stronger signal) to the MAP. Any explanation to this? Any means to check wether clients are able to connect to the MAP?

And another question: if I'd like to add an other LAP, would it be sufficient to register its MAC Address in the MAC Filter List, then power it on? Or would I need to first connect it with a cable, so that the WLC could add and configure that device?

Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks!

F.