topic Re: Wireless link between two buildings. in Wireless

Wireless link between two buildings.

darrenj — Sun, 04 Jul 2021 20:04:11 GMT

Hello people!

I have a situation whereby I want to extend the LAN from a main building to a small office (they are separated by a road). The small office will have wired users that connect to the main building via a wireless link, and then back onto the wired LAN of the main building.

I guess what I am looking for is a wireless bridge right? Or do I need a workgroup bridge? I definitely want to encrypt the traffic over the wireless link, but what are my encryption choices? I would like IPSec but I am sure it is not supported, so do I have to go with WPA?

Any help or guidance is much appreciated!

Re: Wireless link between two buildings.

scottmac — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 13:52:18 GMT

A wireless bridge is what you want.

Something like a 1400 series would work well. The 1400 uses 802.11a (5.6 Gig) and is less likely to be interfered with by the proliferation of 802.11g (2.4G) devices / clients.

WPA / WPA2 is very secure. If you use the PSK (Pre-Shared Key) flavor, make sure you use strong keys (longer is better, no "dictionary" words - break up words with numbers and punctuation)

Good Luck

Scott

Re: Wireless link between two buildings.

darrenj — Wed, 13 Sep 2006 06:55:37 GMT

Thanks for your response Scotty. One part of the layout I didn't disclose, was that the distance between the two wireless links is only approx. 15 metres. As such, I was wondering if two Access Points with directional antenna's would be a more viable / cheaper alternative.

What are you thoughts friends?

Re: Wireless link between two buildings.

scottmac — Wed, 13 Sep 2006 11:26:43 GMT

Two access points (in bridge mode - one root, one non-root) would work fine.

If you go with a 1200 series (~1242) with an a and g radios, you can use the 802.11a radios for the bridge (less interference) and use the 802.11g radios for wireless within the respective buildings.

Directional antennas of any type would probably give you full-speed access.

("probably" because there is no certainty without a good site survey).

Good Luck

Scott