Best Mode for Multiple WAP4410N on LAN

[jastronomy]

Hello all,

I have 4x Cisco WAP4410N wifi access points. All of these are POE enabled devices and have been patched in and evenly distributed across our network maximizing the broadcast area of the point.

The access points support several 'modes' of operation.

• Access Point
• Wireless WDS Repeater
• Wireless WDS Bridge
• Wireless Client/Repeater
• Wireless Monitor

At the moment I have; 4x Access Point Modes (same Protocol/Channel/SSID/Encryption and Passkey).

And mobile and laptop users can 'roam' across the building and 'hop' between APs. Unfortunately; when switching from AP1 over to AP2; the switching layer has an ARP resolution issue; taking roughly 2 seconds to resolve. Thus any packet dependant traffic (pings) drop mid-way through.

DHCP comes from the domain controller on the same LAN; once I get these stable and operational; I will look at introducing VLANs for the APs; proxying the traffic too.

[Clayton Sill]

Hello Simon,

      I would keep them all in Access Point mode if you are planning on having them all hardwired into your network. That is the best setup.

     As for Wireless WDS repeater or Wireless Client/Repeater, you would use these features if you are trying to extend your wireless signal at a certain location in your building but you are not able to run a ethernet cable to that location. So all you would do is power up the WAP4410n and it will help increase the wireless signal in that location if set in repeater mode. The draw back to this is it will cut your througput by half.

Wireless WDS bridge, you would use this feature if you are wanting to extend your network to a location were you are not able to run a ethernet cable to. Once you set up the bridge you would place it in the location were you are wanting to extend your hardwire network. If you plug a PC into the ethernet port on the Bridged WAP then you should be able to pull a IP address from the main network. When set in this mode it will not broadcast a wireless signal.. so you will not be able to connect wirelessly to the device once it is in Wireless Bridge mode.

Wireless Monitor.. not sure about this feature.. never used it.

This keep in mind that these devices will usually only bridge or use repeater with themselves and not other devices.

If you are wanting to start adding VLANs in the future you will need to stick to Access point mode since that mode will allow you to set up more than one VLAN the WAP can look out for. If you use repeater or bridge mode feature you will only be able to use 1 vlan.

I hope that helps you out!

Thanks,

Clayton Sill

[jastronomy]

Clayton,

You advised on exactly what we had already done. Sounds like my understanding of the single LAN/multiple WIFI nodes was correct.

For those interested in repeating what we did; you might want all the POE ports on the same switch. If you do the ARP resolution of IP<>MAC will resolve the correct interface much quicker.

Infact if you 'Trunk' all the ports that have WiFi points on them even the ARP resolution time drops to fractions of a second.  Walking throughout the office 'in theory' should be completely seamless.