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WAP4410N as WDS Repeater with same SSID as AP

John Frankish
Level 1
Level 1

As the title says - I have a wap4410n acting as AP and a second wap4410n acting as wds repeater.

I've only managed to get the wds repeater to work when it has a different ssid to that of the ap - I'd like the wds repeater to have the same ssid as the ap, should things work in this configuration?

22 Replies 22

SSID is case sensitive and it should match what is configured on the Access Point. For more information refer the Connection Types on a WAP4410N.

If I try to use an ssid of "mynet" on both the ap and the wds repeater, users cannot access the local network or internet via the wds repeater. As soon as I change the ssid of the wds repeater to "mynet1", users have access.

If I try to follow the link you posted, I get an error "forbidden file or application"...

After 9 days of uptime (the best yet), the wap4410n acting as wds repeater stopped giving ip addresses - machines get 169.254.163.196 instead, so I thought I'd give the ssid one more try.

After renaming the ssid to be the same as the wap4410n ap and after changing "Wireless Isolation:(between SSID)" from enabled (the default) to disabled and rebooting, it works

I've no idea why this wouldn't work before - perhaps changing "Wireless Web Access:" from disabled (the default) to enabled and only accessing wirelessly played a part too.

Seems I spoke too soon...

windows 7 laptops will initially connect to the wap4110n wds repeater when ap and wds repeater have the same ssid, but it seems that they cannot re-connect when the dhcp lease expires and they fall back to the 169.254.163.196 story. I need to reboot both the wap4410n ap and the wap4410 wds repeater to get things going again.

note that I've tried changing "Wireless Isolation:(between SSID)" and "Wireless Isolation:(within SSID)", but this does not appear to change/improve things.

I also note that the same windows 7 laptops cannot roam between the wap4410n wds repeater and wap4410n ap coverage areas without losing their connection - they have to return to the coverage area where they first connected to regain their connection.

It looks like I'll have to go back to having different ssid for the wap4410n ap and wap4110n wds repeater, but this seems counter-intuitive and wrong.

Ironically I never had a problem with my old wrt54g ap and wap54g repeater, but after "upgrading" to the rvs4000 and wap4410n's things have never worked reliably nor as expected...

Not being willing to let this drop - after all the wap4410n should work as advertised - I set up the wap4410n ap/wds repeater with static addresses as follows:

wap4410n ap static ip 192.168.1.150 - [wired mac *b8, wireless mac *b9]

wap4410n wds repeater static ip 192.168.1.151 - [wired mac *b6, wireless mac *b7]

Both wap4410n are using the same ssid - various machines (vista laptop, win7 laptop, iphone, digital radio) can connect to the wap4410n wds repeater, but lose the connection after about an hour. Note that the dhcp lease renewal is set to one day on the rvs4000.

When the machines lose their connection to the wap4410n wds repeater, I cannot access its wireless browser interface from a wired connection to the rvs4000 and am obliged to switch off the power to the wap4410n wireless repeater and reboot the wap4410n ap in order to restore the connection.

Some observations:

1. The wap4410n ap is set to allow its signal to be repeated by mac address *b7 (i.e. the wireless mac of the wap4410n wds repeater)

2. The wap4410n wds repeater is set to repeat the signal of mac address *b9 (i.e. the wireless mac of the wap4410n ap - and this is what is shown in the "site survey")

3. The rvs4000 arp/rarp table shows the wap4410n ap mac *b8 (i.e. the wired interface), but shows the wap4410n wds repeater mac *b6 (i.e. the wired interface), when the wds repeater does not have a wired connection??

4. Wireless security is set to  wpa2-personal (aes) and ssid isolation within and between ssid is set to disabled.

5. The wap4410n wds repeater will allow users to connect for between +/- 1 to 5 hours before becoming unresponsive. When it becomes unresponsive, a user can connect wirelessly by moving into range of the wap4410n ap.

My setup is one of the most basic - why won't it work reliably for more than a few hours.

Hi John -- Thanks for participating in the Community. I strongly recommend you contact the Small Business Support Center and share this information. You'll find a list of toll free numbers here: www.cisco.com/go/sbsc. The US Center is available 24/7 and there is never a charge for warranty support.

Please keep us informed on the outcome.

Thanks,

Stephanie Reaves

Cisco Small Business

After many attempts I finally got through - the case ID is 616439523

Thanks for the update, John. Please keep up posted.

Stephanie Reaves

Cisco Small Business

Together with the Cisco Engineer, I changed the following on both the ap and repeater:

wireless > advanced settings > country/region: Germany (default) -> Asia

wireless > basic settings > wireless channel: 6 -> 11

I'd previously tried wireless channel 13, but (if I understood correctly) apparently the wap4410n can only repeat on channels 1,6 or 11.

Anyway, after a few hours, the repeater stopped allowing clients to connect.

Next (as per the Engineer's suggestion) I tried changing the encryption from wap2-personal -> wep 128 bit.

The repeater has now been working without problems for almost 3 days, so it seems my problem is related to wpa2-personal.

The Cisco engineer tried my setup in the lab and, whilst she did not see any problems with firmware-2.0.2.1 (the one I'm using), she did see problems with firmware-2.0.3.3

Once I have some more feedback on this case, I'll update the thread.

The Cisco engineer sent me a beta test firmware to load.

After installing the new firmware on both wap4410n and changing back from wep-128 bit to wpa2-personnel, the repeater has been working fine for a couple of days now, so it seems the problem has been solved.

If things continue to work for the next couple of days, I'll post the settings I'm using in case they're useful for others.

Any idea when this "beta" firmware will make it live?

It seems I spoke too soon - after a couple of days of use, the repeater stopped allowing users to connect. After rebooting both the ap and the repeater, things worked OK for 12-18 hours and the repeater again stopped allowing users to connect.

Sorry, but I've no idea when the beta software will be live.

Hilarious.  I called Cisco with a similar problem.  All they said was we don't support the product you must get support from where you purchased it.  Joke.

ceramicheahura
Level 1
Level 1

SAME PROBLEMS ... we try lots of configs to get AP as WDS repeater on a AP default... as describe in the thread ... for me not work !!!!!

i have upgrade with latest firmware 2.0.3.3. not resolve.

I hope the cisco team can resolve as soon as possible with a new firmware.   we need products that work well.

where can i download the beta firmware ?

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