I wonder whether anyone can help with a problem that I am having with trying to set up an Airnet 1200 as a repeater.
I have a number of Aironet 1200 APs installed in a number of locations, all working happily. I now need to deliver wireless coverage to a small location that cannot be wired into, so I thought of using another 1200 as a repeater.
I have set up a lab test comprising a 1200 running in root mode and a second 1200 configured as a repeater. There is a PIX acting as the gateway to the outside world and providing a DHCP service for the wireless clients.
If I place a client lap-top near to the root AP so that the lap-top associates with the root AP, everything works as expected (with the unexpected exception that I am unable to access the web management interface in the repeater AP or even ping it).
If I then move the client lap-top near to the repeater AP, it associates with the repeater fine. At this point I can now connect to the web management interface in both the root and the repeater access point. However, I can no longer ping the lap-top's default gateway and, obviously, all connectivity to the outside world is lost. Nor am I able to ping any other IP on the wired part of the subnet (for example, the switch management interface). However, I am still able to release and renew the DHCP lease on the lap-top.
If I reassociate the lap-top with the root AP, the original situation is restored: I can access hosts on the wired part of the network and I can access the outside world all as expected, but I can no longer ping the repeater AP.
I have reviewed the Cisco document 'Configuring Repeater and Standby Access Points', and believe I have done everything necessary to configure the repeater correctly. [The document refers to the non-existent 'dot11 extensions aironet'. The command is appears actually to be 'dot11 extension aironet'. Aironet extensions are turned on as reported by the web GUI in both the root and repeater APs, but the command does not appear to reflect back in the running-config.] The config files are below, with some details omitted to protect the innocent.
Both APs are running 12.2(13)JA3 and both have 802.11g radios with the cardbus radio slot unoccupied.
On the client side, I have tried Win XP Pro SP1 with a Cisco 340 card and Win 2000 Pro SP4 with the same 340 card, and also with a Linksys WPC11 version 3, and with an ORiNOCO Gold. The results are the same in all cases.
When the client is associated with the repeater, the network map on the root AP shows the repeater, as does the adjacent AP list also. The association page shows the repeater device type as 'ap1200-Rptr' and it shows the client as device type 'Rptr-client'.
At the same time, the network map on the repeater AP shows both itself and the root AP as device 'Access-Point'. The Adjacent AP list is, however, empty. The association page shows the root AP as device type 'ap1200-Parent' and the client as '240-client'.
The configs for the two APs are in the attachment.
Can anyone offer any suggestions as to how to prceed?
Tim Levy
London
