Linksys WAP11 to WAP11 Connectivity 3

[Hkeyman]

I am trying to connect two Linksys (Ver 2.2)WAP11's together to create a AP to AP connection. I have tried every part of what is provided by Linksys to get this connectivity. Linksys documentation is a little vauge on what MAC addresses to provide when using the AP-AP scenario. So just ruling out any oversite I tried both LAN and WIFI MAC addresses and still no connectivity. I can physically attach to both through seperate switches and a laptop but I can not ping either AP from each side. Also one other question is on the remote AP for gateway info are you supposed to use the default gateway or the AP as the gateway?

Anyone with any background knowledge, experience or just want to step up for the challenge please post anything you can provide.

 

[eihtur]

HKeyman,

ALright so what you are trying to do is set up a two LAN to talk to each other via the WAP11s that you have...this should be the settings...
lets say that your first AP is AP1 and your second is AP2...to set this one up...the main AP should be the AP1 and must be set as an Access Point only....and for the AP2 you must this one up as the Access Point Client...alright?

Both of the WAP must have the same SSID, and channel. and they must have a different IP address......the default gateway for the AP Client (AP2) must be the same with the defauot gateway for your AP1...that is your router's IP address if your using any.....

I hope that this one helped you with the said matters...ill try to search more and let us see what we can do.


"the praying man stops sinning and the sinning man stops praying.."

 

[Hkeyman]

Thanks for the post either,

I have tried all of the NFO you have provided...I have played with all of the possible settings as far as AP Client to AP and Bridge to Bridge and Multi-point all without any viable ping results. One caveat to this whole scenario is I did have signal boosters on each of the AP's but thinking ahead I did try removing each and have them acting as stand alone AP's. After I posted this afternoon I did try adjusting the DFG settings on AP2 to reflect AP1 and then tried setting it to the routers setting and still nothing...So I am completely at a loss here. When I first started setting this all up I did have two different versions of WAP11's (1-V2.2 and 1-V2.6) Thinking naturally it might be a compatibility issue I scrounged around in my own personal stash of equipment and found my v2.2 WAP11. So thinking I solved the non connection issue I was abruptly shot down. So another try at researching the equipment I noticed older firmware versions on each (not matching of course) so I quickly updated both to Firmware Ver 1.1 and I was still met with 100% loss on ping response/dropped packets. So a last ditch effort was to wipe both clean and start fresh and I am at this point in time still no connectivity.

I appreciate the first step resonse. Have anything else at your disposal to suggest? Or any other colleagues you can confir with? Thanks again for the insite...Hkeyman

Learn something new everyday...Hkeyman

 

[bcastner]

You should not have a problem using 2.2 with 2.6 WAP11s. You will have problems if you do not upgrade the firmware for any WAP11 to be used with bridging to firmware 1.4f or greater.

Go here for current firmware:

ftp.linksys.com/pub/network


You should also download the newest version of the Linksys USB configuration software from this site. Older versions will not permit a successful upgrade of newer firmware.

For configuration of the WAP11 I use the Atmel SNMP utility, easily found on the Web with instructions by searching for "WAP11 hack" in Google. The instructions to modify the snmp.cfg file must be done, and the authentication must be by Administrator setting, with the Community passphrase of "public".

Having said all of that, the last step is to properly set the mode and remote MAC addressing scheme. Both WAPs must be set to Bridge mode, Point-to-Point. The remote MAC adddress of WAP#1 being the MAC of WAP#2, and vice-versa on WAP#2.

It does work well.

 

[bcastner]

Additional Notes:

The SSID, WEP setting, and Channel must be identical on both WAPs.

 

[Hkeyman]

Well I did all of the suggestions and even switched out hardware again with one of the V2.2 to the V2.6 WAP11. And still nothing is communicating. I know it is not a distance issue because at first I had the units seperated but when I was not getting any response I brought them together and now they only are about 3 feet apart. I do have signal boosters for both but fearing that it may be an over signalling when I brought the two units together I removed both boosters until I get at least some communication going. So what's next anyone else have anything to offer that may help with this issue? Please anything would be great!

Learn something new everyday...Hkeyman

 

[bcastner]

You are not using ping tests as a certification of the connection are you?

I do not think in bridge mode the WAP11 responds to a ping, hence the recommendation to use the USB interface or SNMP to configure them.

 

[bcastner]

I re-read the thread, so I want to make sure that the following checklist was tested:

1. Newest firmware on both devices. Critical.
2. Both are set to Point-to-Point Bridge Mode
3. The MAC address is correctly typed for the other WAP, on both ends of the bridge. This is not the IP, this is the physical hardware address. I noticed in your original post you stated: "I tried both LAN and WIFI MAC addresses and still no connectivity." There is only 1 MAC address for the device, and what is needed is the MAC address of the device on the other end of the bridge for both WAPs.
4. Do not create a subnet on the bridge.

 

[giojohn]

Check the info at the bottom of this links page on setting up 2 WAP11's

http://www.hdcom.com/bridgekits.html

 

[Hkeyman]

Thanks for all the good NFO! I will try some of the other things suggested and check out the web site posted in the last thread.

Learn something new everyday...Hkeyman

 

[Hkeyman]

It is very interesting that the post before mine at the website that was given the information on setting up the WAP11's. It mentions NOT to try and setup the WAP11's through a switch? It says to use a Hub or a direct connection with X-over cable? I know the reasoning behind the X-over cable but what is the deal with using a hub over a switch? Anyone have a better clarification on this. I did not think there was any difference other than the OSI layer 3 processing and bandwidth constraints that the switch allieviates. Let me know if you know...Thanks!

Learn something new everyday...Hkeyman

 

[bcastner]

Hkeyman,

I wanted to correct to mis-remembers in my posts above. I was at a site yesterday where I had use WAP 11s in bridge mode and remembering this thread found I had blown it:

1. You can ping the devices if they are setup and working properly. I blew that one. I just remember more the frustration when they would not ping, so when I got it working I do not think I ever tried pinging them again. Well, it works.

2. For ARP to work on both sides of the bridge there are two possible MAC assignments per device. You want to enter the LAN side MAC addresses of the far WAP. I checked that yesterday and that is how I set it up.

 

[shlomos]

Dear Hkeyman,

I have just finished bridging 2 WAP11s(WAP11 1.0 and WAP11 2.6) and wonder if my experience might shed some light to your situation.

I will list the configurations of the 2 devices (I know you have done all this, but...)

WAP11(1) (Old model - firm ware 1.4i.1)
Bridge Mode (Point-to-point) Pointing to WAP11(2)'s Mac#
IP: 192.168.1.250
DHCP disabled
The rest is default config.

WAP11(2) (New model - firm ware I didn't check)
Bridge Mode (Point-to-point) Point to WAP11(1)'s Mac#
IP: 192.168.1.251
DHCP disabled
The rest is default config.

If your existing router and your PC don't have 192.168.1.x addresses, you cannot set up these WAP11 via IE. If so, you may have to change it temporarily. (You can eventually set them back to the original one). Or better, you can assign 192.168.1.x to every device on the network.

You cannot connect WAP11 directly to a PC: you have to use a hub or a switch(yes, I used a switch) at each side. When you connect WAPs to a hub, make sure that the red light(power) and the orange light(communication) are on.

However, when you setup those WAPs you may have to directly connect them to your PC. One confusing problem I had was that I had to use the USB connection to set up WAP11(1) because this is an old model, and IE to setup WAP11(2) which is a brand new one. With this new WAP, I had to change my PC's IP to 192.168.1.x so it talks to WAP whose default IP is 192.168.1.251.

With this setup, you cannot use any wireless PC, which I thought was weird, because these WAPs talk only to each other and the hubs directly attached to them. Any PCs must be connected to the hub/switch (or in my case DSL router w/4 ports).

Most likely your router is DHCP server. If so, every PC should be set to "Get IP Automatically" and the gateway is the router's LAN IP.

I think I have exhausted all the configurations I did. If I omit anything else, that is because I didn't change it.

If the middle green light starts flickering, smile.

Hope this is helpful. Patience and Good luck.

 

[Hkeyman]

Well I think the last couple of posts have been the crowning jewel to this whole adventure. Starting with giojohn's post and the attached URL that was the first step into completing the circle of questions I had. I also think that ShlomoS post is on the right track. Although, ShlomoS mentioned you can't connect directly to a PC with the WAP11. You can (that is how I am connected now) you just have to use a cross over cable to establish the link. If you are unclear on how to make a X-over cable, post or email me and I will help you or point you in the right direction (If needed of course). Anyway I am now baffled on what I was doing wrong...I did try everything suggested and still could not get it to work. But after giojohn's link (and getting through the sales pitch from the first part of the web page) I found the explanation of connecting the two WAP11's together and VIOLA it worked! Now the only mistake I might have made before the explantion on the website was in my earlier posts that I was unclear about which MAC address to use. The web link clearly states which to use. Also the part about using just the right antenna probablly is not needed and can be clearly idnetified because they talk about connecting the external extension cable from the kit that they sell and pointing each antenna at each other. I will test this and verify it does not make any difference. I will post my results.

Thanks again all for your input and helping me solve this issue. I only hope that I provided enough input to help out others in the same situation. --Hkeyman

Learn something new everyday...Hkeyman