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Mesh WIFI not working - at all, 912c & 903

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15 Oct 2020 09:08 #13 by piste basher
Replied by piste basher on topic Re: Mesh WIFI not working - at all, 912c & 903
Interesting stuff - my reading so far had mostly been focussed on whether I should enable 802.1r, and, if so, whether it should be Over the Air or Over the DS. I haven't found a definitive answer to either question :roll: In addition, if 802.1r is enabled, should one also enable "Fast Roaming"? Needless to say, the Draytek literature doesn't help me at all (someone here was bemoaning the absence of Mikey's Guides the other day - I say bring him back!)

The online simulator for the AP903 also seems to have its knickers in a twist. The dashboard shows client devices connected to SSID AP903_Field_117, but that SSID does not exist in either the 2.4 or 5GHz setup pages :roll:

Because I use POE for 3 of my AP903s, and one of them connects 4 wired devices to the LAN via its switch, another 3 devices and another 2 devices, my so-called "Mesh" consists of 3 APs with wired backhaul and 1 connected wirelessly, with the 2926 as root. I really do wonder whether there is any advantage over the previous setup with AP902s and a bridging link to the wireless one, apart from the fancy new interface.

Here's a radical thought - should I configure my system to have 4 mesh roots and 1 mesh node (the only wirelessly connected AP)?

The "Config sync" function doesn't work for 802.1x so I don't use that either....

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  • hornbyp
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15 Oct 2020 21:19 #14 by hornbyp
Replied by hornbyp on topic Re: Mesh WIFI not working - at all, 912c & 903

Piste Basher wrote:
Interesting stuff - my reading so far had mostly been focussed on whether I should enable 802.1r, and, if so, whether it should be Over the Air or Over the DS. I haven't found a definitive answer to either question :roll:



Well, that IEEE 802.11s document defines the "DS" as the Distribution System (i.e. the Ethernet backbone). But in itself, that doesn't help much ...

This web site , was the first Google hit for the subject and I note the following "explanation" :-

They wrote: 802.11r IEEE spec offers two options to speed up the authentication exchange

FT over the Air (mandatory)
The wireless client exchanges the 802.11 authentication and re-association requests wirelessly during the roam
The key exchange handshakes are piggybacked with authentication and re-association frames

FT over the DS (optional)
The initial handshake with the roam candidate (New AP) is done via the AP that the wireless client is currently associated to
The wireless client uses FT Action Frames and Re-association frames for the key exchange authentication



Admittedly, that doesn't give any clues, as to the relative merits of one over the other :cry: You would think it would know to use Ethernet, if available.

and he wrote: (someone here was bemoaning the absence of Mikey's Guides the other day - I say bring him back!)



Your wish has been granted :D See: [url] https://www.draytek.co.uk/information/blog/[/url]

Draytek wrote: Michael Spalter has been a networking technician for over 30 years and has been the CEO of DrayTek
in the UK since the company’s formation in 1997. He has written and lectured extensively on networking topics



(This forum software recognises his surname, and changes "S-palter" to just "S" :!: ... (hence the added the "-" here))

Here's a radical thought - should I configure my system to have 4 mesh roots and 1 mesh node (the only wirelessly connected AP)?



Presumably, the wirelessly connected one isn't always connected to the same one up-stream (if you reboot its parent, for example). Have you noticed this happening and does it always reconfigure itself back to the 'best' parent? (Or is it like Zigbee, which forms unhealthy fixations , with inappropriate devices ;-) )

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15 Oct 2020 23:09 #15 by piste basher
Replied by piste basher on topic Re: Mesh WIFI not working - at all, 912c & 903
As it's late, just a quick answer to your last question - the wirelessly connected AP is in the garage, the two physically closest wired APs are in the kitchen and the adjacent room at the rear of the house. The garage AP does appear to connect to the strongest signal of the two when both are available, or to either if only one is. This seems to be an advantage of the mesh vs. wireless bridging - no need to specify the MAC addresses of the bridges in the configs.

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  • hornbyp
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16 Oct 2020 19:36 #16 by hornbyp
Replied by hornbyp on topic Re: Mesh WIFI not working - at all, 912c & 903

Piste Basher wrote:
The garage AP does appear to connect to the strongest signal of the two when both are available, or to either if only one is. This seems to be an advantage of the mesh vs. wireless bridging - no need to specify the MAC addresses of the bridges in the configs.



So you'd lose that, if you went with your 'left-field' suggestion of 4 separate meshes :wink:

I've had a thought about the "Over the DS" or "Over the air" question... :idea:

I reckon you should choose "Over the air", because one of the nodes isn't actually on the "DS" (i.e. ethernet). (Since each node only knows about its own connectivity and not necessarily about all the others?...)

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17 Oct 2020 08:44 #17 by piste basher
Replied by piste basher on topic Re: Mesh WIFI not working - at all, 912c & 903
Yes, with my limited (very) understanding it seemed to me that letting the client negotiate directly with the "new" AP (which I take "Over the Air" to mean) was the way to go - although it would be really helpful if Draytek could publish some guidance notes on how best to set all this up, with explanations of "Fast Transition Roaming" and "Fast Roaming", how do they differ, should one or both be enabled etc.

...and of course the Router doesn't have any of these "Fast Roaming" options in any event :lol:

An advantage of the bridging mode was of course that one could use the 2.4GHz band - and hence achieve a greater range. My garage AP was never happy trying to bridge to the house on 5GHz, but for some reason the mesh stays up (albeit with an indicated 26% strength between APs that are physically only about 5m apart).

Regarding wifi range, which is mentioned in another thread, as I walk away from or towards the house on my daily perambulations it is clear that my phone is connecting from at least 200m away - but this is with only a glass window as a barrier. Once a few brick walls intervene it's a different story....but as far as I can see this is simply a matter of physics, not really Draytek's fault :?

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17 Oct 2020 18:29 #18 by piste basher
Replied by piste basher on topic Re: Mesh WIFI not working - at all, 912c & 903
I thought I'd do another test - with the garage AP connected to the lounge AP I re-booted the lounge AP. The garage AP just sat disconnected from the network until the lounge AP was up again, whereupon it re-connected to it, despite the kitchen AP being available. So much for the "self healing" mesh :roll:

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