NANOG Digest, Vol 17, Issue 51

Thu Jun 18 16:14:59 UTC 2009

Cisco aironet ...reliable and the ony way to go ...

Chris ledford
CCNA CCSP CWLSS
------Original Message------
From: nanog-request at nanog.org
To: nanog at nanog.org
ReplyTo: nanog at nanog.org
Subject: NANOG Digest, Vol 17, Issue 51
Sent: Jun 18, 2009 9:23 AM

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Today's Topics:

   1. Wireless bridge (Peter Boone)
   2. Re: Wireless bridge (Jared Mauch)
   3. Re: WISP NMS recommendations (Patrick Shoemaker)
   4. Re: Wireless bridge (Joe Tyson)
   5. Re: Wireless bridge (Chuck Anderson)
   6. Re: Wireless bridge (Roy)
   7. Re: Wireless bridge (Curtis Maurand)
   8. Re: Wireless bridge (Joel Jaeggli)

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Message: 1
Date: Thu, 18 Jun 2009 09:05:56 -0400
From: "Peter Boone" <NANOG at Aquillar.com>
Subject: Wireless bridge
To: <nanog at nanog.org>
Message-ID: <005c01c9f015$852ae490$8f80adb0$@com>
Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="us-ascii"

Hi NANOG,

I'm looking for some equipment recommendations for a wireless bridge between
two locations approximately 500-800 meters apart. The current setup for this
company has been extremely unstable and slow. I don't have a lot of
experience in this area so I was hoping someone could give me a few
pointers.

Currently, both locations are using Linksys WRT54GL's flashed with DD-WRT
firmware (Yes, 802.11g. All extra bells and whistles are disabled in the
firmware. They were set up for WDS so other wireless clients could connect
to the same access point, with varying degrees of success. Not very
important). They are connected to SmartAnt 2300-2500 MHz 14 dBi directional
antenna mounted on the roof (extended pretty high for perfect line of
sight). I'm not sure when they got these antenna exactly but I'm told it was
when WiFi was very new. The network is very small so both locations share
the same subnet (192.168.1.0/24).

They have gone through numerous Linksys access points over the years. The
wireless settings are tweaked as best as possible, and we have found the
connection to be most stable when the TX is limited to 6-9 Mbps.

We have explored other options as well. An internet connection at each
location + VPN is out due to very slow upstream speeds (the buildings are in
an industrial area, ADSL is the only option.) The max they offer on regular
business accounts is 800 kbps up. T1 lines are even slower and even more
expensive. They won't offer us any other solutions such as fibre. We have
considered running fibre/coax but there is too much construction activity
and other property in the way.

I'm looking into RouterBOARD right now, considering a RB433AH and R52H
wireless card, but I'm not sure this will actually solve the problem. It's
difficult to determine if the issue is with the antennas or access points
(for example, after a good thunderstorm, the wireless link will be down for
at least 12 hours, but will fix itself eventually. Resetting either access
point will keep the link down for at least 30 minutes. Using an airgun on
the access points tends to make them more reliable, even if they are clean
and dust free. From the admin interface, each access point will report
seeing a very good and strong signal from the other, yet they refuse to
communicate until they feel like it a few hours later.)

Any suggestions welcome. I'm sure you can tell cost is a bit of a factor
here but it will be easy for me to justify a higher price if I'm confident
it will be effective.

While I'm at it, I've been reading along on the list for over a year now;
thanks everyone for sharing your real world experiences :)

Peter

------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Thu, 18 Jun 2009 09:18:24 -0400
From: Jared Mauch <jared at puck.nether.net>
Subject: Re: Wireless bridge
To: Peter Boone <NANOG at Aquillar.com>
Cc: nanog at nanog.org
Message-ID: <20090618131824.GA25957 at puck.nether.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

On Thu, Jun 18, 2009 at 09:05:56AM -0400, Peter Boone wrote:
> Hi NANOG,
> 
> I'm looking for some equipment recommendations for a wireless bridge between
> two locations approximately 500-800 meters apart. The current setup for this
> company has been extremely unstable and slow. I don't have a lot of
> experience in this area so I was hoping someone could give me a few
> pointers.

	I've had good luck with Cisco Aironet gear running in repeater mode.

	I've done the cheap linksys thing as well and it just did not work
as well as using some equipment that was better designed.

	I have actually found the non-IOS software on the aironet 350/340 to 
be more usable than the IOS software.  You need to have your network be
consistent.

	You also have the obvious interference challenges with any unlicensed
deployment.

	- Jared

some of the equipment i've used:

http://cgi.ebay.com/5-Cisco-Aironet-350-WAPs-AP352E2R-A-K9_W0QQitemZ200351697798QQcmdZViewItemQQptZCOMP_EN_Routers?hash=item2ea5e44b86&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=65%3A1|66%3A2|39%3A1|240%3A1318|301%3A1|293%3A1|294%3A50

http://cgi.ebay.com/Cisco-AIR-AP1121G-A-K9-Aironet-1100-1121-Access-Point_W0QQitemZ190313803887QQcmdZViewItemQQptZCOMP_EN_Routers?hash=item2c4f96306f&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=65%3A1|66%3A2|39%3A1|240%3A1318|301%3A1|293%3A1|294%3A50

-- 
Jared Mauch  | pgp key available via finger from jared at puck.nether.net
clue++;      | http://puck.nether.net/~jared/  My statements are only mine.

------------------------------

Message: 3
Date: Thu, 18 Jun 2009 09:21:56 -0400
From: Patrick Shoemaker <shoemakerp at vectordatasystems.com>
Subject: Re: WISP NMS recommendations
To: nanog at nanog.org
Message-ID: <4A3A3F74.6060601 at vectordatasystems.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

Although this would probably be better suited for one of the WISPA 
lists, I'll respond here anyhow since there seems to be some interest.

For managing Canopy elements, Motorola Prizm is probably the way to go. 
First of all, you'll need it to handle element authentication for your 
PtMP system. It will also do configuration management, alerting, and all 
the usual NMS stuff. It's also *possible* to get it to work with other 
SNMP capable devices if you want to manage other vendors' equipment. It 
will work out of the box with the Canopy PtMP line, PtP devices, 
powerline carrier devices, and (I think) the MotoMESH line. It gives you 
all the info you need at a glance for each element: configuration 
history, RF power level plots, bandwidth utilization plots, alert 
history, etc.

FYI if you haven't used it, Prizm is a pretty clunky and slow Java-based 
package. The features are nice, but configuring it can be a chore.

Patrick Shoemaker
Vector Data Systems LLC
shoemakerp at vectordatasystems.com
office: (301) 358-1690 x36
http://www.vectordatasystems.com

nanog-request at nanog.org wrote:

> Message: 5
> Date: Wed, 17 Jun 2009 21:31:29 -0700
> From: Freddie Sessler <nanogger at gmail.com>
> Subject: WISP NMS recommendations
> To: nanog at nanog.org
> Message-ID:
> 	<d0f4f2f20906172131i5f86c80ds993a943c4f0ddf4f at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
> 
> Hi Folks,I am looking for recommendations on an NMS system for use in
> managing a multivendor

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