Hello,
This is my first attempt to do this, so I’m not sure if I’m on the right track.
I bought a P7 AP and two p8 SM’s hoping that I could serve out a connection to the SM’s via the AP. Currently, I have only the hardware, a default plug, POE adapters, and the grounding modules.
I have successfully reset the AP and SM’s to their default configs and then set them up so that they will talk to the local network via ethernet. So far, so good…
My problem is that I can’t get the SM’s to register to the AP. I can put them in spectrum scan mode, and can see that they can see the AP signal at 5750 Mhz, but they will not register. I have set the colors to the same values on both sides, but the SM’s either say they have a -1 color, or no color. There is a config page to prioritize the color settings, and I have tried different settings in there with no luck.
The AP has these specs:
Device type 5.7GHz - Multipoint - Access Point - 0a-00-3e-f0-0c-67
Software Version CANOPY 7.3.6 Oct 24 2005 12:06:56 AP-DES
Software Boot Version CANOPYBOOT 3.0
FPGA Version 051104 (DES)
The SM’s have these specs:
Device Type :
5.7GHz - Subscriber Module - 0a-00-3e-f0-d9-5a
Software Version : CANOPY 10.4 SM-DES
Software Boot Version : CANOPYBOOT 3.0
Board Type : P8
FPGA Version : 012308
I think it is an authentication issue, but I am just trying to run this AP standalone by generating it’s own sync pulses. There is a place in the P8 config to set the authentication key, but I don’t see one for the AP other than to use BAM, which I don’t have. The authentication on the SM’s is set to the default of all 0xf’s. There is no corresponding setting on the AP, although I can configure an IP address for authentication, but I’m not sure what to do with this.
The AP and SM are very close and the signal varies from -45 db to -70 db, and I have the power set to low for testing purposes. I have located manuals for the AP and the SM’s and even managed to ftp and telnet into them, but I’m still at a loss.
Am I mixing apples and oranges, and if so, do you you have any suggestions?
Maybe these devices are too different to effectively communicate?
Thank you
Hi msinkm,
We would recommend checking the P7 AP. Make sure the P7 AP is running in Hardware scheduling mode. P7, P8, and some P9 Canopy radios could run in Hardware scheduling mode or software scheduling mode. Since software release 8.x or higher we require radios to be running in Hardware Scheduling mode.
For the P7 AP, you may need CNUT to change the AP from Software Scheduling to Hardware Scheduling if there is not an option in the GUI.
Hope that helps.
Thanks so much for the advice.
I had a thorough look through the P7 AP GUI, and the only thing there that has any reference to the type of scheduling is the status page, which clearly indicates that it is indeed using software scheduling, and the frame calculator, which I’m assuming does not actually change settings.
I tried downloading and installing Canopy Network Updater 4.4 from the website, but it didn’t autodetect either the AP or the SM’s yet, so I manually put them in. When I tell it to update to hardware scheduling, it says it doesn’t have the appropriate package file and asks me for the location of one. I registered to download the software updates, but it seems that the oldest software on the website for this is version 9.5, which on page 46 of the manual says that p7 and p8 SM’s can be upgraded to this release, but not p7 and p8 AP’s and BH’s.
I’m afraid it doesn’t look good for this AP unless I can get much older SM’s which will accommodate software scheduling.
Some of us have ancient firmware lying around still. Check your PMs
Thank you very kindly for the older firmware download.
I checked in to it, but unfortunately, it says this on page 30 of the version 9 release notes:
Release 9.0 is not applicable to
◦ Series P7 and P8 APs and BHs (Release 9.0 supports only hardware scheduling, and these modules do not run hardware scheduling)
So it appears that unless I can get my hands on some old p7 SM’s with firmware before version 8, I can’t get this AP to talk to anything.
The only alternative I seem to have is perhaps to downgrade the P8 SM’s to version 7.36 firmware. The upgrade path notes advise not to downgrade because the modules can be rendered nonfunctional “by attempting to load software that is older than the minimum load needed for that hardware series, type, scheduler, or frequency band.” It goes on to advise one to contact tech support prior to attempting this.
I’m wondering if I should risk it on one SM.
This would be a downgrade of 3 major revisions from what is on there already.
msinkm wrote: Thank you very kindly for the older firmware download.
I checked in to it, but unfortunately, it says this on page 30 of the version 9 release notes:
Release 9.0 is not applicable to
◦ Series P7 and P8 APs and BHs (Release 9.0 supports only hardware scheduling, and these modules do not run hardware scheduling)
So it appears that unless I can get my hands on some old p7 SM's with firmware before version 8, I can't get this AP to talk to anything.
The only alternative I seem to have is perhaps to downgrade the P8 SM's to version 7.36 firmware. The upgrade path notes advise not to downgrade because the modules can be rendered nonfunctional "by attempting to load software that is older than the minimum load needed for that hardware series, type, scheduler, or frequency band." It goes on to advise one to contact tech support prior to attempting this.
I'm wondering if I should risk it on one SM.
This would be a downgrade of 3 major revisions from what is on there already.
What version of CNUT are you using, because I still have some .pkg2 files from 7.0.7 to 8.2.4 laying around, but you have to be using the older CNUT program.
I installed the most recent from the website, which is v4.4.2.
All I currently have access to for CNUT is what is on the website, the lowest version of which is v3.20.16.
msinkm wrote: I installed the most recent from the website, which is v4.4.2.
All I currently have access to for CNUT is what is on the website, the lowest version of which is v3.20.16.
Check your PM's.
Well it worked!!!
I managed to downgrade the firmware on one of the P8 SM’s step by step all the way down to 7.3.6. Then I used CNUT to change the scheduling to software, did a bit of tweaking and testing, and voila, I got the SM to register!
I tested it out last night here in the office, and managed to do a remote desktop in to a computer I connected to the SM.
Very gratifying! Thank you all so much for your help and for the older software so that this was even possible!