I'm fairly new to networking, just got interested with it upon setting up a small ISP business in my small hometown. This is my first post so I hope everyone would be gentle with their replies. My network has been setup temporarily by the techs from where I bought CN products, however, frequent network drops have been found recently so I guess I need to re-configure everything and now I'd need some of your expert advice. My current setup below:
1 Cisco 2921 Router
1 Catalyst Switch 1 HP server (installed with pfsense)
4 epmp 1000 connectorized sector antennas w/ GPS
12 SMs (nine Force 180 and three Force 200)
my WAN connection works fine on my Cisco router
my server (pfsense) LAN IP is 192.168.1.1 with dynamic IP range set from 192.168.1.25 to 192.168.245
my Catalyst switch is at default config
my sector_1 Access Point IP is set to 192.168.1.21
my sector_2 Access Point IP is set to 192.168.1.22
my sector_3 Access Point IP is set to 192.168.1.23
my sector_4 Access Point IP is set to 192.168.1.24
all the SMs were given dynamic IPs by the server (usually, 192.168.1.2xx)
My first question is, what is your suggestion if I need to set everything from the start? Second, I would like to implement VLAN, will this help solve the problem?
My first question is, what is your suggestion if I need to set everything from the start? Second, I would like to implement VLAN, will this help solve the problem?
Thank you and I really appreciate your responses.
First and foremost, please update all radios to the 3.0.1 firmware release.
Second, I would statically assign the IP addresses to the AP's and SM's, and NOT rely on DHCP.
Lastly, I don't think that using VLAN's will help in your situation.
I do have a few questions... like... when you say you've been having 'frequent network drops' could you please elaborate... are the SM's dropping off from the AP? Also, are you using NAT on the SM's? Are clients periodically unable to access the internet? You'll need to give us more information on the actual problem so that we can best help you.
@zhacky wrote: "frequent network drops have been found recently"
Hi ZHacky - what exactly are the symptoms of your 'network drops'? Do you mean that the Client's SM's are connecting and disconnecting (registering and de-registering) from the Access Points? Or do you mean that clients are just reporting that they have no internet from time to time? Or do you mean that the whole network is unreachable - so the AP's and the SM's and everying on the network has dropped?
If it is SM's that are registering to the AP's and then de-registering from the AP's - when they come back, there is both a ''system uptime'' and a ''link uptime'' displayed. System uptime is how long the device has been powered up since the last reboot, and ''link uptime'' is how long it's been registered/linked to the AP in this session. That can help determine if an SM is de-regisering beacuse it's rebooting for some reason, or if the SM is re-registering because of low signal or interference or something.
And - about signals... that can be Key (of course, depenging on what your symtoms really are). If you've got a bunch of clients at -57 signals vs a bunch at -75 signals.... that can make all the difference in what your symptoms and what the suggested fixes are.
All SM's and AP's are set to bridge mode. All were updated to 3.01
no, they don't get deregistered. only their connection to the server is lost (192.168.1.1).. the server provides the internet connection. I have yet to check the other logs.
Do you mean that the Client's SM's are connecting and disconnecting (registering and de-registering) from the Access Points? Or do you mean that clients are just reporting that they have no internet from time to time? Or do you mean that the whole network is unreachable - so the AP's and the SM's and everying on the network has dropped?
Yes, clients are reporting that they have no internet, every hour or two, and yes, I mean the whole network is unreachable.
If it is SM's that are registering to the AP's and then de-registering from the AP's - when they come back, there is both a ''system uptime'' and a ''link uptime'' displayed. System uptime is how long the device has been powered up since the last reboot, and ''link uptime'' is how long it's been registered/linked to the AP in this session. That can help determine if an SM is de-regisering beacuse it's rebooting for some reason, or if the SM is re-registering because of low signal or interference or something.
Where can I look for the information about system and link uptime?
And - about signals... that can be Key (of course, depenging on what your symtoms really are). If you've got a bunch of clients at -57 signals vs a bunch at -75 signals.... that can make all the difference in what your symptoms and what the suggested fixes are.
Only 2 of them SM's are outside 1km radius. So the SM's are pretty near and most of them are -57 signals