> 1) What does "Over-the-DS" mean with regards to 802.11r Fast Roaming?
11r roaming involves an client associated with one AP, carrying out part of its authentication with a second AP before it roams to it (so when it eventually roams there are fewer messages that need to be exchanged and things move along faster). Two ways of exchanging this information are over-the-air to the second AP, or through the wired side, by sending frames to AP1, which bridges them across to AP2. This latter mode is called 'over the DS' in the specification (DS=Distribution System)
> 2) what is the best way to configure a static IP address for an AP, both in pre-configuration (before onboarding), and after the device has been onboarded? Please provide specific instructions as I've found cnMaestro to be extremely confusing for configuration.
pre-onboarding it would be on the AP itself (log onto the AP GUI and change the IP address under the interfaces vlan). In the GUI this is in Configure->Network->VLAN. Screenshot below:
Once onboarded and configured, cnMaestro has an option under device-overrides to set per-AP parameters. So under the device configuration click on the little icon for overrides and in the pop-up you'll see an option to set the IP address of the device. the IP can also be setup to be learnt automatically when the device connects to cnMaestro.
> 3) why does e400 assign itself an IP address for each VLAN that it's associated with?
This would happen if you created an interface-vlan for each of those VLANs. Note that if you are bridging traffic you do not need to create the interface-vlans for all of those vlans. You can just add them to the ethernet port after setting it into trunk mode, just like other typical enterprise APs
we have a Knowledge-Base article that might help clarify the VLAN config:
> What is the best way to change the wireless channels of the AP's after they've been onboarded?
cnPilot APs support Auto-Channel-Selection and starting from release 3.2 Auto-RF which does channel as well as power management automatically. If you wish to set static channels on some APs after onboarding, you can use the per-device override (the same way the static IP is to be set through cnMaestro in #2 above)
> how can I force a reboot of all access points at once?
reboot is currently supported only per-device, we'll check into adding it for a site.
> is the Useage Limit>Rate Limit for WLAN per access point or a total limit for the WLAN across all access points?
per access point.
Other resources include the user-guide and related technology guides on the support site:
https://support.cambiumnetworks.com/files/e400/#r3
the knowledge-base on the community site here:
http://community.cambiumnetworks.com/t5/cnPilot-E-Series-Hotspot-E500/bd-p/cnPilot_E_Series
and this forum itself.