What are you planning to do with your Canopy?
169.254.1.1 is the default ip address of all modules. Every device on the network has to have a different ip address. That is the reason you cant access the ap from the laptop. When you type 169.254.1.1 into your web browser on the laptop the first device it comes to is the sm so you get the status page. Most all store bought cable and dsl routers on the market use 192.168.x.x with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0. I have used all the brands. For a small home or office network it is a good choice. using mask 255.255.255.0 it’s saying that all devices on the same network must have the first three numbers the same for you to see them on the network
192.168.1.1
to
192.168.1.254
All these numbers can see each other on the network. so if you had a group with 192.168.1.x and a group with 192.168.2.x they could coexist on the same hardware but be seperate networks.
169.254.1.1 that the modules come with use a net mask of 255.255.0.0 this allows a broader range and a seperate network from the routers. On this net mask only the first two numbers need to be the same 169.254.x.x this allows you to see every device on the network from
169.254.0.x
to
169.254.254.x
This is nice because on a canopy network you can keep track of all your modules. Lets say that in a small Canopy network you have 4 clusters. each cluster is tied to the isp threw bh’s. Lets say each cluster is given
cluster 1 169.254.10.x cluster 2 169.254.20.x cluster 3 169.254.30.x
cluster 4 169.254.40.x
cluster 1
bh master 169.254.10.1
bn slave 169.254.10.2
ap 1 169.254.11.1 sm 169.254.11.2 to 169.254.11.254
ap 2 169.254.12.1 sm 169.254.12.2 to 169.254.12.254
ap 3 169.254.13.1
ap 4 169.254.14.1
ap 5 169.254.15.1
ap 6 169.254.16.1
up to 169.254.19.1
That way you know that if you see an ip address and it has an address of 169.254.10.x it is a device attached to cluster 1.
Yes the ap always has to be configured with a static ip if not you would not know what address the dhcp server addigned to access the ap.
At the ISP i have a Cisco router that is set up for DHCP server for 10.x.x.x. My bh ties directly into that router. All Canopy modules use 169.254.x.x. On the sm end we put a dlink broadband router plugged into the WAN port. the dlink recieves a ip from the DHCP server at 10.x.x.x it in turn has its own DHCP server set up for 192.168.1.x for all the computers on that end. If the customer wants a public ip we pit that in the broadband router instead.
As for managing the system set the ip address on the computer you are planning on managing from to 169.254.1.2 and you will be able to see all the modules on the network i just described. Leave 169.254.1.1 open so if you install a new module you wont have a conflict. The people on the other side of the broadband router with 192.168.x.x addresses wont be able to see the canopy equipment.
I hope that all made scense.