That missing step would seem to be bridging the wireless network with an Ethernet adapter. Without that, I fail to see how this is going to work. But then of course I am looking at it from the perspective of my hardware (GL-AR150). That said, the "command line" version of the "Dumb AP" configuration does mention the bridging, but it's not mentioned in the LUCI configuration, nor in the "Bridged AP" procedure at all. Here's how it looks in LUCI for my device.
I'm happy to submit changes to add this, but before doing so I wanted to try to get some verification that, as a newbie, I've not missed something.
Your intuition is good, yes, one typically bridges the wireless AP interface to the backhaul interface, be it wired or wireless.
Personally, I use VLANs on my wired interfaces or the "gretap" interfaces that I use for wireless backhaul, so no untagged packets on the line. I also put my management interface on one Ethernet adapter and "the rest" on the other. That way if something bad happens with "the rest", I still have management access. I also use the switch to allocate the "blue" (WAN) port for all the wired traffic (management and VLAN trunking) and the "yellow" (LAN) ports bridged to one of the virtual interfaces as untagged, wired access for "dumb" wired clients.
...on some devices, you cannot bridge to a Wireless device in Client mode (i.e. Broadcom, and I believe Intel)...unless I misunderstand what you are attempting to bridge and why.
I think I see your point re: "Client mode"... and I should have been more clear about what I was trying to do. The "primary" AP here (my flat) is in the same box with the router/modem. Due to the inefficiency of client mode, and the fact that one of the wired Ethernet ports in the AP/router/modem is connected to a small Enet switch in the LR, I want to set up a secondary AP in the LR that's "hard wired" to the AP/router/modem. Technically, this may not be considered "Client mode" since it involves an Ethernet cable - but that's just a guess!
The hardware I've chosen for this job is the minuscule AR-150 by GL-iNet - powered of course by OpenWRT software! It does not use Intel or Broadcom parts.
And so that's what I'm trying to do. The configuration shown in the LUCI screenshot in my OP works, with one nagging issue: When connected to the wifi AP in the AP/router/modem, I cannot reach the devices connected to the AR-150 any suggestions on overcoming this would be much appreciated.
Finally, I'm still happy to take a stab at submitting a change to the documentation, but I'd like to hear that my approach makes sense from someone who knows their way around here better than I do! Also - seems the docs are in a huge state of flux now due to the LEDE/OpenWRT merger(?)
I have used the Dumb AP recipe a number of times and it works with no issues from a clean OpenWrt and LEDE install. I have an AR150 but not tried it on this with GL.inet firmware installed, but your graphic matches my config for my HooToo TM-02. I assume you also have in the lower section for DHCP Server => General Setup =>Ignore Interface on (checked). Maybe post your general tab too.
I think that if you start with a stock LEDE image (as it's available for the AR150) you will find that the WLAN and LAN are bridged in the routers default config. (you can flash directly back to the GLi firmware if you want, save your config) Following the Luci recipe, what you are really doing is taking apart the DHCP server and setting the LAN interface up to use a fixed IP, not building bridges.
I will agree that the WAN interface and firewall rules are not needed, but from a practical perspective not used. I leave them.
Yeah - It had occurred to me that the LAN & WLAN might be bridged by default, but glad to get confirmation!
But if it's as you say, and not true "bridging", then what is it? And why can't I reach hosts that are connected to the network via the AR-150 from "the other side"? The AR-150 clients are obviously getting their IP addresses via DHCP from the "primary" router/AP/modem. So why aren't those AR-150 clients visible from "the other side"? It's as if it's a separate, routed network, but with the same subnet!
Finally, what's your opinion on the state of the documentation on how to implement this function?
The only thing that I have different is to have set the Custom DNS server to the same value as the gateway. This is NOT in the Dumb AP recipe, but is in the bridged AP wiki. Not sure why I set this.
Rereading the DumbAP, one could argue that some of the other parameters in the config that are required (default?) could be specified (Protocol, IPv4 gateway, netmask and DNS servers?) and improve the article.
any suggestions on overcoming this would be much appreciated.
I'm afraid I can't follow it. Is there an English translation?