OpenWrt Forum Archive

Topic: wifi roaming + guest network with 1 router + 3 AP

The content of this topic has been archived on 17 Apr 2018. There are no obvious gaps in this topic, but there may still be some posts missing at the end.

Hi,

I need help to setup my wifi to get roaming + guest access on the all 3 AP's

Infastructure:

Internet -> Router( 192.168.178.1): (LAN-Port1) -> AP0( staticip - 192.168.178.240) (LAN-Port1)
                                                         (LAN-Port2) -> AP1( staticip - 192.168.178.241) (LAN-Port1)
                                                         (LAN-Port3) -> AP2( staticip - 192.168.178.242) (LAN-Port1)

AP's are all the same TL-WR841N/ND v10

What i already did for all AP's:
-set static ip
-setup wifi ( same ssid, encryption, password)


i did setup AP1 also as guest wifi( 192.168.179.1) as described here wiki.openwrt.org/doc/recipes/guest-wlan-webinterface

Questions:

-if i switch on only AP1 , wifi + internet works
it i them shwitch on AP0, or AP2 i cant connect to AP1 anymore and internet connection is also lost, what happend ?
-wifi: do i need WDS to get roaming ?
-wifi: all 3 AP's on the same channel ?
-guest wifi:  has no connection to the internet -> how to debug ?
-wifi: connection from Router to WAN, or LAN Port ?

(Last edited by schlaubi666 on 17 Sep 2017, 14:03)

Turn off the DHCP servers (both V4 and V6) in the AP's.  When someone connects to any of the AP's, they need to get their DHCP response from the main router, so it will tell them correctly that the main router is the gateway to the Internet.

In a "dumb AP" scenario, roaming is controlled by the client.  When it loses signal from the one it is connected to, it should search for another.  The APs should have the same SSID and encryption, but on different channels.  Different channels are not essential for operation but it is better when possible, so the APs and users interfere with each other less.

WDS is useful when there are wireless "backhaul" links from APs to the main router.  You have Ethernet cables instead so you don't need WDS.

A guest network should be established in the main router then distributed to the APs by VLANs on the Ethernet cables.

The IPs you give the APs themselves are only so you can log in and administrate them.  They are not important for network user functionality.  You don't have to and should not give your APs an IP on the guest network.

so i disabled all dhcp services on all AP's and i can connect to all of them now, thanks
guest wifi is not working like decribed here wiki.openwrt.org/doc/recipes/guest-wlan-webinterface , i get my internet not over wan, but over lan, so what to change ???
openwrt is on all AP's, and the main router has no wifi!!! - >is there a chance to get guest wifi on an AP ?

Questions:
-guest wifi:  can you explain your solution in more detais ? ( main router then distributed to the APs by VLANs on the Ethernet cables.)
-wifi: if i walk from AP1 to AP2 the connection gets lost short while switching from AP1 to AP2. >Is there a way to avoid this ? roaming ?

(Last edited by schlaubi666 on 17 Sep 2017, 19:09)

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