AIMesh vs Repeater mode setup question/scenario.

[Stan_30]

I have two RT-AC68U's. The First RT-AC68U(1) is directly connected to my cable modem.
Currently It provides all my main connectivity to wired and wireless devices.

This includes IoT devices and Wemo switches on 2.4GHz band.

I have a server rack on the other side of the house (Hyper-V servers with VM's) that I CAN NOT direct connect ethernet to from a lan link to the first RT-AC68U(1).

The VM's on the Hyper-V servers get thier DHCP from the first RT-AC68U(1).

I need access to the server rack Hyper-V Servers and VM's for "RDP access or management only".

Since I don’t have direct ethernet access to the server rack I thought about using the second RT-AC68U(2) in Repeater or AIMesh mode to gain access to the server rack from my workstation.


The server rack I use On-Demand. Meaning I turn on the physical Hyper-V servers when needed and then power them down when not in use.

My thought was setting up the second RT-AC68U(2) in Repeater or Aimesh mode to have the ability to connect/access the remote server rack from or thru the first RT-AC68U(1) network.

I have been reading up on Repeater vs AIMesh along with youtube videos.
I am trying to decide which mode would be best?

Note: I don’t want to disturb or cause problems with the Wemo devices (Finally got them stable).
Any thoughts on this?

--------------
After typing the above, I had forgotten my workstation has both ethernet and wireless NIC's.
The workstaton is direct connect eithernet to the first RT-AC68U(1) right now.
In theory I could setup the second RT-AC68U(2) all on its own as another LAN/Wireless Network on a different subnet etc. Enable the wireless NIC on my workstation and connect to the server lab network via RT-AC68U(2) wireless.
This just may complicate the issue on my workstation - routing etc along withanother wirless network present in the house.

Just looking for some thoughts on:
A) AIMESH vs Repeater?

B) Maybe I am over thinking this and thier is simpler or better way of doing this with no direct wire connectivity to the server rack.

 

[JDB]

I think you mean AiMesh vs Bridge Mode rather than repeater. A repeater is for Wifi-Wifi, bridge is for Wifi-LAN (which sounds like what you need to link your main router to your VM rack).

But given AiMesh gives you both the effect of bridge and better wifi coverage as a side effect at the same time it seems a no brainer to use AiMesh to me.


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[L&LD]

Wireless AiMesh is a no-brainer when you want to cut your wireless speeds in half (just like in repeater mode).

 

[K-2SO]

Hyper-V servers with VM's

This is weird. You run a server rack with VMs and can't figure out a connection?

- Repeater/AiMesh if you need this router to provide WiFi too
- Media Bridge if you need/have wired connections only there

 

[JDB]

Wireless AiMesh is a no-brainer when you want to cut your wireless speeds in half (just like in repeater mode).

Only for devices connecting to the node.

Workstation-Router-Node-VM Rack will be full speed.

Also, given wireless speeds on 5Ghz are in the 100s or even 1000s of Mbps who realistically notices the backhaul using bandwidth? Not many I’d suggest! You’ve got to be doing some serious file transfers and regularly on your local LAN to see it AND care about it. Either that or have 500Mbps+ internet and be hammering it!

You could always go for a tri-band model to give it dedicated backhaul as well if it really bothered you.

I have a NAS hanging off an AiMesh node with 2Gbps link aggregation and I can push/pull data off of it at extremely high speeds (over 1Gbps total if I purposely ask multiple devices to demand from it connected via various paths including wireless backhaul from other nodes etc). This alone shows that the problem you mention is not a problem!

I also have 350Mbps FTTH link to my ISP and can get full speed from any node even if I tell them all to use Wi-fi backhaul, including my dual band nodes (I have some tri band nodes too).

In reality I now have an Ethernet backbone linking all my nodes simply because I can and it meant various devices with crappy Wi-fi chips could be wired in (I ran Ethernet externally around the house - not sure if that might be an option the OP hadn’t considered?). It is marginally more reliable and definitely lowers latency using ethernet (I’m more sensitive than the average user as I work with VoIP services so low jitter/latency is important to me), but I ran with Wi-fi backhaul for over a year and it was fine.


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[L&LD]

If the wireless node is transferring data then the wireless for all devices will be affected. Just like using repeater mode.

 

[JDB]

If the wireless node is transferring data then the wireless for all devices will be affected. Just like using repeater mode.

Yes we’ll aware, I thought I just explained all that?

Taking the 68U as an example, up to 1300 Mbps on 5Ghz total throughput is possible, so acting as an AiMesh node with Wi-fi backhaul a single Wi-fi client has a max rate for data that must traverse the main router of 650Mbps - this is still very fast!
How often are multiple clients going to need that kind of throughput!?

While you are technically correct, the actual real world impact is negligible for the majority of users. Especially when you factor in the reality that most clients aren’t going to be close enough to the AP to attain those speeds and so saturate it.

Add to that the OP’s use case has a significant amount of devices using wired connections so not demanding a lot from the wireless other than backhaul it’s not going to cause an issue here.

If we were talking about hanging a NAS off a node to serve an office of 5 staff all wanting to move large files on/off it regularly then I’d definitely suggest media bridge mode to allow for maximum Wi-fi backhaul throughput (well actually I’d suggest finding a way to run a cable, but assuming that was impossible). But the use case here is a mixed environment and if the main router is on one side of the house it will likely benefit all Wi-fi connections to have an AP in the form of an AiMesh node on the other side too.


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[L&LD]

@JDB a 1300Mbps indicated connection link rate doesn't translate to a 650Mbps throughput rate.

@Stan_30 if you can already connect to the network from the workstation via it's WiFi adaptor, just do so.

A) See post 6. Possibly in your situation, it doesn't matter. But if you don't also turn off the AiMesh or Repeater in-between VM bouts, what will prevent other clients from connecting there and causing havoc anyway?

B) Use the WiFi connection that the workstation has built-in. (Or, for a stronger/more reliable connection, use a router in Media Bridge mode and connect wirelessly to your main router while using an Ethernet cable to your workstation).

 

[JDB]

@JDB a 1300Mbps indicated connection link rate doesn't translate to a 650Mbps throughput rate.

@Stan_30 if you can already connect to the network from the workstation via it's WiFi adaptor, just do so.

A) See post 6. Possibly in your situation, it doesn't matter. But if you don't also turn off the AiMesh or Repeater in-between VM bouts, what will prevent other clients from connecting there and causing havoc anyway?

B) Use the WiFi connection that the workstation has built-in. (Or, for a stronger/more reliable connection, use a router in Media Bridge mode and connect wirelessly to your main router while using an Ethernet cable to your workstation).

You seem to not understand how it works...

1300Mbps theoretical available total throughput

650Mbps backhaul, 650Mbps to client
The client may be connected at 1300Mbps but will only ever reach 650Mbps actual throughput as the router is back-to-backing it’s Wi-fi capacity to reach the main router.

Obviously there are overheads and real world dynamics meaning you won’t ever achieve this exactly, but if you have a decent signal you could definitely get 500+Mbps.

I’m speaking from experience here having extensively testing AiMesh with 3 different models in many different configurations. I have even done the exact simple dual band router + dual band node test I describe above and got my full 350Mbps from my ISP, so a theoretical real world 500ish doesn’t seem out of the question.

I don’t get why you are so down on AiMesh - it works and it works well for 95% of home/small office situations.


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[L&LD]

I didn't say it didn't work. I am saying it is not equivalent to a wired AiMesh setup.

Question A) (above) was 'thoughts on AiMesh vs. Repeater'.

Effectively no difference when the node is wireless.

 

[K-2SO]

Taking the 68U as an example, up to 1300 Mbps on 5Ghz total throughput is possible

1300Mbps link rate is possible. Close to Gigabit throughput... 4x4 AC with 1024-QAM, maybe.