AiMesh with a two-hop cable backbone topology

[frogman]

Good day, esteemed members,

I found a good deal for a dual RT-AX92U bundle and I'm hoping to find a bit of advice here about setting up an AiMesh network with a cable backbone, that is over two hops. The reason is that I don't have a direct connection between the ground floor and second floor - everything is connected as a "star" in the cellar.

Can AiMesh function in this topology with a cable backbone? (I want to keep wifi 6 unreserved to serve clients, and the wireless between floors is not great.) If so, what would be the way to configure it? (i.e. does the "master" on the ground floor serve as DHCP server? And how should I configure the EdgeRouter to make this work?)

 

[OzarkEdge]

Good day, esteemed members,

I found a good deal for a dual RT-AX92U bundle and I'm hoping to find a bit of advice here about setting up an AiMesh network with a cable backbone, that is over two hops. The reason is that I don't have a direct connection between the ground floor and second floor - everything is connected as a "star" in the cellar.

Can AiMesh function in this topology with a cable backbone? (I want to keep wifi 6 unreserved to serve clients, and the wireless between floors is not great.) If so, what would be the way to configure it? (i.e. does the "master" on the ground floor serve as DHCP server? And how should I configure the EdgeRouter to make this work?)

View attachment 22110

A (AiMesh in AP Mode)
site router <=> AiMesh root node (AP Mode) <=> AiMesh remote node

B (no AiMesh)
site router <=> AP1
site router <=> AP2

As I see it, your problem using AiMesh in AP Mode (A) will be how to wire the root node to the remote node, either directly or through a switch. The site router is the DHCP server.

OE

 

[frogman]

> "As I see it, your problem using AiMesh in AP Mode (A) will be how to wire the root node to the remote node, either directly or through a switch. The site router is the DHCP server."

Thanks for getting back to me, Ozark! Not sure if I read your response correctly, but the AP1 (ground floor root) is wired to the AP2 (remote, second floor) node through the EdgeRouter. (2 hops) Does this "count" as a switch connection? (Unfortunately I do not have direct cable from AP1 to AP2.)

Alternatively, I have an older RT-AC68U which I wanted to pass on, but I could as well keep it to use as the AiMesh root node instead of the EdgeRouter, and then both RT-AX92Us would serve as "slave" nodes... seems a bit like an overkill, would rather solve the problem with the specified hardware.

 

[OzarkEdge]

Thanks for getting back to me, Ozark! Not sure if I read your response correctly, but the AP1 (ground floor root) is wired to the AP2 (remote, second floor) node through the EdgeRouter. (2 hops) Does this "count" as a switch connection? (Unfortunately I do not have direct cable from AP1 to AP2.)

Alternatively, I have an older RT-AC68U which I wanted to pass on, but I could as well keep it to use as the AiMesh root node instead of the EdgeRouter, and then both RT-AX92Us would serve as "slave" nodes... seems a bit like an overkill, would rather solve the problem with the specified hardware.

My response was suggesting two possible configurations, A and B.

AiMesh = AiMesh router/AP + nodes = root node + remote nodes

A
Uses AiMesh in AP mode. The remote node 92U must be wired to the root node 92U. The site router ER is not the AiMesh root node.

B
Simply uses your 92Us as APs. AP1 and AP2 are both wired to the site router ER. No AiMesh is used.

If you want to use AiMesh and both 92Us must connect to the site router, then the site router must be an AiMesh router. I suppose the 68U could serve in place of the ER, but that does not seem ideal.

Also note that AiMesh only supports guest WLANs on the root node at this time.

OE

 

[OzarkEdge]

C (AiMesh in AP Mode)
ER site router <=> 68U AiMesh root node (AP Mode)...
... <=> 92U AiMesh remote node (ground floor)
... <=> 92U AiMesh remote node (2nd floor)

This would put 68U WiFi and any guest WLANs in the cellar.

How many wireless clients are we talking about?

OE

 

[frogman]

We are talking about ~30 clients on usual load, ten highly active, and maybe double-triple that when there is an event, or even a LAN party.

A) It would not be practical to wire the ground floor AP to the second floor AP directly, so I'd have to use the wireless backbone, which I would not prefer. (The nodes are literally on the opposing sides of the house: one of them is also serving the garden and the other the front of the house.)

B) This is pretty much the setup I have now, except not on AX, but on AC and N. I've tried both two SSIDs and "blending" the network with same SSID/pw, but it's proven rather unreliable, hence the reason I'm upgrading and wanted to try AiMesh.

C) Been considering this, except I'm not too fond of losing the guest wifi. (Cellar AC is as good as none.) But maybe I'll just let people inside my network, not like anyone will go around hacking my NAS. Also, I might not keep the ER on when the 68U is in the cellar. (I can turn its wifi transmitter off. So the main thing I'm going to lose in this setup is the ER poweruser features, as well as the is second 1gbps line to the NAS, which I suppose is acceptable.)

Alternatively, I could also keep the old N router for guest wifi and have it double NAT-traverse... but that's probably an overkill.

 

[OzarkEdge]

We are talking about ~30 clients on usual load, ten highly active, and maybe double-triple that when there is an event, or even a LAN party.

A) It would not be practical to wire the ground floor AP to the second floor AP directly, so I'd have to use the wireless backbone, which I would not prefer. (The nodes are literally on the opposing sides of the house: one of them is also serving the garden and the other the front of the house.)

B) This is pretty much the setup I have now, except not on AX, but on AC and N. I've tried both two SSIDs and "blending" the network with same SSID/pw, but it's proven rather unreliable, hence the reason I'm upgrading and wanted to try AiMesh.

C) Been considering this, except I'm not too fond of losing the guest wifi. (Cellar AC is as good as none.) But maybe I'll just let people inside my network, not like anyone will go around hacking my NAS. Also, I might not keep the ER on when the 68U is in the cellar. (I can turn its wifi transmitter off. So the main thing I'm going to lose in this setup is the ER poweruser features, as well as the is second 1gbps line to the NAS, which I suppose is acceptable.)

Alternatively, I could also keep the old N router for guest wifi and have it double NAT-traverse... but that's probably an overkill.

I would want to try this :

o AX92U wireless AiMesh node on 2nd level toward front, with dedicated AX 5.0 wireless backhaul;

o AX92U wired AiMesh site router (not AP Mode) on ground level toward garden, with guest WLANs;

o AC68U wired AiMesh node in cellar, wired to 2nd level node with its node connection priority set to Wired/Ethernet (two hops from site router, but one is AX 5.0 half-duplex and the other is Gigabit Ethernet full-duplex);

o Omit the ER;

o Omit any other legacy equipment that would only make the network more difficult to manage and maintain.

Stress test this... if your wired and wireless clients are happy, put the printer and NAS wherever they work, ideally wired off the site router.

Move the ISP modem to the ground level router and put both on a UPS; otherwise, put each on their own UPS. Ideally, put the NAS on one of the UPSs. Of course, if you can move the ISP modem to the router, then you free up a cellar cable to wire the cellar equipment to the ground level router.

As you wire it up, inspect the cabling and connectors for wear and tear. If trouble, come back and replace any questionable connectors.

I prefer no Smart Connect node band steering, separate SSIDs, and fixed channels for more predictable and stable WiFi and client connections. If your 5.0 SSID is frogman and your 2.4 SSID is frogman-24, you can experiment with using or not using Smart Connect by only having to change the 2.4 SSID.

OE

 

[frogman]

That is pretty wild! I've not thought of that.

Compared to AC68U being the master, we gain guest network and direct connection on the ground floor, but lose the benefits of wired connection between floors.

Sounds like a worthwhile experiment in any case.

BTW maybe with the new routers this will be different, but the current setup with two SSIDs causes devices to frequently switch networks in rooms where stable connection is important to me, even while in use.

 

[OzarkEdge]

That is pretty wild! I've not thought of that.

Compared to AC68U being the master, we gain guest network and direct connection on the ground floor, but lose the benefits of wired connection between floors.

Sounds like a worthwhile experiment in any case.

BTW maybe with the new routers this will be different, but the current setup with two SSIDs causes devices to frequently switch networks in rooms where stable connection is important to me, even while in use.

As I see it... a dedicated AX 5.0 backhaul ought to do it... it's time for AiMesh to put up or shut up.

Once you place the 92Us, inspect the backhaul MACs in the Wireless Log to determine Rx/Tx and RSSI performance for your backhaul distance and path. Allow some time for the routers to perfect their wireless backhaul connection.

With no Smart Connect node band steering and separate SSIDs for each band, you can manually band steer clients by simply defining only one connection to the preferred SSID/band.

Roaming Assistant (and node placement) should manage the node steering. I think your front to back and level to level separation could be a good arrangement... not too close, not too far.

Also anticipate disaster recovery... what can you do to quickly recover the basic network when a box dies. Having two equal routers is very helpful for this. Since you already have them, configuring the network to leverage them for quick disaster recovery is ideal.

OE

 

[OzarkEdge]

It still remains to prove that these new AX routers and firmware will perform as they are suppose to perform. So, build out in stages and test as you go. Start with routers/firmware in factory default reset state.

I recommend to disable Smart Connect, used separate SSIDs, and fixed channels... to remove some variables from this trial.

I have not seen tri-band or AX so can not comment on that setup.

OE