AP-7522 Client Bridging Isn't Working

[Aaron_Wright]

I have two AP-7522 access points. Both have version 5.9.1.4-004R. Both receive their power and network through a Symbol AP-PSBIAS-2P2-AFR "brick". I set the country name to "United States-us" on both because I read the radios will not turn on until you do.

AP#1 - This is the "host" access point connected to the wired LAN with access to the internet. The internal network is 192.168.1.0/24. I've given this AP the IP address 192.168.1.101. I configured a wireless network with SSID "myWireless", Secure-PSK, WPA2-CCMP, and the key is "myWirelessKey". Radio 1 is 2.4GHz, radio 2 is 5GHz.

AP#2 - This is the "client" access point that I want to bridge to AP#1. I have AP#2 connected to an unmanaged 5 port switch, which also connects a desktop PC. It's this desktop PC that needs access to the internet. I've given this AP the IP address 192.168.1.101. For the bridging configuration I followed the directions here (https://extremeportal.force.com/ExtrArticleDetail?an=000082884)

• en
• conf t
• profile
• interface radio 2
• rf-mode bridge
• bridge ssid myWireless
• bridge vlan 1
• bridge encryption-type ccmp
• bridge authentication-type none
• bridge wpa-wpa2 psk 0 myWirelessKey
• no bridge eap username
• no bridge eap password
• bridge eap type peap-mschapv2
• bridge roam-criteria missed-beacons 20
• bridge roam-criteria rssi-threshold -75
• bridge channel-list 5GHz 36,40,44,48
• bridge channel-list 2.4GHz
• comm wr

However when I run "show wireless bridge candidate-ap" it reports 0 candidate APs. AP#1 shows no wireless clients. The workstation can successfully ping AP#2 and vice versa. I am able to reach the web interface and ssh on AP#1 on the 192.168.1.0/24 network. But AP#1 can't ping AP#2 and vice versa. Nothing on the 192.168.1.0/24 network can ping AP#2 or the desktop PC. The desktop PC cannot reach anything on the 192.168.1.0/24 network.

Right now both APs are in the same room, 10 feet from each other, no physical obstacles between them.

In my searching I also found (https://extremeportal.force.com/ExtrArticleDetail?an=000063492) I tried the solution there but it didn't help.

Does anyone know what I'm doing wrong, or what I'm missing?

Additional questions:
1 - Do I have to configure any bridging properties on the AP#1 that is connected to the wired network with internet access? None of the guides I've read mention anything about configuration on the "host" AP, but since I can't get this working I'm wondering if some configuration is necessary on AP#1.

2 - Do I have to load a special firmware version to be able to access bridging configuration in the web GUI? Right now none of those configuration options are there and I have to do everything through ssh/command line. I know this was the case for some APs in the past that didn't have a web GUI at all and you had to download the firmware that included the GUI.

Thanks for any help you can provide!
Aaron

[ckelly]

Okay...so if this being done w/o a controller (just configuring the AP as a stand-alone device), then your command where you specified the 7522 profile is correct.

So the commands would look like this:

en conf t profile ap7522 PROFILE-AP7522 interface radio 2 rf-mode bridge bridge ssid myWireless bridge vlan 1 bridge encryption-type ccmp bridge authentication-type none bridge wpa-wpa2 psk 0 myWirelessKey comm wr

All of the other commands you don't see there now are NOT needed in your case.

To answer your question about which Profile is being used:
The Profile name "PROFILE-AP7522" I think is the default one, in which case...it should be be being used...by default.
If you want to confirm this, go into the CLI and do this:

en self show context

You should see an entry in there that says, "use profile PROFILE-AP7522"
If you see that it's configured to use some other Profile name, then that's the problem.

By the way, this "self" section is the device override section of the AP's config. This is where you setup any configuration settings that DEVIATE from the 'master' Profile. This is where you would go in the CLI to enter things that are different or unique about this one AP...things like the AP's static IP address or it's hostname.
If there are any settings that exist in *both* the override section and in the main Profile, the AP will use the setting in the override section. The settings in that section *override* what's in the main Profile.
Sometimes this catches people off-guard...because they have a setting in the override section, but when they try to change its value in the main Profile, nothing changes.  They instead need to change the value for that setting in the override section.

[Aaron_Wright]

Unfortunately that didn't fix it either. Total number of candidates displayed is still 0.

Do I need to be creating or editing a specific profile? In my bulleted list of commands I originally posted, the third command is "profile" which enters me into the context "ap7522-A81950(config-profile-{ALL})". Then I enter "interface radio 2". But when I enter the command "rf-mode bridge" there I get the error "rf-mode bridge is not supported on radio2 of anyap"

But if I instead use "profile ap7522 PROFILE-AP7522", then "interface radio 2", and then "rf-mode bridge", it accepts the command.

But how do I know what profile the AP is using? If I enter "profile ?" it lists a few available, but I didn't create any of them. Profiles "anyap", "ap7522", "ap7532", and "ap7562" are available. I didn't create "PROFILE-AP7522" either. Is it ok to use it?

Sorry for these novice questions, this is the first time I've had to work this in-depth with these access points. I'm grasping at straws at this point.

By the way, to address your question from your first post, I did make a typo with the 192.168.1.101 address. AP#2 has 192.168.1.102

[ckelly]

[That GTAC article has now been corrected - and new screenshots as well]

Just go into the radio 2 interface and issue the command:
no bridge channel-list 5GHz
commit write

Then run the command again to see what candidate APs it's finding:
show wireless bridge candidate-ap

If it's showing APs now, it should be connecting to the one it thinks is best. Once it's connected, run this to see the stats of the client-bridge connection
show wireless bridge statistics

[Aaron_Wright]

Thanks for your help Chris!

"bridge channel-list 5GHz smart" did not work, but that's no problem.

Should I enter "bridge channel-list 5GHz" and leave the rest of the command empty?
Or should I enter "no bridge channel-list 5GHz" assuming that if that option isn't configured that the AP will use its defaults?

[ckelly]

Good info, Aaron.

First...I'm hoping it was just a typo, but you seem to be indicating that you setup both APs with a static address of 192.168.1.101
If that's the case, it shouldn't be causing the primary problem....but it's still an issue that would need correcting.

If you followed that billeted list of commands, I see one major potential issue (not sure why they included this one command).
This one:

• bridge channel-list 5GHz 36,40,44,48

With this command, you're setting up the client-bridge AP so that it will only ever look for host APs that are operating on those 4 channels. If there are none nearby on those channels though, it will never be able to connect to anything, right?
I'd highly recommend including all of the possible channels that your 'host' APs are capable of operating on (or if statically assigned, those channels)
Or....set the Channel to "Smart"...which will more directly reflect how a normal wireless client behaves....it scans all channels looking for APs.

1 - Do I have to configure any bridging properties on the AP#1 that is connected to the wired network with internet access? None of the guides I've read mention anything about configuration on the "host" AP, but since I can't get this working I'm wondering if some configuration is necessary on AP#1.
Answer: NO. When setting up client-bridge APs, the only work that needs to be done is on the client-bridge APs themselves.

2 - Do I have to load a special firmware version to be able to access bridging configuration in the web GUI? Right now none of those configuration options are there and I have to do everything through ssh/command line. I know this was the case for some APs in the past that didn't have a web GUI at all and you had to download the firmware that included the GUI.
Answer: The very early releases of WiNG code (if I recall correctly) only allowed for the client-bridge setup via the CLI. The newest versions of WiNG code allow for full configuration via the GUI.