Cambium Networks E400 User manual

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Easy!extensions!of!WiFi!coverage!
cnPilot(Mesh(
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ePMP1000!Hotspot,!cnPilot!E400,!
cnPilot!E500!
Cambium'Networks'Inc'

Copyright*2016.*Cambium*Networks*Inc.*All*rights*reserved.*
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Table&of&Contents&
OVERVIEW' 2!
CONFIGURATION' 2!
MESH'WLAN' 4!
MESH'SECURITY' 4!
VLANS' 4!
RADIOS' 4!
STATUS' 5!
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Overview&
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cnPilot Enterprise series of WiFi access points support wireless mesh allowing the
user to easily extend the range of their network and to cover areas where a cable
run might be hard to do. Users can also mix and match device types, so a link is also
allowed between a cnPilot E400 AP and an ePMP1000 Hotspot. Mesh support was
added in software version 2.0.
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Mesh links form between two radios at a time: a radio configured as a base will
operate like a normal AP right after it comes up. Ie. Its radio will beacon on startup
so its SSID can be seen by radios configured as mesh clients. The mesh-client radios
will scan all available channels on startup, looking for a base AP to connect with. The
base and client APs identify each other by a common SSID configured on both the
devices. When a base is detected, the client will associate with the base just as a
regular wireless client would. Once the association and any security handshake (for
instance with WPA2) completes, the APs start bridging packets across that link.
A radio that is configured for mesh can still service clients at the same time, the radio
does not have to be dedicated to mesh. Up to 5 such client radios can connect to a
base radio.
Configuration&
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Mesh configuration is done in the Wireless-LAN context. When the user selects a
WLAN, one of the configuration items there is ‘Mesh’ which defaults to Off but can
be configured to one of Base or Client. The radio where this WLAN is mapped would
then act accordingly as a base or a client.

Copyright*2016.*Cambium*Networks*Inc.*All*rights*reserved.*
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Once either of the two mesh options is selected, the rest of the WLAN configuration
items for this WLAN are hidden as they are not applicable, and the GUI will only
display the parameters applicable to mesh:

Copyright*2016.*Cambium*Networks*Inc.*All*rights*reserved.*
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In the CLI the configuration commands are same as the ones used for WLAN. The
additional CLI command is to enable mesh inside the WLAN context.
(cnWest-E400)# wireless wlan 1
(cnWest-E400)# mesh client
Mesh&WLAN&
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One Wireless LAN has to be dedicated to Mesh, and the SSID on that wireless LAN
will be used by the radios to identify each other and form the connection. The same
SSID should be configured on the radios used for mesh base as well as the one used
on mesh client. This SSID will only allow connections from mesh peers, regular
wireless clients will not be allowed to associate on such an SSID.
Additional WLANs can be configured on the radio if the radio would be required to
service other clients in addition to forming the mesh link.
Mesh&Security&
The Mesh link can be secured with WPA2-Preshared security, which provides AES
encryption. To configure security select ‘WPA2-Preshared-keys’ under ‘Security’, then
configure a passphrase between 8 to 63 characters long. The same configuration
should be done on both ends of the link (client and base).
VLANs&
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The mesh link will bridge all packets across all VLANs on that access point. The Vlan
in the WLAN configuration page is the default vlan and should typically be configured
to the VLAN where the device has its primary IP address for management.
Radios&
The Wireless LAN configured for mesh would by default be mapped to the 5GHz radio
on dual radio devices, and this is the recommended configuration. However it is
possible to enable mesh on the 2.4GHz radio, or even both 2.4GHz and 5GHz radios
of an access point.
Given the 5GHz radio supports wider channels (80MHz), and much higher modulation
schemes (802.11ac data rates) the recommendation would be to use the 5GHz radio
for backhaul and to service clients using the 2.4GHz radio on the AP.

Copyright*2016.*Cambium*Networks*Inc.*All*rights*reserved.*
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Status&
The mesh configuration status (off/client/base) of a radio is available in the
dashboard of the device GUI:
In addition, the status of each link with details such as the signal strength are also
seen on the device dashboard: