Hotspots devices: Buy Portable WiFi Hotspots, IoT & Connected Devices

However, progress does not stand still, and with the development of wireless data transmission, the presence of wires has ceased to be an indispensable condition for building a network.

Not only smartphones, tablets and laptops, but also some network-attached storage (NAS), network printers, MFPs and other equipment already have a wireless interface “on board” and are ready to connect to a WiFi network.

But is it possible to do without wires? Or at least do without the cable system as much as possible? Read about it in our new series of articles.

A bit of theory

There are two options for combining local networks: “point-to-point” and “star”. The point-to-point topology (IEEE 802.11 Ad-hoc mode) is actually a radio bridge between two remote network segments. This is a fairly simple solution, for the implementation of which two access points are enough. When you need to connect two remote network segments “over the air” – the point-to-point solution is quite suitable. Sometimes these points are equipped with amplifying narrowly directed antennas in order to transmit the signal over a greater distance.

In a star topology, one of the points is central (root) and interacts with other remote points. To make such a “star” really look like a star, the central point has an omnidirectional broadcast pattern, and this limits the communication range to ~ 7 km. The role of the amplifying antenna in this case is slightly different – not to “shoot” the signal as far as possible, but to provide stable uniform coverage over the required area.

Note . When you need to connect segments of a local network that are more than 7 km apart from each other, you again have to return to the point-to-point option.

From theory to practice

The main task when building a network is not to click in the “Next-Next-Finish” mode, but to correctly plan the interaction of devices, even for a very modest project.
Therefore, it is best to start with a paper sketch and the formation of goals and requirements for a new section of the network.

Note . The networking methods and settings discussed in this article are also suitable for other access points, not only those described below.

Consider the following example.

One company has an office and a small branch in different buildings, as well as an adjacent landscaped area: benches for rest, a smoking area, etc.
Employees can be at their workplaces in the central or remote office or just walk around the territory, while it is important that they have access to the local network and the Internet.

The minimum option for such a task is three access points: in the central office, in a remote office and in an open area (see Figure 1), connected by a “chain”.

Figure 1. Wireless network diagram.

If the intermediate (outdoor) access point fails, the remote office will still maintain a connection to the central network, since the access points automatically select the device with the strongest signal. However, due to the greater distance, the connection will be worse (see Figure 2).

Figure 2. Operation of the wireless network when the intermediate Repeater fails.

Access point selection

We have a different environment for access points, so you need to choose different access points.

At the central office, we are planning an access point for closed rooms, strong enough to ensure that the signal is available throughout the area of ​​the room. The Zyxel WAC6303D-S model is a good fit here – quite productive, easy to use, with a modern design.

Figure 3 Zyxel WAC6303D-S Access Point.

For an open space, accordingly, we select an “outdoor” model, for example, Zyxel NWA55AXE. The point has two external antennas, due to this, good coverage is provided, it is resistant to external influences, for example, temperature fluctuations. Of the design features – there is no LED indication on the case.

Figure 4 Zyxel NWA55AXE access point.

For a branch where there is a limited number of employees, we choose an economical and compact access point, but with all the necessary functions. For example, Zyxel WAX610D.

Figure 5. Zyxel WAX610D access point.

All three points are powered by PoE (Power over Ethernet). This is a technology for transmitting power to network devices over a network cable. Additional wires to the power supply are not required.

Important! There may be cable-only devices in the office. To communicate with them, you need to have a reliable gigabit switch, and to power the points, it is highly desirable that it has ports with PoE.

In this case, the network is small, so we choose a Zyxel GS1200-5HP switch to power and connect access points with local network segments. The switch is needed to connect the access point and, possibly, other PoE-powered equipment, and such a “kid” will do the job well.

Figure 6 Zyxel GS1200-5HP switch.

Communication between offices and with an outdoor access point will be exclusively via a wireless channel. The Zyxel NWA55AXE outdoor point will be powered by a PoE injector.

Root, repeater or just a point – which mode should I assign?

When access points are connected to a public network by wire, they perform one function – connecting clients. This is the traditional role of an AP.

If data is exchanged wirelessly between points, then, to paraphrase George Orwell, the principle works: “all access points are equal, but some is equal to others.” In general, we have two types of devices according to their role in the network: root access point (Root AP) and signal repeater (Repeater)

By analogy with switches: Repeater works at the access level, and Root AP at the aggregation / distribution level.
At the same time, points in both modes: Root AP and Repeater can work with client connections.

In our scheme, the access point in the central office is the root one, and the other two, NWA55AXE and WAX610D, operate in Repeater mode.

Selecting a range for connecting points to each other

Our access points support both ranges: 2.4Gz and 5Gz. Accordingly, each of these ranges has its own built-in signal transmission system.

In this example, we will assign the role of providing communication with the root access point to 2.4Gz, leaving the entire 5Gz range for communication with users. This option is well suited when the signal encounters an obstacle in its path (for example, a brick wall), and users have relatively new devices that support WiFi in the 5Gz range.

In other conditions, the opposite option will do. If the access points are in the line-of-sight zone, and users have enough old devices on their hands, for example, laptops that operate only in the 2. 4Gz band, in this case it would be more reasonable to use the 5Gz range for connecting access points, and leave 2.4Gz entirely for connecting clients .

Other conditions should be taken into account, for example, working access points in neighboring ranges or other devices that affect the operation of the WiFi network, the presence of free channels, obstacles to signal transmission (walls, mirror coatings, etc.)

An important point – will the clients actively interact with each other and with devices on the local network? If intensive data exchange is expected, as well as access to a file server, a DBMS server in the same segment of the same local network, it makes sense to allocate the entire “high-speed” 5Gz range.

Managed locally or through a single remote center?

All selected devices support two management methods: locally or through the Zyxel Nebula centralized network management system. Each method has its own advantages and limitations.

Setting up via Nebula is easier, although you first need to register access points on the cloud platform. In addition, Nebula includes many features, such as authentication, AP controller functions, and so on.

Important! Without a controller or Nebula system, roaming between WiFi points will also work, but without 802.11r support. However, for a regular network with a “WiFi password” this is not very critical.

There are some situations where remote centralized management is not possible or effective. For example, if the internal network has limited Internet access. Another example is when the device is the only point of entry to the network. In this case, you may encounter a situation where, in order to connect to the “cloud”, you need to configure the equipment, and to configure the equipment, you need access to the “cloud”. For such situations, Zyxel provides local management.

To complete the picture, in this article we will talk about setting up local control, and in the next publication we will dwell on Nebula in more detail.

Configuring access points

Preparation

For local configuration, we need a personal computer or laptop, user rights to configure network settings, primarily IP addresses and subnet masks.

The first step requires a wired network connection. Access points will be located in hard-to-reach places; after installation, access to a street point is expected exclusively via WiFi. Therefore, it is better to configure everything to the maximum before physical placement.

The first thing to do is get an IP address to connect to the device.

This can be done in several ways:

• Reset the access point to factory settings and connect to the IP address specified in the instructions.
• If the point received a DHCP IP address, it can be found on the DHCP server.
• You can get by in a simpler way – use the ZON utility (Zyxel One Network utility), which allows you to find Zyxel network equipment on the local network. This method is especially good if the point has already been used and you need to look at the previous settings, but the IP address is not known for some reason.

Configuring the WAC6303D-S root access point

After entering the username and password, the window of the initial access point setup wizard appears in front of us.

The process itself is quite simple and allows you to perform a maximum of general settings “in one go”.

Figure 7. Setting the password and network settings.

At the end of the work, a final window will be presented with the possibility of verification.

Figure 8. The final window of the wizard.

After completing the wizard, we get to the main screen of the Dashboard web interface with the main parameters.

Figure 9 WAC6303D-S Web Interface Dashboard.

Now we need to change the default communication settings to the ones we need. Go to the Configuration – Wireless – AP Management section and set the Radio 1 OP Mode parameter to Root AP

for the frequency range 2.4 Gz (Radio 1 Setting) Figure 10. Root AP mode

Next, you need to install the WDS profile. First you need to know the default profile name.

Note . (WDS) Wireless Distribution System is a technology for connecting access points to one network using a wireless connection between them. A wired connection is not required.

To do this, go to the Configuration – Object WDS Profile section. The default profile for WDS is called “default” (see Figure 7).

Figure 11. WDS Profile.

We return back to the Configuration – Wireless – AP Management section and set the “default” profile in the 2.4Gz band settings.

Figure 12. Setting the WDS profile in the 2.4Gz channel settings.

After that, you need to set the network SSID and access credentials according to your network requirements.

Also, do not forget about setting up client access, for which you may have to configure settings.

Figure 13. SSID and other settings.

For industrial system installations, it is recommended to use WPA Enterprise with an appropriate authentication system, eg via a RADIUS server. You can read more about this in the article Setting up WPA2 Enterprise with RADIUS

Repeater settings

Setting up points with the Repeater role is even easier.

Set up outdoor point NWA55AXE

IP address lookup methods and initial settings are almost identical to WAC6303D-S.

First, we go through the setup wizard and set the general parameters, including setting the time, time zone, IP address, and so on.

After that, just go to the wireless settings section and set the Repeater mode and the default WDS profile.

Figure 14. Configuring the wireless settings of the NWA55AXE.

Next, set the network SSID and access settings identically as for the root access point (see Figures 10-13 above)

Set up the WAX610D access point in the same way.

Figure 15. Configuring the WAX610D’s wireless settings.

Note . Additionally, in the access point settings, you can activate the Wireless bridge (wireless bridge), which allows you to use the Ethernet port to connect another local network for Wi-Fi communication.

Final check

We disable the connection of the street (NWA55AXE) and remote (WAX610D) access points via a wired network (do not forget about power from PoE) and perform a second search with the ZON utility. They must be available wirelessly. On the ZON screen, we can see all three points.

Figure 16. The ZON utility sees all three points, including wirelessly.

Also, extreme points should be displayed as Neighbors in the Dashboard of the NWA55AXE intermediate access point through which data is exchanged between them. We see WAX610D as the “neighbor on the right” and WAC6303D-S as the “neighbor on the left”.

Figure 17. Neighbors (Ethernet Neighbor) in the Dashboard interface of the intermediate access point NWA55AXE (Repeater) .

Let’s summarize the interim results

A WiFi network in which access points are connected exclusively via a wireless channel is quite simple to implement.

The most important thing is to plan the location, allocate ranges and channels for connecting points and client connections.

It is more preferable to use a single control system, for example, Nebula, we will talk about it in the next article.

At the same time, local management allows you to create a working environment for data exchange.

Useful links

1. Telegram chat Zyxel
2. Zyxel

Hardware Forum

3. Lots of useful videos on Youtube channel
4. Improving Wi-Fi performance. General principles and useful things
5. Improving Wi-Fi performance. Part 2. Equipment Features
6. Improving Wi-Fi performance.