Wireless Access

Not entirely a technical question, but I have a site that needs to get a Wired connection  to a set of devices that where they have no ethernet lines.  They have been using a consumer grade WiFI extender with a couple passthrough ethernet ports on it connected to the closest reachable Aruba AP (controller-based) but are running into strange issues where the wired clients get disconnected if they are inactive for a time.  Strangely, changing the IP address on the wired client allows them to work for a while, but I'm looking for a more permanent solutions.

As I mentioned, there are no copper or fiber links available and they do not have a POE switch with which to power up an AP to use in Mesh Point/Portal mode.  There is, however, an HP 1800 switch at the far end that is being used to connect a few devices (for as long as the range extender works).  Since I can't do a Mesh Point, is something like the 501 Client bridge still a supported options and would I be able to connect it to the web managed switch at the far end to provide connectivity to additional devices beyond itself?  It would likely be no more than 4 or 5 total additional clients at the far end.

------------------------------
Bill Fischer
------------------------------

Hi Bill,

From my point of view, you should go with Mesh. If there is no PoE switch available, you can use a power supply to power the pointer AP. 

The client Bridge might do the job as well, but I personally, haven't set up the bridge with more than one client. And even this can bring issues, as the bridge itself is not managed by any management system, and as far as I could remember, I couldn't get management (WEB UI) access to the bridge and the device behind the bridge at the same time. 

A mesh would be a better choice as this is fully managed by your controller and you can have different VLAN's across the Mesh link, to separate devices. This is not possible with the client bridge. 

just my 2cents

------------------------------
Florian Baaske
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: Dec 15, 2020 09:47 AM
From: Bill Fischer
Subject: Wireless Range Extender Alternatives

Not entirely a technical question, but I have a site that needs to get a Wired connection  to a set of devices that where they have no ethernet lines.  They have been using a consumer grade WiFI extender with a couple passthrough ethernet ports on it connected to the closest reachable Aruba AP (controller-based) but are running into strange issues where the wired clients get disconnected if they are inactive for a time.  Strangely, changing the IP address on the wired client allows them to work for a while, but I'm looking for a more permanent solutions.

As I mentioned, there are no copper or fiber links available and they do not have a POE switch with which to power up an AP to use in Mesh Point/Portal mode.  There is, however, an HP 1800 switch at the far end that is being used to connect a few devices (for as long as the range extender works).  Since I can't do a Mesh Point, is something like the 501 Client bridge still a supported options and would I be able to connect it to the web managed switch at the far end to provide connectivity to additional devices beyond itself?  It would likely be no more than 4 or 5 total additional clients at the far end.

------------------------------
Bill Fischer
------------------------------

Thanks Florian.  The mesh is actually what we ended up doing.  At the end of the day it just made more sense. 

------------------------------
Bill Fischer
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: Dec 23, 2020 12:37 AM
From: Florian Baaske
Subject: Wireless Range Extender Alternatives

Hi Bill,

From my point of view, you should go with Mesh. If there is no PoE switch available, you can use a power supply to power the pointer AP. 

The client Bridge might do the job as well, but I personally, haven't set up the bridge with more than one client. And even this can bring issues, as the bridge itself is not managed by any management system, and as far as I could remember, I couldn't get management (WEB UI) access to the bridge and the device behind the bridge at the same time. 

A mesh would be a better choice as this is fully managed by your controller and you can have different VLAN's across the Mesh link, to separate devices. This is not possible with the client bridge. 

just my 2cents

------------------------------
Florian Baaske

Original Message:
Sent: Dec 15, 2020 09:47 AM
From: Bill Fischer
Subject: Wireless Range Extender Alternatives

Not entirely a technical question, but I have a site that needs to get a Wired connection  to a set of devices that where they have no ethernet lines.  They have been using a consumer grade WiFI extender with a couple passthrough ethernet ports on it connected to the closest reachable Aruba AP (controller-based) but are running into strange issues where the wired clients get disconnected if they are inactive for a time.  Strangely, changing the IP address on the wired client allows them to work for a while, but I'm looking for a more permanent solutions.

As I mentioned, there are no copper or fiber links available and they do not have a POE switch with which to power up an AP to use in Mesh Point/Portal mode.  There is, however, an HP 1800 switch at the far end that is being used to connect a few devices (for as long as the range extender works).  Since I can't do a Mesh Point, is something like the 501 Client bridge still a supported options and would I be able to connect it to the web managed switch at the far end to provide connectivity to additional devices beyond itself?  It would likely be no more than 4 or 5 total additional clients at the far end.

------------------------------
Bill Fischer
------------------------------