Wireless Access

Hello everyone,

We installed 9 AP365 waps in an RV Park a while ago and they work really well however, I just received a call from the park manager that they were having no success getting any WiFiRangers connected to the system. I have no personal experience with said WiFiRangers and there are currently none in the park, so diagnosing will be a problem.

My basic understanding is that these devices scan the available networks, the user can select which one to connect to and then after connection, all devices are natted behind the WiFiRanger. Yes?

Does anybody have any experience with these WiFiRangers and or have any pointers on getting them connected correctly? Thank you.

I'm not familiar with the WiFiRanger either. What security method are you running on the SSID(s) at the RV park; open (with or without captive portal) or WPA2?

@cclemmer Thank you. We set this up as WPA-2 and without any splash page. Basically, you see an SSID, click it, enter passphrase and you're online.

DHCP is handed out from a Sophos XG230 for each VLAN individually.

This is what I found with a quick google search:

https://wifiranger.com/ and https://wifiranger.com/images/guides/WiFiRanger_ProductComparison.pdf

It appears to be a dual-radio device, with one radio mounted outside the vehicle, and the core unit mounted inside. Troubleshooting should be similar to any other client, verifying that the WPA-2 preshared key is entered correctly, that the unit was able to obtain an IP address, use DNS, etc.

So we would need to know if it's actually NATing behind the bridge, or if it's bridging the connection from the client? The help videos indicate it's likely NAT'ing, so the first step is to make sure that the devices are connecting (the Ranger device should show up in the user table of the APs). Then make sure that it's pingable/reachable from the LAN. From there, it's a matter of ensuring that end devices can connect, ping their gateway and the one hop up the chain. Make sure the APs aren't blacklisting the Ranger devices for some reason. Finally depending on the amount of NAT'ing at the site, the Ranger device, if nAT'ing, if it's again getting NAT'd at the AP (magic vlan?) and then NATing again at the ISP, there could be double/triple NATing issues. It's going to require devices in hand to test thoroughly to fully debug, but if the rangers are connecting in the same space as the users, and users are fine but the Rangers are not, the focus should be at the Ranger/WiFi uplink layer.

I have been through the videos and documentation too. These seem like very basic devices. I will see if the Park Manager can let me know when another one comes through. The Ranges do show up in the AP client list. As far as the overall topology, here is what we have.

We are the ISP, 1Gb Fiber into CPE, Fiber from CPE to Sophos XG230. Fiber from XG230 to Juniper EX2300 24P. Ethernet out from the EX2300 to three AP365's and then also two Fibers from the EX2300 out to two pedeistals that house Netgear GS110TPV2 Switches. Each of those switches have three more AP365's on each of them.The only NAT in this Network is on the Sophos XG230 with RAW internet on the WAN Port.

@jhoward What would cause an AP to blacklist a device? I wondered this too but was unsure where to find any reason in the Controller.

You would need to check the logs on the AP *IF* the APs are blacklisting a client. So long as the Ranger's are NAT'ing, we won't see the issue of multiple IPs on the same MAC (like we do with bridging devices, which is what I was thinking at first). Double-NAT'ing is usually not a major issue, but it's very much a device-to-device thing. Unfortunately there needs to be some hands on testing more than likely to run that to ground. If the devices were cheaper it would be easier to snag one :)

I am also going to reach out to WiFi Ranger to see if they can ship me a unit to test on, and see if we can replicate it (assuming they can loan me one).

Jeremy, please PM me your email and I will loop you in on any followup with WiFi Ranger.

I spoke with the Park Manager and he is trying to get a unit to test with as the dealer wants him to sell them out of the park. I will know more at a later time.

Don't worry about asking the Ranger, the company is sending me an eval unit to test with in my lab. I should have it tomorrow (Tuesday) and hope to test on Thursday.

OK, that's awsome. Thanks!

One thing that you may want to run in the test is a mesh network with a few waps. I was told that the WiFiRanger will see each wap individually, not just an SSID, and you can select a certain wap to latch onto. I don't know how Aruba deals with that if it does at all.