FWIW, torch is painful. It's a seriously dumbed down version of tcpdump. I don't know why they don't just ditch torch and use the OSS and much better equivalent anyway.
There are lots of SNMP based monitoring tools without integrating with “billing”.Also you gain a lot of interactive troubleshooting tools with a router at each tower that have nothing to do with billing or monitoring. Think in terms of a Winbox session to a Mikrotik router, and tools like Torch. Even if he goes with VLANs, an intelligent device at the tower is worth its cost many times over.From: Mathew HowardSent: Monday, March 09, 2015 12:48 PMTo: afSubject: Re: [AFMUG] Looking for help converting from a bridged network torouted. (More Info)But it seems like his primary reason for going routed at this point is to get better monitoring abilities... and a good billing system would accomplish most of that.I would start replacing all the switches at the towers with something like Mikrotik RB2011's... you could just configure them all as switches to start out and get all the hardware you need in place before you actually change anything, if nothing else, you'd gain the Mikrotik's internal graphing to give you a better idea what's going on in the short term.On Mon, Mar 9, 2015 at 12:29 PM, Ken Hohhof <afmug@kwisp.com> wrote:
Let the guy do his routed network. A billing system is not a prerequisite. Although if he has something in mind like Powercode for the future, it might be good to take that into consideration since it has a network element (BMU) that has to go somewhere.From: Bill PrinceSent: Monday, March 09, 2015 12:17 PMTo: af@afmug.comSubject: Re: [AFMUG] Looking for help converting from a bridged network torouted. (More Info)Free for 30 days, or free for up to 30 "sensors". The way I use sensors on our network, that will cover about 2 devices.
http://www.paessler.com/prtg/downloadbp <part15sbs{at}gmail{dot}com>On 3/9/2015 10:13 AM, Chuck McCown wrote:PRTG is free and will monitor all your stuff if you fire up an internal subnet for it.From: Brandon YuchaszSent: Monday, March 09, 2015 10:43 AMTo: af@afmug.comSubject: Re: [AFMUG] Looking for help converting from a bridged network torouted. (More Info)Alright so I have always said I am not proud too admit when I am uneducated in an area if it means learning something I need to know. So as embarrassing as it is Ill open to robe.
All APs are Cambium FSK and we are now deploying the PMP450 as well. Backhauls are a mix of companies but we are looking to try and standardize, Cambium, and Ligowave are the most used.
Ill just use one site because they are all evolved in a similar way. But we have several different sites that are all very similar.
The site I would like to do first is Tower one, 5 FSK APs (PMP450 coming soon) This site has a shed no heat and my equipment at the base is secured in a locking large steel box. Think of a truck tool box. Backhauled to Tower 2 through Ligowave and tower two has 5 FSK APs and one PMP450. This site is really remote no roads and its all tied together in a weatherproof box.
So no managed switches, Single IP and DHCP. Never went then way of NAT.
We have no real monitoring for customers date use, we limit up and down speeds at the SM. We don’t shape no caps you get the idea. So existing equipment is useless for this process. Our customers are quite happy with the services but I am blind. I will most likely double my size in the next 6 months and I can’t keep doing it this way.
Brandon
From: Af [mailto:af-bounces@afmug.com] On Behalf Of Jeremy
Sent: Monday, March 09, 2015 10:51 AM
To: af@afmug.com
Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Looking for help converting from a bridged networktorouted.
Also, depending on your monitoring system, you should be able to track CPE and AP bandwidth as is.
On Mon, Mar 9, 2015 at 9:48 AM, Ken Hohhof <afmug@kwisp.com> wrote:
The availability of inexpensive Mikrotik routers made this much less of an issue than it used to be. Even at micropops that I bridge, I put a small Mikrotik like a 450G or a 2011 there as a managed switch. That way it can be converted to routed, often without a truck roll.
One question is how you assign IP addresses to customers. Static with NAT in CPE? DHCP? PPPoE? Do you NAT multiple customers to one public IP? This may determine which approach is easiest to migrate to. Router at each tower with block of public IPs? VLANs to central site with big central router?
From: That One Guy
Sent: Monday, March 09, 2015 10:23 AM
To: af@afmug.com
Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Looking for help converting from a bridged networktorouted.
not to hijack you, but there are some who maintain a fully bridged network and use VLAN instead of routing, this I am curious about, it may be a cost effective solution for you as well.
I started our migration 4ish years ago and had the budget cut out from under me with only half the routers deployed, let me tell you, a 50/50 network sucks a great deal to manage. whatever you do, make sure you have all your routers on your desk before you begin
On Mon, Mar 9, 2015 at 10:15 AM, Chuck McCown <chuck@wbmfg.com> wrote:
Everyone seems to have lived through this evolution at some point.
A bridged WISP is asking for trouble.
How many APs and how many sites? Are the switches at the sites capable of supporting VLANs? That is where I would start. Either that or replacing the switches with routers. Personally, one router with VLANS to each AP via managed switches would be my preference.
From: Brandon Yuchasz
Sent: Monday, March 09, 2015 9:10 AM
To: af@afmug.com
Subject: [AFMUG] Looking for help converting from a bridged network torouted.
I am looking for help converting our network from bridged to routed. This is something I don’t have a lot of background in but I also don’t want to end the process having a system I can’t fix so I will need someone that is willing to both do the work and teach me at the same time. Depending on how the process works in regards to time I am hoping to spend an hour a week working over the phone and through a remote desktop app.
My main reasons for working on this now are I need to see bandwidth use per SM, per AP, and have better ways of tracking both long term. We are just to blind right now and starting to really grow again I need to get it under control now before we get to large.
I am open to suggestions on routers but already had purchased microtik and butches scripts which after trying and failing to get it to work never implemented.
Contact me off list Brandon@gogebicrange.net if you can help.
Thanks,
Brandon Yuchasz
GogebicRange.net
--
If you only see yourself as part of the team but you don't see your team as part of yourself you have already failed as part of the team.
