RE: [smartBridges] APPO issues in Bridging and Repeater Modes

[Todd Barber]

I wanted to repost this to ensure anyone else seeing this issue at least knows how to work around it.   Vasu,               I apologize for not getting back to you sooner on this issue.  I finally got enough time to play with the units (another wasted 8 hrs) but I have found the setting that is causing this issue.               The problem is related to the length of the ESSID.  We have been using “Skylink Broadband Internet” as our ESSID since we began deploying units.  As I mentioned in my original post the older version of FW did not seem to have a problem with this when placing a unit into client bridge mode.                Once I pinned the problem down to the ESSID length I ran a number of experiments to verify the exact length that causes the issue.  When the ESSID exceeds 23 characters, on an APPO acting as an AP, an APPO in either client bridge or repeater mode is unable to be administered with the administrator login.  This makes it extremely difficult to actually associate or monitor the unit.                I am happy that I have found the cause of this issue but it does not help my situation much.  I am not really that interested in changing the ESSID on our deployed APPOs and then having to go to every customer’s house and re-associate them.  I would greatly appreciate it if you could duplicate this behavior and find the root cause.  I would also greatly appreciate it if you could fix the FW bug (I’m assuming this is a FW issue) and roll it into your next release.                I would also be happy if you would send some free hardware for my lost time and free troubleshooting J               Please let me know if you are able to duplicate this behavior and if you will be able to address it.  Thanks for your time.                Todd Barber Skylink Broadband Internet [EMAIL PROTECTED] 970-346-1834   -----Original Message----- From: Vasu @ Support [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, June 16, 2003 4:49 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: [smartBridges] APPO issues in Bridging and Repeater Modes   Hi Todd.   That should help us if need be have a similar setup, please IP map your network and send us.   Thanks,   Vasu   -----Original Message----- From: Todd Barber [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Tuesday, June 17, 2003 5:19 AM To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]' Subject: RE: [smartBridges] APPO issues in Bridging and Repeater Modes   Vasu,               Yes one of the APPO units is tied to the LAN via switch while the other is connected directly to a stand alone PC.  I don’t believe there is any type of loop.               I have not deployed these units yet so I can reconnect them to our network.  They will be using private IP.  What do you suggest would be the best way for you to connect to them?  I can ipmap a public to each of the units and send you the IPs.  Will this work?               Thanks for your quick response.    Todd Barber Skylink Broadband Internet [EMAIL PROTECTED] 970-346-1834   -----Original Message----- From: Vasu @ Support [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, June 16, 2003 1:21 PM To: 'Todd Barber' Subject: RE: [smartBridges] APPO issues in Bridging and Repeater Modes   Hi Todd,   We are extremely sorry for the inconvenience caused,   Is it possible for you to have these units accessible by us so that we can login to the devices and see the problem first hand, the reason being we got back a few units with such a problem but we are unable to simulate the problem.   Can you just make sure that you are not forming a loop with the access point in AP mode and the access point in CB mode, because whenever you switch off the access point in AP mode things work fine?    Is the aPPO as AP connected to the LAN and the aPPO as CB connected to the PC instead of the LAN, as this is the recommended setup and you should not have any problems.   Please let us know   With Best Regards,   Vasu (sB Support Team)       -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Todd Barber Sent: Tuesday, June 17, 2003 12:11 AM To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]' Subject: [smartBridges] APPO issues in Bridging and Repeater Modes   I have been playing with a couple of APPO units that we have ordered for replacement and expansion.  I am experiencing the following symptoms:   Set up one APPO as AP Set up second APPO as Client Bridge   If I power the first APPO before powering the client bridge unit I am unable to log into the client bridge from either the wireless or the LAN side with the administrator password.   I receive the following error – Can not read the airPoint Pro configuration.  Please check the community password.   I can log into the unit with the user password “public” but it does not display any tabs I am interested in, like Link quality.  The unit shows as associated on the AP and it passes traffic fine.  I just can’t manage it.   I can even log into the unit in AP mode and manage it though the client bridge unit.   If I power down the unit in AP mode then I can log into the client bridge unit without issue.  If I then power up the AP while I am logged in and then try and associate from the site survey tab it errors with Cannot find Know ESSID.   If I shut down the SB AP and log into the client bridge unit and do site survey I can see my D-Link access router just fine.  I have shut down the D-Link to insure it was not creating interference with no luck.    I have configured the units manually and with simpleDeploy.  I have the latest versions of firmware and simpleMonitor and simpleNMS.  I am unable to get into the units from simpleNMS also.  I am running WinXP on all of the systems I have tried to log in from.    We have a couple of units deployed on a water tank that behave exactly the same so I am convinced it is not a hardware issue.  When we first started we were going to do a 2.4G backhaul and these same units worked fine in both wireless bridge and client bridge mode with older firmware.  After a couple of months and at least one FW upgrade we had our backhaul go down and we were trying to set up a temporary backhaul with one when we first discovered this issue.  That’s why I’m playing with the new units on the ground before deploying them.   I have also been experimenting with the second APPO in repeater mode.  It is having the same issues.  I am unable to log into it when the APPO acting as an AP is powered but I have no problem when it is off.  Unfortunately in this mode it doesn’t associate at all.  I can never see it from the AP side.  I can’t pass traffic and no other unit sees the repeater.  Because I can’t log in as Administrator I am unable to associate it or see if there is any link.    Any thoughts or similar experiences that might give me a clue on which direction to proceed would be greatly appreciated.  I spent about 5 hours messing with these units and am extremely frustrated at this point.  I am convinced my network settings and which side I try and manage from are correct because I have tried all possible combinations.  The damn things just won’t let me log in as administrator when the AP is powered.    Todd Barber Skylink Broadband Internet [EMAIL PROTECTED] 970-346-1834     Todd Barber Skylink Broadband Internet [EMAIL PROTECTED] 970-346-1834