Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2022 5:07 Post subject: WDS Setup ideas with VAPs and VLANs
Looking for some suggestions how to maybe migrate over to WDS in my house setup. Right now, I've got a DLink DIR-890L as the main router (DMZed into the ISP router which has wifi turned off), and a Linksys WRT32X in client bridge mode. It's shady, to say the least.
The DIR is setup with 2 VAPs on each radio (guest and IOT, respectively), with the respective VAPs bridged across the radios into their own subnets via dnsmasq. I do this so that I can apply consistent firewall rules across the bridges (e.g., IOT is completely blocked from the interwebs, has NTP redirected to an internal chrony setup, is accessible from the main network, and none of the clients can access each other; guests are completely isolated from the main network, and just go straight to the interwebs; main VLAN uses a pi-hole for adblocking, DNS and timeserver, etc). The linksys client is setup more or less to allow hard-wiring the entertainment center, with a bonus of repeating the signal and adding a 5GHz signal downstairs, which is mostly pointless as it has to piggyback over the 2.4GHz bridge.
This setup worked beautifully at my previous 1-story ranch home, but now i'm in a 2-story with a basement, and it aint working so hot. The router is upstairs in a bonus room that is fairly well insulated, and the only signal most of the rest of the house gets is, shockingly, the 2.4GHz. I get a lot of shenanigans happening when one or both of the routers reboot or I make a setting change, and it's just a pain having to whip out a network cable and a laptop just to get the WRT32X back up again.
So, here's the question... Is this something that I might benefit from moving over to WDS? If so, how do I handle the VAPs, as I'd *really* like to repeat the IOT and guest signals throughout the house. Would I use static routing or something to push them onto the main VLAN, or what? Also, yes, I am well aware that I can't (or shouldn't) WDS these two routers, as they have different chipsets. If it's something worth pursuing, I'll grab another broadcom-based router. I've got two Netgear R6260s that I can fiddledick with to get the jist of how to make all this happen without borking my main setup. And yes, I know they have different chipsets from the other two routers, so, yaaaay.
Appreciate any advise or pointers yall can give me.
• WDS does not work on Broadcom ARM devices (only MIPS<->MIPS) & bridge modes on k4.4 devices may sometimes work
in some configurations for certain builds but are not supported by the bcmdhd driver. Try client or repeater modes, but YMMV.
Heh, so basically, dont even try. Sounds like I've got the perfect miscombination of hardware. If I go the installing wires route, I feel like it'd be better to get a managed switch and just plop down APs as needed at this point. Barring that, how would I get the various APs to bridge their VAPs. Is such a thing even reasonably possible?
Heh, so basically, dont even try. Sounds like I've got the perfect miscombination of hardware. If I go the installing wires route, I feel like it'd be better to get a managed switch and just plop down APs as needed at this point. Barring that, how would I get the various APs to bridge their VAPs. Is such a thing even reasonably possible?
Not able to picture your environment, but with bridges and vlans, you will probably end up with a few managed switches. Good thing they are pretty cheap these days. I doubt you will find any WiFi extenders that you can bridge or vlan, but you can pick up Linksys EA8500s very cheap these days on ebay. They would very easily accomplish what you want I believe. Or Netgear R7800s, but you will pay substantially more for those. _________________ Linksys EA8500 (Internet Gateway, AP/VAP) - DD-WRT r53562
Features in use: WDS-AP, Multiple VLANs, Samba, WireGuard, Entware: mqtt, mlocate
Wireless 5ghz only
Netgear R7800 (WDS-AP, WAP, VAP) - DD-WRT r55779
Features in use: multiple VLANs over single trunk port
Linksys EA8500 WDS Station x2 - DD-WRT r55799
Netgear R6400v2 WAP, VAP 2.4ghz only w/VLANs over single trunk port. DD-WRT r55779
OSes: Fedora 38, 9 RPis (2,3,4,5), 20 ESP8266s: Straight from Amiga to Linux in '94, never having owned a Windows PC.
Joined: 31 Jul 2021 Posts: 2146 Location: All over YOUR webs
Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2022 8:41 Post subject:
Since egc has mentioned powerline adapters vs actual dedicated Cat 6 wire, I would like to leave my experience with powerline adapters here.
When choosing powerline adapters, you will be under 1Gbps for the most part (depends on brand), some powerline adapters give you a 1Gbps link, but all around they dont perform the same as a ethernet cable and are not comparable for sustained transfers at long electrical circuits even when well under 100 Meters. Also the issue of connecting to different circuits has to be considered.
A semi decent explanation is found here So you first have to understand how your electrical circuit works, depending on the desired setup.
Joined: 08 May 2018 Posts: 14242 Location: Texas, USA
Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2022 18:44 Post subject:
Another note on personal experience with powerline adapters is that these have to be plugged directly into the outlet, not through a surge suppressor. I think by the time I finally retired the ones I was using, I was getting about 30 megabits/second when initially, I was getting much higher speeds. Pretty sure the crossing over in circuits and storms bit them in the ass.
