I am looking at building out a supernode for Ireland in the near future and probably have some stupid questions that I'm hoping someone has the patience to answer.
Thank you.
Mark
EI4FNB
- Hardware: From my reading and looking at what others are doing an OpenWRT One is a good option, my other option would be a virtual machine but I like the idea of a simple self contained node for that.
- I am planning on hosting this (at least initially) from a home Internet connection (2000/200Mb with fixed IPs and no ISP NAT), I do have UPS backups but will be adding runtime shortly as well, the most obvious missing item is redundant network connectivity, but would there be any screaming concerns with a setup like this.
- Other local nodes: All the diagrams I have seen show just one other local node connected to a supernode (I understand the supernode needs to be dedicated to that and nothing else) but can I have multiple other local nodes attached and the same DtD network, e.g. a tunnel server, ocal RF node(s)
- Where do I go about coordinating connectivity between any supernode I setup and the wider supernode network
- Connectivity to local/regional, I understand that a super node should be connected to one and only one local/regional mesh, this makes sense bu can/should the local/regional mesh have multiple supernodes for redundancy
Thank you.
Mark
EI4FNB
1. the OpenWrt One works well as a supernode. Also viable candidates are the Mikrotik ac3, or the ac2 if you don't need POE out on port 5.
2. 200/200 will work fine, as long as you don't go crazy with supernode tunnels. The OLSR route info broadcast by a supernode contains ALL the nodes it knows about on the network, so is obviously much bigger than the OLSR broadcast from an ordinary tunnel server.
3. Yes, the supernode requires a DtD connection into the local network. Most often that's another node used as a local tunnel server.
4. You can request a supernode link here, but the most active place would be the #supernode channel on the Slack AREDN Community. If you'd like an invited to it send me an email at orv.beach@gmail.com
5. There's no hard and fast rule to supernode redundancy. I recommend addressing that when your node population has grown and you've got a substantial number of local nodes.
73
Orv W6BI
The AC3s have five Ethernet ports which can be programmed for WAN, LAN, or DtD. One port can provide POE. The Open WRT One has two Ethernet ports, one for WAN (2.5 Gbps) and one for LAN/DTD (1 Gbps). The AC3 has four processors running 448-896 MHz (auto), the Open WRT One has two processors running 1300 MHz. The AC3 has 256/128 MB RAM/flash, the OpenWRT one has 1024/256 MB. They are pretty much equivalent in capability, and either will probably work for your supernode.
I use Ethernet switches to link the WAN and DtD networks of multiple nodes, so the five ports on the AC3 is not a particular advantage. Just something to think about when designing your system. As Orv pointed out, you will need a second node to provide your supernode a gateway to the AREDN mesh.
--Tim K5RA