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Using AirGateway with Toughswitch

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k6bpm
Using AirGateway with Toughswitch

Is there a way to use an AirGateway with a Ubiquiti ToughSwitch (5-port)? The AirGateway works okay when plugged into a POE injector, but I have not been able to make it work when plugged into a ToughSwitch using a jumper cable and an F/F connector. The POE to the connected Nanostation works, but I am not getting any data through the AirGateway to the ToughSwitch or any connected equipment.

Thanks and 73

Brian - K6BPM
AE6XE
AE6XE's picture
Brian,      What are all the
Brian,      What are all the devices you'd be plugging into the ToughSwitch in addition to the AirGateway?     Is the desired outcome to extend the physical ports on a mesh node and use the AirGateway to also enable standard wifi devices to be on the LAN of this mesh node?  WAN gateway?  multiple mesh nodes?   All of the these building blocks can be configured to work together.   If you can elaborate just a bit more, I'd have a better understanding to offer some options.  

Joe AE6XE
k6bpm
ToughSwitch Use
Hi Joe,

Sure, I want the ToughSwitch to handle 1 NSM2, a WAN connection, 1 Windows server, and 1 Raspberry Pi 3 - plus the AirGateway. I plan to have 2 of these installations - one at my office and one at home. 

I have a situation where both my office and home LANs are 10.x LAN networks. I use high end SonicWall routers at both locations and SonocWall access points. Both locations have business grade Internet with redundant circuits. Because the AREDN also uses a 10.x addressing mechanism, it makes it difficult for me to access anything on the AREDN network from any local machine unless I unplug from the LAN. That means (for me) I need to run an additional hard line to every location where I might want to access the mesh network. Renumbering my existing networks is not in the cards. I have too many firewall rules, NAT entries, port and application forwarding rules, etc.

At home and at the office I am using a Windows 2012 server mainly because I have the equipment, licenses, and am very experienced at maintaining them. I can run all kinds of services there and currently run IIS web services. I write Windows networking security software for a living, so this gives me a familiar base to work from. 

So the simple solution for me is to add an AirGateway so that I can simply change WiFi connections to change networks. It would be cool to be able to access both networks at the same time, but I can work with this. Switching WiFi will let me access the file system on the Windows servers natively, as well as access any mesh devices I may have connected.

Bottom line is that I want to be able to do real work, have fun with the mesh network, experiment at will, and all without heroic efforts to switch between networks!

Thanks!

Brian

 
WL7COO
WL7COO's picture
Not quite +1 but the same basic question re: use of airGateway

Moved to 'Use of an airGateway as CPE and/or a ToughSwitch.... ' thread in this forum.

...dan wl7coo
 

WU2S
WU2S's picture
A separate thread might be
A separate thread might be more productive, and if you could include a sketch of what you are proposing, it would help to devise a solution.
WL7COO
WL7COO's picture
If I knew how to move this to new thread I would <g>.

Moved to 'Use of an airGateway as CPE and/or ToughSwitch.... ' thread in this forum.

...dan wl7coo
 

WU2S
WU2S's picture
It might be better if you
It might be better if you started separate thread(s) and copy whatever messages are appropriate. This way you can guide the conversation. It should be helpful to have separate threads address each of the distinct uses you mentioned, so as not to confuse the readers. As always, inserting graphics will aid visual learners such as myself. 
WL7COO
WL7COO's picture
WU2S - if you can delete the 'hijack sub thread' please do.

Thanks !
...dan wl7coo

K5DLQ
K5DLQ's picture
Here's my setup:

Here's my setup:

This allows my laptop with direct (wired) internet access AND mesh access.

If you want WIRELESS internet and mesh access, plug your AirGateway (in Bridge mode) to one of your nodes.  then, WIFI connect your laptop to the AirGateway.  

Also, if you want more than one LAN device, I simply plug a "dumb" switch into my PORT1, and then all the "mesh LAN" devices will plug into that switch.
(Minor correction: on port 1, VLAN1 is tagged)

Image Attachments: 
WL7COO
WL7COO's picture
Thanks ! This design might be 'borrowed' soon.

Appreciate the insight.
73
...dan wl7coo

AE6XE
AE6XE's picture
Thanks, this gives a good
Thanks, this gives a good view of the issues.   There are multiple discussions in here. 

1) high level architecture.  

There may be an option to be on both the mesh and your home/business network at the same time.  But this would mean avoiding conflicts on your home/business network with the IP addresses that are auto-assigned on the mesh.   You'd have to determine if/when there's one too many conflicts to deal with such that it's not worth your effort to deploy this approach.   But then, maybe you're fortunate and there's no conflicts to deal with today.  But when adding more mesh nodes there's a risk of a hit in the future.   

Attach your computer on the LAN of a mesh node, then any 10.x.x.x address you access that is NOT on the mesh would route out to the default route to your home/business network on the WAN port of the same mesh node.  This gives access to both the mesh AND services on your home/business network.   This means that if a mesh node ever shows up with an IP address in use that is the same as a service you need to access on the home/business network, that you'd have to change the IP address on your home/business network assigned to that service.  

The mesh auto-allocates IP addresses for the small LAN subnets of each node ( 8 to 32 count IP address subnet) and  2 addresses for each node (wifi and dtdlink interfaces).  You don't necessarily have to resolve conflicts if you never access this IP address on your home/business network.   

To do business activities, no RF traffic is generated.  The mesh node is routing all this traffic to your home/business network across cat5 cables only.  You do not need to advertise this mesh node to be a gateway to the rest of the mesh--the LAN devices have access to the WAN network in the out-of-box configuration regardless of gateway advisement settings.   The home/business network does not have direct access to the mesh network, incoming traffic is blocked by the mesh node's firewall.  But your computer now has direct access to both networks.

2) Adding AirGateway to ToughSwitch (or other 802.1q switch).

I've not heard of anyone doing this to date.  I think there may be 2 options.  Others should chime in to get more cooks in the kitchen to validate or share actual results of doing this:

Option A)   This option depends if the AirGateway will pass (trunk) the vlan tags through (it should, but maybe not?).  We have to figure out how this '3 port switch' internal to the AirGateway is configured to work.   Plug the mesh node into the POE of the AirGateway.    Plug the LAN port of the AirGateway to the TouchSwitch port configured and expecting to have a mesh node plugged into it.   Configure the ToughSwitch as normal with the additional WAN and LAN ports.

Option B)   This option depends on avoiding and not smoking something with passive POE power supplied on both ends :) .  Plug the mesh node into the ToughSwitch port configured for a mesh node.    Plug the "POE" port of the AirGateway into a port on the ToughSwitch configured as a LAN port of the mesh node.    Turn OFF the power to this port on the ToughSwitch.    I'd probably use a $3 splitter to physically ensure there's no power from the AirGateway trying to go into the Toughswitch port to be overly cautious. 

Joe AE6XE
k6bpm
Success for now...
Hi Joe,

I got it working mostly as I wanted for now. I set up the AirGateway as a bridge. It turns out you cannot power it from the ToughSwitch, rather it needs to be powered from a POE injector. This little guy just snaps on and is super simple to install. I just used the POE injector from a Nanostation that is now powered by the switch.

Then I put a cable from the LAN port on the AirGateway and plugged it into an available unpowered port on the switch. I left the POE port on the AirGateway empty. 

Everything works as expected except direct access to the file system on the Windows Server. I was unable to use RDP either, but now I can go back through your message here and work through the issues. 

So partial success is good progress. At least I can access the node UI's using a browser on any device within range. The conventional lan topology is next and you have given me some valuable hints here! Thanks!
AE6XE
AE6XE's picture
That's great, call your
That's great, call your configuration "Option C".  Same as "option B", without DC power on the AirGateway end to deal with.    Note that the AirGateway POE port should be yet another available port on the LAN of the mesh node.  I suspect this is just a dumb internal switch inside the AirGateway, so ether will work.  One port provides POE, the other doesn't. 

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