User's Manual

Deployment Guide 165

EXAMPLE 2: DEPLOYING A HIVE

Building on "Deploying a Single HiveAP" on page 162, the office network has expanded and requires more HiveAPs to

provide greater coverage. In addition to the basic configuration covered in the previous example, you configure all

three HiveAPs to form a hive within the same layer 2 switched network. The following are the configuration details

for the hive:

• Hive name: hive1

• Preshared key for hive1 communications: s1r70ckH07m3s

HiveAP-1 and -2 are cabled to a switch and use the native ("untagged") VLAN for wired backhaul communications.

They communicate with each other over both wired and wireless backhaul links, the wired link taking precedence.

However, HiveAP-3 only communicates with HiveAP-1 and -2 over a wireless link (see Figure 2). Because HiveAP-1

and -2 connect to the wired network, they act as portals. In contrast, HiveAP-3 is a mesh point.

Figure 2 Three HiveAPs in a Hive

Note: The security protocol suite for hive communications is WPA-AES-psk.

Note: If all hive members can communicate over wired backhaul links, you can then use both radios for access.

The wifi0 interface is already in access mode by default. To put wifi1 in access mode, enter this command:

interface wifi1 mode access. In this example, however, a wireless backhaul link is required.

Wireless Network-1

Switch

Firewall

Internet

DHCP

Server

Wireless Network-2 Wireless Network-3

Wired Hive Backhaul Communications

HiveAP-1

(Portal)

HiveAP-2

(Portal)

HiveAP-3

(Mesh Point)

Wireless Hive Backhaul Communications

Wireless Network Access Connections

HiveAP-1 and HiveAP-2 are portals and use both wired and

wireless backhaul methods to communicate with each other.

HiveAP-3 is a mesh point, using only a wireless connection for

backhaul communications with the other two hive members.

Wired Ethernet Network Connections

Hive1