hi, i am trying to connect via my laptop PCMCIA wi-fi card to connect to the minitar AP. i am running the latest firmware 2.53

i can see in the admin area a place to assign mac address for wirelss connection. so i put i my laptop card address but unable to access. i can access ok the normal cable way. i use a netcomm router that is connect to the net.

Hi there.

The listing of MAC addresses on the WIreless Settings page are only for when you are bridging. What mode do you have the MNWAPB configured in ? WDS ? You probably want basicaly infrastructure mode.

Regards,
S.

oh ok, well i don't understand a whole lot about this. my minitar is up a pole with POE and connected to an antenna. it is in AP mode. i was intending to use it for scanning for other access points and using it on our local wi-fi brisbane mesh. i was hoping that the mac access could be used in any mode so i could make an adjustment via wi-fi laptop easily if i wanted to.

however it was more for use with my second minitar which i was going to locate and test somewhere else around the house without having to use cable connected to the router. so wi-fi connect to adjust admin setting would be handy.

So are you still having problems associating a client to your AP ?

S.

not any more i dont think. you have said i cannot use the wireless connection whilst the minitar is in AP mode so that would explain why it won't work.

but any reason why? it sure would save time if it were up a 12 meter pole without POE (but using outdoor extension lead for power) so we can access without having to bring the minitar down. does that make any sense? it's just a great feature that it limited otherwise. but perhaps i am wrong about this.

Are you sure that your device is in Infrastructure AP mode ? If it was then you wouldn't have the MAC addresses being able to be entered on the Wireless Settings page. Sounds to be like your unit is in bridge point-to-point mode.

If you are in bridge point-to-point mode then it makes sense you can't associate a client to the AP. To have bridge+client associations you want to swap your MNWAPB into "Bridge-WDS" mode.

Just double check the mode your unit is currently in as it doesn't sound like it's in AP mode (perhaps it's Station-Infrastructure even ?)

S.

well i have to admit i do find all these modes confusing as to what they do and under what circumstances you use one over the other.

what mode am i in? well if i look in my admin page on the minitar it says "AP" mode in the drop down menu. so what mode is that?

here is a screenie:

also this is the screen where i was under the impression i could access wirelessly

Ah, okay, I can see where we are getting confused. When you said admin area before I assumed you meant on the main Wireless Settings page. The listing of MAC's there is the correct place to lock down your AP so only those clients can connect.

So why exactly do you have the unit up on a pole ?? I assumed it was because you had it bridged with another AP. What exactly are you trying to achieve ? If you have it up there on an omni antenna are you just trying to create a large hotspot ? If so then AP mode is correct.

S.

accept it won't connect wirelessly.

i would like to be able to do a couple of things.

i am running the following:

running AP MNWAPB 802.11b/11 Mbps an 18 dBi Panel directional antenna Max. Gain 18 dBi Polarization Vertical Beamwidth - Vertical 45 degrees Beamwidth - Horizontal 75 degrees SWR <= 1.5:1 Connector N Female Max. Power 50 W Impedance 50 ohm Dimensions 263 x 263 x 30 mm Mass 0.9 kg on top of a ten meter pole with one meter coax going to my AP (minitar 802.11b/11 Mbps) on pole then POE 20 meters down into my VPN netcomm router.

currently it is off the pole as it was temporary until i get a 12 meter galvanised pole to put it on.

i bought 2 minitars. the second one at some stage i will give to my parents to use when they go wi-fi and they are only 12Km's away and i would like to at some stage connect to them.

short term goal was to connect to others and allow others to connect to me on our local brismesh network. also like to use netstumbler to locate other AP's.

longer term goal perhaps run a node as well.

my netcomm router: NB5540 11g Wireless Firewall Router

i run my network like this.

backroom PC wireless USB Pen adapter
laptop PCMCIA 11g wireless pc card.

these 2 connect wirelessly to my netcomm router which in turn is connected to my cable modem to the internet.

so from the router up the wall and out and up the pole to the wheather box that houses the minitar then one meter coax to the antenna.

thats basically it.

Okay then.

This all depends on what types of configurations BriMesh uses then - do they just configure things in Ap/client style modes or do they use bridging and/or WDS modes ?

If you just want to use it to look for other AP's you want station-infrastructure mode.

In whatever mode if the IP of the MNWAPB is set to the same IP range that your Netcomm is giving out via DHCP then you shoudl always be able to access it from your clients through the Netcomm.

If it's set to AP mode then anyone should be able to assocaite with it. Disable the DHCP server in the MNWAPB such that the IP's come from the Netcomm instead.

If you want to link with your parents you want both MNWAPB's in Bridge point-to-point mode. They will probably proclude you also being part of the mesh unless you have your AP in bridge point-to-multipoint instead so you can be part of multiple bridge setups (i.e. your parents and then other bri-mesh nodes).

So, if you have your MNWAPB on the poll, in AP mode, disable the MAC filtering and see if you can associate with your testing client. Can you ? From there you can enable the MAC filtering, ensuring that you enter the MAC's with no delimeters into the textbox.

S.