WDS problems with Senao 3220

Hi folks,
I'm trying to setup some senao 3220 outdoor bridges in WDS mode and I'm having some problems. I want to basically extend the range of the LAN between two offices (remote office is just one PC atm) while allowing access at any stage along the chain of 4 bridges. The bridges are all connected to each other by wireless only (the end units are connected by ethernet to the LAN and client respectively).

The problem is that I can ping from the furthest bridge to the nearest bridge but no further - ie I can't reach any known IP addresses on the LAN. I can ping from the LAN out to all the bridges but the furthest one. Its almost as is there's a limit of 2 hops with WDS apart from the really frustrating symptom that worked and then it stopped! If you connect to any of the 3 bridges nearest the main LAN then it all works fine. DHCP, DNS and web browsing all work fine. Its maddening!

If anyone has experience of setting up these bridges with 4 or more units in a WDS mesh then please let me know!

Cheers
Morat

Noone?
Well, the oddness continues. Its almost as if the bridge is working one way...
The bridge on the edge of the LAN will let me ping out to all the other bridges from a machine on the LAN but I cannot ping LAN side address from wireless clients. I'm tearing my hair out here... and my boss is getting more sarcastic by the day

The other mad thing is that when you connect to the wireless side, you can get a DHCP address from the draytek ADSL router but you can't ping it. Its just bizarre.

Sorry man, I haven't used those units myself so probably won't be much help I've used WDS sucessfully with other brands and haven't encountered this problem. As a stab in the dark have you tried a firmware update?

Dale (GoWifi) is a Senao dealer and he frequents these forums, it might be worth waiting to see if he has any suggestions

__________________
Jeremy

Marlborough WiFi Project

Hi there
Yes we are selling the Senao radios, I have not had 4 running in WDS mode as yet but had a similar issue when setting up 4 of the SENAO 2611CB3 PLUS (Deluxe) 200mW radios in a bridge configuration. The solution was a firmware update. It was doing the same thing with getting IP address from DHCP but not being able to ping or access the network. I see the SOC-3220 has a new firmware as of 12/06/2006.
Are you putting all the MAC addresses of the other AP in the WDS setup screen?
I may pass this query on to Senao as they are glad to help.
Cheers
Dale

Hi there, this is a bit late but i was recently talking to a Senao tech and mentioned this problem and he said they were designed to have one centre AP and then up to 5 APs connected in star when used in WDS mode. This may be the reason you can only get connected 3 APs away. They do have a new firmware out which you may want to try.
Cheers

Dale

Hi Guys,

I just ran into this thread when trying to trouble shoot a similar problem using only 2x Engenius EOC-3220 exterior access points. My setup is as follows.

One of the units (10.0.0.2) is connected into a Linksys router that is the gateway (10.0.0.1). The linksys gateway is the DHCP server. The other EOC-3220 (10.0.0.3) is setup to link to the first using WDS. Actually, Each EOC-3220 is configured with the other's MAC address in the WDS configuration. No encryption on the WIFI or WDS.

Everything works well for the first few days ( or several hours), then all of a sudden, an associated client can no longer connect to the gateway. He can ping the AP is he associated to and the other AP. He can disconnect from one AP, connect to the other and still ping both APs, but can not ping the gateway.

Now, if I turn on my laptop, i can associate to either AP and can ping the gateway and have full access. After a few hours, this client is in the same boat as the other and can no longer ping the gateway (10.0.0.1).

The funny part is that the computer that is connected into the LAN of the gateway can ping both APs and can connect to the web interface of each AP when this is happening, so it appears that the WDS link is still up and running just fine.

After both units are power cycled, things are back up, but a few days (or hours), things fall apart again. But, I show up with my laptop, can access for a few hours and eventually, the problem happens to my laptop and I power cycle both units and we're back up.. until it happens again!

I upgraded the firmware to the latest and greatest and contacted Engenius and they seamed stumped. They will try to reproduce the problem in their lab.

I believe it is a bug in the WDS in the firmware...

If I find out more from Engenius, I will post the results here.

Dave Leger

first sorry for my english is not the best
i have the same probleme.
i have the senao as AP and i try to connect with WDS one d-link dwl-2100ap.
nothing -never and without protect the senao is open as AP and open as WDS
i read at dd-wrt forum a member who has the same problem with me , he was trying to conect the NOC3220 from Senao and WRT54G with DDWRT but nothing


help
thanks

for EOC-3220 i find this Netgate
read the 3220 Firmware 1.38 Release Notes!
and this
Firmware - EOC-3220 EXT - EnGenius Datacom Products
read again the releas note of 3220 v1.38 Firmware

i did the upgrade of firmware but nothing
i have the same problem

I just ran into this thread when searching solutions for similar problem using my Senao EOC-3220 outdoor access points.

I have 2 of these Outdoor AP's and I have set the IP to 10.0.0.5 and 10.0.0.6. I am using 21dB antenna’s on both the AP’s and connecting 2 locations that is 10Km away.

The weirdest problems happen with this AP after some time of normal operations (sometime 10min sometime 2hrs) it starts behaving crazy. I have my DHCP server a location A and router with internet connection at Location B. After the AP starts acting crazy I am not able to ping the router from location A nor any system that’s at location B. But I am able to access/ping the AP that’s at location B from Location A. Also when I system joins the network at location B it is able to get the IP address from the DHCP server that’s at location A but it’s not able to ping the DHCP server.

Since I am able to access the Web Interface of the both the AP’s from any location, I do a restart on both the AP’s using its web interface simultaneously the network starts working fine again for some time, after that the same thing again.

When it’s working I was not able to get good speeds but now I am able to get good speeds of 10Mbps

Any one with a solution for my problem will be of gr8 help as I am having bad time with this AP’s

i can resolve this problem for you and othres if you are intrested let me know
and u can contact me via utorabi@gmail.com

Hello All,

I was beginning to think that I was crazy. We have been dealing with this issue for at least 6 months.

It is so easy to recreate. In fact it only takes 2 units. Just set AP1 to WDS with AP2 where AP1 has a hard wired connection. Then connect a computer to the Ethernet port of AP2. After a period of an hour to a few days, the computer will lose the ability to go out to the Internet. It is able to get a DHCP IP address assignment, but it will not be able to get out.

There is a way to reset it so that it works...until it stops working again.

You have to restart AP2 and then IMMEDIATELY restart AP1.

For those considering the new firmware version 1.38. I would suggest NOT installing it. Our experience was that it made the units stop responding completely. You can try it, because you can install 1.37 again, but it made the situation worse for us.

Once the unit stops working you have to physically be there to jack in or restart it physically.

Please if anyone has any tips or solutions, please post.

Thanks!

I just ran into this thread when trying to trouble shoot a similar problem using 2 Engenius EOC-3220 exterior access points. My setup is as follows.

One of the units (192.168.0.220) is connected to a Direcway DW7000 modem that also is the gateway and DHCP server (192.168.0.1). The other EOC-3220 (192.168.0.222) is setup to link to the first using WDS. Each EOC-3220 is configured with the other's MAC address in the WDS configuration. I use WEP encryption.

Everything works well for the first few days (or hours), then all of a sudden, the computer that is connected by LAN of AP2 cannot ping the gateway, or connect to the internet, but can ping both AP's and open their web interfaces.

It seems that the wireless WDS link is still working, but data sent from AP1 to AP2 via WDS does not go through to the wired side of AP2, and vice versa. However, DHCP messages come through.

Like most of you, I'd appreciate help on this problem.

Maybe could we do something together to get Senao to work on this problem quicker?

We've had this running for over a week with no problems. Download can be found on Engenius site:

Firmware - EOC-3220 - EnGenius Datacom Products

Beware, firmware update will reset unit to factory, so you cannot do it remotely. You must be able to connect physically to the unit because IP address will reset to 192.168.1.1.

Good luck to all!

Same problem overhere.

A Senao EOC-3220 in WDS mode together with an ASUS WL500g (with white russian firmware). My laptop connects to the ASUS; the ASUS WDS'ses to the Senao; the Senao connects to my testnetwork. No WEP keys, different ESSID's.

With a little bit of traffic: no problems.
When stresstesting (downloading full speed between laptop and testnetwork) after about half an hour the connection breaks. Resetting (power down, power up) the Senao is all that needs to be done to restart everything.

Half an hour ago, I started a stress test with MTU=1400. It's still working fine!


BTW on my WDS link I get a speed of about 1Mbyte per second. This fits the rule of thumb: 802.11g is 54 Mbps and delivers payload at 2 Mbyte per second; WDS halves this.

Regards Johan Swenker

and 10 minutes later it broke. So it is not MTU related. ...

They now have the solution on their website, under 'troubleshooting' in the 3220 product page:

----
Problem:
With firmware version 1.36, 1.37, and 1.38, there was a bug found that would stop allowing associated wireless clients to surf the internet. Wireless clients were still able to get a DHCP assigned IP address, but could not access the internet.
Solution:
Please download firmware version 1.39 and upgrade any 3220 series devices that have WDS enabled.
----

I'll try it out as soon as I get time. I have good hopes anyway, because 'frustrated' says it is the solution.

I didn't dare to install the Engenius software on my Senao access point, even when everybody agrees Senao is Engenius. Fortunately my provider mailed me a link to their site with the new firmware http:// http://www.tijdhof.com/senao...20_1_39_05.zip .

I installed this firmware and ran a stress test. After more then 12 hours I can confirm that the WDS-software does not break down (as easily as before ).

Performance: the maximum speed I get out of the WDS-link is 1.1 Mbyte/sec (where M stands for 10^6 and not 2^20).


Regards, Johan

WDS Problem!

We bought 6 Engenius EOC 3220 Outdoor Access Point and if we can work them in a way we want, we plan to buy 10 more. Our aim is to distribute Wireless Internet throughout the housing complex. We want to do it by using WDS specifications of devices we bought.

Locations and directions of the AP's are indicated on the following (attached) picture. Configurations infos of the AP's is as following. In that way, the devices worked very well without problems. But in the end of the 3th week, the devices disconnected suddenly although we didn't change anything on set-ups.

The existing situation is as following:

AP1 open, We opened AP5. When they are open, they can communicate each others.
But once one of AP2 or AP3 become active, AP1 and AP5 disconnect, also AP1 and AP2 or AP3 can not communicate each others, too.

We would like you to give us informations about detailed configuration and how the locations of the devices should be.

Thanks in advence

Best Regards,
Access Point Conf. informations:


Note: All AP’s Firmware Version v1.39
Just AP2 Firmware Versiyon 1.37


AP1 (Master):
IP Address: 10.3.1.1
Subnet Mask: 255.255.0.0
Gateway: 10.3.1.254
Channel: 2
SSID: ETAP TEST YAYINI
BAND: 2.4Mhz G Only
Advanced Settings:
Authentication Type: Open System
Fragment Threshold: 2346
RTS Threshold: 2347
Beacon Interval: 100
Data Rate: Auto
Output Power Level: High
Preamble Type: Long Preamble
Broadcast SSID: Enable
IAPP: Enable
802.11g Protection: Enable
User Isolation: Enable
WDS Settings: WDS Enable işaretli.
Added AP Mac Address: AP2, AP5
Set Securty: WPA2 AES
Pre-Shared Key: Same

AP2
IP Address: 10.3.1.2
Subnet Mask: 255.255.0.0
Gateway: 10.3.1.1
Channel: 2
SSID: ETAP TEST YAYINI
BAND: 2.4Mhz G Only
Advanced Settings:
Authentication Type: Open System
Fragment Threshold: 2346
RTS Threshold: 2347
Beacon Interval: 100
Data Rate: Auto
Output Power Level: High
Preamble Type: Long Preamble
Broadcast SSID: Enable
IAPP: Enable
802.11g Protection: Enable
User Isolation: Enable
WDS Settings: WDS Enable işaretli.
Added AP Mac Address: AP1, AP3
Set Securty: WPA2 AES
Pre-Shared Key: Same

AP3
IP Address: 10.3.1.3
Subnet Mask: 255.255.0.0
Gateway: 10.3.1.2
Channel: 2
SSID: ETAP TEST YAYINI
BAND: 2.4Mhz G Only
Advanced Settings:
Authentication Type: Open System
Fragment Threshold: 2346
RTS Threshold: 2347
Beacon Interval: 100
Data Rate: Auto
Output Power Level: High
Preamble Type: Long Preamble
Broadcast SSID: Enable
IAPP: Enable
802.11g Protection: Enable
User Isolation: Enable
WDS Settings: WDS Enable işaretli.
Added AP Mac Address: AP2
Set Securty: WPA2 AES
Pre-Shared Key: Same

AP4
IP Address: 10.3.1.4
Subnet Mask: 255.255.0.0
Gateway: 10.3.1.2
Channel: 2
SSID: ETAP TEST YAYINI
BAND: 2.4Mhz G Only
Advanced Settings:
Authentication Type: Open System
Fragment Threshold: 2346
RTS Threshold: 2347
Beacon Interval: 100
Data Rate: Auto
Output Power Level: High
Preamble Type: Long Preamble
Broadcast SSID: Enable
IAPP: Enable
802.11g Protection: Enable
User Isolation: Enable
WDS Settings: WDS Enable işaretli.
Added AP Mac Address: AP2
Set Securty: WPA2 AES
Pre-Shared Key: Same

AP5
IP Address: 10.3.1.5
Subnet Mask: 255.255.0.0
Gateway: 10.3.1.1
Channel: 2
SSID: ETAP TEST YAYINI
BAND: 2.4Mhz G Only
Advanced Settings:
Authentication Type: Open System
Fragment Threshold: 2346
RTS Threshold: 2347
Beacon Interval: 100
Data Rate: Auto
Output Power Level: High
Preamble Type: Long Preamble
Broadcast SSID: Enable
IAPP: Enable
802.11g Protection: Enable
User Isolation: Enable
WDS Settings: WDS Enable işaretli.
Added AP Mac Address: AP1, AP6
Set Securty: WPA2 AES
Pre-Shared Key: Same

AP6
IP Address: 10.3.1.6
Subnet Mask: 255.255.0.0
Gateway: 10.3.1.5
Channel: 2
SSID: ETAP TEST YAYINI
BAND: 2.4Mhz G Only
Advanced Settings:
Authentication Type: Open System
Fragment Threshold: 2346
RTS Threshold: 2347
Beacon Interval: 100
Data Rate: Auto
Output Power Level: High
Preamble Type: Long Preamble
Broadcast SSID: Enable
IAPP: Enable
802.11g Protection: Enable
User Isolation: Enable
WDS Settings: WDS Enable işaretli.
Added AP Mac Address: AP5
Set Securty: WPA2 AES
Pre-Shared Key: Same

Well, I gave up on mine and configured them as AP/bridge pairs back to back. Thanks for the all the replies!
I'll investigate the new firmware when I rerole these units later in the year.
Thanks
Morat

I have installed a unit with the latest firmware (1.39) and found plenty of networks to choose from and have selected and successfully connected to many of them... But then afterwards I cannot seem to access the internet via those networks.

Do I have to change my computer or the 3220 over to dhcp or something to get an address from the other network?

What in the world am i doing wrong? Thank for any help.

I am the unit on a sailboat in a harbor with the 3220 up at the top of the mast and running the PoE down the in the mast to my laptop in hopes of finding a network to connect to.. and now i find lots of networks but am at a loss...

This is a little off the original topic, but here's a quick reply with the steps you need to do...

1. Put your laptop in fixed IP mode and connect to the 3220 with your browser.

2. Use the Site Survey function on the Wireless page to find a likely access point. (you need to make sure the 3220 is set in bridge mode)

3. Connect to it and make sure you got connected.

4. Then go back to your laptop TCPIP configuration and set it back to 'automatically assign an IP address' and the original settings.

5. Wait about 30 seconds. If it worked, you should be able to bring up your browser and you're in. Suggest you set your browser home page to something simple (ie like google.com)... it either then comes up quickly or does not.

I have a step by step document (that I wrote for me to be able to remember the steps!)--would be happy to email it to you.

Am also on a sailboat... but I have managed to disable my 3220 by playing with settings (it won't talk to me any more). Here trying to figure out how to do a factory reset so I can set it back up again.

Fortunately I have a backup wifi... an EnGenius EUB-362. Not as powerful as the 3220 but MUCH simpler to scan for signals and get hooked up... requires no 110v power, just USB powered.

See my 'onboard' wifi page on my website:
S/V Soggy Paws - CSY44 - Dave McCampbell and Sherry Beckett

We should probably start a thread "using the 3220 as a powerful client"

Troubleshooting FAQ - EOC-3220 - EnGenius Datacom Products