Hierarchical Network Topology

Hierarchical network topology along with DHCP or NAT runs on single and multiple APs.

Gateway APs are directly connected to the service providers' router or switch to get the public IP addresses. The Non-Gateway APs (NGAP) gets the private IP addresses from the Gateway APs (GAP) through the DHCP or NAT service. Wired client such as printers and laptops are directly connected to the LAN port of the GAP or WAN ports of NGAP and are operational without the external DHCP or NAT. Basic Mesh topology is supported where GAP is the root AP and all other NGAPs are Mesh APs.

The Dynamic WAN Port Detection (DWPD) algorithm detects the WAN port among Ethernet0/Ethernet1/Ethernet2 of the APs, and marks only one port of the AP as WAN. LAN port selection is based on the availability of wired port with tunnel enabled. All other wired ports on the AP are marked as LAN.

Expected behavior of a three port APs are as follows:

  • Ethernet0: Connected to WAN

    Result after DWPD: Ethernet0=WAN, Ethernet1=LAN, Ethernet2=WAN

  • Ethernet1: Connected to WAN

    Result after DWPD: Ethernet0=LAN, Ethernet1=WAN, ETH2=WAN

  • Ethernet2: Connected to WAN

    Result after DWPD: Ethernet0=LAN, Ethernet1=WAN, Ethernet2=WAN

Using DWPD a user can plug-n-play without configuring WAN or LAN ports. Wired client connectivity for each AP is possible where all the APs in the zone run DHCP or NAT service. All Ethernet ports can be configured as LAN ports allowing wired clients to connect.

LAN port profile enables APs with multiple Ethernet ports to be configured as LAN ports and a separate switch is not required if the multi-port AP is a GAPs. All the required wired and NGAPs are connected directly to the number of available Ethernet ports.

While using DHCP NAT-HN (Network Address Translation) with DWPD, the AP ignores the Ethernet port configuration, which is pushed from the interface. The AP selects the WAN and LAN ports, dynamically and on detecting the WAN port successfully, it marks the other port as a LAN port. When it marks an Ethernet port as a LAN port, the DWPD chooses the untagged VLAN ID as one (1) by default.

Note: The LAN port configuration cannot be changed.

Wired client gets the IP address from DHCP Pool VLAN ID 1. To configure Ethernet port VLAN ID to 100 through the interface, manually select WAN port and apply the appropriate Ethernet port profile to Ethernet0 and Ethernet1 ports of the AP.

Note: If APs or clients connected to a LAN switch come before the DWPD process completes on the GAPs, the clients or NGAPs get the IP addresses from WAN VLANS (the default VLAN or non-default VLAN, which is part of WAN).

Parent topic: DHCP & NAT