AT-TQ2450 Wireless Access Point User’s Guide
95
Planning the Cluster
When you create a new cluster, it is important to consider the order in
which you enable the feature on the access points. This is particularly true
if you have already configured the settings of one of the units. If you want
the other units to adopt the configuration of the pre-configured unit when
they initially form the cluster, you have to activate the cluster feature on the
pre-configured unit first because the initial configuration of a new cluster is
always set by the access point on which the feature is activated first. When
the other units join the cluster, they adopt the configuration of the units on
which the feature is already enabled.
Here is an example. Assume that you intend to create a cluster of three
access points and you have not configured any of the units. In this case,
you can activate clustering on the units in any order. The access points
adopt the settings of the first unit on which you activate the cluster feature.
Now assume that you already configured the parameters of one of the
units (A) and you want the other two units (B and C) to have the same
configuration as unit A when they join the cluster. In this situation, it is
important that you start the cluster feature on unit A first, before units B
and C. That way, when units B and C join the cluster, they adopt the
settings of unit A. If, instead, you activate clustering on unit B or C first, unit
A would lose its configuration settings when it joins the cluster and adopts
the settings of unit B or C.
After the access points join the cluster, all their shared parameter settings
are the same. So if you need to power off or reboot the units, the order in
which you do it is not important because they all have the same settings.
Another important rule to remember is that you should never add a new
access point to an existing cluster when the other units are turned off.
Otherwise, when you power them on, they discard their current settings
and adopt the settings from the new unit, which may not have the correct
configuration for the units of the cluster.