by placing a second access point closer to second group of stations (“Poolside” in our example) and bridge the two APs with a WDS link. This extends your network wirelessly by providing an extra hop to get to distant stations.
Client station | Client station |
WDS bridge
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Client station |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Client station | |||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| “East wing” AP | |||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
“Poolside” AP
Wired (Ethernet) connection
LAN
Backup links and unwanted loops in WDS bridges
Another use for WDS bridging, the creation of backup links, is not supported in this release of the Gateway 7001 Series
If an access point provides Spanning Tree Protocol (STP), WDS can be used to configure backup paths between access points across the network. For example, between two access points you could have both a primary path through Ethernet and a secondary (backup) wireless path through a WDS link. If the Ethernet connection goes down, STP would reconfigure its map of the network and effectively fix the down network segment by activating the backup wireless path.
The Gateway 7001 Series
Therefore, be sure not create loops with either WDS bridges or combinations of Wired (Ethernet) connections and WDS bridges.
For more information, see the “Do not create loops” note under “Configuring WDS settings” on page 117.
114 | www.gateway.com |