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Roles and the Associations of Wireless Devices
This document describes the
roles
Cisco wireless devices can be assigned and how the role of a device
affects its ability to associate or not associate with other wireless devices.
Understanding Wireless Device Network Roles
This section describes the roles a Cisco wireless network device can serve in common wireless network
configurations.
When designing or operating a wireless LAN, the hardware components capacity to form an association
with other elements of the network must be considered. In
Table 1
, if the two components can form an
association, there is an
X
where the selected column and row intersect. A blank space indicates an
inability to associate.
To change the role of a wireless Cisco device, use the
station-role
command. For example, the following
command sets the wireless device in access point mode (the default mode of most Cisco wireless
devices):
wd(config-in)#
station-role root access-point
Table 1
Role and Association Matrix
Root Access Point
Root Bridge (without
Wireless Clients)
Non-root Bridge
Non-root Bridge with
Wireless Clients
Workgroup Bridge
Root Access Point
X
Root Bridge
X
X
X
Non-root Bridge
without Wireless
Clients
X
X
Non-root Bridge with
Wireless Clients
X
X
Workgroup Bridge
X
X
Universal Workgroup
Bridge
X
X
