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Cooper Bussmann 945U-E Wireless Ethernet Modem & Device Server User Manual
51
Rev Version 2.14
Figure 45 WDS Repeaters
A WDS bridge interface allows traffic to be bridged to another access point on the same IP network. WDS bridge
interfaces do not require additional IP address configuration because they are bridged with the standard wireless
interface that is used for connections to associated clients. All of the WDS interfaces on the one access point may
be bridged, if required.
WDS bridge interfaces have the advantage that redundant paths are permitted when using the bridge Spanning
Tree Protocol (see “3.5 Spanning Tree Algorithm”), thus behaving as a self-healing mesh network. Bridged networks
are also not as configuration intensive as routed networks because WDS bridge interfaces generally do not require
IP address configuration (they inherit the IP address of the standard wireless interface).
A WDS router interface allows traffic to be routed to an access point on a different network, and therefore requires
configuration of an IP address to reflect the network address of the destination network. WDS router interfaces
cannot provide the redundancy of bridge interfaces, but can be used to reduce radio bandwidth requirements
because the router can determine the destination based on IP address, whereas the bridge must go through a
learning phase where all broadcast traffic must be retransmitted on each interface. Routed networks may also be
used in some cases to avoid the overhead introduced by the bridge Spanning Tree Protocol when network loops
exist.
Important Notes
• All access points must be configured on the same fixed radio channel. Auto Channel Selection must not be
selected (see the Radio Configuration page for details on configuring the channel.)
• Specify SSID for AP/STA modes or MAC address for Point-to-Point mode.
• Router IP and Subnet fields should be left blank unless that WDS interface is to be on a different subnet.
Leaving these fields blank will mean that the WDS interface will be bridged with the default wireless interface.
• Encryption is not inherited from the main page.
• Each WDS interface can also be configured with a different encryption algorithm. However, each side of a
single WDS link must specify the same encryption algorithm and keys.
• When adding WDS router interfaces, you may need to add a routing rule on the Routing configuration page.
• When VLANs are enabled, router IP and subnet are ignored and the WDS interface is bridged depending on
membership to a VLAN group.
• Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) column only applies when two or more interfaces are bridged.
• A maximum of 10 WDS connections can be configured. A combined maximum of five virtual access points and
five virtual client/STA applies.
• WPA-Enterprise configuration is shared with the base access point (Authenticator) or station (Supplicant).
