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Cooper Bussmann 245U-E Wireless Ethernet Modem & Device Server User Manual
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Rev Version 2.19
During the background scan, a client will scan all of the channels in the scan list to identify better access points. If
no channels are configured it will scan all channels.
Figure 50 Scan List
The configuration in Figure 50 shows that the client will start scanning when the RSSI of its current connection to
the access point falls below -90 dBm. When this happens it will scan the list of access points configured in the
roaming scan list (in this case, channels 1, 4 and 6), and if any of the RSSI levels are greater than -84 dBm it will
change to this access point.
3.17 Repeaters (WDS)
The range of a wireless network can be extended by allowing access points to behave as repeaters and forward
traffic to other access points. Access point to access point communications is also known as wireless distribution
system (WDS). The 245U-E offers very powerful WDS configuration, allowing for a mesh network with self-healing
functionality. Alternatively, fixed access point to access point links can be configured for optimized throughput.
Figure 51 WDS Repeaters
Each WDS interface can be either a bridge or router interface (see “1.0 Network Topology” for more information on
bridge versus router). If you need a simple repeater network, use a bridge interface.
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 difficult to configure as routed networks because WDS bridge interfaces generally do not require