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WDS Bridge
Cisco Small Business WAP121 and WAP321 Wireless-N Access Point with PoE 90
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WDS Bridge
The Wireless Distribution System (WDS) allows you to connect multiple WAP121
and WAP321 devices. With WDS, access points communicate with one another
without wires. This capability is critical in providing a seamless experience for
roaming clients and for managing multiple wireless networks. It can also simplify
the network infrastructure by reducing the amount of cabling required. You can
configure the WAP device in point-to-point or point-to-multipoint bridge mode
based on the number of links to connect.
In the point-to-point mode, the WAP device accepts client associations and
communicates with wireless clients and other repeaters. The WAP device
forwards all traffic meant for the other network over the tunnel that is established
between the access points. The bridge does not add to the hop count. It functions
as a simple OSI Layer 2 network device.
In the point-to-multipoint bridge mode, one WAP device acts as the common link
between multiple access points. In this mode, the central WAP device accepts
client associations and communicates with the clients and other repeaters. All
other access points associate only with the central WAP device that forwards the
packets to the appropriate wireless bridge for routing purposes.
The WAP device can also act as a repeater. In this mode, the WAP device serves
as a connection between two WAP devices that might be too far apart to be within
cell range. When acting as a repeater, the WAP device does not have a wired
connection to the LAN and repeats signals by using the wireless connection. No
special configuration is required for the WAP device to function as a repeater, and
there are no repeater mode settings. Wireless clients can still connect to an WAP
device that is operating as a repeater.
Before you configure WDS on the WAP device, note these guidelines:
• WDS only works with Cisco WAP121 and Cisco WAP321 devices.
• All Cisco WAP devices participating in a WDS link must have the following
identical settings:
User-Password (2) A fixed global password used to
look up a client MAC entry.
NOPASSWORD
RADIUS Server
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