Wireless networking.

[goldleafboy]

Dear Community,

I need to setup a wireless network, that can support 80+ devices. I want to extend the network to 9000 Sq Ft area, 20 different rooms in one block. It's a camp.
I only wanna connect to mobile devices and tablets, so it's not a heavy usage, so my concern is to extend the range.

I'd like in a router that can add more than 80 mac addresses in MAC filtering option. Another questions is, can I place Access points outdoor in high temperature.

Any suggestion is greatly appreciated.

 

[abailey]

Can all the access points be wired back to a switch?

 

[goldleafboy]

Yes, I can wire them back to an Ethernet Switch but I might have to put 100ft long wire for that.

Questions:

1. Can I place AP's outdoor, in the sun?

1. Does it slower the speed of100ft long wired AP?

2. How can I Mac filter 80+ users connected to AP's through Switch.

 

[abailey]

Questions:

1. Can I place AP's outdoor, in the sun?
Yes you can. Most can handle up to 150degrees F. I would recommend an outdoor AP like this one:http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FBFXAW4/?tag=snbforums-20

1. Does it slower the speed of100ft long wired AP?
No, as long as the Ethernet cord is less than 328feet from switch to AP it will work without any speed difference (Cat5e or better)

2. How can I Mac filter 80+ users connected to AP's through Switch

What do you mean by MAC filter. What are you trying to accomplish?

I would recommend pro level AP's for your install, both indoor and outdoor. There are several good ones but I like Ubiquiti AP's as they are very good for the money. Depending on how many you purchase and how close together they are, you will probably need to do some channel management so that you do not overlap your channels.

 

[goldleafboy]

I wanna configure a list of clients that will be allowed to join the network by adding the MAC addresses to the MAC FILTERING.
I was wondering if I could do that by adding an additional router to the switch. Although I don't have any experience with that.

 

[azazel1024]

I wanna configure a list of clients that will be allowed to join the network by adding the MAC addresses to the MAC FILTERING.
I was wondering if I could do that by adding an additional router to the switch. Although I don't have any experience with that.

If the goal is security, MAC filtering is a horrible way to do that. Since just about any wifi adapter allows MAC cloning and packet sniffing even secure packets is easy, and the MAC is plain text, it provides no security accept against the most basic users or ones who have no determination.

If you want only some devices on the network, only give the people you want access to have the password. If you want stronger security, setup a RADIUS server, issue credentials to your users and use WPA2 enterprise.

MAC filtering is only a vaguely resonable security mechanism for a wired network where you can't read MAC address information for authorized devices without physically accessing other wired devices already on the network and possibly having login information for them. You can't just plug in and monitor the traffic to pull MACs.

 

[stevech]

Sounds like OP's knowledge level is such that a professional or pro bono person's help is needed, with 80 clients and 9000 sq. ft. This isn't simple.

 

[fistv]

At first pass, counting the 'home' building, wireless or wired router with 4 ports, Four 8 port POE switches, generally only 4 of the 8 ports are PoE enabled, 8-10 professional grade Access points, one POE switch in each building will power up to 4 PoE access points. I don't know about the other brands but a Cisco 1600E SAP will handle right around 50 per AP. A lot will depend on your cabling layout. Building construction will determine how far outside the AP's inside will reach or how far the outside AP's will reach inside the building. In my opinion a home grade router is not going to cut it, most have fits trying to maintain a DHCP table over about 40 assigned ip addresses. I'd tend to look at a real router like a cisco 891 for just wired and an 891W for wired and wireless. Server supply has 891's both used and new for good prices with a warranty.
If it's all concrete block it's going to be somewhat difficult.

 

[goldleafboy]

Thanks for your replies.

Well, I only need like 5 AP's (3 indoor and 2 ourdoor) to cover the entire area. I was thinking to buy 3 Ubiquiti Unifi and 2 TL-WA7210N, that I'll switch it to Linksys Switch SE2800.

If you want only some devices on the network, only give the people you want access to have the password. If you want stronger security, setup a RADIUS server, issue credentials to your users and use WPA2 enterprise.

Thanks - I don't think I'm able to setup a radius server. It seems very hard to set it up.
BTW I only got basic users not any kind of hackers, but they use some softwares to find the key once I input. Is there any way to prevent the keyview apart from a Radius server.
Can anyone help me please?

 

[fistv]

http://cybercoyote.org/classes/wifi/wpa2.shtml