Cisco Outdoor Mesh Access Points
See the Cisco Aironet 1520 Series Lightweight Outdoor Access Point Ordering Guide for power, mounting,
Note
antenna, and regulatory support by model:
ps8368/product_data_sheet0900aecd8066a157.html
The 1520 and 1550 series access points, can operate, apart from the mesh mode, in the following modes:
• Local mode—In this mode, the AP can handle clients on its assigned channel or while monitoring all
channels on the band over a 180-second period. During this time, the AP listens on each channel for 50
milliseconds for rogue client beacons, noise floor measurements, interference, and IDS events. The AP
also scans for CleanAir interference on the channel.
• FlexConnect mode—FlexConnect is a wireless solution for branch office and remote office deployments.
The FlexConnect mode enables you to configure and control access points in a branch or remote office
from the corporate office through a WAN link without having to deploy a controller in each office. The
FlexConnect mode can switch client data traffic locally and perform client authentication locally when
the connection to the controller is lost. When connected to the controller, the FlexConnect mode can
also tunnel traffic back to the controller.
• Monitor mode—In this mode, the AP radios are in the receive state. The AP scans all the channels every
12 seconds for rogue client beacons, noise floor measurements, interference, IDS events, and CleanAir
intruders.
• Rogue Detector mode—In this mode, the AP radio is turned off, and the AP listens only to the wired
traffic. The controller passes the APs that are configured as rogue detectors as well as lists of suspected
rogue clients and AP MAC addresses. The rogue detector listens for ARP packets and can be connected
to all broadcast domains through a trunk link.
• Sniffer mode—In this mode, the AP captures and forwards all packets on a channel to a remote device
that decodes the packets with packet analyzer software such as Wireshark.
You can configure these modes using both the GUI and CLI. For configuration instructions, see the Cisco
Note
Wireless LAN Controller Configuration Guide.
MAPs can only be configured in Bridge mode regardless of their wired or wireless backhaul. If the MAPs
Note
have a wired backhaul, you must change their AP role to RAP before you change the AP Mode.
Cisco Aironet 1552 Mesh Access Point
The Cisco Aironet 1550 Series Outdoor Mesh Access Point is a modularized wireless outdoor 802.11n access
point designed for use in a mesh network. The access point supports point-to-multipoint mesh wireless
connectivity and wireless client access simultaneously. The access point can also operate as a relay node for
other access points that are not directly connected to a wired network. Intelligent wireless routing is provided
by the Adaptive Wireless Path Protocol (AWPP). This enables the access point to identify its neighbors and
intelligently choose the optimal path to the wired network by calculating the cost of each path in terms of
signal strength and the number of hops required to get to a controller.
Cisco Mesh Access Points, Design and Deployment Guide, Release 7.3
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http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/wireless/ps5679/
Mesh Network Components
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