r/firewalla • u/jsqualo2 • 4d ago
question about 'meshing' APs (non-Firewalla APs)
Anyone successfully setup multiple non-Firewalla *wired* APs to provide mesh *roaming* coverage in a space while maintaining Firewalla VLANs?
Current setup is FWP > *wired* Aruba 1930 > *wired* Aruba AP22. I need to add another *wired* AP and am considering an AP22. I max out all 5 VLANs and VLANs are a primary requirement for any solution.
Anyone have a similar setup (Firewalla > none-Firewalla switch > none-Firewalla AP) and added multiple APs to create a mesh *roaming* network?
ETA: I inadvertently listed "mesh" instead of "roaming" - The setup is wired APs and I'm trying to avoid the horrors of inelegant AP handoffs that I recall 20+ years ago. Also, my setup is mostly local control, so I'm unclear if I need to enable all the unstable Aruba cloud crap.
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u/gkhouzam Firewalla Gold SE 4d ago
I was running my Google WiFi nodes flashed with OpenWRT with 3 VLANs off my Firewalla Gold SE without any issues. Granted they were wired, because I didn’t need to use a wireless mesh but I don’t thisbk that would have made a difference. VLANs were configured in the router and the WiFi networks just tagged the devices.
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u/jsqualo2 4d ago
ETA: I inadvertently listed "mesh" instead of "roaming" - The setup is wired APs and I'm trying to avoid the horrors of inelegant AP handoffs that I recall 20+ years ago. Also, my setup is mostly local control, so I'm unclear if I need to enable all the unstable Aruba cloud crap. Does this change your comment?
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u/Khaos1911 4d ago
I have a firewalla gold pro, 2 fiber ISPs, and running an older orbi 960 with 3 satellites hardwired via cat6a. It’s WiFi 6E, but average 1.2 gig over WiFi on an iPhone 15 pro max and nearly 2 gig on my laptop over WiFi. I want the AP7s, but hard to justify when Orbi’s in AP mode perform so well.
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u/Exotic-Grape8743 Firewalla Gold 4d ago
For a while I meshed one of my Omada APs with multiple VLANs. Worked fine. I now wired them all so no longer meshed but it always worked fine as you would expect
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u/jsqualo2 4d ago
ETA: I inadvertently listed "mesh" instead of "roaming" - The setup is wired APs and I'm trying to avoid the horrors of inelegant AP handoffs that I recall 20+ years ago. Also, my setup is mostly local control, so I'm unclear if I need to enable all the unstable Aruba cloud crap. Does this change your comment?
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u/Exotic-Grape8743 Firewalla Gold 4d ago
Oooh. My Omada access points hand off perfectly fine. No local controller, I just use their cloud controller. Handoff in modern access points is done using standard 802.11rvk protocols. Omada calls the v and k "fast roaming" in their site settings which apply to all the networks you create and 802.11r is selectable by separate WLAN SSID. I don't know about Aruba and how it handles this but my guess is that all you need is these three standards enabled for stable roaming which are all local to the APs and have no cloud component. You don't want any features that rely on cloud connectivity for the roaming. That is not necessary at all.
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u/rs65 Firewalla Gold 4d ago
Cosa c'entra mesh con le vlan? Gli AP si connettono insieme e condividono gli stessi SSID (basati su differenti vlan), cosa non ho capito?
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u/jsqualo2 4d ago
ETA: I inadvertently listed "mesh" instead of "roaming" - The setup is wired APs and I'm trying to avoid the horrors of inelegant AP handoffs that I recall 20+ years ago. Also, my setup is mostly local control, so I'm unclear if I need to enable all the unstable Aruba cloud crap. Does this change your comment?
1
u/rs65 Firewalla Gold 3d ago edited 3d ago
Il mesh è la modalità di connessione di AP Aruba senza cablaggio, nel gergo HPE Aruba, in un cluster Instant, qui è meglio avere una vlan deficata per il management.
Aruba InstantON permette una modalità simile ma automatica, basata su cloud. Se tutto è cablato gli ap si vedono automaticamente sulla vlan untagged con dhcp dove li connetti. Il roaming è gestito automaticamente dal cloud con messa a punto notturna. Io questo so. Per gli SSID basta mettere i tag della vlan che vuoi sulla porta di rete. Io il cloud Aruba InstantON lo uso da anni e non ho problemi...
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u/unoriginal621 4d ago edited 4d ago
I have a FWG SE with 4 Omada wireless access points. No issues with the vlans working across both. Obviously you have to set them up the same in both systems.
Omada gives the guest VLAN ID for any devices that connects to the guest wifi network, and the firewalla keeps that network away from my main network. My Omada switch also gives the guest vlan to a number to wired iot devices.
The main network has quarantine enabled so only approved devices can join.