CAPsMAN and AP frequencies

andvary · Thu Jul 02, 2015 10:50 am

Hello everyone!

I'm currently testing Mikrotik CAPsMAN. Test topology is in attachment. 1100 is a CAPsMAN two 951 are CAPs.
Configuration I've made is a bare minimum for CAPsMAN to work (Configuration name, country, SSID and wpa2-psk security), all the rest is left with default values. RouterOS version is 6.18

For test purposes all devices are located close to each other (about 2 meters).

When I provision the CAPs, both of them choose channel 1 (Frequency 2412), though the manual http://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Manual:CA ... n_Profiles states that "CAPsMAN will automatically determine the best frequency that is least occupied." and here http://forum.mikrotik.com/viewtopic.php?t=83330#p456499 Mikrotik employee states that "If all your HomeAPs are near to each other and are added in the CAPsMAN then they will try to use different frequency.", but none of that actually works for me.

Question1: is there really a feature, that allows APs to choose least occupied an non-overlapping frequencies and how do I activate it?

Question2: Is it possible to assign different channels to CAPs provisioned with the same configuration manually?

Question 3: is roaming currently implemented and how do I activate it for CAPsMAN-CAPs topology?

Thanks

andvary · Thu Jul 02, 2015 7:12 pm

Ok, after some more testing I'm ready to answer some of my own questions=)

1. If CAPsMAN's channel and frequency settings are left blank, CAPs will indeed try to choose least occupied channels (just don't be deceived by the greyed out interface statistics on CAPs as I was). But the logic of choosing seems really strange to me: at my test site there were a few more visible SSIDs (from neighboring buildings) with signal strength two or three times lower than my test AP's. Any way, CAP's chose overlapping channels (6 and

which seemed to be least occupied to them.

2. Roaming seems to be implemented by default. When I placed my test CAPs far from each other and walked between them with my phone connected to test wireless network, session was eventually handed from one CAP to another. At this moment ping response time increased for a moment but no pings were lost.

3. I still cannot find a way to assign channels to CAPs manually. Maybe someone can give me a hing?

cmanciu · Sun Jul 05, 2015 6:24 pm

anyone, i would like to know also...i like the fact its auto....but i have one that goes to 5220..... i believe it was

andvary · Mon Jul 20, 2015 7:34 am

And here I am once again answering my own questions=)

I did another try after updating my RouterOS to 6.31

It is possible to assign channels manually. Just go to "channels" tab and create non-overlapping channels (1 - 2412, 6 - 2437, 11 - 2462 in my case) and assign them to wireless interfaces that represent APs on your CAPsMAN.

Remember, that some kind of default configuration (the one you create at "configuration" tab of CAPsMAN settings) will be applied to one of your CAPs, so if you've left "channel" field blank one of your CAPs with default configuration will stay in channel 1 (2412).

markdutton · Tue Jul 21, 2015 4:57 am

I would like to add to this. I have found the following (using Capsman 2).

If you set your frequency to auto on the CAP, BEFORE you enable capsman control, it will be auto frequency if Capsman does not specify a channel. However, the auto channel system does not honour the implicit 3 usable channels list of 2.4Ghz, so it uses odd channels that interfere with other systems.

Capsman needs to control more of the radio features. Currently it is a very small subset. A global channel list needs to be able to be defined for Capsman and the channel selection should be able to use this list for radios to be on auto mode, but only from the allowed list as defined in Capsman.

Further, like other managed internal wirless systems, the radios should have a reallocation period, where they can readjust their channels (and power levels) to create a self levelling wireless network.

It looks like Capsman is currently geared towards point to point style networks. I guess it is early days, but I would like to see Capsman handle intra site networks where there is a plethora of CAPS inside an office, or school, etc and the system will constantly tune.

jpeyro1 · Wed Sep 30, 2015 11:51 am

It is possible to assign channels manually. Just go to "channels" tab and create non-overlapping channels (1 - 2412, 6 - 2437, 11 - 2462 in my case) and assign them to wireless interfaces that represent APs on your CAPsMAN.

Hello everyone,
First of all, sorry for my English.

Let's see if someone can help me,
In my installation, I have 15 access points (Caps) and 1 control unit (CapsMan), all with version 6.31, "wireless-cm2" enabled

Need, each Cap, have a different frequency, channel 1 or channel 6 or channel 11, but not all the same,
And automatically, find a different frequency (1-6-11), so that they themselves do not cause interference.

Is this possible?

I created in the Channels section, an item for each channel, 1-2427, 6-2437 and 11-2462, but when I try to add it to each Cap, I can not, since it only allows me to add in the configurations section, in paragraph channels, there can, but only one frequency, and do not want all access points with the same.

Right now, this is configured automatically, this means that each Cap, find an unused frequency, but this does not work correctly, because I find that all access points are channels as "1 + 5" (by the way, do not know the meaning of this), usually as I analyze the frequency with a program like inSSIDer, I see, channel 1, channel 2, etc .., but this 1 + 5, I've only seen this with my access points, is this normal?

I hope someone can help me with this, because I need my access points are in non-overlapping channels, as (1-6 and 11).

Thank you.

mem89756 · Wed Sep 30, 2015 7:07 pm

Ok, after some more testing I'm ready to answer some of my own questions=)

1. If CAPsMAN's channel and frequency settings are left blank, CAPs will indeed try to choose least occupied channels (just don't be deceived by the greyed out interface statistics on CAPs as I was). But the logic of choosing seems really strange to me: at my test site there were a few more visible SSIDs (from neighboring buildings) with signal strength two or three times lower than my test AP's. Any way, CAP's chose overlapping channels (6 and which seemed to be least occupied to them.

2. Roaming seems to be implemented by default. When I placed my test CAPs far from each other and walked between them with my phone connected to test wireless network, session was eventually handed from one CAP to another. At this moment ping response time increased for a moment but no pings were lost.

3. I still cannot find a way to assign channels to CAPs manually. Maybe someone can give me a hing?

Responding to item 3.
We will start by creating a basic CAPs channel profile:
Note (MarkM) – Use wireless sniffer to determine lowest channel usage and define said channel(s) accordingly.
Profile Name: channel1
Band: 2ghz-b/g/n
Frequency / Channel: 2412MHz (Channel 1)
Channel Width: 20MHz
[admin@CAPsMAN] /caps-man channel add band=2ghz-b/g/n frequency=2412 width=20 name=channel1

jpeyro1 · Sat Oct 03, 2015 11:00 am

Hi mem89756 , thanks for your help, but that's what I did.
The problem is I don't want to use the same frequency for all access points (Caps),
then, as I do, to put manually a frequency to each access point?
Better......, as I do, to set up, automatically, all the access points,with non-overlapping channels 1-6 and 11, and they themselves, do not fight with interference?

I hope someone can help me with this,
otherwise I will have to leave CapsMan aside and return to the traditional settings.

sputniki · Fri Oct 30, 2015 10:18 am

Need, each Cap, have a different frequency, channel 1 or channel 6 or channel 11, but not all the same,
And automatically, find a different frequency (1-6-11), so that they themselves do not cause interference.

Is this possible?

I created in the Channels section, an item for each channel, 1-2427, 6-2437 and 11-2462, but when I try to add it to each Cap, I can not, since it only allows me to add in the configurations section, in paragraph channels, there can, but only one frequency, and do not want all access points with the same.

I hope someone can help me with this, because I need my access points are in non-overlapping channels, as (1-6 and 11).

It ist possible to set CAPs to different channels!

First step (like you did):
create the non-interferring channels (depending on your country and channel plan)

/caps channel add name=channel_1 frequency=2412 width=20

(20MHz width for high density areas)

Second step:
Set your caps to different channels (non-overlapping channels for APs that are near)

/caps interface set 1 channel=channel_1
/caps interface set 2 channel=channel_9
/caps interface set 3 channel=channel_6

jpeyro · Tue Mar 15, 2016 11:28 am

Need, each Cap, have a different frequency, channel 1 or channel 6 or channel 11, but not all the same,
And automatically, find a different frequency (1-6-11), so that they themselves do not cause interference.

Is this possible?

I created in the Channels section, an item for each channel, 1-2427, 6-2437 and 11-2462, but when I try to add it to each Cap, I can not, since it only allows me to add in the configurations section, in paragraph channels, there can, but only one frequency, and do not want all access points with the same.

I hope someone can help me with this, because I need my access points are in non-overlapping channels, as (1-6 and 11).

It ist possible to set CAPs to different channels!

First step (like you did):
create the non-interferring channels (depending on your country and channel plan)
Code: Select all
/caps channel add name=channel_1 frequency=2412 width=20
(20MHz width for high density areas)

Second step:
Set your caps to different channels (non-overlapping channels for APs that are near)
Code: Select all
/caps interface set 1 channel=channel_1
/caps interface set 2 channel=channel_9
/caps interface set 3 channel=channel_6

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi sputnik, thank you very much for your reply, newly revisit this issue, since the installation has been out of season so far.
Unfortunately, what you mention is not possible in my confituracion, because, try:

Code: Select all
/ Caps set interface 1 channel = CHANNEL_1
/ Caps set interface 2 channel = channel_9
/ Caps set interface 3 channel = channel_6

and the answer is,

failure: can not change dynamic interface

in fact, winbox, CAPsMAN, Interfaces (Interface 1) or (Interface 2), etc ..., Channel, there is no option to change the channel.
Can you think of any other solution?
Thank you.

Tue Mar 15, 2016 1:27 pm

change the provision rule to create static interfaces and not dynamic interfaces and then you will be able to change the channel.

jpeyro · Wed Mar 16, 2016 10:42 am

change the provision rule to create static interfaces and not dynamic interfaces and then you will be able to change the channel.

Hi uldis,

Thank you very much 've finally found a way to do it with dynamic interfaces.

I created a configuration for each channel, a povisioning for each channel and filter by Identity each cap and finally , we assign a Master settings to each group.

That's the way I 've got, maybe , this can be useful for someone .

Thanks everyone for your help.

sjmudd · Sat May 02, 2020 9:43 pm

While I'm following up quite a bit after the original post I have seen several people posting asking how to do this and
what I would like to see (as I have the same problem) is to see the configuration.

Basically showing the configuration from the ssh command line adjusted to not show any site-confidential information.

If someone could do that it would be really helpful as I know this is possible but I want to configure my caps from the command line and I see no examples of how to set caps to use different frequencies but share most of the same other configuration settings from the command line. Basically I'm looking for an exact example configuration of how to do this. So any sample configuration would be most appreciated.

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