[superdust]

Hello.

I have set up a WDS linked network with 5 WRT54GL routers.
Running G-only, WPA, and hidden SSID.
Watchdog is set to ping the WDS host, and on the host to ping on of the clients.

I`ve been using channel 2, witch i know I must change to 1.

Sending at 80mw with directional antennas on clients, and omni on host.
The other antenna disabled.

Signal strenght is good.

There is no other network on the same channal.

What happends is that over time one or more clients loose contact with host, and both have to be reset to gain connection.

But is it possible to get this cind of WDS setup stable?.
Any tips?.

[airforceruss]

I had the same issued and it came down to the Encryption. WPA causes issues. I'm using 128 Bit WEP right now with 0 problems.

http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3047&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=wds+wpa&start=15

According to that thread, you may try using WPA2-PSK-MIDXED. Apparently WDS doesn't support WPA2 but reverts to WPA and somehow works when WPA with a PSK doesn't work. I dunno. I'm not an expert, just following this issue, as I'm wanting to get more secure than WEP. I'll be trying this configuration out tomorrow, so we'll see how it goes.

[superdust]

So you would reccomend for stability use wep.

Any other settings one should change?
I use the wds watch dog, any good, or just worse?.

[airforceruss]

Without a doubt I would recommed WEP for stability. I've done at LOT of testing, and as of right now, WEP is the only type of encrryption that I've been successful with. All other types (mainly WPA) up to this point simply cause the routers to drop their connections after a little while. Even if I have G-Only and have them on Channels 1,6 or 11, with WPA it ALWAYS has had problems. Like I said, I'm going to test WPA2-PSK-MIDXED and see if I can't get the same results as using WEP.

As far as other settings are concerned. I've made the following tweaks:

Wireless > Advanced Settings
Beacon Interval: 75
Fragmentation Threshold: 1024
RTS Threshold: 500

Wireless > MAC Filter
I have this enabled since I'm using WEP. I know that if someone can crack WEP, they can also spoof the MAC address, but if you have a novice, this could be one more barrier to prevent gaining access.

Administration > Management
Maximum Ports: 4096
TCP Timeout: 300
UDP Timeout: 300
*This allows for P2P Networks, BitTorrent and AIM to all function great. AIM doesn't dropout and BitTorrent or P2P prgrams don't crash the router.

Administration > Commands

[superdust]

Thank you airforceruss.

I also use hidden SSID, do you think it could cause problems?.
And what about the watchdog?.

Anybody alse running WDS on these routers, thst is stable over time (long time)?.

[GunTolo]

I have use v23 SP1 standar to link 5 GL each other with WDS, and all of them work, but i'm not use watchdog, all of them work normally, until now the uptime is 27 days and they are no problem. Maybe sometimes i have try the sp2 firmware

[airforceruss]

I use a hidden SSID as well for my network. I had to make the SSID visible for my PC buddies. Some of the software that was on their computers (Especially the Linksys Wifi Finding Software for the WiFi cards) wouldn't pick up the hidden SSID's.

That's the only piece of knowledge I have on that.

[superdust]

Hmm.

I see you use sp1, might be bugs in sp2?.

What about G-only, should it make a difference?.

[GunTolo]

[superdust]

What about ACK Timing.
Does it matter?.

[airforceruss]

I have mine set to 0 to disable it. I had more errors trying to get it to work opposed to just turning it off.

[GunTolo]

No problem

[freonchill]

what kind of signal strength is everyone getting on their WDS setups?

if we could perhaps get a list of everyones setup with distances, we might be able to isolate problems with distances, power lines, cable lines, other residential and urban issues that would cause problems w/ WDS setups and signals

the reason i ask is that i have had a WDS setup that break from time to time, its -59 to -69 signal. what i find odd is that right before the WDS setup goes down is that it continually gets closer to -69 till it dies and the last thing i see before it goes to 0 signal is that the rate goes to 36mbps.

know i have read countless topics here showing that WPA breaks WDS
recently i have seen articles showing that repeater mode (in v24 beta) allows for the problems with WDS with WPA to work fine, but its still in beta and causes slowdowns per link.

i have 2 buffalo WHR-G54S doing WDS w/ WPA
the host aka 00: v23 SP1 Final (05/16/06) std (192.168.1.1) wan = cable modem, dhcp .100-150, wifi channel 1, 3 wifi-G clients
the client aka 01: v23 SP1 Final (05/16/06) std (192.168.1.2) wan disabled, dhcp .151-200; wifi channel 1, 1 netgear B router behind it for 2 wifi-B clients; 2 lan clients, 1 wifi-G client

"00" is in the window on the first floor of a house
"01" is in the window on the second floor of a house across the street
distance between the two houses is 100-110ft, line of sight (other than cars)
no shrubs, no trees, power lines / cable lines are above (but i dont know about their own signal waves outside of the physical cabling)

using Xmit = 28 (default) i get about -65 to -69
using Xmit = 100, i get about -55 to -69
when i restart the client router (after it fubars) it starts around -58 and about 1-3 hours later its up to -63 and eventually loses signal and connectivity.

when i have my wifi-G client loses connection to "01" drops after a time period (1hr to 10hrs) and client machine wifi software says "Key Absent"
sometimes "01" WDS connection has died and othertimes its still working and connecting via LAN gets wifi-G client back online via LAN rather than wifi-G.

other times "01" has dropped the WDS link completely i have to use the admin/reboot router option to get it reconnected and be online again regardless of wifi or LAN.

now i know i have read that WPA fubars stuff and i should use WEP but i am wondering if any of this information or further logs showing whats going on with a WDS link failing over time with WPA rather than WEP

thanks for the input and ideas

[omansur]

I have 4 buffalo routers. One set to gateway no DHCP with WEP128, everything else is default. 3 other routers, static ips, no DHCP, WEP128, OSPF Routing...

Dropping connctions and usually finally completely drops on all clients... Gateway can always connect via Wan Port.

I've tried EVERYTHING... Still not working.

[kln]

There seems to quite a few people on the forum having similar problems, so I suspect the dd-wrt firmware just isn't stable enough to run WDS or client mode.

I have a WRT54GL v1.1 running in client mode. As long as there is traffic through it, everything works fine, but without traffic the connection drops after about 15 minutes. The only way to make it reconnect is to reboot. I've tried just about everything, but still no luck

ketil