Chapter 8
Controlling Mesh Access Points
Mesh Neighbors, Parents, and Children
Relationships among access points with the mesh network are labelled as parent, child or neighbor (see
Figure
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Figure 8-6
Rooftop:d6:80
Wireless Mesh Constraints
When designing and building a wireless mesh network here are a few system characteristics to consider.
Some of these apply to the backhaul network design and others to the CAPWAP controller design:
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OL-17037-01
8-6).
A parent access point offers the best route back to the RAP based on its ease values. A parent can
be either the RAP itself or another MAP.
Ease is calculated using the SNR and link hop value of each neighbor. Given multiple choices,
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generally an access point with a higher ease value is selected.
A child access point selects the parent access point as its best route back to the RAP.
A neighbor access point is within the radio frequency (RF) range of another access point but is not
selected as its parent or a child because its ease values are lower than that of the parent.
Parent, Child and Neighbor Access Points
Parent
RAP
LAN
Building 1
Recommended backhaul is 24 Mbps
24 Mbps is chosen as the optimal backhaul rate because it aligns with the maximum coverage
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of the WLAN portion of the client WLAN of the MAP; that is, the distance between MAPs using
24 Mbps backhaul should allow for seamless WLAN client coverage between the MAPs.
A lower bit rate might allow a greater distance between mesh access points, but there are likely
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to be gaps in the WLAN client coverage, and the capacity of the backhaul network is reduced.
An increased bit rate for the backhaul network either requires more mesh access points or results
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in a reduced SNR between mesh access points, limiting mesh reliability and interconnection.
The wireless mesh backhaul bit rate is set on the controller.
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Child
Mesh:7a:70
MAP
MAP
Cisco Wireless LAN Controller Configuration Guide
Architecture Overview
Neighbor
Mesh:78:90
MAP
MAP
8-7