Nokia WiFi Beacons support using an Ethernet Switches in its topology for both WAN and LAN networks. However, the configurations below are not supported.
When choosing a L2 Ethernet switch please do not use any of following configurations.
AVOID: Connecting both the root (router) and extender (bridge) Beacons to the same L2 Ethernet Switch
L2 Ethernet switches connecting both root Beacon’s WAN port (for the uplink connection) and extender Beacon’s WAN/LAN port (for Ethernet-backhaul) should be avoided.
USE: Different L2 Switches for both WAN and LAN networks.
AVOID: Using spare Routers as an Ethernet Switch
Using spare routers or L3 capable devices as a switch or to extend LAN (or Ethernet) connections should be avoided.
- When a Nokia WiFi Beacon’s LAN port is connected to an additional router’s WAN port, then the 3rd party router will start a new network and devices connected in it are unmanaged and inaccessible from devices in the Nokia WiFi Network or from the Nokia WiFi App.
- When the Nokia WiFi Beacon’s LAN port is connected to an additional router’s LAN port, then both Nokia WiFi beacons act as AP (access point) Beacons and/or clients connected to the Nokia WiFi network can receive services from the 3rd party router, since NAT, DHCP Servers, NTP servers, etc., were running on it.
More on topology configuration with Ethernet backhaul.