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I agreed to help a non-profit figure out their network woes. Nothing had been documented and the folks that set the system up aren't available. Wires were cut and left hanging. The organization has a single wireless access point--something called Meraki (cloud?), providing 2.4Ghz access. That access point runs through a Cisco 2900 switch and it gets seriously overloaded.

Someone donated a couple of Asus wireless routers (configured as access points), and it was off to the races, except...machines connecting to the WAPs don't get an IP address. However, if I plug a cable from the wall socket to a computer, I get an IP address via DHCP. If the WAPs are set up as wireless routers, IPs don't get given out to the WAN. The IP addrs given out to machines are in the 65.50.xx.xx range with subnet mask 255.255.255.240. I traced, tagged and verified the wires going back from the wall plugs to the switch.

My problem is getting into the switch or getting around it to get some VLANs going and to get proper bandwidth throttling, DHCP, and NAT. I have never had to confront Cisco stuff or this Meraki thing before. Where do I start? How do I make sense of what's going on in the bowels of that switch? Oh, addresses given out by the Meraki WAP are in the 10.xx.xx.xx range. Thanks.

user2166948
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  • Resetting the password on a Cisco switch (without destroying the config) is bloody easy. Instructions are on the Cisco website for anyone to follow. You do need physical access to the switch and a Cisco console cable. No idea about the Meraki thing. – Tonny Mar 14 '13 at 15:58

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The basic thing I would start is enable monitoring on the cisco switch. Log onto the switch "assuming you have the authentication information".

## watch all the ports activity by switching into monitoring mode.

cisco2900# terminal monitor

Now unplug and plug in devices on wall jacks by watching the 2900 port activity. That should help you decide where and what to start.

Chakri
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The Meraki is a cloud-managed access point. More information on Meraki is here: http://www.meraki.com/

You should be able to call Meraki support to get access to the configuration of the AP, and they may be able to help you configure it so that it can handle the load better. There are some simple things you can do, like disabling low data rates (1, 2, 5.5, and 11) to improve the performance of the AP. The Meraki web interface can also help you find out if it's just an interference issue, in which case changing channels might be able to help.

Also, with the ASUS units (and the Meraki), make sure they are only using channels 1, 6, and 11 on the 2.4GHz range. If not, they will interfere with each other.

As to the switch, this page should help you get access to the switch (if you don't already have the password): http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/switches/ps628/products_password_recovery09186a0080094184.shtml

The switch is a non-trivial thing to configure (correctly). You can gather some clues with some free video training here: http://www.ine.com/self-paced/ccna/bootcamps.htm - You just have to sign up for a free account and you can watch some entry level training videos that should help you get going.

Lastly, if I had to make a wild guess as to why the IP addresses aren't being handed out with the ASUS units, I'd say the APs are not on the correct VLAN.

scottm32768
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Are the ASUS access points/routers broadcasting their own SSIDs or are they relaying/bridging an existing SSID?

Shouldn't you want to connect to the management of those access points to see if it is connecting to your wired network?

Perhaps resetting the firmware to factory settings and starting fresh would be a good place to start if these ASUS access points/routers came from another network already. You are really looking to relay the DHCP of the existing wired network onto the Router/WAPs. If plugging a desktop into the wall jack gets you a DHCP address, the same should be true for a fresh firmware of the WAP.

Default firmware on routers usually has DHCP enabled as well, so you could possibly be handing out IP addresses to a separate network if you haven't disabled DHCP on the routers acting as access points.

Eric
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