If you followed the guide in the previous post you should have two Engenius units configured and be able to use them in two ways. The first configuration uses one Engenius unit as a simple wireless Access Point. The second configuration used two Engenius units and allowed you to set up a remote wireless Access Point for the camera to shoot to with a Client Bridge at the server end.
Configuration Three
Wired Client Bridge at the remote end and Access Point at the Server
This is a relatively simple variation of configuration two. The units can be used exactly as configured for Configuration Two. The big difference is that this time the Client Bridge will be at the remote end and the Access Point at the server PC.
Connect the Access Point to the server via Ethernet cable. Connect the camera to the Client Bridge via Ethernet cable. Set the camera up to use a wired connection (see your user guide).
This is a useful configuration for relatively static camera positions at the remote end. The transfer speed from camera to Client Bridge is fast and reliable (it is wired so it should be) and the Client Bridge and Access Point are only talking to each other so wireless speeds are usually as good as the connection allows.
Using this configuration you can also shoot wireless directly to the server if you are in range of the Access Point (as per Configuration One).
Configuration Four
Wired Client Bridge at the remote end connected to remote Access Point and Access Point at the Server
This is an extension of configuration three. Instead of connecting the camera to the Client Bridge at the remote end we connect a further Engenius unit set up as an Access Point. This remote Access point will require a unique SSID and should be on a different channel to the Client Bridge and Server Access Point. The camera will connect using wifi to Access Point Two at the remote end which will pass data (via Ethernet cable) to the Client Bridge which will talk to the Access Point at the Server. This configuration will allow you to cover the full area between the server and the remote location with wireless and select the Access Point (Access Point Two at the remote end or Access Point One at the server end) that you are closest to. The server AP and the Client Bridge unit should be facing each other. The 2nd Access Point can be facing away from the Client Bridge. This gives you coverage from the server unit to the Client Bridge and from the Client Bridge to the range of the second Access Point.
Configuration Five
Access points at Server and Remote end using WDS
This uses two units configured as Access Points (see Configuration One) both using the same channel but with unique IP addresses and a unique SSID for each unit. The units can be used exactly as configured for Configuration Two ie. one unit wired to the server and one unit as the remote unit. This configuration will allow you to cover the full area between the server and the remote location with wireless and select the Access Point that you are closest to. The advantage of this configuration is that it does not require a third unit configured as a Client Bridge (configuration four). However, it is slower as the remote unit is handling the wireless data for both the camera and the passing on of this data to the server Access Point. Also, unlike the 3 unit solution the 2 AP's should be facing each other and your working area is between them and immediately behind them.
Configure two Access points with the same channel but unique SSID and unique IP addresses. Then select the WDS option and enter the MAC addresses for both units in the fields provided (do this for both units). The MAC address to use is the second address of the two listed on the back of the Engenius units. On each unit set the Mac address of the other unit as enabled and its own address as disabled. I only enter both so that they are in the same place on the Mac address list and it gives me a convenient location to look them up.
Access Point One can now we connected to the server and Access Point Two used as the remote end. Select the SSID you are closest to on the camera. Shooting to Access Point One is exactly the same as shooting to a single Access Point configuration. Shooting to Access Point Two will start communication with Access Point One via the WDS service to pass data to the server. You can add further Access Points to create a web of coverage but each leg will have half the bandwidth of the previous leg.
This is a relatively simple and flexible way of using the Engenius units for maximum range and maximum coverage and only requires one channel. However, as stated, it can be slower due to the reduced available bandwidth and the use of WDS and MAC addresses is seen as little complex by some users.
I hope this has given you some ideas about the flexibility of the Engenius units and perhaps given you further options for their use. I have added some tips to using these units in a follow up post Usage Tips.
