How to set up Ubiquiti Nanobeam M2 as an Access Point, wired to a wired extender, on WISP?

[Niamh Bodkin]

I'm setting up a Ubiquiti Nanobeam M2 400 as an access point, wired to a
router which itself is wired to the main router, which itself is connected
to a WISP antenna on the roof.

Here's where I'm stuck.
Anyone know the next step?

First, I reset the Nanobeam to factory defaults.
- I connected the Nanobeam to a 12-to-24VDC 500ma-to-1A POE port RJ45.
- I ensured the Nanobeam first of six LEDs is lit green (power LED).
- I held the reset button in for about a dozen seconds (all lights flash).
NOTE: There is no need to cycle the power; it can stay on all this time.

Then I connected to the Nanobeam from a Windows XP computer:
- Connect the POE LAN port to the WinXP computer RJ45.
- Start > Settings > Control Panel >
Network and Internet Connections > Network Connections
- Check that the wireless Network Connection is disabled (it's too
confusing).
- Right click on the "Local Area Connection" & select "Properties".
- Doubleclick on "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)"
- Write down the settings (because you need to reset them when you're
done).
- Doubleclick on "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)" & set is as follows:
(o) Use the following IP address
IP address 192.168.1.199 <-- use any number other than 20
Subnet mask 255.255.255.0
Default gateway 192.168.1.20
(o) Use the following DNS server addresses
Preferred DNS server 192.158.1.20
Alternate DNS server <leave blank>
[ok][ok]
- Check Nanobeam has the first two of six lights lit green (power & net).
- Check that the WinXP computer is on the 192.168.1.x subnet.
Start > Run > cmd
C:> ipconfig
Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.199
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.20
- On WinXP, bring up a browser and log into http://192.168.1.20
Username = ubnt
Password = ubn

Now what?

[Niamh Bodkin]

In <news:o8gpku$qda$1...@news.mixmin.net>, Niamh Bodkin suggested:

> I'm setting up a Ubiquiti Nanobeam M2 400 as an access point, wired to a
> router which itself is wired to the main router, which itself is connected
> to a WISP antenna on the roof.
>
> Here's where I'm stuck.
> Anyone know the next step?

After a few hours, I got it working perfectly!
So that others benefit, here is a quick writeup of the steps I took.
If you have comments, questions, or improvements, please let me know.

****************************************************************************
How to set up Ubiquiti Nanobeam M2 400 as an access point wired to a router
****************************************************************************
Here are the steps I followed to add a powerful 2.4GHz access point
to my existing wired extender router.

(a)WISP radio ----> (b)Main Router -> (c)Wired Extender -> (d)Nanobeam AP
xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx 192.168.1.1 192.168.1.200 192.168.1.250

Note that the Ubiquiti Nanobeam M2-400 PowerBeam M2 has an 18dBi antenna
gain with a maximum transmit power of 26dBm. I don't know what a typical
router is, but I'd guess about 15dBm transmit power with 3dBi antennas.

So the power difference isn't even on the same scale as a typical home
router.

Note the primary router, set up to hand out addresses via DHCP,
reserves by default the addresses 192.168.1.100 to 192.168.1.150.

Note that both 192.168.1.0 and 192.168.1.255 are also reserved.
Note that a networked printer is hard wired to 192.168.1.254.

You don't want the access point to get its address by DHCP though, because
then you'd never know what IP address to log into in order to manage its
settings. So you want the access point to have a static IP address.

NANOBEAM M2-400 REFERENCES:
http://site.microcom.us/nbem2400.pdf
https://dl.ubnt.com/datasheets/nanobeam/NanoBeam_DS.pdf
https://dl.ubnt.com/guides/nanobeam/NanoBeam_M2-400_M5-400_QSG.pdf
http://www.doubleradius.com/c.283276/site/stores/ubiquiti/Ubiquiti-NanoBeamM.pdf
============================================================================
Set up the Windows XP computer to be able to log into the Nanobeam M2 radio
============================================================================
The first thing is to put Windows XP on the same subnet as the access
point:
- WinXP: Start > Settings > Control Panel >

Network and Internet Connections > Network Connections
- Check that the wireless Network Connection is disabled

- Right click on the "Local Area Connection" & select "Properties".
- Doubleclick on "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)"

- Write down all the settings (you need to manually reset them back later!)
- Doubleclick on "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)" to set it as follows:

(o) Use the following IP address

IP address 192.168.1.151 <-- use any unused number other than 20
Subnet mask 255.255.255.0
Default gateway 192.168.1.20 <-- this will be the Nanobeam M2 radio

(o) Use the following DNS server addresses

Preferred DNS server 192.158.1.20 <-- this will be the Nanobeam M2

Alternate DNS server <leave blank>
[ok][ok]

- Check that the Windows XP computer is now on the 192.168.1.x subnet:
- WinXP: Start > Run > cmd

C:> ipconfig
Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.151

Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.20

Then reset the Nanobeam M2 to factory defaults:
- Connect the POE "POE" port to the Nanobeam M2 RJ45 port.
- Ensure the Nanobeam first of six LEDs is lit green (power LED).
- Hold the POE or Nanobeam reset button in for about a dozen seconds.
- Keep holding the reset until all the six Nanobeam lights flash.

NOTE: There is no need to cycle the power; it can stay on all this time.

Hook up the Nanobeam M2 to the Windows XP computer:

- Connect the POE LAN port to the WinXP computer RJ45.

- Connect the POE LAN port to the Windows XP computer.
- Ensure the Nanobeam second of six LEDs is lit green (network).

Log into the Nanobeam M2 from the Windows XP computer:

- On WinXP, bring up a browser and log into http://192.168.1.20

- Accept the insecure certificate and log into the radio using:
Username = ubnt
Password = ubnt

Set up the Nanobeam M2 to act as a powerful access point.

The confusion comes into play when I have to decide what's the difference
between setting up the "Wireless Mode" as "Access Point" as shown here:
https://help.ubnt.com/hc/en-us/articles/204949644-airMAX-Configure-a-Wi-Fi-access-point-hotspot-

Or, in setting up the "Wireless Mode" as "Bridged", as shown here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40gRLL2B6Vs
Setting up a Simple Bridged AP

- Click the "Wireless" tab
- Change the "Wireless Mode" from "Station" to "Access Point"
- Change the SSID from "ubnt" to whatever you want it to be.
- Change the "Channel Width" from 40MHz to 20MHz.
- Leave "Channel Shifting" at the "Disabled" setting.
- Set the Frequency to the desired channel.
2412 MHz (this is channel 1) <--- non overlapping
2417 MHz (this is channel 2)
2422 MHz (this is channel 3)
2427 MHz (this is channel 4)
2432 MHz (this is channel 5)
2437 MHz (this is channel 6) <--- non overlapping
2442 MHz (this is channel 7)
2447 MHz (this is channel 8)
2452 MHz (this is channel 9)
2457 MHz (this is channel 10)
2462 MHz (this is channel 11) <--- non overlapping

- Set Wireless Security to "WPA2-AES"
- Set WPA Authentication to "PSK"
- Set "WPA Preshared Key" to your SSID passphrase.
- Hit the Change button so that the settings will hold between tabs!
NOTE: You can also hit the "Apply" button, but you have to log in again.

- Click the first tab to the left of the "Main" tab.
- Where it says "airMax" Enable, uncheck the Enable box.
- Hit the Change button so that the settings will hold between tabs!

- Click the Network tab.
- In "Network Role" set the "Network Mode" to "Bridge"
- Leave "Disable Network" to "None"
- Leave "Configuration Mode" set at "Simple"
- In Management Network Settings", set the IP address to "Static"
- Choose an IP address in the subnet that you know is unused 192.168.1.250
- Set the Netmask to 255.255.255.0
- Set the Gateway IP to the router address that you are plugging into.
- Since mine is a wired extender, I can use either the IP address of the
wired extender router, or of the main router.
Main router IP address: 192.168.1.1 <-- I used this
- Wired extender router IP address: 192.168.1.200 <-- this should work too
- Hit the Change and Apply button so that the settings will take effect.

Now you can plug the radio into your wired extender router and you'll
have a new very directional narrow beam powerful access point.

If you have comments, questions, or improvements, please let me know.