Gateway 7001 Series User Manual

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by placing a second access point closer to second group of stations (“Poolside” in our 
example) and bridge the two APs with a WDS link. This extends your network wirelessly 
by providing an extra hop to get to distant stations.
Backup links and unwanted loops in WDS bridges
Another use for WDS bridging, the creation of backup links, is not supported in this release 
of the Gateway 7001 Series self-managed AP. The topic is included here to emphasize that 
you should not try to use WDS in this way. Backup links will result in unwanted, endless 
loops of data traffic 
If an access point provides Spanning Tree Protocol (STP), WDS can be used to configure 
backup paths between access points across the network. For example, between two access 
points you could have both a primary path through Ethernet and a secondary (backup) 
wireless path through a WDS link. If the Ethernet connection goes down, STP would 
reconfigure its map of the network and effectively fix the down network segment by 
activating the backup wireless path.
The Gateway 7001 Series self-managed AP does not provide STP for this release. Without 
STP, it is possible that both connections (paths) may be active at the same time, and result 
in an endless loop of traffic on the LAN.
Therefore, be sure not create loops with either WDS bridges or combinations of Wired 
(Ethernet) connections and WDS bridges.
For more information, see the “Do not create loops” note under 
Client station
Client station
Client station
Client station
WDS bridge
“East wing” AP
“Poolside” AP
LAN
Wired (Ethernet) 
connection