Am I forming a loop here?

MAC's (for simplicity sake)
AP 1 - xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:10
AP 2 - xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:11
AP 3 - xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:12

IP's
Router (no wifi) - 192.168.1.1
AP 1 - 192.168.1.10
AP 2 - 192.168.1.11
AP 3 - 192.168.1.12

Router hardwired to AP 1
AP 1 WDS --> xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:11

AP 2 WDS --> xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:10
AP 2 WDS --> xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:12

AP 3 WDS --> xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:11

Currently what is happening is the AP's are locking up and not broadcasting SSID. If you attempt to hardwire into them and ping and/or access web based mgmt you experience high rate of dropped packets.

If you reset each unit and then reload the settings from a Config.bin file, all works fine for a while and then quits.

AP's are EdiMax EW-7206APg (linux based)

Basically AP 1 and AP 2 are bridging an outdoor distance of about 100 yards and then AP 3 is at the far end of a big house. There is substantial rssi between AP 1 and AP 2, but AP 3 is hanging at about -70 to -75 dBm power level (might need higher gain ant).

Any help or insight is appreciated.

Scott

Anyone have any ideas?

After analyzing raw 802.11 traffic with wireshark, it looks like the culprit might be AP2 and AP3 struggling to maintain the wds between each other. Apparently one or the other is flooding the network with packets. Tomorrow I will disable AP3 and test without it.

I will keep this thread updated.

Scott

** RESOLVED **

For anyone interested in the resolution, read below.

I removed AP3 from the WDS and changed the config on AP2 to only do WDS with AP1. With AP3 OFF the network traffic went back to normal. No problems.

I reset AP3 and re-programmed the unit as a Universal Repeater. I attached a new 9dBi antenna and did a site survey from AP3 and picked AP2 as the Root AP to repeat. 55% signal strength as opposed to 22% with factory antenna.

I let the network settle for a while and then captured the 802.11 again. Completely normal traffic on both the ethernet and 802.11

New topology:

Router hardwired to AP 1
AP 1 WDS --> xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:11

AP 2 WDS --> xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:10

AP 3 set to Universal Repeater
Root AP - xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:11

Hope this helps someone in the future. For what it is worth, the original setup that I did should not have been problematic, but apparently the poor signal strength was the culprit in the abnormal amount of 802.11 traffic.

Scott