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[dave briar]

Yes, the AP can be run without a router or without a  DHCP server, or neither router or DHCP server. 

But you’d still need a POE injector in-line somewhere right?

[frank kayser]

But you’d still need a POE injector in-line somewhere right?

In this particular kit, yes, on the line from the switch to the AP. If a switch supporting 802.3AF was in the rack, then no.

[Steve Garris]

I have several of the Ubiquiti UniFi AC Mesh Pro ("AC-M-Pro") access points - I finally got them all working on the same SSID, talking through the same EdgeRouter X.

You *can* get the AC-M-Pro to act as a standalone wireless access point without using a router, DHCP server, or network controller, but... it's not super intuitive to set-up.

In a nutshell, you have to:

- Connect the AC-M-Pro to a working DHCP server
- Run the UniFi controller software and configure a new wireless network
- Adopt the AC-M-Pro into the new network
- Assign it a static IP address
- Uncheck the box for "wireless uplink and wireless monitor"
- All other devices that will access your AC-M-Pro must have static IPs
- You can connect the now "independent" AC-M-Pro to an unmanaged switch as well

Personally, I wouldn't go this route. Not when the Ubiquiti EdgeRouter X is so small, reliable, and inexpensive.

Thanks for the instructions - copied and saved!

I'm quite confused about the Edgerouter X you are recommending. It looks like a switch to me. I'm looking for a simple, 1 unit option for good 5GHz range for wireless use with iPad or PC.

[Steve Garris]

Hi Steve,
Yes, the AP can be run without a router or without a  DHCP server, or neither router or DHCP server.  Those were among the options I proposed to Debbie.  In her case, the comfort level of being able to use the switch ports without assigning an IP address prior to plugging in that device met that requirement, so the Apple router was kept in the loop to keep a DHCP server on the network.  As a byproduct, she has a running backup 5ghz SSID to connect to - the Mesh AP and the Airport - separate SSIDs.  We could have set it up with both 5ghz networks using the same SSID, or even put both 2.4ghz also with the same SSID and the device, in this case the iPad, figure out and connect to the strongest signal.


PM me if you want to chat offline.


frank

Thanks Frank - I would love to reach out, but from what I can tell, the PM function on this site does not work. I've sent several PM's to members and they don't receive them. Can I email you?

[Steve Litcher]

Thanks for the instructions - copied and saved!

I'm quite confused about the Edgerouter X you are recommending. It looks like a switch to me. I'm looking for a simple, 1 unit option for good 5GHz range for wireless use with iPad or PC.

No worries. Think of it as a 5-port switch that can assign IP addresses automatically and on-demand, if need be. That's where the router/DHCP portion comes in.

So, if you plug-in a new piece of gear, the gear will obtain it's own IP address from the EdgeRouter X.

If you use everything via static IP, and everything can connect wirelessly to the AP, you wouldn't need the EdgeRouter X.

I have my EdgeRouter X attached to the back of a Midas DL32 with some 3M automotive tape. It's about the size of a deck of cards, and has been happily living in that spot for quite some time, no issues.

[dave briar]

Thanks for the instructions - copied and saved!

I'm quite confused about the Edgerouter X you are recommending. It looks like a switch to me. I'm looking for a simple, 1 unit option for good 5GHz range for wireless use with iPad or PC.

The easiest “simple, 1 unit option”  would be to just use a standard consumer-grade internal-antenna dual-band “router”.  Plug it in, connect a cat5 cable to your mixer, put it on top of your rack, done. For years that worked well for me and it sounds like Debbie (and others) as well. The problem arose when I wanted/needed to get it up high to maintain line-of-sight over the audience. I actually loomed together 15’ 1/8” power and cat5 cables so that I could gaff the router to something up high when needed — rather unprofessional looking for sure.  For a more elegant and robust solution I added a Ubiquiti access point (ie. radio and antennae only) that gets it power through a single cat5 cable and is lighter/smaller/less-obtrusive to mount up high and plugs into one of the switch ports on the old router which I now leave velcro’d inside my rack. So in effect I only have “1 unit’” (the AP) that I have to handle and setup at a gig. That said, I do have to contend with both the old router, it’s wall wort, the POE injector (as my old router does not support POE), and it’s wall wort inside my 6U rack.  Not bad but....

To clean things up (and to soothe my GAS) I just last week bought an EdgerouterX SFP ($99) which while a little more expensive than the X has a more powerful 24v 2.5amp power supply and can run up to five POE ports.  The thing is ridiculously small (I can hide it entirely behind one hand), only weighs a few ounces, and was trivial to Velcro inside my rack. Much cleaner, fewer cables, less mess. That said, like most of Ubiquiti’s products it’s definitely more daunting to get setup and configured than your standard consumer-grade router but I persevered and am happy.

One final point that I know confused me way back. What most people think of as a “router” usually has four functions. A switch to form the backbone of a local-area network, logic to “route” traffic to the wide-area network (internet), a DHCP server to hand out IP addresses to clients, and a radio/antennae to broadcast.  In the Ubiquiti world view the Edgerouter handles the first three and N-number of access points handle the radio/antennae duties.

[Frank Koenig]

But you’d still need a POE injector in-line somewhere right?

Yes, and the Ubiquiti power injectors are solidly built little pieces with real 3-wire power cords -- much better than a wall wart furnished with a $.04 shoe-string output cord and a connector designed to fall out.  --Frank

[Debbie Dunkley]

Yes, and the Ubiquiti power injectors are solidly built little pieces with real 3-wire power cords -- much better than a wall wart furnished with a $.04 shoe-string output cord and a connector designed to fall out.  --Frank

Yes - very robust and I do like the lack of wall wart....

[Tim McCulloch]

Thanks for the instructions - copied and saved!

I'm quite confused about the Edgerouter X you are recommending. It looks like a switch to me. I'm looking for a simple, 1 unit option for good 5GHz range for wireless use with iPad or PC.

*Almost* every Router not used exclusively by IT professionals has a built in switch of some size and configureability.  Why do switches freak you out, Steve? If you need one, velcro the thing in place, run your patch cables and it's now an appliance; you won't have to think about it unless it fails...  In 10 years of owning a couple of racks we got from Schubert Systems (original I Techs, now stuffed with I Tech HD), we still have the switches in them as shipped by Dirk's crew in L.A.  In all we have couple dozen switches in various racks in the audio side of our shop and had ONE failure in 12 years, and it turned out to be the wall wart PSU...

[Debbie Dunkley]

*Almost* every Router not used exclusively by IT professionals has a built in switch of some size and configureability.  Why do switches freak you out, Steve? If you need one, velcro the thing in place, run your patch cables and it's now an appliance; you won't have to think about it unless it fails...  In 10 years of owning a couple of racks we got from Schubert Systems (original I Techs, now stuffed with I Tech HD), we still have the switches in them as shipped by Dirk's crew in L.A.  In all we have couple dozen switches in various racks in the audio side of our shop and had ONE failure in 12 years, and it turned out to be the wall wart PSU...

I use a rack mount switch which allows me to patch everything at the front of the rack - I love it.

[ProSoundWeb Community]