WDS Interface Configuration
Submenu level: /interface wireless wds
Description
WDS (Wireless Distribution System) allows packets to pass from one wireless AP (Access Point) to another, just as if the APs were ports on a wired Ethernet switch. APs must use the same standard (802.11a, 802.11b or 802.11g) and work on the same frequencies in order to connect to each other.
There are two possibilities to create a WDS interface:
* dynamic - is created 'on the fly' and appers under wds menu as a dynamic interface
* static - is created manually
Property Description
arp (disabled | enabled | proxy-arp | reply-only; default: enabled) - Address Resolution Protocol
disabled - the interface will not use ARP
enabled - the interface will use ARP
proxy-arp - the interface will use the ARP proxy feature
reply-only - the interface will only reply to the requests originated to its own IP addresses. Neighbour MAC addresses will be resolved using /ip arp statically set table only
disable-running-check (yes | no; default: no) - disable running check. For 'broken' wireless cards it is a good idea to set this value to 'yes'
mac-address (read-only: MAC address; default: 00:00:00:00:00:00) - MAC address of the master-interface. Specifying master-interface, this value will be set automatically
master-interface (name) - wireless interface which will be used by WDS
mtu (integer: 0..65336; default: 1500) - Maximum Transmission Unit
name (name; default: wdsN) - WDS interface name
wds-address (MAC address) - MAC address of the remote WDS host
Notes
When the link between WDS devices, using wds-mode=dynamic, goes down, the dynamic WDS interfaces disappear and if there are any IP addresses set on this interface, their 'interface' setting will change to (unknown). When the link comes up again, the 'interface' value will not change - it will remain as (unknown). That's why it is not recommended to add IP addresses to dynamic WDS interfaces.
If you want to use dynamic WDS in a bridge, set the wds-default-bridge value to desired bridge interface name. When the link will go down and then it comes up, the dynamic WDS interface will be put in the specified bridge automatically.
As the routers which are in WDS mode have to communicate at equal frequencies, it is not recommended to use WDS and DFS simultaneously - it is most probable that these routers will not connect to each other.
WDS significantly faster than EoIP (up to 10-20% on RouterBOARD 500 systems), so it is recommended to use WDS whenever possible.
Example
[admin@MikroTik] interface wireless wds> add master-interface=wlan1 \
\... wds-address=00:0B:6B:30:2B:27 disabled=no
[admin@MikroTik] interface wireless wds> print
Flags: X - disabled, R - running, D - dynamic
0 R name="wds1" mtu=1500 mac-address=00:0B:6B:30:2B:23 arp=enabled
disable-running-check=no master-inteface=wlan1
wds-address=00:0B:6B:30:2B:27
[admin@MikroTik] interface wireless wds>