Connecting to access point

[mikeprice]

Hi all

I have a problem with some access points in one part of the school - they have decided to reconfig themselves to use channels that are too close to each other. I had a similar problem in another area which was easy to solve as I just found the MAC address from an android app, found the MAC address in DHCP on the server and connected to the access point.

 

However the main problem in this new area is a 3Com access point and I can't find it's ip address in DHCP anywhere.

 

Does anyone know of a way of connecting to its management interface without having an ip address??

 

Thanks

 

Mike

[Sagima]

Reset it, plug it directly to a laptop and use the factory default IP to configure it as you want?

[mikeprice]

Reset it, plug it directly to a laptop and use the factory default IP to configure it as you want?

 

Maybe - but as it doesn't seem to have an IP address at the moment - would it have one if I reset it?

Anyway - I'll try it at lunchtime if I don't come up with a better option

Thanks

[Gaz]

Maybe - but as it doesn't seem to have an IP address at the moment - would it have one if I reset it?

Anyway - I'll try it at lunchtime if I don't come up with a better option

Thanks

 

It will either have a static IP in its factory defaults (google what that will be if its not on the bottom of the AP), in which case after you reset it you will need to connect to it using a PC in the same IP range. Or it will be set to get an IP from DHCP in its factory defaults in which case just refresh the DHCP server after its booted up.

[VeryPC_Anthony_L]

Hi @mikeprice

How are all of your APs setup? Have you set a static reservation on each APs on the server or just on the AP its self.

Also have you manually set the channels on the APs? Guessing from your post that you do not have a controller for your APs.

[mikeprice]

Right - fixed the thing

 

I used the wifi analyser app and Fing (both on Android) to find the access point. Fing was especially useful as it told me what the make of the Network board was so I just had to look for all the Cicso ones and then check the MAC address - which I could get from wifi analyser

 

This also shows why we very occaisionally get reports of duplicate ip addresses - "but it's OK - we just switched it off and on again and it was OK" - you know the sort of thing.

The fixed IP addresses that the APs are using are not registered as reserved or anything in DHCP - so DHCP happily assigns them to devices!!

 

Thanks for all the responses

 

Mike

[Gaz]

Now make sure you set those reservations.