Untethered access point mesh system and method
A technique for implementing an untethered access point (UAP) mesh involves enabling AP-local switching at one or more UAPs of the mesh. A system constructed according to the technique may include a wireless switch; an access point (AP) wire-coupled to the wireless switch; and a UAP mesh, wirelessly coupled to the AP, including a UAP with an AP-local switching engine embodied in a computer-readable medium. Another system constructed according to the technique may include an untethered access point (UAP), including: a radio; a backhaul service set identifier (SSID) stored in a computer-readable medium; an anchor access point (AAP) selection engine embodied in a computer-readable medium. In operation, the AAP selection engine may use the radio to attempt to associate with the AAP if a beaconed backhaul SSID matches the stored backhaul SSID. A method according to the technique may include beaconing with a backhaul SSID; acting in concert with an upstream switch as an authenticator for a downstream station that responds to the beacon; providing limited local switching functionality for the downstream station.
1. An apparatus, comprising:
a first untethered access point (UAP) configured to be included within a UAP mesh, the first UAP configured to be operatively coupled to an access point (AP) operatively coupled to a wireless switch;
the first UAP including a switching engine embodied in a computer-readable medium, the switching engine configured to send a first station switching record received at a first time from the wireless switch to a second UAP from the UAP mesh, the second UAP enabled to switch traffic locally based on the station switching record,
the switching engine configured to receive a second station switching record when a new path is available.
2. The system of claim 1 , further comprising wherein the UAP is configured to be coupled to the AP operatively coupled to the wireless switch included in a wireless network coupled to a wired backbone.
3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the UAP mesh is self-healing.
4. The system of claim 1 , wherein a spanning tree algorithm is embodied in a computer readable medium of the UAP mesh.
5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the wireless switch includes an authorization engine, embodied in a computer-readable medium, the authorization engine configured to authorize a downstream station.
6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the switching engine is configured to send a data unit based on the first station switching record.
7. The system of claim 1 , wherein, the first station switching record is received from the wireless switch at the first UAP.
8. An apparatus, comprising:
an untethered access point (UAP) configured to be included in a UAP mesh, the UAP configured to be operatively coupled to an access point that is operatively coupled to a switch;
the UAP configured to receive at a first time from a switch a first station switching record defined by the switch via a control channel, the UAP enabled to switch traffic locally based on the station switching record;
the UAP configured to forward the first station switching record and a data unit to the access point; and
the UAP configured to receive a second station switching record when a new path is available.
9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the first station switching record includes an access control list.
10. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the UAP is configured to receive the first station switching record from a unicast signal defined by the access point.
11. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the UAP is configured to be authenticated by both the switch and the access point prior to receiving the first station switching record.
12. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the UAP further includes a selection engine configured to select the access point from a plurality of access points.
13. An apparatus, comprising:
an access point operatively coupled to an untethered access point and a switch;
the access point configured to receive from the switch a first station switching record defined by the switch via a control channel, the untethered access point enabled to switch traffic locally based on the first station switching record, the control channel being a virtual tunnel between the switch and the untethered access point, the virtual tunnel include a first hop, a second, hop, and a table associated with the first hop to identify the second hop;
the access point configured to send a signal, including the first station switching record, to the untethered access point;
the access point configured to receive the first station switching record and a data unit from the untethered access point; and
the access point configured to receive a second station switching record when a new path is available.
14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the first station switching record includes at least one of an access control list or data associated with authorized stations.
15. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the signal is a unicast signal configured to be received only by the untethered access point.
16. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the access point further includes an authentication engine configured to authenticate the untethered access point prior to sending the signal.
17. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the access point is further configured to forward the station switching record with the data unit received from the untethered access point.