Using 2 Wireless Bridges to switch question

[cyph3ruk]

Hi

Looking for some advice, I have an issue with my wireless bridge, it connects to my router no problem but from time to time it drops the connection, the wireless bridge is in my Garage which is no more than 5 metres away from the router, when you look at the status it always has a strong signal transferring at 270mbps, all it is needed for is the internet but I keep my server in the garage that holds all my media files, it works great 95% of the time via a access point, its just a pain in the ar$e when it drops as it means I have to go out to the garage and reset the bridge. now the question!!

Is it possible to have 2 wireless bridges connected to the same router and with the 2 ethernet points going to the same switch then onto the server?

The bridges would have 2 separate IPs I just wondered if it was possible.

The equipment is as follows
Router Huawei HG533
Wireless Bridge Netgear WNCE2001
I have a spare Netgear WNCE2001 that I have swapped before but had the same issue, I was just hoping I could use the second bridge as a backup?

Thanks

Paul

 

[DeauteratedDog]

Yes. BUT - Ethernet doesn't allow loops, so you will need a switch that supports Spanning Tree (aka STP or 802.1D). Spanning tree will deactivate one of the ports when it detects a loop, and re-activate the port when the loop goes away (when one of the links drops).

 

[cyph3ruk]

Yes. BUT - Ethernet doesn't allow loops, so you will need a switch that supports Spanning Tree (aka STP or 802.1D). Spanning tree will deactivate one of the ports when it detects a loop, and re-activate the port when the loop goes away (when one of the links drops).

Thanks for the advice DeauteratedDog
Would the below switch allow for a loop?

http://www.dabs.com/products/tp-link-16-port-10-100mbps---2-port-gigabit-smart-switch-8R2X.html?q=stp&src=16

Many thanks

Paul

 

[DeauteratedDog]

It should work. The data sheet (http://www.tp-link.com/resources/document/TL-SL2218_V1_Datasheet.zip) specifically says that it supports spanning tree, and the manual has several pages discussing configuring it.

Note that is is unlikely, but possible, that either the Netgear or the Huawei devices will drop the packets that spanning tree uses (called BPDU packets), in which case this just won't work.