Cisco Small Business and Setting Up A Home For Wireless Using PoE

We have a need to set up client’s home with a wireless setup.

Given that everything is finished in the basement with the ceiling all covered in drywall we had a bit of a dilemma on our hands as far as where to drop the access points in.

We decided on the following components:

• Cisco 200 Series Smart Switch with Power over Ethernet (PoE)
• 
• Cisco WAP4410N Wireless-N Access Point PoE
• Three access points.
• 

Given the layout of the house we will be placing one AP in the front of the house hidden in a closet. We will pilot a hole for a cable run through the floor as it sits above the furnace room where the ceiling is open to the joists. This AP will be powered via Ethernet. It will be hooked into the primary AP via WDS.

The second AP will be set up in the basement office which sits approximately half way between the front and back ends of the house. This AP will be the primary unit with access to A/C power.

The third AP will be resident near the back of the house in the master bedroom. A cable will be run to that room via the cold air duct work. We are not 100% sure whether we will be able to get into the duct work via one of the master bedroom’s closets. If yes, then the AP will reside on a small shelf in the closet. If not, we will probably leave the AP in the cold air duct intake near the door to the room. Power to this unit will be provided by PoE. It will be hooked into the primary AP via WDS.

This particular setup is required because there are a lot of competing wireless networks in the neighbourhood. As a result the sole AP/Router that sits in the furnace room at the front of the house cannot compete so coverage at the back of the house is slim to none.

Once we are done the set up we hope to see a nice even Wireless N coverage in the house.

This is our first foray back into setting up a wireless system using WDS since wireless-G was a standard since no draft-N APs had WDS capabilities in them. These new APs by Cisco do and are quite reasonable cost wise.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.