Hi @Ernieken,

Welcome.  No, all AP's will prefer hardwired/UTP/ethernet connections if available.  And only devices which you have specifically configured to be able to use MESH (e.g. your outdoor unit) will do so anyway.

Additionally, I believe only your EAP225V3 (master node) and EAP225-Outdoor (wirelessly MESHed) even support MESH.  The 245 and 225-Wall do not currently support MESH.  (there is a beta firmware for the 245).

-Jonathan

@JSchnee21 Ok thanks for the answer.

So not all my AP's seem to be mesh-aware. Doest it mean I can't use this function at all (global setting on the cloud controller I believe) or does it mean that only the EAP225 hardwired EAP's can communicate with the wireless connected EAP 225 outdoor?

Where can I find the Bèta firmware?

Thanks,

Hans

Hi @Ernieken, 

"So not all my AP's seem to be mesh-aware. Doest it mean I can't use this function at all (global setting on the cloud controller I believe) or does it mean that only the EAP225 hardwired EAP's can communicate with the wireless connected EAP 225 outdoor?"

Correct.  This is not a concern.  Your EAP225V3 (indoor) will be configured to be the master node (aka uplink) for the MESH.  And your EAP225V1-Outdoor will be the client (aka download) for the MESH.  Wirelessly MESH'ed AP's are only associated / linked to one master node AP at a time.

If you plan to run Omada Server 24x7 or have an OC-200 it is possible to enable the MESH network to dynamically reconfigure itself -- if you have multiple master nodes enabled, for example.  But I don't know if this capabilities supports the EAP245 Beta or EAP255-Wall firmwares.

"Where can I find the Bèta firmware?"

I believe you need to contact TP-Link support to get a copy.

-Jonathan

Hi @Ernieken,

Just to clarify MESH has nothing to do with wireless client / STA roaming.  In a perfect world, all access points would be hard wired with Ethernet.  The TP-Link EAP wireless MESH capability enables you to wirelessly link supported units (e.g. the Outdoor unit) which cannot be easily hard wired.

Note that when additional AP's are MESHed, total user capacity does not increase (as there is overhead associated with the MESH communications) and DL/UL speeds on the MESH'ed AP (Outdoor) will be slower than they are from Ethernet connected AP's.

MESH is a convenience feature and does not improve performance, per se.

-Jonathan

@Ernieken 

Thank you all for the interesting answers. It's now completely clear to me.

Goal was indeed to minimize mesh-connected AP's in my house, so now all EAP's are hardwired except the outdoor EAP which is 'mesh-wired'.

One small question though: how to update the EAP firmware using the file I received from support? Apparently I can only install the firmware from the GUI and I don't have the option to browse for a file.

Hi @Ernieken,

In Omada, if you go to "Access Points" and then Click on "Overview" or "Config" on the right hand side you will see a little up arrow under "Action".  This will open the AP Firmware Upgrade dialog (see picture below).

You can then browse to the firmware file.

-Jonathan

@JSchnee21 Hi Jonathan,

Yes i thought indeed the option to choose a firmware file was in that window but when I do the same as you the last line, the one for browsing a file, is missing.

I'm an administrator on the system and I'm running the cloud controller. I remember once the option to choose a file was there so strangely it disappeared.

Hi @Ernieken,

For security reasons, I believe you have to go through the direct, internal IP route (e.g. 192.168.1.64 in my case) to connect to the Omada controller and not through the cloud gateway (e.g. omada.tplinkcloud.com)

-Jonathan

@JSchnee21 

Yes, that was it! Works fine when I logon locally.

Thanks for helping me!

Hans