Ethernet bridging and Unleashed

[dustin_marquess]

I currently have 2 R710s (one upstairs and one downstairs) in an Unleashed setup.  Everything works great, except I have ~3 devices that are Ethernet only, and they're nowhere near an Ethernet drop :(.

I DO, however, have an old R700 collecting dust.  I assume I can set it up in standalone mode (since it won't work with Unleashed) and set it up like https://support.ruckuswireless.com/articles/000003332 and it should mostly work, as long as I disable directedDHCP?  I only need to bridge over 5Ghz, not 2.4Ghz, and I was planning on setting up separate SSID (and probably VLAN) just for the bridging.

If I, however, instead get a 3rd R710 and added it to the Unleashed network, can I just use the mesh stuff to bridge it that way without disabling directedDHCP?  I've done a ton of wireless, but never bridging.  Everything says to use WDS, even though it's flakey.  The above URL though says that Ruckus doesn't really "do" WDS, which is why I'm asking.

Thanks for the help and support for the stupid questions!

[hayward_kong]

Yes he could go the mesh route , but the r310/320 doesn’t support mesh. R500/R600 support mesh but I would advise against getting them since r500/r600 are EOL so the last firmware it will have is 200.7.x so if you want to mesh it with the r710s then you would be stuck with fimware 200.7.x forever til you get rid of the r500/r600.
Best bet would be to get a r510 used on eBay or see if you have an old consumer router that can be flashed to dd-wrt /openwrt/ fresh tomato and do a client bridge.

[hayward_kong]

Right now I’m just using my old airport express 802.11n to connect to a few of my old Ethernet printers.

[adam_foss]

good catch on the R310 not supporting mesh... don't do that obviously.

i don't necessarily see a problem with EoL firmware in a home environment, assuming this is just for basic connectivity.... although WPA3 could be a good reason to stay with a wave 2 AP.

I guess it really Depends on what you could get the best deal on.

[hayward_kong]

I don't see a problem with EOL hardware, but the problem with unleashed is all your APs have to stick to the same firmware. too bad can't have a mixed environment on unleashed.  Also, there's an issue with Unleashed firmware 200.7.x and 200.8.x on Wave 2 APs where iOS devices tend to cut their download speed in half.. going back to firmware 200.6.x is a work around while ruckus is trying to fix it, but no luck so far... only happens with certain RF environments doesn't happen to everyone, but a lot of people have complained.

[hayward_kong]

Well you can right now on eBay get a used r500 for $50 or maybe make an offer for $45.... I know for certain that you can get 3x r500 for $40 each if you make an offer since I bought some for some friends. DNI on eBay is selling them ... last week they had 106 in stock , then today 43 this morning. But I would not suggest someone who has a wave 2 ap and get the wave 1 since that means they would be stock at the 200.7.x firmware which doesn’t work well on wave2 APs I’m certain rf environments.. if you go the old consumer route you get to continue upgrading the unleashed firmware.