Wireless Bridge Question

[Twitch]

Hello to the Crew - I have a wireless bridge question. I just installed an MR30H to provide a wireless bridge connection for two Lincoln Electric welders on our shop floor. The bridge is working perfectly. The two welders are connected to ports 1 and 2 of the 4-port switch, and I have two-way communication with the welders across the bridge from a nearby AP attached to the local LAN. 

I only want these two welders to talk across the bridge, but the bridge has also begun picking-up traffic from surrounding wireless devices talking on our other SSIDs. My question is this:

Is there a way to only allow traffic from ports 1 and 2 and block all wireless access via the bridge AP from surrounding wireless devices?

In other words, I want the radio active to talk to the nearby wireless gateway, but not to any other clients. The welders should be the only devices talking to the gateway. I cannot find a way to remove the non-bridge SSIDs from the config of the MR30H so that the only SSID talking is the bridge SSID. 

My apologies in advance if that is clear as mud. It's been a long day. I'm tired. I cannot claim to be thinking straight at this point, and caffeine is not helping.

Thanks. 

Twitch

[KarstenI]

On Wireless -> SSID Availability you can control which APs broadcast which SSIDs. Just configure this AP not to broadcast your SSIDs and no user/device can connect.

[Twitch]

Hey Karstenl - I used that option to only broadcast the bridge SSID on the AP that is going to use it.

Looking at the options on the SSID Availability page, I do not see an option for This SSID is Disabled on Some APs, which is what I'm looking for. I will have to submit that to Make a Wish. It would just be easier to configure the few bridge APs to only use the bridge SSID instead of having to create tags and individually configure each AP in our environment across all locations. 

Perhaps it's just me, but it would seem that having the functionality to choose the SSIDs an AP should broadcast via the simple use of an SSID list with checkboxes next to each configured SSID would be the simple way to go. That way, when a new AP is being configured, you just choose the SSIDs you want to use for that AP, click Save, and it's done. 

Thanks for your reply!

Twitch

[KarstenI · Accepted solution]

Look for „Per-AP Availability“, there you can define on which APs, based on Tags, the SSID is broadcasted.

[Twitch]

Thanks - it makes sense now. I was able to configure a tag that broadcasts production SSIDs and a tag that only broadcasts the bridge SSID. Traffic is now limited to the welders on the bridge. 

The Meraki interface throws me for a loop sometimes. I am an old school command line guy, and sometimes things don't "click" in my brain with the GUI interface. 

Well, the GUI is one thing, old age is another. They both gang-up on me on a daily basis. 😁

I appreciate your help!

Twitch

[KarstenI]

---

@Twitch wrote:

I am an old school command line guy, and sometimes things don't "click" in my brain with the GUI interface. 

---

So am I ... Yes, adapting the Meraki "thinking" is sometimes difficult. I also have problems from time to time. 🙂