Allied Telesis AT-WL2411 - Manual (Page 81)

AT-WL2411 Version 1.80 Installation and User’s Guide
81
About the Root
Access Point
The root access point is always on the primary LAN and initiates the
spanning tree. The root coordinates the network and distributes global
system parameters to other access points. The root is elected from a
group of access points that are designated as root candidates (access
points that are powered on, active, and do not have a root priority of 0).
The access point with the highest root priority is the root.
The election process also occurs in the event of a root access point
failure. Besides the root, you should have two or three access points with
a non-zero root priority. If two access points have the same root priority,
the access point with the highest Ethernet address becomes the root.
You should configure your network with overlapping coverage so that
the network can automatically recover from any single point of failure.
After the root access point is elected, it transmits hello messages on all
enabled ports. The spanning tree forms as other access points receive
hello messages and attach to the network on the optimal path to the
root. A non-root access point also transmits hello messages after it is
attached to the network. Each hello message contains the LAN ID of the
access point that originated the message. The protocol does not allow
wireless links to exist between access points that do not have matching
LAN IDs.
About Bridging Wireless end devices operate similarly to other Ethernet products;
therefore, all of your existing Ethernet applications will work with the
wireless network without any special networking software. Figure 29
shows the general architecture of the access point.
Figure 29 General Architecture of the Access Point
Management and Configuration
MIB
DHCP
SNMP
Agent
TCP/IP
TFTP HTTP Telnet
File
System
Configuration
Settings
Bridging
Multiport Bridge
Forwarding
Database
Ethernet
Port
Antenna
Connectors
Antenna
Connectors
Ethernet
Connector
RS-232 Connector
Configuration Port
Spanning
Tree
Wireless ARP
Server
Radio
Port 1
Radio
Port 2
IP
Port
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