Burning Bridges - Routing Your
Bridged WISP Network With
MikroTik
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Introduce Yourself
Name
Company & position there
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About Me
Steve Discher
Live in College Station, Texas
1987 graduate of Texas A&M University, in IT for
more than 20 years
Former WISP owner from 2004 to 2010
Online distribution company, ISP Supplies
Conduct MikroTik and Ubiquiti training
[Link]
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About ISP Supplies
Entering our third year of business.
Also sell custom built products including
silkscreened indoor and outdoor enclosures, RF
shielding and antennas
We sell MikroTik, Ubiquiti, Cambium and all of
the accessories.
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Master MikroTik
Stocking Distributor
Current 7th largest in
sales in the USA
(started at number 20!)
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Largest Problem Facing
Growing WISPs
Number one consulting question I
am asked is how do I convert my
bridged wireless network to a
routed one?
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One Size Fits All
Approach
There is none.
Today, establish an attack plan using general
processes.
You will need to adapt to your particular
scenario.
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Todays Presentation
1. Why is excessive bridging a problem?
2. Routing - the solution to excessively bridged
networks.
3. Network redesign, topology, IP planning and
routing.
4. Protocols to be used.
5. Rollout plan.
6. Equipment selection.
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The Problem
Why are bridged wireless
networks difficult to scale?
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Network Organic Growth and Evolution
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Network Organic Growth and Evolution
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Network Organic Growth and Evolution
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Network Organic Growth and Evolution
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Network Organic Growth and Evolution
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Large Broadcast Domain
Somewhere around 300 customers on the average
broadcast traffic reaches an unmanageable level
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Broadcasts
Broadcasts are a necessary part of an Ethernet
network
Switches use a process called flood and
learn and then switch packets based on
lookup tables, those entries in the lookup
tables age out, then they flood again
As network grows, lookup tables get too large,
constantly flushed, once again broadcasts are
flooded
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A single broadcast from
single customer
Broadcast Traffic in a Bridged Network
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Broadcast Traffic in a Bridged Network
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Broadcast Traffic in a Bridged Network
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Broadcast Traffic in a Bridged Network
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Broadcast Traffic in a Bridged Network
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Broadcast Traffic in a Bridged Network
One broadcast from one customer utilizes
every wireless device in our infrastructure!
Broadcast traffic is retransmitted by APs and
back-hauls thereby wasting valuable network
resources
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The Solution
Routing, adding routers into the network
More efficiently utilize resources by allowing you to
transmit only necessary traffic across links it needs
to cross
Utilize traffic shaping and customer rate controls
Why? Routers block broadcast traffic, reduce the
size of the collision domain
Offload workload like NAT to less utilized devices
closer to the network edge
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The Solution
Adding routers can increase security by the
addition of firewalls
Prevent Layer 2 switch loops
Prevent rogue DHCP servers from infiltrating
the entire network
Increase the scalability of the network
Prevent customer viruses from taking your
network down
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The Solution
Simplify troubleshooting
Allow the creation of redundancy and
failover
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The Solution
Resistance is futile!
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With so many
benefits from
routing over bridging
why do we resist?
Routing vs Bridging
Bridging is faster, easier to learn especially
at first.
Using routers requires me to learn routing.
Using routers requires me to learn
subnetting.
Administration will be more difficult.
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Network Redesign
Redesigning a bridged network as a routed
network requires:
A network diagram.
An IP plan.
Proper equipment.
Coordinated rollout.
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Large collision domain
Flat Bridged Network
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Many small collision domains
Add Routers in Place of Switches
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Client Broadcasts and Traffic to Internet
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Typical Tower Detail - Bridged
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Bridged
Bridged
Bridged
Bridged
Bridged
Typical Tower Detail - Routed
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Bridged
Bridged
Bridged
s
l es
ire
W r3
e
Lay
Bridged
Bridged
Typical Tower Detail - Routed
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Bridged
IP Planning
Why? Public IP addresses are no longer a
limitless resource
Requires knowledge of subnetting
Organized method of documentation - IP
Plan, spreadsheet, etc.
Organized methodology in deployment
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IP Planning
Example:
We have one /24 of public addresses
Will use private addresses wherever
possible and publics for customers as
required
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IP Planning
Estimate the maximum planned number of
towers with current public IP allocation,
current + growth
Subnet your /24 into enough /30 subnets to
accommodate current + growth
Our example network has 6 towers, so we
need six /30s
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[Link]/30
0
.0/3
.8
.13
0
/3
.76
66
66.7
6.13
.12/
30
[Link]/30
30
.4/
. 13
.76
66
6.13
66.7
Example [Link]/24 Block
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One /30 per customer is
another option, more wasteful
192
.16
8.1
.0/2
[Link]/24
Add a /28 or smaller to each
AP for public/static
customers, /28 = 14 hosts
192
/30
6
6.7
.8
.13
66.
76.
.3
168
13.
4
.0/2
16/
30
Typical Tower Detail - Routed
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Protocols
Run dynamic Routing - OSPF on all tower
routers and head end router
BGP is an option but it is a bit of overkill
for this job, OSPF is fast and easy
Simplifies administration, adding a customer
requires no route additions, only adding
their address/subnet to the tower
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Protocols
Use PPPoE on each tower router, one PPPoE
server per AP/Interface pair
Allows the use of radius for PPPoE client
authentication for integration in billing packages
Auto assignment of rate limit at the tower router
Auto assignment of static IP address
Ability to disconnect non-paying customers or
redirect them to the billing site
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Protocols
If PPPoE is not an option, DHCP with
authentication based on MAC address is the second
choice
Allows more secure DHCP environment
May be more compatible with some billing packages
Allows the same automatic provisioning of rate
limits as PPPoE
Avoid unauthenticated DHCP and static addressing
for clients
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Traffic Shaping and Rate
Limiting
With routed networks, we now control the
traffic
Rate limit customers at the tower, as close
to the edge as possible, most efficient way
Rate limits can be dynamically created using
PPPoE or authenticated DHCP
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Traffic Shaping and Rate
Limiting
Rate queues can be added to each router in
the system to allocate bandwidth to high
priority traffic which we will identify and
mark using mangle rules
VOIP and video can have TOS bit set,
carried throughout the networkand
prioritized
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Plan Rollout
Goal - deploy the new configuration while
avoiding or reducing downtime
Process - work from the edge of the
network inward
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Start Here
Add Routers in Place of Switches
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1. Add the new tower router to the
existing switch.
.16
8.1
.0/2
[Link]/24
192
2. Temporarily use address A from
[Link]/30 subnet on head end
router and address Z on tower
router. Address A will move to next
hop upstream from this tower later.
192
66.
76.
0
8/3
13.
.1
3. 0
68.
3. Move APs one at a time from
switch to router, may require clients
to power cycle to get a new IP.
/24
[Link] all clients have been rolled
over, repeat for next tower upstream
and move address A from head end
to next upstream.
See next slide...
Rollout Plan
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66.7
6.13
.20/
30
First Tower Deployment
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[Link]/30
[Link]/30
Second Tower Deployment
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[Link]/30
[Link]/30
Third Tower Deployment...
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Plan Rollout
Process can be tedious, require some
coordination with crews at head end and tower
OSPF will take care of routing as APs are rolled
over from switch to router
DHCP or PPPoE will take care of customer
addresses and rate limits
Once entire network is rolled over, QOS can
be added later
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Equipment Selection
Specific equipment selected depends on
work load, number of physical port
required and budget
Examples
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Head End Router
Good
$445
Good
Better
$395
$495
Thousands of Customers
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Head End Router
Best
$955
Many Thousands of Customers
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Tower Router
Good
Better
$159
$199
Less than 120 Customers
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Best
$240
Small Tower Router
Good
Better
$99
$130
20 or Less Customers
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Summary
Routed networks are infinitely scalable, bridged
networks die at about 300 customers
Routing your network requires a plan, IP plan,
network layout and coordinated rollout
Routed networks will require knowledge of OSPF,
DHCP, Radius, PPPoE and possibly BGP later
Once network is routed, roll out traffic shaping/
QOS
Product recommendations
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Products in
Presentation
MikroTik routers
IP Plan ([Link]
Cobian Backup, free auto FTP client to
backup your routers
Integrated radius based billing solution,
Platypus, DMA Softlab, Freeside, others?
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Get Trained
MikroTik / Ubiquiti training monthly:
MikroTik MTCINE Dallas, Feb 5-8
MikroTik MTCNA, College Station, Feb
11-13
Ubiquiti airMAX Training, Houston, March
5-7
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Questions?
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Thank You
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