From Ubiquiti Wiki

Contents 1 How to configure PicoStation 2 in mesh mode 1.1 Step 1: Flash ROBIN firmware for Ubiquiti Pico2 (Microsoft Windows users) 1.2 Step 2: Create an Open-Mesh account 1.3 Step 3: Basic Open-Mesh Dashboard configuration 1.3.1 General 1.3.2 "Access Point #1" 1.3.3 "Access Point #2" 1.3.4 "Advanced" 1.4 Step 4: Recovery of Ubiquiti AirOS firmware

How to configure PicoStation 2 in mesh mode

Author: Salvador Bertenbreiter May 3th 2009

This method is based on the ROBIN firmware (developed by islesman) and runs using the Open-mesh platform (Open-Mesh.com)

Warning: The use of this firmware disables certain device functions, such as LED signals and the Ubiquiti Web interface. In case you want to go back to the AirOS firmware (factory default), please refer to the section “Recovery of Ubiquiti firmware” Momentarily, this method only can be used with PicoStation 2. Don’t try to use these steps with other Ubiquiti-based devices.

Step 1: Flash ROBIN firmware for Ubiquiti Pico2 (Microsoft Windows users)

First, you will need to download and install Winpcap. You can download it from here: (http://www.winpcap.org/install/default.htm)

Then, download and run the flash utility. You can download it from here: (http://www.open-mesh.com/flashing/open-mesh-flash.exe)

Once the program is running, select your network card; connect the Ethernet cable to your PC’s network card and plug in the PoE adapter to AC power. Don’t connect the Ethernet to the PicoStation yet.

Now, connect the Ethernet cable to PicoStation, then quickly (~ 1 second) press the “Go” button. Important: in order for the process to work smoothly, the second LED (Ethernet connection indicator) must be lit.

The flash process takes approximately 7 minutes. Once the process is completed, the utility (Open-Mesh-Flash) will close and the device will restart automatically.

Once you finish these steps your device will have ROBIN firmware loaded. Then follow steps 2 and 3, when they’re finished connect one device directly to your Internet connection.

Step 2: Create an Open-Mesh account

First, go to (www.OpenMesh.com), and select the Dashboard option (bottom of the Web page).

Then, in the “Getting started: As easy as…” zone, press the Create link.

Once there, fill in the required information:

- Network Name

- Password

- Email

- Network Location

- Email for notifications

To finish registration, press the Create button.

Step 3: Basic Open-Mesh Dashboard configuration

First, go to (www.open-mesh.com/dashboard.php)

Sign in with your username and password, and press the Edit button.´

You will see four subsections: General, Access Point #1, Access Point #2 and Advanced.

General

In this section, you can add or edit nodes (network devices), show and block users, also there are some other management options.

Add/Edit nodes

This option lets you add new nodes based in Ubiquiti PicoStation 2 to your mesh network. When pressing this button, a pop-up window with a map will be displayed. Select where your node will be located by clicking there. A chart will appear to indicate the device’s MAC address, name and description; optionally you can edit latitude and longitude. To add the node, press the “Add” button.

Remember: The MAC address of each device is printed near to the RJ45 connector.

Repeat this step for all PicoStation 2 nodes that will compose your mesh network.

"Access Point #1"

The parameters of the principal network can be configured here.

Network Name: The name (SSID) you'd like users to see on all your nodes

WPA-PSK Key (Password): Password (minimum 8 characters) for this access point. Leave blank for an open network.

Captive Portal Type

- Open: Allow to setup a Splash page, bandwidth and user control. No per-user authentication or pay for use.

- Other Captive Portal Providers: Additional third-party captive portal solutions.

Splash Page: The page users will see first; they will have to click an "enter" link to use the network.

"Access Point #2"

Here, you can configure the secondary Access Point, also known as private network.

Enable: Activates or disables this Access Point.

Hide: Check to hide the Access Point’s name (SSID)

Network Name: This is the name (SSID) of your private network.

WPA-PSK Key (Password): Password (minimum 8 characters) for this access point. The field must be filled in and you must have an open AP.

"Advanced"

Root password: The password used to access the network nodes via SSH.

Gateway LAN Block: Prevents users on the wireless networks from accessing your wired LAN.

Access Point Isolation: Check this option to prevent malicious users from accessing shared resources of other network users (for example: shared printer or files).

Use OLSR: This is to use OLSR instead of the BATMAN routing protocol. Enabling this option is highly recommended.

To expand your wireless network, all that’s needed is to add more nodes to the Open-Mesh dashboard and connect them to AC power.

It’s very important to tick the “Disable Automatic Upgrades” and “Use Test firmware” options in the “Advanced page”.

Once all steps are completed, you must connect the Gateway device (directly connected to the Internet) to the ADSL modem, Cable modem or router, using an Ethernet cable. Skip this for repeaters, because they automatically detect the configuration. Currently, Open-mesh nodes only support automatic IP (DHCP client) Internet connection. If you’re using PPPoE, please first install a router that offer DHCP IPs to clients.

When you connect the Gateway to the Internet for the first time, it can take up to 2 hours to be a hundred percent operative. Please be patient.

To see the network status, log in to the Open-Mesh dashboard, and press the “View Status” button. There you can get information about quality of links and uptime of nodes.

Step 4: Recovery of Ubiquiti AirOS firmware

Requirements

- Direct Ethernet cable connection between PC and PicoStation.

- Network settings of PC: IP address: 192.168.1.254 and net mask: 255.255.255.0

- TFTP client on PC (TFTPD32 is recommended)

- PicoStation firmware file. You can download it from here: (http://www.ubnt.com/support/pico2.php)

Recovery procedure

- First of all, disconnect the Ethernet cable from PicoStation.

- Connect the Ethernet Cable and immediately press the Reset button (near the device’s RJ45 connector) for 10 seconds.

- Make sure that PicoStation responds to pinging (command: ping 192.168.1.20, by default). If not, please repeat previous steps.

- Using the TFTP client, upload the firmware file (extension .bin) to the PicoStation’s IP address (192.168.1.20, by default). If PicoStation doesn’t accept the firmware filename, rename it to “flash_update”.

- Signal LEDs will be blinking during firmware upgrade.

- Wait for about 7 minutes (Warning: Do not disconnect the Ethernet cable during procedure).

- Now the devive should be alive and with the AirOS firmware loaded.