Need two building one instrument advice

Hi All,

I have a customer with two separate metal buildings.
It is an industrial setting. Both buildings are
wired into the same (Ethernet) network with
the occasional computer sprinkled among the
industrial machines.

The customer has come up with a new method to
calibrate the machines. He has purchased an
all in one hand held calibrator that contains
its own copy of XP and 802.11g/WPA1. So
he needs wireless. This hand held test gadget
will be the only wireless device on the network.
It will be used in both building, depending on
what machine need calibrating. The hand held
needs to automatically log into each building's
AP when the technician walks through the door.

So, I figure that I can put an AP inside each
building. With both buildings being metal and
a bit of distance between them, the two AP's
would be very hard pressed to see each other.

I was thinking of putting both AP's on the
same SSID but using different channels.
I was wondering if this would help of hinder
the "automatic logon" when walking through
the door requirement.

Anyone has any advice on the issue?

Many thanks,
-T

Jeff Liebermann wrote:
> On Thu, 29 Jan 2009 12:24:09 -0800, Todd <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>> I was thinking of putting both AP's on the
>> same SSID but using different channels.
>> I was wondering if this would help of hinder
>> the "automatic logon" when walking through
>> the door requirement.
>>
>> Anyone has any advice on the issue?
>
> You're on the right track. You need two wireless access points *OR*
> two wireless routers configured to act as access points. See:
> <http://wireless.navas.us/wiki/Wi-Fi_How_To#Use_a_wireless_router_as_a_wireless_acce ss_point>
> Methinks you'll find the wireless routers to be slightly cheaper and
> more available.
>
> You can use the same SSID mostly because it's unlikely that the
> handheld will be in a position to hear both AP's. However, it's not
> really necessary unless the device insists on automatic connections or
> has some provisions for seamless roaming. I would take the easy way
> out and just use two different SSID's.
>
> As for automatic logon, it really depends on whether the device is
> smart enough to all multiple configurations and login combinations. If
> so, then you can use different SSID's with corresponding login/passwd.
> However, if it assume that there's only one SSID on the planet, you'll
> probably need to configure both AP's to the same SSID, and just see
> what happens. Seamless roaming is not commonly supported and it may
> have the bad habit of tenaciously refusing to disconnect from one AP,
> before switching to another.
>
> You could use the same non-overlapping channels (1, 6, 11), again
> because the device is unlikely to hear both AP's at the same time.
> However, if you don't have any interference issues (unlikely inside a
> metal building), you should probably use different channels.
>
> Selection of IP addresses is strictly for web based configuration. For
> example, if your router is 192.168.1.1, then you could use 192.168.1.2
> and 192.168.1.3 for the two AP's. The actual IP doesn't really matter
> as long as there are no duplicates and that they're all in the same
> Class C IP block.
>


Thank you!

I will do the two SSID route. The hand held calibrator
will handle multiple SSID's and allows for automatic
logon. I will position the channels away from anything
that manages to get through the metal building from
adjacent businesses.

-T