Port 1: Home network.
You will be able to connect to the hAP by the IP address assigned by your home’s router but any nodes beyond this switch will not be visible.
Ports 2-4: Connect your laptop to access the AREDN network. Local Service devices will also connect here.
IP addresses will be assigned by this hAP.
Port 5: Device to Device (DTD) connections.
Single AREDN node or connect to a dumb switch for multiple.
Note: This guide is based off the Windows operating system and assumes that you know how to modify network settings since the details vary depending on different versions and operating systems.
These instructions also work for the black MikroTik RB952Ui-5ac2nD-TC
Preparation:
Download and extract Tiny PXE Server
Download both Kernal and SysUpgrade (Not the V7) from the ARDEN website.
Rename the Kernal to rb.elf
Make sure that your computer is connected to another device. If not connected to another device it will not show up in network settings. It doesn’t matter what device as long as the device is on and recognized by your network card.
Change your ethernet settings to Manual with IPv4 address 192.168.1.10 and Network Mask to 255.255.255.0
Flash Firmware
Start pxesrv.exe.
Make sure that IP address 192.168.1.10 is selected.
Uncheck the Fielename if user box at the lower left.
Click the […] button on lower right and browse to and select the Kernal you renamed to rb.elf.
Connect an ethernet cable from your computer into port 1 of the hAP.
Press Online on the PXE server.
Hold the reset button while applying power to the hAP and wait for the PXE server to send the message “DoReadFile:rb.elf” This should take approximately 10-15 seconds.
Press Offline on the PXE server.
Move the ethernet cable from port 1 to port 2.
Open a Command Prompt and ping 192.168.1.1 to verify that the kernal has been successfully loaded.
Open a browser window and connect to 192.168.1.1. You should see the following:
Press Choose File, browse to and select the SysUgrade file.
Press Upload & Reboot.
After the timer has finished, Ener a Node Name and password. The password is alphanumeric only and will not accept characters.
Save & Reboot.
Record the IP address shown in your browser and wait for the timer to finish.
Change your computer ethernet settings to DHCP then disconnect and reconnect the ethernet cable and your computer should receive an IP address from the hAP.
Enter the new IP address in your browser’s address window.
Node Settings
Click on the person icon at top right and log in with the password you selected.
Click on Location at lower left and add your coordinates. This will add a map centered on your location.
Click on Radio at top right. You can select either 5GHz or 2.4GHz radios for your mesh but not both. The other radio can be used as a local hotspot to connect to your node by WiFi.
Select the radio channel and channel width to match other nodes you intend to connect to by RF.
Once you have made your changes, be sure to press Commit to save them.
Finally, reboot so the setting are loaded.