Skip to main content
growitsecure1
growitsecure1
Visitor III
February 27, 2025
Solved

Six FortiAP 234Fs, three wired directly to FortiGate 60F. Configure all to use same SSID?

  • February 27, 2025
  • 3 replies
  • 1594 views

Greetings... 

 

I have a FortiGate 60F in a building that is central to three legs of a campus, south, west and north. Mounted on south, west and north exterior/outdoor walls of the central building are three FortiAP 234F units providing WiFi to each leg as noted.

 

Some recent renovations have left the signal poor at the end of each leg inside buildings, so we have purchased three more FortiAP 234Fs and plan to turn the existing WiFi network to a Mesh Wireless Network and are curious as to the best route we should go to configure this.

 

Currently, all three APs are directly wired to the FortiGate and use the same SSID to make connecting and roaming the campus seamless.

 

Each leg will have two FortiAP 234F units, a total of six on campus, one direct wired connection to FortiGate as noted and one mounted at end of each leg to provide stronger signal.

 

Is it best to set up each leg as its own Mesh Wireless Network with its own SSID, or can all six units use one, single SSID for users to be able to roam without switching? 

 

So, in other words, can wired and wireless APs share the same SSID in this scenario?  I assume so, but have not found a similar case to be sure. 

 

Thank you for considering!

Best answer by ebilcari

I would suggest a single SSID for the whole campus. I don't see any advantage in using dedicated SSIDs for each part of the campus, especially when users will roam between areas. A backhaul SSID will be created for the AP/Mesh communication, more details can be found in this section of the configuration guide.

3 replies

ebilcari
Staff
ebilcariAnswer
Staff
February 28, 2025

I would suggest a single SSID for the whole campus. I don't see any advantage in using dedicated SSIDs for each part of the campus, especially when users will roam between areas. A backhaul SSID will be created for the AP/Mesh communication, more details can be found in this section of the configuration guide.

Emirjon
    growitsecure1
    growitsecure1Author
    Visitor III
    February 28, 2025

    Thank you, ebilcari, for that information and confirming my hunch.  May I ask...  1. Currently, the three APs are wired direct to the FortiGate and share the same SSID.  Would you recommend physically  disconnecting two of the existing APs from the FortiGate to become leaf APs and leaving one AP connected to the FortiGate as the root AP, or would the three existing APs function in a Mesh environment while directly connected (Ethernet cable) to the FortiGate, using the same SSID configured for Mesh?  This way, if one goes down, the other two that are direct connected to the FortiGate would still be up?  2. Would it be correct to say that there can only be one root AP in the Mesh environment?

     

    Thank you, once again, for sharing your expertise.

    ebilcari
    Staff
    ebilcari
    Staff
    March 2, 2025

    In mesh deployments it's recommended to have as many wired AP as possible in order to have a good performance. If the wired connection is not that stable, the root AP can also be configured to use mesh as a backup connection. If large amount of traffic is expected, you should keep the wired AP connected. If they are nearby, the leaf AP can also fallback to the next root AP in case of the wired link failure, some details are shown here.

    Emirjon
    growitsecure1
    growitsecure1Author
    Visitor III
    March 31, 2025

    Thank you, very much, for adding that info. In this setup, there are currently three existing standalone Wired APs all Ethernet connected to the FortiGate AP Controller with approximately 30-40 feet of cable which does deliver good signal to each 'leg' of the network, north, south and west of the central building on same SSID. We just need to strengthen the far ends of each leg, so the plan is to convert to Mesh and add one additional AP to each of these 3 wired legs for a total of six APs.

     

    Glad to see recommendation to have multiple wired APs in a Mesh deployment, thank you, much for clearing that up as I have not found that statement in my searches through documentation, etc.

     

    I'm still a bit confused and need to clear up the Mesh Root AP (MRAP) config before moving forward. Should any of these be setup as Bridge?

     

    Should the three existing, standalone, wired APs each be setup as MRAPs? Each functioning as MRAP at same time on same SSID? Or would only one wired AP be configured as MRAP and other two wired APs setup as MLAPs?

     

    Regarding the backhaul. We have an SSID for the backhaul on 5Ghz radio, it makes sense that this SSID should not be broadcast. True?

     

    Thank you, very much!!!

    growitsecure1
    growitsecure1Author
    Visitor III
    February 28, 2025

    I was able to find answer to what I think was the primary thing I was trying to understand, that is that only one AP can be a root AP.  Thank you, again, I will configure a new SSID for Mesh WiFi Network and migrate all to one, main AP as root.  May seem an obvious solution, I wanted to make sure before causing chaos that I could not manage.  Cheers!

    Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement