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Guest WiFi Network – Part 3 – Setting Up the TPLink

TL-WA801N Access Points

by admin

This article is one of a multi-part series on setting up a segregated Guest Network, including a guest WiFi
network, within a Home Network. It is essentially an introduction to Virtual Local Area Networks (
VLAN), provides a simple use case for VLANs and gives a complete set of recommended hardware plus
details the setup of that hardware.

The series of Guest Network articles progresses as follows:

1. We select a set of low cost hardware to meet our criteria of creating a Guest Network, including Guest
WiFi, within our Home Network.

2. We go into some detail why we use VLANs and a managed switch. Understanding VLANs is key to
understanding how to build a guest network.

3. We set up the TPLink TL-WA801N WiFi Access points. This is a very simple process where configure
each AP onto our Home Network and configure the AP's WiFi to operate on our separate Guest
Network VLAN.

4. We set up our managed switch, a Cisco Linksys SG300-10P, to send Home Network traffic to only the
Home Network devices and Guest Network traffic to only the Guest Network devices. And we show
the special case of mapping the Guest Network Access Points onto both networks simultaneously.

5. We begin preparing our main router, a TPLink TL-WR1043ND, to create and manage the VLAN
traffic for our Home Network and our Guest Network. Since the WR1043ND does not come with
802.1q VLAN support out of the box, this article is where we install openwrt on the WR1043ND.

6. Lastly, we configure openwrt on the TPLink TL-WR1043ND to create and manage all the VLAN
traffic.

In this article of the series, Part 3, we configure the TPLink TL-WA801N Access Points to create a WiFi
Guest Network. This is a interesting VLAN case since we want to put the AP web configuration page on our
Home Network, but have the Guest WiFi run from our Guest Network. This approach
discourages our guests from attempting to mess with our Access Points.

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Why We Selected the TPLink TL-WA801ND

This TL-WA801ND Access Point has the following features we are using:

1. They support multiple WiFi SSID's, each on their own VLAN, so we can easily add a Guest WiFi
Network.

2. They offer passive PoE which allows us to power the Access Point through our Ethernet wiring instead
of having to find a nearby 110VAC outlet. This requires a PoE switch and the TPLink TL-POE10R that
converts the 48V PoE to the 9V required by the WA801ND. If you get an idea to use the TL-POE10R
to power a different AP, be sure the AP does not draw more power (amps) than the TL-POE10R will
provide.

3. They allow us to put the configuration address of the AP on our Home Network while the
Guest Network is on a different VLAN (this is essentially just a side effect of the multi-SSID feature).

4. They are inexpensive with great reviews.

TPLink TL-WA801ND VLAN-Capable Access Point with TL-POE10R PoE PoE Splitter

VLANs to Be Used

We'll be using two VLANs simultaneously on our Guest Access Points:

VLAN1. The Home Network at 10.32.147.X. We'll statically map the AP's configuration web page to
one of our available Home Network IP addresses.

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VLAN4. This is the guest network at 10.32.148.X. The WiFi access point will use the Guest Network
DHCP to hand out Guest Network IP addresses (10.32.148.X) to Guest WiFi client devices.

Guest Network Diagram

Set Up the Guest Access Point

The TPLink TL-WA801N Access Point comes out of the box ready to support VLANs for the WiFi.

To configure the TL-WA801N:

1. Set its web configuration IP address at a fixed address on the 10.32.147.X primary home network.

2. Configure a WiFi SSID on VLAN4.

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Setting the IP Address of the WA801 on Our Main Home Network

When we add a second Guest Network Access Point, we'll give it a unique IP address (we will not re-use the
10.32.147.9 address above). For example, our second AP will instead use 10.32.147.10.

Setting the WA801 for WiFi on VLAN4

When we install a second Guest Network Access Point, it will use the exact same WiFi settings as above.
This will allow our guests to enter the WiFi password just once on their client device, then travel through
our home, relying on their client device to select the strongest WiFi radio signal.

What's Next - Configuring the Managed Switch

Now that we have our Guest Access Points ready to accept traffic on VLAN4, we will set up our managed

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switch to thoughtfully route VLAN traffic to devices on our Home Network and Guest Network.

Next article: Configuring the Cisco Linksys Managed Switch.

Articles in This Series:

Guest Wifi Network - Part 1 - Device Selection

Guest Wifi Network - Part 2 - Why VLANs

Guest Wifi Network - Part 3 - Setting Up the TPLink TL-WA801N Access Points

Guest Wifi Network - Part 4 - Setting Up the Cisco Linksys Sg300-10P Managed Switch

Guest Wifi Network - Part 5 - Installing Openwrt on the TPLink TL-WR1043ND Router

Guest Wifi Network - Part 6 - Setting Up the TPLink TL-WR1043ND Router

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