Internet Ubiquiti Bullet - Any Good ?

[foggysail]

Thanks Pat---- it was a struggle without the antenna.

Foggy

[Auspicious]

Originally Posted by foggysail

REALLY???? Do you really mean that????

Foggy

Yes. If you have trouble I'll help you.

[foggysail]

Originally Posted by Auspicious

Yes. If you have trouble I'll help you.

Auspicious--

I followed your posts (at least I think they are yours) over in the Sailnet group. You always displayed positive posts, I really do thank you for your offer. I do however think it takes somewhat longer than an hour or so to grab networking essentials but that is just my opinion. And yes, Ubiquiti does point to Wikipedia for a reference source.

One major problem that I had getting bullet to work involved changing its IP to 192.168.10.20. I had to use 192.168.1.20. Further I did not understand why changing the bullet's IP was recommended. Richardhula's installation guide also recommends the xxx.xxx.10.20 IP. Heck, as long as mine functions, that is all I presently care about. Plan to install it this weekend. More later--

Thanks again--

Foggy

[capngeo]

I got Bob's (islandtimepc) set up using the bullet... I'm six miles off Key West as I type this.... Unless you're a network geek, the best way to go is his kit (IMHO).

THANKS BOB!

[Auspicious]

Originally Posted by foggysail

One major problem that I had getting bullet to work involved changing its IP to 192.168.10.20.

One of the small challenges is that some of the resellers--including Islandtimepc and wififorboats change the configuration of the Bullet from the factory one. There are two issues that result - one is that the guidance on the Internet can be misleading, and the other is that if you do a hardware reset when something gets really pear-shaped you are back to factory settings which may not match the instructions you have from the reseller.

Depending on the configuration you have out of the box (most importantly whether DHCP is turned on or not) you may have to set the IP address of your computer (not the Bullet) to be able to finish configuration. The factory configuration does require that. Once you turn DHCP service on at the Bullet and reset your computer to take DHCP everything gets really easy.

The only "network engineering" you really need to know is to have a reasonable grip on the architecture of routers, bridges, and switches; what DHCP is; and how IP addressing works, particularly non-routable addresses (like 192.168.x.x).

[foggysail]

Originally Posted by Auspicious

One of the small challenges is that some of the resellers--including Islandtimepc and wififorboats change the configuration of the Bullet from the factory one. There are two issues that result - one is that the guidance on the Internet can be misleading, and the other is that if you do a hardware reset when something gets really pear-shaped you are back to factory settings which may not match the instructions you have from the reseller.

Depending on the configuration you have out of the box (most importantly whether DHCP is turned on or not) you may have to set the IP address of your computer (not the Bullet) to be able to finish configuration. The factory configuration does require that. Once you turn DHCP service on at the Bullet and reset your computer to take DHCP everything gets really easy.

The only "network engineering" you really need to know is to have a reasonable grip on the architecture of routers, bridges, and switches; what DHCP is; and how IP addressing works, particularly non-routable addresses (like 192.168.x.x).

I did several resets immediately after changing the bullet's IP and found I could not reach Ubiquiti using that IP (xxx.xxx.10.20). But I have no problems using xxx.xxx.1.20 and the bullets DHCP is functioning. I think I can relax somewhat.

Purchased 50' of twisted Cat 5 today, brown in color, not blue. I was advised that it is not rated for outdoor use but heck, if the stuff only lasts a couple of years or so, I'll replace it. My new toy is getting mounted this weekend. We are taking the boat out, I do want to have the system working even if all the WIFI sites are encrypted. EXCITING!

Foggy

[Patrick_DeepPlaya]

With regards to the cable, I used direct burial ethernet cable, but I was running it up my mast so I wanted it to be a tad tougher.

-p

[davefromoregon]

192.168.1.20 is not an address that you will find outside of your home network and probably not there either.

Originally Posted by foggysail

Pat--

Thanks for your willingness to help. My printer is printing the users guide (Thanks DotDun) as I type. I want to go over that before I post anything silly.

I was confused about having to go to192.168.1.20 because I could not get any response at that URL. I did learn this is not a general web site but a site that the Bullet communicates with for setup.

I tried using the set up instructions for the NanoStation, completed Part 2 where you set the TCP/IP back to OBTAIN IP ADDRESS AUTOMATICALLY along with the DNS server. At that point though, I was unable to get to the Site Survey.

But I do not have an antenna connected to the Bullet yet. I won't get that until next week. I believe what I have left to do is Part 3 that includes the Site Survey and setting the Main Page.

I do have a simple question before I read the manual though. When trying to do Part 3, my guess is the wifi link to my router is being made through the Bullet and not my local wifi card in the laptop.

Again-- thanks

Foggy

[foggysail]

Originally Posted by davefromoregon

192.168.1.20 is not an address that you will find outside of your home network and probably not there either.

Dave, that may well be. But I can assure you that 192.168.10.20 IS UNREACHABLE here in Massachusetts. But why should that be if it is a valid URL? OK, maybe I am misdescribing (similar to a politician mis-speaking) this as a website. It is the site that handshakes with the bullet. The type of world cruising I will do in a 40' power boat with two big gas engines ain't gonna be to far........

One other thing, the 192.168.1.20 is Ubiquiti's site where the basic setup is done on the bullet so I would believe it should be reachable where ever one happens to be.

No arguments here, just trying to understand the purpose of changing the IP assigned to bullet for general use.

Foggy

[Hillbillylad]

Originally Posted by foggysail

Dave, that may well be. But I can assure you that 192.168.10.20 IS UNREACHABLE here in Massachusetts. But why should that be if it is a valid URL? OK, maybe I am misdescribing (similar to a politician mis-speaking) this as a website. It is the site that handshakes with the bullet. The type of world cruising I will do in a 40' power boat with two big gas engines ain't gonna be to far........

One other thing, the 192.168.1.20 is Ubiquiti's site where the basic setup is done on the bullet so I would believe it should be reachable where ever one happens to be.

No arguments here, just trying to understand the purpose of changing the IP assigned to bullet for general use.

Foggy

The 192.168........ IP numbers are local to your system and have nothing to do with the outside world. Usually they get allocated to parts of your system by your router.
Ubiquiti gave set it to that in house IP so that you can talk to the equipment and configure it is all. The page you see is generated on the unit not the internet.

[Auspicious]

Originally Posted by foggysail

But I can assure you that 192.168.10.20 IS UNREACHABLE here in Massachusetts.

192.168.10.20 is an address in one of three private IP address spaces. Private IP addresses are not routed across the Internet; this is a purposeful and elegant solution to the problem of limited IP addresses.

This particular address space includes all the addresses between 192.168.0.0 and 192.168.255.255 inclusive.

In order to reach a device with an address in the private address space the device you are using for access must be on the same network segment (which just means there are no routers between the devices, only switches and cables) AND also have an address in the same space.

Note that the Ubiquiti Bullet is a router. Accordingly it will end up with two addresses: one on the external wifi side, generally assigned using DHCP by the shoreside wifi access point and one on the internal Ethernet side. It is the latter that you use to access the Bullet's internally generated configuration web page. As noted above, access is only possible if your computer has an address in the same private address space. That is what you accomplish when you go through the steps in the instructions to turn off DHCP on your computer and assign a fixed IP address to your computer's Ethernet port.

One of the configuration choices you have on the Bullet once you do reach the Bullet's internal page is to turn DHCP on for the internal network. Once that is done, you can set the Ethernet port on your computer back the way it was to get its address from the network. Thereafter the Bullet will act as a DHCP server and provide an IP address in range to any other device that connects to the network. Even if all you have is the Bullet and one computer with just a cable between that is a network.

Once you have everything set up, you will be able to look at the Bullet internal web page and see the internal LAN address (192.168.1.20 I think unless you move the entire address space as I have for important but not relevant reasons) and the external WLAN address (provided by the shoreside access point and could be nearly anything). The Bullet takes care of all the address translation for the packets whizzing back and forth between your computer and whatever web site or other Internet service you are communicating with.

I hope this sheds some glimmer of light.

[foggysail]

WOW!!! WHAT A GREAT POST!!!!

Thanks Auspicious--- I intend to do more reading!!! But now I have a better understanding.

I believe your post so important to using the Bullet, that it should be saved someplace for others to also benefit from reading it!

Foggy

[DotDun]

Auspicious, a great tutorial!

Just a couple of points for clarification.

Originally Posted by Auspicious

In order to reach a device with an address in the private address space the device you are using for access must be on the same network segment (which just means there are no routers between the devices, only switches and cables) AND also have an address in the same space.

In the context that most people will use the Bullet, you are correct that you have to be on the same network to communicate with a device using private addressing. But, one can build a network with multiple routers using private address space, IOW, routers will learn and route these networks, it's just that routers on the Internet do not have the private address spaces in their routing tables, hence these address spaces will not work across the Internet. When using private address space there must be a Network Address Translation (NAT) function operational between the private networks and the Internet. The Bullet does perform NAT if configured to do so.

Originally Posted by Auspicious

Note that the Ubiquiti Bullet is a router. Accordingly it will end up with two addresses: one on the external wifi side, generally assigned using DHCP by the shoreside wifi access point and one on the internal Ethernet side.

The Bullet can also serve as a bridge (or 'SOHO' bridge). Users will probably find that bridge mode is harder to deal with as you will lose access to the Bullet due to IP address assignment now a function of the far away associated network.

[foggysail]

Well the DEMI-Gods of ETHER have contacted my laptop!

I don't know what happened, but just before typing in this post, I reset my Bullet's IP to .192.168.10.20. Yes, you did guess correctly. It worked! Why? Well it should have worked. Why it did not before is a mystery that at this point only the Ether Gods know. It works, so I will leave this behind me with a smile. To the Gods---

Foggy

[foggysail]

Originally Posted by DotDun

Auspicious, a great tutorial!

Just a couple of points for clarification.



But, one can build a network with multiple routers using private address space, IOW, routers will learn and route these networks,

it's just that routers on the Internet do not have the private address spaces in their routing tables, hence these address spaces will not work across the Internet.

DotDun--

General networking question--- I thought networking routers entered a learning mode to allow adding a new address to their routing table. Do they have provisions that prevent "learning" private addresses such as 192.168.xxx.xxx?

Thanks--

Foggy