You've tried everything...your router's WiFi zone is not covering your house fully? There
are still rooms with poor WiFi signal? Consider adding more access points.
If you already have a MikroTik AX device and if you want to increase your WiFi range,
by adding ANOTHER MikroTik AX device,
check out this video. Its going to be about a first time, basic, CAPsMAN installation.
But first...what is a CAPsMAN? CAPsMAN is a feature that allows you to transform any
MikroTik device into an "access point" manager. When managed, "APs" are called
"CAPs". Why separately configure each AP, especially if you have multiple, when you can
simply connect all of them to the CAPsMAN device and configure all of them through the CAPSMAN?
In our example, lets assume you have h-AP-AX-3 as the main WiFi router and you have h-AP-AX-2,
that you want to use as an additional AP for better coverage. In this scenario,
we will make AX3 a CAPsMAN and AX2 a CAP. The CAP needs to be connected to the CAPSMANs network
via an ethernet cable, so make sure that an ethernet cable is passed down along the way.
Let's start with the router. To check how to connect to the router's settings,
see our previous video (First Wifi Setup).
Step #1, connect to the device that is about to become a CAPSMAN and navigate
to the "Wi-Fi">"Remote CAP" tab. Click on the "CAPsMAN" settings and "enable" the functionality.
Step #2, create a preset profile with wifi settings that you want to apply
to all your managed Wi-Fi devices. Under the "WiFi">"Configuration" tab, add a new profile,
name your wireless network in the SSID field, select your country, in the
"security" tab, under the "Authentication Types" section, checkbox "WPA2 PSK" and "WPA3
PSK" options and, lastly, specify your wifi password in the "passphrase" field.
Step #3, configure provisioning rule in the "Wi-Fi">"Provisioning" tab. Those
rules specify which devices should receive the configuration from the previous step. Add a rule,
then specify "action"="create dynamic enabled" and select "master configuration" to be
the preset profile we've just made. If you require to separate 2.4 and 5 GHZ network names,
just create a second Wi-Fi config preset with a different SSID name for the other band. Then
create, two separate provisioning rule for each config preset but specify "Supported
Bands" setting, where you can set the band to which the preset should be applied to.
Step #4, in the WiFi>WiFi tab,
apply the same preset profile to your current wifi interfaces.
And now... get the CAP ready. Please remember that in factory settings,
most of our devices are configured as routers. So if you power on, for example, hAP-AX-2,
from the get-go, it will act as a router. But do not worry...you can
put your MikroTik WiFi device into the CAPs mode very easily using two options:
Option A) you can use the reset button to load the mode.
Press the reset button and hold it pressed. Then, apply power and wait for about 10
seconds. After the first 5 seconds, the LED will start blinking and
after 5 more seconds, the LED will switch to a solid color. This is when you release the button.
Option B) you can use graphical interface to do the exact same thing.
Connect to settings, navigate to the System>Reset Configuration tab,
checkbox "CAPs mode", click on "Reset Configuration" and confirm your choice.
You've followed either option, your AP
rebooted and loaded into the CAP mode... Connect this CAP with an ethernet cable
to the router's network and enter CAPSMAN's settings again.
The last step is to go to the "WiFi">"WiFi" tab and verify that
new cap-wifi interfaces appeared for management.
You can also confirm that an AP is managed under the "Remote CAP" tab.
That's it! You have 4 wifi interfaces to manage instead of 2,
which means you have successfully installed an additional AP! And
both devices should now broadcast the same wifi name because they use the same preset!
For more detailed info on the CAPSMAN options, please see our other CAPSMAN video by Toms.
Thank you for watching and stay tuned!