A network is rarely one device. As soon as a router, a switch and a few access points have to work together, the VLAN numbers, the SSIDs and the passwords have to match everywhere. That is exactly where doing it by hand goes wrong. In site mode you enter those things once.
1. Add your devices
Pick the model and the role for each one: router, switch, access point, CAPsMAN controller, and so on. Names follow the role (gw-01, sw-01, ap-01) and count up by themselves; you can overwrite them.
2. Fill in the shared settings
Scroll down to Shared settings. This goes to every device in the site:
- Name of the site and the administrator password for every device.
- LAN address of the router — only the router gets this address. Switches and access points take their management address over DHCP.
- VLANs of the site — the table that goes to every device, so a tag means the same network everywhere. Only the router gets the addresses and DHCP as well.
- SSIDs of the site — every access point broadcasts these. For roaming the name, security and passphrase have to match everywhere, and this table is what makes that so.
3. Watch the defaults
A new VLAN starts at 10 with 192.168.10.0/24. Each next one adds 10, and the third octet of the address follows the VLAN number. Handy while it is right, but if your plan uses other numbers or other subnets, overwrite them straight away. That is the mistake that otherwise surfaces once the scripts are already on the devices.
Mind the size of your subnets too. A /30 gives two usable addresses: enough for a point to point link, too few for a management network with a handful of switches. And use private addresses: 172.16.0.0 through 172.31.255.255 is private, 172.168.x.x is not and belongs to somebody else.
4. Adjust individual devices
Click a device to configure it on its own. Every part is available there, just like advanced mode: routing and BGP, Wi-Fi, CAPsMAN, VPN, containers. Only what you change there is stored on that device; the rest keeps following the shared settings. A device with its own changes is marked, and one button puts it back on the site defaults.
5. Draw the cables
Switch to the network board and connect the ports. That is not only a picture: the configurator then knows which port has to be a trunk and which an access port, instead of guessing. It also puts a comment on every port saying what is on the other end.
6. Generate the scripts
You get one script per device. Paste each script on the device it belongs to, not all on the same one. Above the scripts sit the checks across the whole site: a VLAN that exists on one end of a cable and not on the other, two devices with the same address or the same name, a cable into a WAN port, a loop, or an MTU that is not the same everywhere. Those are the mistakes you would otherwise notice when the network half works.