Sophos Wireless Mesh with Antenna

Question

We are using Sophos Firewall with mutiple APs. Now we want to connect a Webcam across the street. Is it posible with Sophos to build a mesh wireless Network (Bridge)? If yes, which APs do work (AP10, AP30, AP55?). 
 
 And is it possible to connect external Antennas, we have a Outdoor Directional + Outdoor Directional Antenna. 
 
 Thank you.

David Birdsall · Answer

Philipp, 
 You are asking three questions about three separate issues here: 
 1. Unknown said: And is it possible to connect external Antennas, we have a Outdoor Directional + Outdoor Directional Antenna. 
 Only the AP55, AP100, and AP100X have external antenna connections. You will need to Contact Sophos to figure out if your antennas will work with these Sophos APs 
 2. Unknown said: Is it posible with Sophos to build a mesh wireless Network (Bridge)? If yes, which APs do work (AP10, AP30, AP55?). 
 Yes: Sophos UTM: How to setup a wireless mesh network and Sophos Wireless Access Points: Mesh compatibility list 
 Wireless Mesh is a way to remotely control and communicate with Wireless APs without running a Cat5/6 cable to them. You must still run power to to the APs, so they will operate. Your web cam would need to be Wi-Fi capable to connect to an AP in Mesh mode. 
 3. Unknown said: We are using Sophos Firewall with mutiple APs. Now we want to connect a Webcam across the street. 
 Good Quality Digital Video requires a lot of uninterrupted throughput. If your webcam is not Wi-Fi capable, if the distance from web came to closest AP is over 200 feet, or if there are obstructions in the line of site from nearest AP to the Web Cam mount, you want to use a wireless bridge instead. 
 A Wireless bridge is a way to run a long distance Cat5/6 cable without the cable. One of the bridge transceivers will connect to your network on the Sophos Firewall end. The other bridge transceiver will connect to your camera through a switch or dual-port Injector. This is a common setup for providing video surveillance or Wi-Fi service in a parking lot or other large open space. 
 There are multiple advantages to this setup: 
 A. You can use a Wireless Bridge system from any vendor. Although the Bridge system may need multiple IP addresses, the entire Wireless Bridge operates as one cable. You can use a Sophos AP as a Wireless Bridge, but you would be using a fairly expensive AP to replicate a cable. 
 B. The range of an AP bridge setup would be limited to 300 feet or less. If you don't have a spare compatible Sophos AP to use, there are other cheaper options with ranges of several kilometers. A good Wireless Bridge system; such as: UniFi NanoBeam , UniFi PowerBeam , or Ruckus Wireless P300 , can communicate well beyond the 300' limitations of Wi-Fi and copper cables. The UniFi NanoBeam should work fine for less than $200 a pair. If you need more range or throughput, you can go with the PowerBeam or step up to Ruckus Wireless P300. *If you expect your bridges to be put to abuse by storms or other factors, go with the the robust, solid Ruckus Wireless P300. The UniFi options are thin metal and cheap plastic. 
 C. If your Web Cam is not POE powered and has its own power supply, you can simply use the POE injector that comes with the bridge end, and plug the camera video feed into the Data port of the injector. If your Web cam is POE powered, then you only need the appropriate POE/POE+ switch that can power both your web cam and one end of the bridge pair. This will also allow you to connect other devices to the switch to be broadcast back across the Wireless Bridge. 
 D. The bridge transceivers can be placed anywhere. They do not need to be next to the Firewall or the Web Cam. With a POE switch the Wireless bridge end on the camera side can be up to 600 feet from the web camera, using Cat5/6 UTP cables (300 feet from camera to switch, and 300 feet from switch to bridge end). The same applies to the firewall end. 
 E. Bridges can be Point-to-Point in pairs, or they can be Point-to-Multipoint with one transceiver on the firewall end communicating with up to 5 others. Each of those remote 5 transceivers can have multiple cameras and other devices connected to them via a switch. 
 F. Vehicle traffic can flow through the bridge field. If you can't get the bridge pair high enough, you can allow vehicles to drive through the wireless bridge, as long as vehicle traffic is flowing perpendicular to the broadcast direction and does not stop in between two ends of the wireless bridge. Any momentary interruptions of vehicles passing through the field will be immediately retransmitted. This usually does not affect your video feed.