Interface-Pairing

Specify which type of interface pairings an anchor AP allows based on the AutoWDS profile assigned to it. The setting is mainly relevant for devices with more than one physical WLAN interface.

The interface pairing influences the search by the AP for suitable anchor APs in client mode, taking the participating WLAN interfaces into account. This specifies whether the unassociated AP has to connect to the equivalent physical WLAN interface of the anchor AP to integrate (i.e. with WLAN-1 to WLAN-1 or with WLAN-2 to WLAN-2), or whether it may pair with other physical interfaces. The definition of the interface pairing makes it possible to exclude invalid pairings, which may occur due to the assignment of different frequency bands by the WLC configuration.

For instance, the anchor APs of your AutoWDS base network might be operating with the physical WLAN interfaces WLAN-1 set to the 2.4GHz band and WLAN-2 on the 5GHz band: If, for example, an unassociated AP is using a physical WLAN interface to search on both frequency bands, the interface pairing Strict prevents it from selecting WLAN-1 in the 5 GHz band in order to connect with the WLAN-2 of the anchor AP. Although this connection would be legitimate for the WLC configuration, the different radio settings would make it impossible to establish the P2P connection. The unassociated AP would lose the connection and would have to start a reconfiguration process.

If, on the other hand, both physical WLAN interfaces transmit on the same band, the interface pairing Mixed is also permissible, as the problematic configuration described above cannot occur.