The behavior of an access point when exchanging data with other access points is defined in the "Point-to-point operation mode".
- Off: The access point only communicates with mobile clients
- On: The access point can communicate with other access points and with mobile clients
- Exclusive: The access point only communicates with other base stations
In the 5 -GHz band, the automatic search for vacant WLAN channels can lead to several simultaneous test transmissions from multiple access points, with the result that they do not find each other. This stalemate situation can be avoided with the appropriate "Channel selection scheme":
- Master: This access point takes over the leadership when selecting a free WLAN channel.
- Slave: All other access points will search for a channel until they have found a transmitting Master.
Thus it is recommended for the 5 GHz band that one central access point should be configured as 'Master' and all other point-to-point partners should be configured as 'Slave'. In the 2.4 GHz band, too, this setting simplifies the establishment of point-to-point connections if the automatic channel search is activated.
Note: It is imperative that the channel selection scheme is configured
correctly if the point-to-point connections are to be encrypted with
802.11i/WPA (a master as authentication server and a slave as client).