For this tutorial, we will use a set of two Ubiquiti GigaBeam radios to create a PtP link.
The GigaBeam is a 60 GHz radio designed for low-interference and high-throughput connectivity. It includes a 5 GHz radio for failover. For the 60 GHz link, the GigaBeam supports full bandwidth use of 2.16 GHz.
Getting Started:
By default these radios will obtain a DHCP address from your DHCP Server, or will use a fall back address of 192.168.1.20 if you're using a stand alone PC to configure the unit and not connected to a live network.
When you have found the IP address of your device, enter it into your web browser and you will see the following screen:
This unit may ship with an RC1 firmware which doesn't have New Zealand on the list of countries.
For now select USA as the country and accept the terms and conditions, or if New Zealand is already coming up on the list select New Zealand.
You will be prompted to choose a username and password:
On the next screen Choose the System tab:
Choose " Check Now" to check for updates: (This will only work if you're connected to a live network, ie DHCP)
See the end of the blog for instructions on upgrading this firmware manually.
Follow the onscreen instructions to initiate the firmware upgrade.
Sometimes there is a staged upgrade, so once the radio has rebooted again, go to the system menu and choose check now, to ensure that you have the latest version.
In this instance there is a further upgrade available.
Again, you need to download and install the upgrade.
Now that the radio has the release firmware installed, you are able to select New Zealand as the country.
Once changed the radio will reboot again.
Now login to the radio again, we are ready to configure the PTP bridge.
Navigate to the Wireless Tab and choose the following settings. (Your choice of SSID and Password).
I lowered the 5ghz radio output and channel width as typically this product is used for short range PTP Links.
Now navigate to the Network tab, you don't need to save settings yet, as this will cause the radio to reboot.
As you can see, you're able to select DHCP or Static, in this case I am leaving the radio on DHCP.
System Tab:
Once you have set the Date/Time settings to NZ and give the device a name you can click Save Changes on the bottom right, the radio will now reboot.
It is now time to configure the 2nd Radio, you will need to follow through with the same upgrade and setup process as above.
The only settings that are required to be different are in the Wireless Tab.
The Access Point Option is to be left Off and you will use the same SSID and password as the first AP Radio, so that they can find each other and create a bridge.
I gave the 2nd unit a device name of Gigabeam Station.
Once this radio reboots with its new settings you will be able to navigate to the Dash Board and see the connection statistics
Here you can see that the 60ghz radio and 5ghz Radio are connected.
The 5ghz Radio is a fail over for times such as heavy rain, which can cause the high speed 60ghz connection to drop .
Under the tools menu you can have a play with these options:
Speed Test: IP Address of the Remote radio, username and password for that Radio.
In this case the radio is offering around 800mbps full duplex speeds.
Beam Forming Menu: Here you can see which part of the antenna array is being used for the connection.
Manual firmware upgrade option:
Navigate to ui.com and select Downloads on the top right.
Once you have downloaded the file, navigate to the System menu, click upload and open.
