This chapter discusses the menus that you can use to monitor the Nebula-managed APs (Access Points) in your network and configure settings even before an AP is deployed and added to the site.

Nebula Device refers to Zyxel Hybrid APs (NAP / NWA / WAC / WAX Series) in this chapter. To view the list of Nebula Devices that can be managed through NCC, go to Help > Support tools > Device function table.

The following features in the Access Point menus apply to specific models only.

Nebula Smart Mesh, also called Smart Mesh or AP Smart Mesh, is a WiFi mesh solution for Nebula Devices. With Smart Mesh, you can have two or more Nebula Devices automatically create a mesh network within your home or office, ensuring there are no areas with a weak WiFi signal.

Smart Mesh assigns a role to each Nebula Device depending on its connection method.

The mesh extender rebroadcast the mesh controller’s SSID, and then relay WiFi traffic back to the gateway.

To create a Smart Mesh network, add two or more Nebula Devices to the same Nebula-managed site and ensure that each Nebula Device has Smart Mesh enabled. Then connect one or more Nebula Devices to your network’s gateway using an Ethernet cable, so that you have at least one mesh controller. Finally, place one or more non-wired Nebula Devices in areas where you want to extend WiFi coverage.

After you add a Nebula Device to an NCC site and then turn it on, the new Nebula Device automatically connects to a mesh network called the default mesh. The Nebula Device then tries to connect to a mesh controller and contact NCC. After the Nebula Device successfully contacts NCC and joins the site, the Nebula Device stops using the default mesh and instead connects to other Nebula Devices in the site using a dedicated network called the site mesh.

Each mesh extender tries to connect to the site gateway through a mesh controller. If a mesh extender cannot connect directly to a mesh controller, then the mesh extender relays its WiFi traffic through another mesh extender. Each time traffic passes through a WiFi connection in the mesh network, it counts as one hop.

Nebula Smart Mesh supports an unlimited number of hops. However, each hop in a mesh network reduces network throughput by up to half. Therefore, we recommend only allowing a maximum of two hops within your Smart Mesh network.

Wireless bridge is a Smart Mesh feature that allows two Nebula Devices to automatically connect two network segments together over a WiFi connection. This is useful when you want to extend your wired network to a new area, but it is difficult to run cables to that area.

To use wireless bridge, enable Wireless Bridge on two Nebula Devices in NCC. Then connect wired clients to one of the Nebula Device’s LAN port. These wired clients form a new network segment and are able to reach the site gateway through the Nebula Device’s WiFi connection.