Small clarification needed on CS Gateway mesh

sergi_jini · September 6, 2024, 1:10pm

Hello,

In case of mesh architecture, the Relay and Border gateways are also working as normal gateways? Or relay gateways are there to just extend the LoRa signal to the Border one?
This might be stupid question, but I am about to plan a extension to my LoRaWan network into the area where I have no network connectivity at all. So mesh could be a perfect solution.

Liam_Philipp · September 6, 2024, 6:25pm

What do you mean by “working as a normal gateway”? If you mean can they still receive messages from nearby nodes then yes. Regardless of whether it is a relay or border gateway they can still receive packets. There is also an option to disable receiving packets directly from nodes if it is a border gateway, which is helpful for testing in smaller spaces.

system · September 9, 2024, 6:26pm

This topic was automatically closed 3 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.

brocaar · September 20, 2024, 11:45am

Sorry that this topic was closed automatically (it was incorrectly set to close after 3 days, which should have been 3 months).

In general a Relay gateway would not be internet connected, thus it would only operate as a Relay gateway. The Border gateway however is internet connected and is able to both process Mesh encapsulated uplinks and uplinks directly received from end-devices (which can be disabled, which can come handy when testing).

sergi_jini · September 20, 2024, 1:37pm

Thanks @brocaar for reviving the topic.

In fact @Liam_Philipp answered my question too. I wanted to make sure that Relay gateways also can receive the messages from end-devices.

So typical simplified scenario will be: end-device sends uplink to Relay gateway, relay gateway forwards these messages to Border Gateway, Border Gateway send the data to Chirpstack server.
Meanwhile Both, Relay and Border Gateway appear “Online” in Chirpstack gateway list.

Am I correct?

sergi_jini · September 20, 2024, 1:37pm

Thanks a lot for clarification

Liam_Philipp · September 20, 2024, 3:41pm

I havent got the mesh working yet but I believe once its up you see you border gateway online, and then if you update chirpstack there is a section called Gateway mesh that I believe gets populated with your relay gateways

sergi_jini · September 21, 2024, 8:46am

Interesting. Let me update Chirpstack. Thanks

sergi_jini · September 21, 2024, 10:38am

Another follow up question: I see that there are two versions of ChirpStack Gateway OS: one for RPI another for RAK. I have both gateways, so I am thinking to test it on field.

RPI CM4 + RAK2287 > this part is clear, I will put latest version there. I already have previous versions of OpenWRT and it works just fine.
RAK7289CV2 WisGate, already comes with its own OS which lets you add it to the WisDM platform. If I put the OS for RAK on it, will I still be able to add it to WisDM application, or I will loose this ability?
Also, is it possible to have hybrid setup? If I have one GW on Chirpstack OS and another GW on WisGate original OS, can I still utilize mesh feature for both GWs? (maybe this last question is more to Rakwireless team…)

Thanks

brocaar · September 23, 2024, 1:09pm

Unfortunately, you will loose this ability, but you can always revert the gateway back to WisGateOS.

Also, is it possible to have hybrid setup? If I have one GW on Chirpstack OS and another GW on WisGate original OS

Please note that the WisGateOS does not (yet) support the Mesh feature. But in general, there is no requirement that all gateways are ChirpStack Gateway OS. You can mix and match

sergi_jini · September 23, 2024, 3:01pm

Noted. I will be testing it soon.
One more question, so by default the GW will be in Relay mode. In below snap, it says that Border Gateway should be using MQTT forwarder and it should be configured in ‘Mesh’ tab.
I assume, I just have to activate MQTT forwarder (with the rest of mqtt configs) and disable UDP Forwarder? I can’t find ‘Mesh’ tab in particular…

Liam_Philipp · September 23, 2024, 3:36pm

If you click on MQTT forwarder there should be two tabs at the top of the page for the regular vs mesh configuration.

sergi_jini · September 24, 2024, 4:28am

Thanks @Liam_Philipp

sergi_jini · September 28, 2024, 12:34pm

ok, so I installed the mesh image on my 2 gateways. These are RPI CM4/RAK 2287 and RPI CM4/RAK5146.
I am using MQTT for Chirpstack communication.
I also have Version v4.9.0 installed on the server side.

All is working fine, both gateways are working normally. However, the moment I try to activate mesh, the gateways loose the Gateway ID and go offline. No uplinks received from nodes.

I tried setting both options: Border and relay. Tried to play with different parameters. I don’t see anything in the Relay Gateways section as well.

Btw, should I put the Signing key on the server side as well somewhere? I have changed it from zeros to the custom one (same on both GWs)
Is there any other tweaks I should do to start tasting the mesh feature?

Thanks

Liam_Philipp · September 28, 2024, 7:27pm

Did you configure the Mesh tab in the MQTT forwarder for your border gateways?

sergi_jini · October 2, 2024, 7:52am

Hi @Liam_Philipp , sorry for late reply. Yes Mesh is also activated in MQTT part.
Let me do a full summary + logs and will post it by the end of week. thanks for the help