I've got 4 laptops I want to connect to each other with N1MM for an up coming contest. Each station will be around 200 foot away each other. I've built some AREDN nodes (Ubiquity Nanostations) and they are up and running great! I've got Mesh Chat working on a Pi and everybody sees the MeshChat. Only thing I can't get working is N1MM networking for the laptops to see each other.
Do I need to advertise UDP port 12060 on each node and DHCP reserve the laptops for this advertisement?
Do I need to advertise UDP port 12060 on each node and DHCP reserve the laptops for this advertisement?
After much researching and trial & error, I finally got N1MM working over two separate AREDN nodes (two separate subnets) and which to share my setup for those wanting to try it.
First, read the following docs from the N1MM setup. I will assume you have N1MM working on your local internal subnet (maybe 10.34.25.x) and now want to network across the WAN to other nodes over AREDN.
https://n1mmwp.hamdocs.com/manual-operating/multiple-computer-and-multiple-op-contesting/#setting-up-the-network
https://n1mmwp.hamdocs.com/manual-windows/network-status-window/
You will need to complete a DHCP reservation for your N1MM computer in your AREDN node (highly recommended).
Then, under the Port Forwarding configuration, you will need to configure the following;
Interface : WAN
Type : Both
Outside Port : 12060
LAN IP : IP of N1MM machine or hostname you configured in the DHCP reservation section
LAN Port : 12060
If you have more than 1 computer on the local LAN that you need to see from the WAN, the outside port should be 12061 (unique) and then LAN should stay 12060 as the N1MM listens on 12060 for networking requests. This method is defined in the N1MM networking docs above.
By default, N1MM on separate AREDN nodes will not be able to see each other until you configure the following.
In the N1MM networking window, chose Actions -> Edit Computer Addresses.
Enter in the Computer (NetBios) Name of the other computer you wish to network and the IP address of that computer. If you leave the port blank, it will default to 12060. To change the port to something different than 12060, enter in the IP as follows : 10.115.22.33:12061. Insert your IP of the N1MM machine.
As soon as I did this on only ONE of the computers, they started to talk. I'm going to throw in a 3rd computer on another node and we'll see what happens. More to come...
As would be expected, the latency is MUCH higher than via a switch, but plenty acceptable for this application.
I'll report back if I learn anything else using this at our field day this year.