The documentation on CAPsMAN Sucks
Mikrotik’s CAPsMAN Page
The main page at Mikrotik is informational on what the different sections do, but in typical Mikrotik fashion it doesn’t provide much in the way of what is actually required to make things work.
This has been a slight pet peeve of mine with them but in most cases I have been able to find community documentation to help explain things in a bit more detail and sometimes provide a much better account of how to get things running from start to finish.
This has been a slight pet peeve of mine with them but in most cases I have been able to find community documentation to help explain things in a bit more detail and sometimes provide a much better account of how to get things running from start to finish.
Community Pages
I love the Mikrotik Community and I rely on their insight quite a bit. In this case I was very surprised at the amount of very poor documentation on setting up a wireless system using CAPsMAN.
Primarily I had a number of issues with the screenshots and a lack of detail on setting things up using a router that does not have built in radios. In the end I was able to get things up and running by using information from a number of differing sources.
Primarily I had a number of issues with the screenshots and a lack of detail on setting things up using a router that does not have built in radios. In the end I was able to get things up and running by using information from a number of differing sources.
CAPsMAN is confusing for a reason
It’s a Mikrotik Thing
If one thing is true about Mikrotik, it is that they allow you the most flexibility of any system I have ever worked with, this is a blessing and a curse. Each network has it’s own unique needs and having a system that is as configurable as Mikrotik is very handy.
This becomes a problem when trying to write documentation as they can mostly document what commands and options are available but how to go from start to finish is ultimately up to you, or rather me in this case.
This becomes a problem when trying to write documentation as they can mostly document what commands and options are available but how to go from start to finish is ultimately up to you, or rather me in this case.
Everything is Configurable
CAPsMAN allows you to make things very general or fine tune every aspect of your Wireless configuration. What I mean by this is that you can change how the network reacts on a per frequency basis or make things very generalized, the choice is yours not the manufacturers.
This is actually pretty awesome as UniFi doesn’t allow that same level of control, and their documentation is even more lacking on how to handle more complex configurations.
It's Time for a Wiki
I haven’t gone into many specifics here on how I got things configured because this is not the best tool for creating documentation. The real documentation will take place on my wiki page Mikrotik Wireless with CAPsMAN.
I will, however, continue to post on my learning journey here.
