Wi-SP activity LED?

Embedded Devices Plug N' Play
1

I’m using a Digi Wi-SP as a realport device, configured as RS-422. I see the “Activity” LED flickering constantly, even when I’m not communicating over the serial port. The activity LEDs on the WAP and ethernet switch between the PC and Wi-SP are not showing any traffic when I’m not communicating.

Is this normal behavior?

Can I somehow reduce the flickering when no comm is occurring? It would be much easier for the end-users to troubleshoot if the activity LED only lit when the serial port is sending or receiving data.

Firmware Version: 1.9.0 (Version 82001220_F5 09/16/2005)
Boot Version: 1.1.1 (release_82001187_A)
POST Version: 1.1.3 (release_82001188_D)

2

Scott,

Yes this is normal behavior. If you were to look at a network trace (e.g. Ethereal) you will most likely see quite a bit of traffic being generated by your network.

The 802.11b traffic, i.e. the beacons, authentication and such will not be represented by the activiety LED, but any network broadcasts, ARP requests, router queries will be cause for the LED to flicker. especially Windows systems, in general, will generate lots of traffic (compared to a UNIX/Linux server).

Cameron

3

> Scott,
>
> Yes this is normal behavior. If you were to look at a
> network trace (e.g. Ethereal) you will most likely
> see quite a bit of traffic being generated by your
> network.

Then why doesn’t the LED settle down when I unplug the access point’s ethernet cable?

> The 802.11b traffic, i.e. the beacons, authentication
> and such will not be represented by the activiety
> LED, but any network broadcasts, ARP requests, router
> queries will be cause for the LED to flicker.
> especially Windows systems, in general, will generate
> lots of traffic (compared to a UNIX/Linux server).

Currently I’ve got an access point powered up and disconnected from my office network (a mix of windows, linux, and OpenBSD boxes), the Digi Wi-SP powered up and linked, and nothing else on the wireless net. I’ve also configured the access point to use MAC filtering, so there shouldn’t be any other wireless activity, especially in this area (semi-rural). The activity LED is still flickering pretty good.

Now I do see a reduction in the on duty cycle when I power off the access point. Seems like a burst of activity every few seconds.

From what I’m seeing, I don’t think I can use the activity LED in our troubleshooting docs, as it’s just too hard to interpret.