Multiple Gateways That Are All Packet Forwarders

[Jeff Tooley]

In our application we would like for our Linux-based controller to implement the MQTT broker and provide TCP/IP network configuration for the Ethernet LAN. We would also like to be able to deploy (2) or more gateways so as to increase LoRa network area coverage as compared to using a single gateway.

In this configuration, it seems logical for our Linux-based controller to be considered the Network Server, while the Conduit gateways are all considered Packet Forwarders.

However, the description of multiple gateway deployments at the following link reads as if one of the Conduit gateways must be set up as the Network Server.
http://www.multitech.net/developer/software/lora/lora-network-server/networking-conduits/

Can our desired application be realized? If so, would all of the Conduit gateways be configured as Packet Forwarders? If not, what are the limitations?

[Jason Reiss]

The Conduit gateway in packet forwarder mode can send packets to a remote network server.

What network server software will you be using? TTN or Chirpstack?
https://www.chirpstack.io/
https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/

The network server may also be able to use the basic station on Conduit to forwarder packets over an SSL connection.
https://github.com/lorabasics/basicstation
https://www.multitech.net/developer/software/lora/running-basic-station-on-conduit/

[Jeff Tooley]

We will be using neither TTN nor Chirpstack. Instead, the MQTT broker and data aggregation function will be performed by our Linux-based controller, which is on the same LAN as the Conduit gateway. Therefore, it would seem logical to consider our controller as the Network Server. However, as the MultiTech documentation and your questions indicate, using the Packet Forwarder function within the Conduit seems to be more geared toward using a remote network server. I am not clear whether our desired network topology is realizable without significant changes to the Conduit software.

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