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Network diagnostics for Orbi mesh wifi system?
Hi, I had asked a few questions earlier on setting up a mesh network and grateful to have received valuable suggestions on this thread. We now have a Mesh network built using RBK50 and RBS50Y devic...
fanofai wrote:
some diagnostic tool that can tell how many times the extender lost connection during a 24-hour window - this way I can run the test at 2 different locations to compare. Any suggestions on how to do the same?
Intermittent issues are difficult to diagnose. It is frustrating that the Orbi product does not log satellite connections. (My guess is, "what's the point?" Satellites are supposed to sync and remain sync'd as long as there is electricity.) As far as diagnostic tools, it depends on what resources are available and the duration of these events.
The only methodology that comes to mind is to constantly ping the satellite and record when it fails to respond. i.e. using a computer that is connected to the Orbi router, repeatedly ping the IP address of the satellite. Pings have to be often enough to 'hit' during an outage. (see below*). The procedure would be:
- Open a command window.
- Type a ping request that continues until stopped by the user, e.g.
ping -t <IP of satellite> >ping.log
(-t indicates to continue until stopped. >ping.log redirects the output into a text file - any name is fine) - This will generate one ping per second indefinitely.
- After any period that is comfortable, type <control>C to stop the ping.
- Open the log file in a text editor and search for failures. At one ping per second, a 24 hour experiment will generate 86,400 lines. At 50 characters per line, a 24 hour test will generate approximately a 4.3mb output file.
*Windows ping sends one ICMP packet per second, which leads to the 4.3mb output file. There is another program, hrping, which has a parameter to specify the number of milliseconds between pings. It is available from http://www.cfos.de For example, this command sends one ping every five seconds (5000 milliseconds), which will result in a 24-hour output file of less than 1mb:
hrping.exe -t -s 5000 <IP of satellite> >ping.log
There is a free graphical tool for Windows to constantly ping an IP, PingInfoView from Nirsoft:
https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/multiple_ping_tool.html The fastest it can Ping is once per second. The benefit of this tool is that you can set it to ping many IP addresses at the same time. And, the tool can be set to write only the failures to a log file, which means no searching through thousands of lines of text to find missed pings.
For Mac...... (beats me, sorry)
FURRYe38 : The property is actually an condominium community. Hence, the distance between the devices is easily 50ft. I suspect the problem may be due to obstruction from buildings, and hence we are trying to change locations to make it as straightline as practical.
CrimpOn : I was hoping there is a readymade tool. I am considering trying Fing. Else, I'll try ping if that doesn't work. Thanks!
-Sharath
Are you trying to connect the RBR and RBS around this community or just for a single condo home for 1 user?
fanofai wrote:
The property is actually an condominium community. Hence, the distance between the devices is easily 50ft. I suspect the problem may be due to obstruction from buildings, and hence we are trying to change locations to make it as straightline as practical.
Not likely to be simply an obstruction. When the satellite successfully connects to the router (blue light for three minutes), that is evidence of a 'good' signal. The 5G WiFi backhaul channel is different from the user facing 5G WiFi channel. It is hard to imagine something that can briefly interfere with the radio signal, and then disappear. Then, come back and do it again (and again). In the early days of 2.4G WiFi, interference from appliances, such as microwave ovens and some cordless phones, was a frequent problem. With 5G WiFi, not so much.
Your instinct is correct. A straight line, open air connection will be the best.
Please come back and describe what you find out.
