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Forum Discussion
Understanding Orbi AP mode and confirming setup with Watchguard and Airport Base
We have Spectrum internet and the signal is routed through a Motorola Surfboard SB6120. From there it's connected via ethernet to a Watchguard XTM 2 series firewall. I don't know the settings on th...
smredinger wrote:We have Spectrum internet and the signal is routed through a Motorola Surfboard SB6120. From there it's connected via ethernet to a Watchguard XTM 2 series firewall. I don't know the settings on that because I didn't install it and can't figure out how to administer it. I know it's old, but it still seems to work.
From there, I have two ethernet cables. The first goes off to our office (separate entity) and everything there is working fine. The second ethernet comes upstairs and is connected to the Orbi RBR50 (running version V2.7.3.22).
I lost internet in the house. Finally got it working by setting the Orbi to AP mode (not sure how it worked before when it wasn't?).
Through the Orbi I have dozens of home devices (nest thermostats, wireless bulbs, 5 alexas, wireless plugs, wireless printer, apple TVs), plus a dozen or so mac computers, phones, ipads. After resetting the Orbi and renaming the home network I've reprogrammed all devices and everything seems to be working.
From the Orbi I have an ethernet cable running to an airport base station (5th generation). I have that set in bridge mode and have a hidden wireless network so that I can run backups of various apple devices. I found that if I activate the internet via the base station (either wireless or hardwired), the Orbi will lose its connection. You'll need to refer to Apple for help and support on there products. I would leave the base station in bridge mode if connected behind the Orbi and firewall device.
From the Airport base station I have a lutron caseta wireless base station that runs our caseta light switches. I suppose I could run the caseta through the Orbi instead, but if it ain't broke....? Yes. Just be sure channels are differently set on the base station from what Orbi uses. Farthese channels away from each other is recommended.
Two questions:
(1) When I replace the Watchguard - what should the settings be? Why are you replacing the Watchguard? What are you putting in it's place?
(2) Does it make sense how things are set up? Since I'm only a day into this setup I can't tell if it's stable. Yes you can run Orbi in AP mode and would be preferred configuration since your Firewall appliance device is handling DHCP and firewall operations. If all connect and work well and you don't see any problems, then would be a stable configuration.
Just returning to this after a family emergency that took me away for a bit. The setup was definitely not stable. WiFi dropped repeatedly.
I set the channels up on the airport to be different than on the orbi but that didn't solve the issue. Would love to know if someone has successfully set up the orbi (and a satellite) with the same configuration (firewall, orbi/satellite, airport in bridge mode).
Thanks!