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Disabling automatic subnet reconfig
I was wondering if there was a way (yet) to disable Orbi’s automatic IP reconfig if it detects a “conflicting” subnet? I understand the spirit of what it’s for, but frankly it’s a bugged feature (yes,...
CrimpOn : Did some final testing and now confident in the conclusion.
What triggers the "reconfiguration" behavior appears to be whenever Orbi detects any other network device on the other side of it's Internet (WAN) port sharing the same subnet. It doesn't matter if there's an actual conflict or not -- simply it's existence. From a consumer support standpoint this is actually a pretty clever mechanism (though I wish they'd give us the option to disable it for various use cases).In my *personal* case - the issue was that I'd put the ports in their respective VLANs (10 for WAN, 20 for LAN) but left VLAN 1 in place. Regular (untagged) traffic was working just fine. My guess is that during a firmware update on those GS108Ev3 switches, it was sending out a broadcast across all configured VLANs, Orbi was seeing that broadcast on the Internet port, hence reconfiguration is triggered. I removed VLAN 1 from all ports and haven't been able to replicate the problem since.
As for your question about the use case for the two switches? This as a method to extend out multiple networks over a single cable. My current configuration looks like this:
VLAN 10 = WAN Traffic
VLAN 20 = LAN Traffic
-----BASEMENT
GS108Ev3 - Port 1: VLAN 10 Tagged, VLAN 20 Tagged
GS108Ev3 - Port 2: VLAN 10 Untagged
GS108Ev3 - Port 3-8: VLAN 20 UntaggedAT&T Gateway LAN plugged in to GS108Ev3 Port 2
UPSTAIRS OFFICE
GS108Ev3 - Port 1: VLAN 10 Tagged, VLAN 20 Tagged
GS108Ev3 - Port 2: VLAN 10 Untagged
GS108Ev3 - Port 3-8: VLAN 20 Untagged
Orbi Internet Port plugged in to GS108Ev3 Port 2
-----
Port 1 is the single physical cable running between the two switches. It will pass all traffic for either VLAN (LAN or WAN side) without either seeing one another as the traffic is "encapsulated" (isolated from each other). Port 2 on each side is where you plug in the WAN side of things. In the basement I have several runs from around the house plugged in to ports 3-8 (LAN). In the Office, I also have a bunch of devices plugged in to 3-8 (LAN). Two separate floors but they'll all end up in the LAN side.The notion that someone shouldn't be using managed switches in a network topology is a silly one, assuming the configuration is correct. In my particular case (and the fix to the original problem I posted about) turns out to simply be "don't let Orbi's Internet port see any traffic with a subnet that matches it's LAN side". Simple enough, makes a lot of sense. Once I understood what was triggering the reconfigurating, finding the root cause was simple.
(Extra thanks to schumaku for the sentence that led to the conclusion -- "Somehow the Orbi system does see any 192.168.x.x network on it's WAN/Internet port.")
FURRYe38 : While I (genuinely) appreciate the reply, you didn’t actually read the post.
1) I already changed the RBR to sit on a different subnet than the other router (GW is now 172.16.0.0/24. I’m *already* passing back the WAN IP directly to the WAN interface of the Orbi, hence there is no double NAT.
2) All WiFi radios are already disabled on the modem as well.
3) The real mystery here is surrounding the Netgear switches (GS108Ev3), not routers, that cause the same behavior upon initiating a firmware update.
1) I already changed the RBR to sit on a different subnet than the other router (GW is now 172.16.0.0/24. I’m *already* passing back the WAN IP directly to the WAN interface of the Orbi, hence there is no double NAT.
2) All WiFi radios are already disabled on the modem as well.
3) The real mystery here is surrounding the Netgear switches (GS108Ev3), not routers, that cause the same behavior upon initiating a firmware update.
What happens if you change the Orbi to 192.168.0.1?
Also your switche are Smart managed switches, something that can cause problems with Orbi systems. Try to disable all IGMP protocols AND Green Ethernet featues on these switches.
NG GS-105/108v4, D-Link DGS-105/108 and HP ProCurve 1400/1800 series switches work for Orbi systems.
FURRYe38 : Thanks again for the reply.
I've been avoiding changing the subnet of the Orbi itself as I've got lots of devices and automations built internally that are specific to IPs in that range. I figured as long as there aren't any conflicts, it shouldn't matter which device is configured for which subnet.
I took a thorough look through the switches and every feature is already disabled (mostly by default) with the exception of "IGMP Snooping Status" for Multicast. I can't think of why IGMP Snooping would cause this behavior on an Orbi Router (wouldn't that simply prevent unwanted multicast traffic?), but I went ahead and disabled the feature anyway. There aren't any 'Green Ethernet' (or 'energy efficient') features I am aware of on this model.
Every switch model you listed is an unmanaged switch and would not support the trunking of multiple VLANs over a single link between switches, hence none of them would be viable for my needs.
I would like to understand what specifically causes this behavior on Orbi, i.e. what type of traffic, protocol, broadcast, etc. is it seeing that causes it to make that decision.
"So I reconfigure GW for 172.16.0.0/24. Problem goes away for a bit..." what do you mean for a bit? Is 172 still configured on the GW?
I would remove the switches and the try the Orbi with using 192.168.1.1.
Any IGMP protocols should be disabled...
What FW version are you using?
Has a factory reset and setup from scratch been performed since last update?
- FURRYe38 : Rephrased. Yes, the ATT GW is still configured for 172.16.0.0/24. After changing the ATT GW to that subnet, I hadn’t experienced the issue again in a few days. Granted, it’s been less than a week and other threads on this topic suggest the potential of this happening at DHCP lease renewal - but for now it’s been a few days *until* I added the switches last night.
A recommendation of “remove the switches” doesn’t solve the problem nor explain specifically what triggers the behavior (such as why this happened when performing a firmware update on the switches, which are layer 2 devices and don’t even have routing capability).
IGMP Snooping was disabled on the switches this morning as per your advice.
As of last night I am running FW 2.7.2.102. I forget which version I was previously on (though the issue persists with the latest).
No, I have not performed a factory reset since performing the firmware update. Why would this be recommended as it pertains to the issue at hand?
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