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gadgets on orbi RBR750's wifi can see DHCP; server on local ethernet only works with IP addresses
A bizarre problem has popped up in our local (house) network: Our Orbi RBR750 is attached to a local ethernet (CAT5/6 + 2 switches). The web server on the cable can see outside, so its web browsers...
jc1742 wrote:A bizarre problem has popped up in our local (house) network: Our Orbi RBR750 is attached to a local ethernet (CAT5/6 + 2 switches). The web server on the cable can see outside, so its web browsers and commands (ping, traceroute, ssh, ...) work only with IP addresses, not hostnames.
Yes, a network picture will help us understand.
- Is your Orbi running in Router or Access Point (AP) mode? If AP then DNS is handled by your router and not your Orbi.
- It sounds like you have some devices outside (upstream) of your Orbi network. Are these devices, like your web server, connected to your [Cat5/6 + 2 switches] network rather than behind the Orbi network?
- If yes then what is handling their DNS and have you considered putting everything inside your Orbi network?
Hmm .. I thought I replied to this, but I don't see the reply. Well, I'll summarize:
Our Orbi (RBR750) is plugged into the ISP's modem, and the folks there (RCN) say it's a simple modem, not a router. The Orbi has the usual 192.168.*.* wifi flock, plus there's an ethernet cable running from the Orbi to a Netgear switch (FS605 v3) that has a couple of other gadgets attached, including a linux web server. The other machines involved are e Macbooks, all on the Orbi wifi, and all of them (suppoosedly;-) use the Orbi as their DHCP server. In other words, they're all inside the Orbi's network. Sometimes they can reach each other by name; at other time only by IP address, and the pattern seems rather random, not associated with anything I'm doing on them.
Oh, and they all have fixed IP addresses (though a couple of them also have dynamic addresses on the same port, if that signifies anything. I'm not sure what causes this on some but not all of them.)
jc1742 wrote:
. Sometimes they can reach each other by name; at other time only by IP address, and the pattern seems rather random, not associated with anything I'm doing on them.
Actually, this may be exactly the issue. There are several ways devices"find things" on a network:
- The most obvious is using a Domain Name Server. i.e. "where is ford.com?"
The Orbi DNS will resolve only internet names, not "local" names. This comes up more frequently than one might imagine. Someone wants to open a web browser to "local:mywebserver". There ARE DNS servers that can do this, such as Pi-Hole. (and maybe pfSense? I have never looked at it) But, the Orbi DNS resolver cannot. - Windows machines often find other Windows machines using a naming system unique to Windows.
- Media servers often use some sort of IP multicast to let users know where to find them.
In other words, I doubt that this is truly 'random'. i.e. does the same method find another machine "by name" some times, but not other times?
- The most obvious is using a Domain Name Server. i.e. "where is ford.com?"
