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schadan's avatar
schadan
Guide
Mar 30, 2023
Solved

Orbi RBK850 in AP mode can't connect to satellite

Hi, seems that my problem is not new but I was not able to find a working solution: I'm running a Orbi RBK850 together with two RBS850 in my home network. I've done first the setup of the whole syste...
  • schadan's avatar
    schadan
    Apr 01, 2023

    Hi,

     

    the problem is solved 🙂

     

    A simple cause had a big effect - I could see in the pfsense fw logs that outbound icmp was blocked - seems that the RBK is pinging to some cloud front systems regularly to see whether it has an internet connection. After enabling it it worked like a charm, the gui shows internet connection & I was able to sync both satellites.

    Now I only have one small (not really urgent) problem left & that is that I'm getting (only on the RBK) a http 500 when connecting to the WebGUI via DNS name in the URL - using the ip address instead is working. But for this I will open another thread.

     

    Thank You very much for Your help, really appreciated 🙂

schadan's avatar
schadan
Guide
Mar 30, 2023

Hi, the ISP device is a Fritzbox 7490. The RBK is connected via LAN port to a switch -> Fritzbox. Connecting the RBK via WAN port was not working and causing a flickering WAN connection. The RASPI is connected via the mentioned switch.

 

Regarding the satellite connection I tried the ethernet backhaul via direct connection to a LAN port on my RBK, but I‘d really prefer to have a wireless backhaul.

FURRYe38's avatar
FURRYe38
Guru - Experienced User
Mar 30, 2023

The RBR in AP mode has to be connected to the host router using it's WAN port while in AP mode. 

 

What is the brand and model of the switch being used? 

  • CrimpOn's avatar
    CrimpOn
    Guru - Experienced User
    Mar 30, 2023

    There is probably a reason for deploying DHCP on the Pi rather than using the Fritzbox 7490 DHCP feature?

    (what with ISC DHCP being End of Life and all) https://www.isc.org/dhcp/ 

     

    So this is what it looks like?

     

    • schadan's avatar
      schadan
      Guide
      Mar 30, 2023

      Hi, yes, the diagram fits quite well. Yes, I know about the EOL of isc-dhcp-server. The switch is a tp-link tl-1008 unmanged desktop switch.

       

      As described connecting the RBK850 via WAN doesn‘t work unfortunately. What would be the reason why connecting via WAN port when the RBK is in ap mode would make sense? Thanks.

      • CrimpOn's avatar
        CrimpOn
        Guru - Experienced User
        Mar 30, 2023

        My first thought is that Netgear probably designed the router to "know which port" leads to

        • The DHCP server that assigns an IP to the WAN port. (my guess is this is the WAN port itself.  If the WAN port is not connected, then what IP does it get?)
        • Where the "rest of the network is" (i.e. everything not connected to the Orbi LAN)

        I have not personally conducted any sort of experiment that involves not connecting an Orbi using the WAN port and having the DHCP server appear to be "on the Orbi LAN".  It would take some effort to monitor both the WAN and LAN ports to see what DHCP traffic appears on all of the ports.  I could, for example, see the DHCP requests from the satellites (which are broadcasts) being sent out every port on the router.  I believe the DHCP server reported getting DHCP requests from the satellites, but not completing the process. (i.e. the satellites did not respond to the DHCP assignments - which are sent back through the LAN port, not the WAN port.

         

        I'm still struggling to understand why not using the Fritzbox for DHCP is essential.