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Forum Discussion
RBRE960 - Orbi WiFi 6E - New features (satellite configuration options, 802.3ad, port sniffing, etc)
Hello RBRE960 - Orbi WiFi 6E As per advise from customer service taking the opportunity to ask/suggest some new features: - options for satellite configuration on main GUI - 802.3ad automatic li...
It might help to add more detail to the suggestions.
- What is it about satellites that could be configured?
Satellites duplicate SSID/passwords/channels from the router.
(Just personally, I would love to be able to specify which channels each satellite would use. and to modify Transmit Power by satellite - right now one setting controls all Orbi units.) - Link Aggregation? Why? The 960 product features 2.5G Ethernet ports on router and satellites for LAN use. Link aggregation was a 'stop-gap' solution before multi-gigabit ports became widely available.
- Wired connections are already shown on Attached Devices (and the 'app' Connected Devices). Because of the way the Ethernet modules operate, which specific port is being used is not available. (they are unmanaged switch modules)
- MAC "pairs" on DHCP? I do not get what that is.
- Port sniffing would be fantastic. Bring back telnet and let customers install Wireshark.
It might help to add more detail to the suggestions.
M:
Inline, adding lines for readability
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What is it about satellites that could be configured?
M:
When I talked to NetGear support about the Aggregation on the Satelite
the response from the colleague was
the satellite does not have any configuration options on the GUI so aggregation cannot be configured even if it was supported
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Satellites duplicate SSID/passwords/channels from the router.
(Just personally, I would love to be able to specify which channels each satellite would use. and to modify Transmit Power by satellite - right now one setting controls all Orbi units.)
M:
ok, that sounds good as well
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Link Aggregation? Why? The 960 product features 2.5G Ethernet ports on router and satellites for LAN use.
Link aggregation was a 'stop-gap' solution before multi-gigabit ports became widely available.
M:
Well ... I could be wrong but my impression is that aggregation (of some form) is always used mainly for reliability.
Examples:
ex1.
The Router itself supports some form of aggregation on the uplink to the modem
(you can bond the 10GBE link with the 2.5 GBE one, right? I think I saw it somewhere)
ex2.
At work we're configuring 25GBE Mellanox NICs and the links are always bonded.
Speed of course matters but what happens if you lose a port?
Finally I'm assuming NetGear does not have to re-write the code (so I'm not asking big)
they can port it from other devices where it's already implemented
(I'm not ssaying it's not an on/off switch, requires considerable work, testing, etc,
but they are not starting from scratch ... they already have it on the uplink anyway).
However, the reason I'm asking is, in my personal case as an Orbi user
I'm afraid I have a rather old small NAS that has 2 1xGBE links and supports various forms of aggregation.
(I know, I know, get a new one but I have twin 3yo boys and the NAS is older so no more money on HW, the kids get it all now ...)
Due to physical restrictions the NAS is located on my desk and connected via 2 cables to 1 of the Satelites.
I have configured 802.3ad dynamic on the NAS side
but obviously the Orbi Satelite does not support it
so even though it worked, it kind of defeats the purpose 🙂
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Wired connections are already shown on Attached Devices (and the 'app' Connected Devices).
Because of the way the Ethernet modules operate, which specific port is being used is not available. (they are unmanaged switch modules)
M:
Perhaps I'm doing something wrong
but I can see "attached" devices in 2 locations.
In Basic and Advanced. I could see some wired connections earlier but after a couple of reboots I cannot see any at all.
1 laptop and the affore-mentioned NAS both have received and IP and I can connect to them but I cannot find them listed.
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MAC "pairs" on DHCP? I do not get what that is.
M:
My bad. I meant reservation on DHCP, that thing that's already shown on LAN setup.
I meant the MAC <=> IP pair, same as in Address Resolution (ARP).
My understanding is ARP tables are supposed to time out, yes,
but for the DHCP case
unless otherwise required DHCP should assign the same IP to the same MAC
and should keep it even after the DHCP server itself reboots.
The only reason for reservations is to get a specific IP from the get-go.
In my case, after rebootingthe DHCP client IP is same, but after rebooting the server (the Orbi itself) a couple of times I'm getting different IPs everywhere.
So, I'm trying to implement a permanent reservation on LAN setup but I cannot see the entry in the list going back to wired attached devices 🙂 ).
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Port sniffing would be fantastic. Bring back telnet and let customers install Wireshark.
M:
I would kindly suggest some form of traffic mirroring, dump all traffic in a port so that user can trace it with a wireshark or something.
Of course this is a commercial product not a business one so realistically I don't expect any of the above to be implemented
(which standard user will go so deep? everyone uses WiFi for Netflix ....)
Thanks for the explanations.
I think the Netgear tech was being a bit snarky about link aggregation on satellites. Yes, it is correct that there is no provision to configure satellites. But, in this case that doesn't matter because the satellite firmware does not support link aggregation.
If the Attached Devices display does not indicate wired devices, that is a problem. The forum contains numerous complaints about wired devices not being visible on the 960 product. Attached Devices IS supposed to display them and indicate that they are 'wired'. If you are within that magic '90 days of complimentary support' window, it would be entertaining to ask Netgear support "why do these devices not appear?"
The LAN setup issue with DHCP is also a puzzle. I have a bunch of 'wired' devices with assignments in the LAN setup table, and they always get the IP address that they should. MY issue with Orbi DHCP implementation is that the LAN setup table is consulted only when the router is rebooted. For example, if I allow a new device to be connected to the Orbi before entering an assignment into the LAN setup table, it gets a random IP assignment from the DHCP 'pool'. If I then use the MAC address to create an entry in the table, the device continues to be assigned that original (not unwanted) IP address. Rebooting the device does not help. The (^^&(* Orbi 'remembers', "Oh, I see you had this IP address. Feel free to keep using it." when it should say, "no way. here is your correct IP address." Rebooting the router causes every device to start over and they all get the correct IP. If your 960 is not assigning IP's from the LAN setup table when rebooted, that is another error.
My Orbi has an option on http://orbilogin.net to "Mirror WAN port to LAN port 1":
I thought, "whoopee. I hook up an Ethernet cable and capture EVERYTHING." Wrong. I forget what it does, but it certainly does not copy every packet that goes through the WAN port to LAN port 1. (I wanted to capture an entire day of traffic in order to confirm that my ISP was issuing DHCP leases correctly, which was more than the Orbi memory could hold. I finally installed a switch in between the Orbi and modem and used port mirroring on the switch to capture everything. Real pain in the .... posterior.)
Thanks, that is all good advice/data.
On the DHCP,
In my case If I could not see the entry, I could not see the MAC so I could not assign a reservation.Nonetheless I found the reservation on the logs.
Say MAC-A was paired with IP-A. So I created a reservation with that pair and guess what?
I run into your problem ...
1h later that MAC-A was paired with IP-B.
I rebooted the Orbi and MAC-A was re-assigned to IP-A.
So that is definitely a bug.
I'll try opening 2 tickets, worst case scenario, they close it and I keep whining ...
On the WAN mirror
Looks like a general port mirroring implementation request makes sense in your scenario as well.
The managed switch to trace the traffic makes sense
but a managed switch with 10GBE and 2.5GBE uplinks that also supports mirroring?That would cost almost as much as the Orbi itself and I can only afford one expensive piece of equipment.
Thanks
M
Just curious what are these devices that your are setting up IP Address reservations for? Phones or Pads or something else?
And what FW version is the system loaded with?
