Orbi 970 wired backhaul/switch setup

Question

&nbsp;&nbsp;Hi&nbsp;After years of flaky connections, I’ve just swapped out a full home Ubiquiti PoE switch/AP system for a Orbi 970 3-Pack. So far so good, but having a few issues setting up wired backhaul, so hoping to sanity check after reading a few similar posts...&nbsp;ATM the system is thus:Verizon Fios ONT &lt;&gt; Ubiquiti UCG Ultra &lt;&gt; TP-Link TL-SG1024S 24 Port Switch &lt;&gt; Orbi RBE971 Router (in AP mode). All this gear is physically in a closet in the basement of a 3-level, wood-frame, row house.&nbsp;When I have the 2 x Orbi RBE970 Satellites powered up on the other 2 floors with WIRELESS backhaul, everything is *fine* though I suspect performance could be better if the satellites were wired. When I hardwire them though, they both fall into “Offline” status in the app, and seemingly don’t supply any Wi-Fi.&nbsp;From what I’ve seen in similar threads, the “proper” solution would be to replace the Ubiquiti UCG Ultra in the flow above with the Orbi RBE971 Router, so that it sits upstream of the switch and satellites, rather than in parallel - is this accurate?&nbsp;ATM I have the RBE971 positioned downstream from the switch (on an in-wall ethernet outlet, which in turn connects to the switch) due to the location of the other gear - the enclosed nature of the space would not be conducive to a good Wi-Fi signal from that one RBE971 unit.&nbsp;My main question is whether the only way to get wired backhaul working on the satellites is to position the RBE971 upstream of the switch and satellites, or is there some way to make this work with the RBE971 Router and RBE970 Satellites all connected directly downstream of the switch (each on their own in-wall outlet)?&nbsp;Thanks for any guidance!

FURRYe38 · Answer

Yes and is implied and required for the RBR to connect to the up stream host router using it's yellow WAN port.&nbsp;

FURRYe38 · Answer

FYI, having a managed switch with VLAN support in between the RBR and RBS doesn't work if the system is in AP mode. I've tried this. A managed switch only works with ethernet connected RBS in router mode. For unknown reasons, the Orbi FW fails to fully pass all RBS commuications thru the switch from the RBR, thus Guest Network and connections at the RBS fail when in AP mode. I've tried this with a few managed switches and have asked NG about this. This isn't a switch/VLAN issue, it's a Orbi FW issue only seen in AP mode with a managed switch in between the RBR and RBS when they are ethernet connected. So to ensure the RBS are working as intended, a non managed switch should be used in between the RBR and RBS for best operation. I currently use NG XS505M and GS110MX switches in between my RBR and RBS when ethernet connected, router or AP Mode.
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FURRYe38 · Answer

Ya, managed switches have been problematic at best. I happened to be on a beta for one model switch and someone there told me about VLAN configuration that works for Orbi systems. But this was for Router mode. Later on another beta came up and was testing AP mode and found no VLAN configurations we tried would work and in a bug report, they came to the conclusion that the issue is with Orbi FW. There seems to be specific data between the RBR and RBS that need to be unhindered that managed switches seem to block. Regardless of VLAN config.&nbsp;
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You might find you a multi gig non managed switch and install it at some point so you can take advantage of the higher wired backhaul speed support between the RBR and RBS.&nbsp;
thomasdiak&nbsp;wrote:Yes I gathered from a few similar threads that a managed switch would complicate things - hence I also replaced the prior UniFi PoE managed switch with a much more basic unmanaged switch (TP-Link TL-SG1024S)
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FURRYe38 · Answer

The RBS has to be connected behind the RBR, serially, not in parallel at the switch:
https://kb.netgear.com/000051205/What-is-Ethernet-backhaul-and-how-do-I-set-it-up-on-my-Orbi-WiFi-System 📡 ‌‌🛰️

thomasdiak · Answer

Thank you.&nbsp;I've seen this page (the 3rd illustration is closest to my setup) but it is a little misleading/incomplete - it doesn't show which device is connected to the primary ISP unit (Fios ONT/UGC Ultra in my case).&nbsp;I guess the implication is the ISP unit is connected to the (vacant in the illustration) yellow internet port on the Orbi router, and not to one of the switch ports (as I have things set up presently)?

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Orbi 970 wired backhaul/switch setup

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