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Forum Discussion
Unable to Use Guest Wifi in AP Mode and a Switched Wired Backhaul
Hi, Summary: Need a solution to run a Guest Network on a Orbi 970 Wifi 7 system in AP mode with a switched and wired backhaul I have a Firewalla Gold Pro router feeding internet into a Netgea...
CrimpOn wrote:
Quazimodo wrote:
Does anyone have a resolution for running a Guest Network on a Orbi 970 Wifi 7 system in AP mode with wired backhaul? Is there a way to use VLAN instead of having the Guest Network run a DHCP server?
Could you please confirm exactly how the router and satellites are connected.
i.e.
- The RBE971 router WAN port is connected to the Firewalla Gold, not to the 10GB Ethernet switch.
- The RBE971 router 10GB LAN port is connected to the 10GB switch.
- The two RBE970 satellites are connected to the 10GB switch.
The reason for my question is that (at least one) previous Orbi AX system supports Guest WiFi both when satellites are connected to the router over WiFi and when they are connected using Ethernet ('wired').
The RBR750 that is connected to my primary network is in AP mode.
When this Orbi was connected to the primary network, it was assigned an IP address of 192.168.1.xxx by the primary network and created its own LAN subnet as 10.0.0.x
One RBS750 satellite is connected to the RBR750 over WiFi backhaul.
Guest WiFi is enabled on this Orbi system.
When I connect a device to the Guest WiFi, it receives an IP address of 10.0.1.4 (notice that 10.0.1 is a different subnet than the previous primary subnet of 10.0.0
When I move the device close to the satellite and reconnect, the Attached Devices display shows it as connected to the Orbi Satellite. Thus Guest WiFi works when devices are connected to satellites using WiFi backhaul.
I then pulled an Ethernet cable down the hallway and connected the router and satellite using this cable.
In a few minutes, the Attached Devices display now shows the satellite as 'Wired' Good.
The Attached Devices display also shows that device connected to the Guest WiFi on the Orbi Satellite.
Thus, Guest WiFi works when devices are connected to the satellite and the satellite is connected to the router using Ethernet. ('wired')
I have no doubt that engineers can mess up anything. Perhaps the 970 product does not properly support Guest WiFi when the satellites are 'wired'. My old AX 750 system certainly does. (people are tripping over the Ethernet cable as I write this.) If I had a 970 or 770 system, I would be reproducing the experiment (but I don't).
If the 970 system is wired as asked above, I believe a Bug Report should be made to Netgear. (the engineers broke something that used to work.)
Hi,
One setup works, the other does not. The setup that works unfortunately is no longer a 10Gbps network, which was my goal buying this equipment.
This does not work:
RBE971 (main "router") is connected through a 10Gbps LAN port to a TP-Link TL-SX105 switch port (a 5 port fanless 10Gbps unmanaged L2 switch with 100G switching capacity). The two satellites (RBE970) are each connected to a port of the same switch from their 10Gpbs port. I've tried this with two switches of the same model, and another which is a TRENDnet (TEG-S750) with the very samilar characteristics. Same result. Devices that connect to the satellite via the guest network do not reach the internet. They have a "Limited Internet Connection" in Android for example. Devices that connect to the RBE971 via the guest network are able to reach the internet, they don't go through the switch. I've not tried with a Mikrotik CRS-304, I don't own one (yet) but I'm not expecting a different result unless there is a L3 hack that I don't know of.
This does work:
RBE971 10Gbps LAN port is connected directly to the 10Gbps port of one of RBE970 satellites. The other satellite has its 10Gbps port connected to one of the 2.5Gps port of the RBE971. So no 10Ggbps network.
Thanks.
There are known issues with Orbi BE systems not working with some managed and 3rd party non managed swtiches.
Non managed switches should generally work if you have the following wired configuration:
Host router>RBR970 in AP Mode>non managed switch<>RBS ethernet connected to the non managed switch.
Can you try a non managed 1Gb switch to see if this works in between the RBR and RBS? I've tested NGs GS10x and GS30x series switches and all work. I currently have NGs XS505M and GS110MX in betwen my RBR and RBS and have zero issues, router or AP mode.
The above configuration should work as well if you have the RBR in router mode.
https://kb.netgear.com/000051205/What-is-Ethernet-backhaul-and-how-do-I-set-it-up-on-my-Orbi-WiFi-System 📡 ‌‌🛰️
Your testing of the RBS connected to the RBR directly shows there maybe an issue with the 3rd party brand and model# of switches your using.
Quazimodo wrote:
This does work:
RBE971 10Gbps LAN port is connected directly to the 10Gbps port of one of RBE970 satellites. The other satellite has its 10Gbps port connected to one of the 2.5Gps port of the RBE971. So no 10Ggbps network.
My point was to connect the 10G switch to the router 10G LAN port and also connect the two satellite 10G ports to the switch. If the switch is behind the router, then everything works.
Interesting, what is connected to the WAN and LAN port of the RBR/RBE971 in the setup you describe? That's the only difference I can think of from my original setup attempt.
I did have a switch "behind the router" (a Mikrotik CRS312) and before the RBR and that did not work even for the regular WiFi network, let alone the guest network. All three, the RBR (RBE971) and the two satellites (RBE970) were directly connected to the switch on their 10Gbps LAN. Additionally I also had the WAN port of RBE971 connected to the switch. That resulted in a lengthy discussion with the support team at Netgear and the outcome was the need for an additional switch after the router. Both the WAN/LAN port of RBE971 cannot be connected to the same switch for some reason. The additional switch made the main Wifi network SSID work. But then it failed for the guest network due to the 192.168.2.X addressing scheme.
So the WAN port of the RBR needs to be connected to the upstream host routers LAN port.
The 10GB LAN port of the RBR should be connected to the 10Gb LAN port of the switch.
Then the two RBS ethernet connected to this switch. Non managed switch preferred here.
Only way this will work for router or AP mode.
