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Best way to connect an X10 R9000 and an AX8 RAX80 in router/access point configuration?
Good morning, all, and thanks for any expertise you can share!
For the past two and a half years, I've been running an X10 R9000 hooked to our town's fiber modem/router via a gigabit RJ45 connection. I know the R9000 has an SFP+ port to accept fiber directly, but I'm afraid that's not an option (we are in a two-family unit so we each tap off the town's router ports with our own routers). Instead, I simply use the SFP+ port as another LAN port. The router is in the basement, but I have tapped into the X10's amplified antennas and used "Coaxifi" adapters to run the signal throughout the house using existing coax lines running throughout in sort of a "poor man's mesh" setup. It only broadcasts the 2.4Ghz band because of where I tapped into the board, but that's been sufficient for the most part... until we all started working and doing school from home. Now, we've added a couple more wired connections so I need more ports, AND sometimes the 2.4Ghz freq seems to get a little choked. I came across a great deal on an AX8 and decided to pick it up so we can use it to extend our network. I'm seeking advice on the best way to join the hardware and connect our devices, and would love an "azimuth check" on my thought process. I believe that the best way to do so is to leave the X10 as a router and to connect the AX8 to it as an access point, as follows:
1) ROUTER: We use the Plex server built into the X10, and my highest-bandwidth LAN devices are my son's gaming PC and four xBoxes that we use as Disc player / gaming system / streaming platform combos for all the TVs in the house (surprisingly, it was cheaper and simpler than getting three separate devices, even two years ago). Since I plan to use the X10 as the router and the AX8 as an access point, I figured I'd leave those five devices plugged directly into the X10.
2) ACCESS POINT: I'd then like to use the remaining two open LAN ports on the X10 in an aggregated mode to connect to two of the AX8's ports (leaving four more). I realize that, for those devices connected to the AX8, the bottleneck to the WAN will still be the single gigabit connection from the X10 to the town's modem/router, but I'd like to ensure the "plumbing" between my two hardware boxes is as big as possible. I've got some lower-demand devices (HD HomeRun, solar panel monitoring system, printer, and a Wii) that I'll plug into the AX8's four remaining LAN ports.
3) WIRELESS: I've got 13 antenna locations throughout the house (small, omnidirectional antennae that screw directly into the coax jacks). Four per floor x3 floors, with a bonus jack located almost dead center on the middle floor. I did a test and verified that if I connect one of the X10's antennas to that "bonus" location, I'm able to get good signal strength to all of my low-bandwidth "static" wireless devices... thermostats, smart deadbolts, a couple Echo Dots, and a robotic vacuum. I'll set up an "internet of things" wireless network solely for those devices. For the high-bandwidth devices (phones, laptops, and tablets), I'll tap into the AX8's four antennae connections on its main board and route their signals (split three ways via the Coaxifi splitters I already have) throughout the house... each output broadcasting to three antennae in a "stack" in the same corner of each floor.
QUESTION 1 - I have not done link aggregation before. Is it as simple as it seems? Find the right settings in both the AX8 and the X10, and simply use two lan cables to join the respective pairs of ports together?
QUESTION 2 - A Netgear Support article (disabled features on the router when set to AP mode) indicates that, when the AX8 is set up in AP mode, items like guest network, parental controls, and such are not available. Does that mean that they cannot be configured SEPARATELY, or that they are still available but are controlled by the X10 to which the AP is connected?
QUESTION 3 - Somewhat related to Q2... am I "hamstringing" the capabilities of the newer wi-fi router (i.e. Wifi 6) by having it serve as an AP for the older one? I could swap the two, but I'm concerned about what would happen if the Plex server was part of the AP instead of part of the router. Maybe it wouldn't matter... but it would primarily be streaming to the XBoxes (which I would leave connected to whichever one served as the router, regardless).
Thanks in advance for any insight or suggestions you may offer.
QUESTION 1 - I have not done link aggregation before. Is it as simple as it seems? Find the right settings in both the AX8 and the X10, and simply use two lan cables to join the respective pairs of ports together?
Set teh same aggregation or LAG mode on both sides - static LAG, or dynamic LACP. Now you cna connect both (resp. the second) link. If the network does rendered useless (due to a network loop), disconnect on link and do troubleshooting.
QUESTION 2 - A Netgear Support article (disabled features on the router when set to AP mode) indicates that, when the AX8 is set up in AP mode, items like guest network, parental controls, and such are not available. Does that mean that they cannot be configured SEPARATELY, or that they are still available but are controlled by the X10 to which the AP is connected?
Guest network is misleading, it's not a network - this is just a L2 filter trick on the wireless network. Any consumer router Guest network is limited to the wireless of that singe router in router mode.
Parental control - I wonder what you are using today on the R9000, considering there is nothing that really works or can be fully managed anymore....
Multiple routers are never a good advise for extending networks.
Similar, consumer routers rarely make good wireless access points.
QUESTION 3 - Somewhat related to Q2... am I "hamstringing" the capabilities of the newer wi-fi router (i.e. Wifi 6) by having it serve as an AP for the older one? I could swap the two, but I'm concerned about what would happen if the Plex server was part of the AP instead of part of the router. Maybe it wouldn't matter... but it would primarily be streaming to the XBoxes (which I would leave connected to whichever one served as the router, regardless).
If you use Plex Internet access, it must remain the router with one leg on the Internet side of things. Otherwise, it does not really matter (I think - lack of R9000 in AP mode experience).
QUESTION 1 - I have not done link aggregation before. Is it as simple as it seems? Find the right settings in both the AX8 and the X10, and simply use two lan cables to join the respective pairs of ports together?
Set teh same aggregation or LAG mode on both sides - static LAG, or dynamic LACP. Now you cna connect both (resp. the second) link. If the network does rendered useless (due to a network loop), disconnect on link and do troubleshooting.
QUESTION 2 - A Netgear Support article (disabled features on the router when set to AP mode) indicates that, when the AX8 is set up in AP mode, items like guest network, parental controls, and such are not available. Does that mean that they cannot be configured SEPARATELY, or that they are still available but are controlled by the X10 to which the AP is connected?
Guest network is misleading, it's not a network - this is just a L2 filter trick on the wireless network. Any consumer router Guest network is limited to the wireless of that singe router in router mode.
Parental control - I wonder what you are using today on the R9000, considering there is nothing that really works or can be fully managed anymore....
Multiple routers are never a good advise for extending networks.
Similar, consumer routers rarely make good wireless access points.
QUESTION 3 - Somewhat related to Q2... am I "hamstringing" the capabilities of the newer wi-fi router (i.e. Wifi 6) by having it serve as an AP for the older one? I could swap the two, but I'm concerned about what would happen if the Plex server was part of the AP instead of part of the router. Maybe it wouldn't matter... but it would primarily be streaming to the XBoxes (which I would leave connected to whichever one served as the router, regardless).
If you use Plex Internet access, it must remain the router with one leg on the Internet side of things. Otherwise, it does not really matter (I think - lack of R9000 in AP mode experience).
Re: Best way to connect an X10 R9000 and an AX8 RAX80 in router/access point configuration?
Thanks so much for taking the time to reply! Very helpful.
RE: LINK AGGREGATION - setup was, indeed, as easy as it sounded. A piece of cake... selected LACP on both routers and joined the indicated ports with two ethernet cables, and got the "link active" indication message; she's humming right along. The X10 sees the devices connected directly to it, as well as those connected to the RAX80, with no problem.
RE: PARENTAL CONTROLS - I am not using parental controls on either device, that was just one of the things on the list of "you can't do this in AP mode" that I was regurgitating.
RE: GUEST NETWORK - I guess if I have to run my guest network using the X10, the biggest problem will be that I'll not be broadcasting its signal throughout all the antennae in the house (as those will be hooked to the AX8)... I'll do some testing to see if it's still acceptable coverage if I use that one "bonus" antenna (plus the router itself, which still has antennae on it, of course). Might get a bit spotty on the top floor, but we don't really have guests up there anyhow.
