WAN Connectivity and Ethernet Backhaul Issues with SXR80 / SXS80

[jeromeajot]

I would like to report 2 issues I am facing with my SXR80 / SXS80’s.

My setup:

1 SXR80 in AP mode

2 SXS80 Satellites

Firmware 4.2.3.102 (latest at the time of this post)

Single Wi-Fi network.

House is Cat6 wired, all converging to a Netgear unmanaged gig Switch.

FiOS Router connected to the Switch

Dedicated DHCP Server connected to the Switch.

SXR80 and SXS80’s connected to the Switch.

IP addresses for SXR80 and SXS80’s assigned by DHCP locked to their respective MAC addresses.

~65 active leases on the DHCP server: 40 devices on Wi-Fi through SXR80 / SXS80’s, 25 on Ethernet.

IP distribution, Lan connection all stable for 6 years.

First issue: Longevity Issue

After around 2-3 weeks of the SXR80 being up, all the devices connected to the SXR80 and SXS80’s, either through the back LAN ports or via Wi-Fi, none can access WAN. They have their IPs and everything, just WAN doesn’t go through. When this happens all other ethernet devices, aka not connected to the SXR80 or SXS80’s, have no problems accessing the Internet.

The solution is a cold reboot of the SXR80; unplug, plug it back and good to go. Rebooting the SRS80 makes no difference.
The SXR80 has _never_ been able to serve more than 3 weeks without losing WAN and needing a restart. So, to solve that stability and longevity problem, I reboot every Monday night. Since then, no WAN connectivity issue, I get Wi-Fi like any other Wi-Fi routers I ever owned!

Second Issue: Ethernet backhaul.

While it is advertised to be supported on SXR80 and SXS80’s, it doesn’t stay consistent or even work.

Because I must reboot every week (see above) and that they are all ethernet connected, I had the “chance” to notice that the ethernet backhaul is random at best, unreliable at most. Sometimes, I have one satellite showing ethernet backhaul connected, not always the same, sometimes none, and sometimes both. But when I reconnect to the UI after a few hours, this topology has changed, and the ethernet backhaul connected satellite is now Wi-Fi connected, and so on. And this while the system was up and running with no disruption.  

I have obviously rebooted the SXR80/SXS80 way too many times, I should have had, I also reset to factory twice, and both issues persisted. The first one is “under control”, but the second one is not.

[FURRYe38]

What's the model # of the NG switches your using? 

Be sure that the SXS are connected via ethernet behind the SXR, not in parallel. 

FIOS Router>SXR><Switch<>SXS

What is the size of your home? Sq Ft?

Also might try some new beta FW at some point as well:

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi-Pro-Beta/In-Beta-SXK80-beta-firmware-version-4-3-2-100/td-p/23...

[jeromeajot]

The Switch I have is a ProSafe 16 Port Gigabit Switch JGS516 v2.

Here is the network topology:

{FiOS Router} <--> {Switch} <--> [Everything]

The SXR80 is connected to the Switch via 2 ports: WAN port and Port 1,

SXR80's port 1's are connected to the Switch.

The DHCP is connected to the Switch.

I don't understand how the square footage of my house relevant to those two issues, why do you believe this information would help?

I went through the release notes of v4.3.2.100 and nothing is pointing to a potential fix for my 2 issues. Am I missing something? 

[schumaku]

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@jeromeajot wrote:

{FiOS Router} <--> {Switch} <--> [Everything]

The SXR80 is connected to the Switch via 2 ports: WAN port and Port 1,

SXR80's port 1's are connected to the Switch.

The DHCP is connected to the Switch.

---

This reads wrong to me, even in AP mode While I would expect in AP mode all ports are bridged, and a loop is predictable, a switch with active loop protection would have to shutdown one of the ports, even more if the switch does any kind of STP.

{FiOS Router} <--> {SXR80 WAN} <--> {SXR80 LAN} <--> {Switch} <--> [Everything]

[FURRYe38]

The problem is how you have the SXS connected. As suggested, once you correct this and connect ALL SXS behind the SXR, you'll be good then.

SQ ft and placement of the SXS IS relevant regardless of wireless or ethernet connections. 

---

@jeromeajot wrote:

The Switch I have is a ProSafe 16 Port Gigabit Switch JGS516 v2.

Here is the network topology:

{FiOS Router} <--> {Switch} <--> [Everything]

The SXR80 is connected to the Switch via 2 ports: WAN port and Port 1,

SXR80's port 1's are connected to the Switch.

The DHCP is connected to the Switch.

I don't understand how the square footage of my house relevant to those two issues, why do you believe this information would help?

I went through the release notes of v4.3.2.100 and nothing is pointing to a potential fix for my 2 issues. Am I missing something? 

---

[jeromeajot]

I just created a visual piece of the relevant pieces of the network.

The switch is a dumb unmanaged switch has no STP, just loop protection - I assume like all Netgear unmanaged switches. 

I can unplug SXR80 port 1 <---> Switch. It actually makes no difference (it was the original topology). The unpredictability of the ethernet Backhaul is the same (works whenever it feels it) wether I had only WAN connected or both WAN + port 1.

I'm not in favor of putting the SRX between the FiOS router and the switch for few reasons:

(1) because the issue longevity and the unreliability of ethernet backhaul, my faith on the SRX80 stability to be on the critical path for the entire network is not there. I'd rather constraint it to a minimal duties of servicing wireless as AP, no VLAN.

(2) In AP mode, it is just another IoT and should not have any special connectivity.

(3) on you diagram there, the SRS80s are all going thru the switch to communicate to the SRX80, which my topology is doing as well.

[jeromeajot]

The SXS are connected to the back thru the switch. How will the switch prevent the packets to communicate, it does not? It's an unmanaged switch, it does nothing extra. It's not that it doesn;t work at all, it does connect as wired backhaul, but it is unpredictable.

I still don't see how the sqft of the house is relevant when figuring out ethernet backhaul problem, less the longevity issue. Whether I have a 4,000 sqft house or a 7,000 sqft house, the length of each CAT6 cable is less than 100 m. Please, educate me why the sqft is important to know.

Is there any debugging I can enable?

[FURRYe38]

Its how Orbi works with ethernet connections with the SXS. They HAVE to be connected behind the SXR to work properly. 

FIOS Router>SXR><Switch<>SXS

Having too many SXS in a building can cause too much wifi signal over lap, regardless of wireless or ethernet connected SXS. Placement and distance between the units IS important to avoid problems. 

[schumaku]

It's not about what you might think being better: You asked for assistance. Plug the system as per the intended design*. Chime back if the issue remains. 

* Not my idea: I would deploy a PoE+ switch, VLAN capable, and add some WAX6xx AP instead of such an expensive Mesh system, so I could fully use the capabilities.