Re: Orbi RBR20 Ethernet IP assignment

Chillihilli · ‎2020-03-25

I fired up the Obi kit with 2 Satellites

I'm in Australia with a TPG HFC connection to the NBN. Enabled VLAN ID = 2 and everything connected via wifi. (Great setup BTW)

Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, will connect via the wired ethernet port

I plug the Samsung TV in direct to the RBR20 router. No joy.
I plug a netgear unmanaged switch to the router, then connect a TV through that. No joy.
I plug my Mac laptop via USB ethernet to the router, nothing.

It seems to not assign IP addresses over wired connections.

So I pulled the plug on the NBN modem. Left it off for a couple of hours and sequentially fired everything up starting with the NBN modem. I thought it might be an IP assignment issue from the NBN modem, but it still doesnt work.

Can anyone help with this?

Modem -> RBR20 -->RBS20 (x2) all working fine.

CrimpOn · ‎2020-03-25

What is the purpose of VLAN ID=2?

What I read about VLAN's in the Orbi User Manual seems to indicate that VLAN is needed for IPTV, but not for "regular devices".

http://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/RBK50/Orbi_UM_EN.pdf Starting on page 84

Chillihilli · ‎2020-03-25

VLANID=2 is required by our internet provider (TPG). Can't connect without it

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/VLAN-tagging-for-TPG-NBN/m-p/1657541#M44246

@CrimpOn wrote:
What is the purpose of VLAN ID=2?
What I read about VLAN's in the Orbi User Manual seems to indicate that VLAN is needed for IPTV, but not for "regular devices".
http://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/RBK50/Orbi_UM_EN.pdf Starting on page 84

CrimpOn · ‎2020-03-25

Did I read correctly that devices connected to Orbi via WiFi are working correctly, and only devices connected via ethernet are not?

Can you try to restrict the VLAN to only a single Orbi port (uncheck the other two ports) and see if an ethernet device will work on one of them?

CrimpOn · ‎2020-03-25

I know this sounds loony, but I am drawn to this comment on pages 84-85 in the User Manual:

"A bridge with a VLAN tag group prevents packets that are sent between the IPTV device and the router’s Internet port from being processed through the router’s Network Address Translation (NAT) service"

There is a lot I do not understand, but one thing I am pretty certain of is that no device can communicate with the internet unless it has an IP address. Orbi gets a public IP address from the ISP and creates a "private" IP address space for every device connected to it. If devices in a VLAN group are NOT processed through the router NAT service, then what is their IP address?

Hmmm. That's another clue. If one of the wired devices that cannot reach the internet is a Windows PC, open a DOS box and do a

config /all

What IP address shows up for the ethernet adapter? If it begins with "169." that is the IP address reserved for "nobody will give me an IP so I'm just going to say this is who I am."

Chillihilli · ‎2020-03-25

@CrimpOn wrote:
Did I read correctly that devices connected to Orbi via WiFi are working correctly, and only devices connected via ethernet are not?
Can you try to restrict the VLAN to only a single Orbi port (uncheck the other two ports) and see if an ethernet device will work on one of them?

Yes that's right - wifi is good, ethernet is not.

The Orbi RBR20 has 2 ports - one for internet (to the modem), the other for ethernet LAN. VLANID is bound to port 1. It's the only option available.

Chillihilli · ‎2020-03-25

Yes the devices all get 169.x ip addresses.

Wifi is working fine though

You are correct - every device needs an IP.

I just tried to set up another group by changing the VLAN settings. Crashed the whole thing and had to Factory Reset. Oops

CrimpOn · ‎2020-03-25

@Chillihilli wrote:
Yes the devices all get 169.x ip addresses.
Wifi is working fine though

My belief is that the VLAN bridge does not apply to WiFi devices, thus they get a valid private IP address from the Orbi via DHCP. Then, every connection between them and the internet is processed by the Orbi NAT. "All is good".

When this setup is done, I would try a connected device before defining any VLAN.

Chillihilli · ‎2020-03-25

The problem is that internet does not work without the VLAN ID set.

I tried to deselect VLAN ID, lost the internet connection and had to connect manually to get it working

So no VLAN = no internet

CrimpOn · ‎2020-03-25

Things really are "upside down" there! Can you try to restrict the VLAN bridge group to only a single ethernet port?

CrimpOn · ‎2020-03-25

Do you still have the router TPG provided? It may be that putting the Orbi "behind" that router is the only solution.

If you'd rather not have the "Double NAT" (I lived with it just fine for over a year until one day I wanted to use OpenVPN.), you can change the Orbi to Access Point (AP) mode.

Chillihilli · ‎2020-03-25

The plan was to upgrade from the basic router to enable quality wifi. Secondary object was to simplify the network as I had an Apple Time Machine working as a wired AP over a distant outbuilding ethernet connection.

The Orbi has enabled the wifi piece, but I've got NAS devices I want to connect using the Gigabit ethernet port.

I use VPN a lot as I work from home.

I'll check with TPG and see if they have a solution.