Reserve fixed IP device on EX2700 with Orbi

[edilks]

I am using an EX2700 to extend my orbi, basically converting a wired device to wifi. I configured the EX2700 with the same base address as Orbi (10.0.0.x).  I have the wired device connected to the EX2700, setup with a fixed IP of 10.0.0.100. The extender shows in my orbi device list but not the device connected, although I can access it.  Should it?

I also want to reserve the address on the Orbi, for good housekeeping.  On the EX2700, the device is listed with a mac address and a virtual mac address.  Which one do I use when reserving it?  Regardless of which one I use, when I try to reserve it, I can't access the device anymore.  What am I doing wrong?

[CrimpOn · Accepted solution]

Oh, fudge.  When I opened the Orbi LAN Setup, I had already reserved an entry for the laptop using the virtual MAC address, and this is the IP address that it was given.  So the answer clearly is, "Yes. Use the virtual MAC address to reserve an IP address for the ethernet device."

Why the device connected to the EX2700 in post #1 (a) did not appear, and (b) could not be access is a matter for analysis.

[CrimpOn]

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@edilks wrote:

I am using an EX2700 to extend my orbi, basically converting a wired device to wifi. I configured the EX2700 with the same base address as Orbi (10.0.0.x).  I have the wired device connected to the EX2700, setup with a fixed IP of 10.0.0.100. The extender shows in my orbi device list but not the device connected, although I can access it.  Should it?

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Mine does.

Caveat: I do not have a Netgear EX2700, but I do have a Netgear EX3700.  They appear to be very similar.

I connected the EX3700 to my Orbi WiFi in "extender" mode.  Being as the purpose of this experiment is to support a wired connection, I put it into "FastLane" mode where the 5G connection is to the Orbi and the 2.4G connection is available for user devices.  (There is a way to disable the 2.4G radio, but I felt no need to do so for this experiment.)

The EX3700 appears in the Orbi web interface "Attached Devices" as does a Windows 10 laptop that I connected to the EX3700 ethernet jack.  I can connect to the EX3700 web management interface and the extender has its own "Connected Devices" display which shows the extender and the laptop.  The actual and "virtual" MAC addresses are both shown.  It is rather disappointing that the EX3700 User Manual makes no mention of this virtual MAC address.  I will post in another forum and ask if anyone knows "WTF???"

The connected laptop has internet access and I can "ping" the laptop (after figuring out how to get the Windows 10 Firewall to allow ICMP requests!)

Since the virtual MAC addresses are what show up in the Orbi Attached Devices display, they must be what I should enter in the Orbi LAN setup table to reserve an IP address.  At this point, I fear that the Orbi's mangled DHCP process will just keep handing out the IP that the laptop already got by accident, so I'll have to go through the ugly business of forcing the Orbi to give out the IP that I want it to.

Will report those results.

[CrimpOn · Accepted solution]

Oh, fudge.  When I opened the Orbi LAN Setup, I had already reserved an entry for the laptop using the virtual MAC address, and this is the IP address that it was given.  So the answer clearly is, "Yes. Use the virtual MAC address to reserve an IP address for the ethernet device."

Why the device connected to the EX2700 in post #1 (a) did not appear, and (b) could not be access is a matter for analysis.

[edilks]

My attached hardwired ethernet device finally did show up in the orbi device list as expected.  The device also showed up in the list when I went to reserve the IP that I assigned.  It showed up with the virtual mac address!  So I guess that answers the question.  I guess the extender creates a new mac address that it exposes to the outside world.  Don't really know why...  but it all seems to work now!  I applied it and it stuck, w/o breaking anything!  Thanks for the help.