Port Isolation and replication between two switches

[dustsl]

Hello All,

I am attempting a thought experiment to save myself from having to run new cable drop, and not sure if what I’m thinking about is possible without creating loopbacks. I know enough about networking to be dangerous, but I don’t fully understand all networking concepts.

I have a small network that uses a XS708T as a core switch, and a GS110EMX edge switch.  On the GS110EMX edge switch is a wireless mesh controller, and off that controller are two Access Points that are Ethernet connected to said controller.

I found that it was overkill to have two APs so close to each other and would like to move one AP to the other side of the facility.  The problem is the APs must be Ethernet connected (for best performance), and the only ethernet run I have is the trunk connection from the GS110EMX -> XS708T -> patch panel -> network drop to where I want to have the AP.  I really do not want to run a new cable, so hoping I can do some clever switching to bring the AP and the wireless controller together.

I’ve attempted to play around with VLANs but I could not get the devices to talk to each other.

What I have tried to do. 

• On the Wireless controller, there is a 2.5G “WAN” port and 4-1G LAN ports for APs. 
• I have connected the 2.5G port from the wireless controller to port 9 on the GS10EMX,
• Port 1 on the wireless controller and connected it to port 1 on the GS110EMX (Before that I attempted to setup a separate VLAN 2 for that port 1). 
• Port 10 on the GS110EMX comes back to the XS708T on port 6,
• Port 7 on the XS708T goes out to the AP (I attempted to setup that same VLAN 2 channel on this port.)

   If you are wondering why I don’t just move the Wireless controller to run off of the XS708T.  I had thought about that but that still leaves the issue of connecting the other AP on the other end.  I would lose my 10G backbone, as I only have the one network drop either way.

[schumaku · Accepted solution]

Orbi AX or Orbi Pro AX in this case. And I assume you talk of Access Point Mode for the flat network.

I don't know anything about the newer Orbi AX systems. In general, Orbi makes use of STP (why ever...). On both switches, enable STP (no RSTP, no MSTP, ...) and put the Configuration Revision Level (AKA as Priority or ID) to 32768.

What you designate as a wireless controller is (in access point mode) just yet any other Orbi wireless satellite, additionally holding the management for the Orbi satellites. There is no WAN port in this access point config: All ports are LAN.

Do not add any additional cabling - this will create additional duplicate links, so certainly a network loop.

Do not add any additional VLAN, especially none like the VLAN 2 on the drawing, do not configure the ports where the Orbi satellite is connected as an access port to VLAN 2, keep it untagged on VLAN 1  - as everything will happen on the same flat network. And do not add any VLAN "LAN"s on the Orbi Pro AX...

Just in case, forget the idea that all the traffic is passing the Orbi AX or Orbi Pro AX router - the router and each satellite will act as individual access points in AP mode.

If you have done all this, please tell us exactly what Orbi devices we're facing here. Then we might be able to help (or bring in Netgear for assistance) why the Orbi "router" can't discover the wired satellite. At the end of the day, this is a whatever Orbi issue, not a switch problem...

Last but not least: This is just plain L2 networking - no "isolation" or "replication" (whatever the later is).

[schumaku]

Impossible to answer because we neither know anything about this magic Wireless Mesh Controller, its configuration (IP subnetworks et all, WAN vs. LAN ports?), nor its abilities to connect the system-specific wireless access point over e.g. the same LAN or a dedicated VLAN, and why on earth such a Mesh "controller" does come with ports for the wireless APs...

Does this Mesh system wireless clients connect to the same LAN and IP subnet as the primary [V]LAN?

The thing I will never understand is why one does buy "Mesh" wireless systems - where we never know what games they do with STP for example - when having a nice LAN infrastructure to deploy a bunch of wired wireless access points. 

[dustsl]

Sorry, it didn’t occur to me to add some details about the wireless setup.  To answer your question, yes the wireless clients connect to the same LAN and IP subnet as the primary [V]LAN.  It's a very flat network, and one IP subnet that everything communicate on. 

I'm running the Orbi Wifi system, so from the router I’m looking to connect an Orbi satellite across the network.

From what I understand about the Orbi Wifi system, all ports are members of VLAN 1.  Now, I think where I am confused is does it really matter what device is plugged in through the switch?  As another example, if I had a camera system setup, and I wanted to ethernet connect a camera clear across the network through the switches (GS110EMX and XS708T).  How could I setup switch routing so where it was mimicking one long cable stretched across a building?  I was thinking, regarless of the device, even if I had non-VLAN aware devices, was there a way to force the ports to route in such a way where it could act like a eithernet cable spliced together?

This example is what I am trying to accomplish with this wireless mesh setup, if that makes sense. 

As for your question/comment on “why one does buy "Mesh" wireless systems - where we never know what games they do with STP” I don’t really understand what you mean by that?  But I was asked to setup the network this way, to have LAN ethernet and WIFI 6 available.     

[schumaku · Accepted solution]

Orbi AX or Orbi Pro AX in this case. And I assume you talk of Access Point Mode for the flat network.

I don't know anything about the newer Orbi AX systems. In general, Orbi makes use of STP (why ever...). On both switches, enable STP (no RSTP, no MSTP, ...) and put the Configuration Revision Level (AKA as Priority or ID) to 32768.

What you designate as a wireless controller is (in access point mode) just yet any other Orbi wireless satellite, additionally holding the management for the Orbi satellites. There is no WAN port in this access point config: All ports are LAN.

Do not add any additional cabling - this will create additional duplicate links, so certainly a network loop.

Do not add any additional VLAN, especially none like the VLAN 2 on the drawing, do not configure the ports where the Orbi satellite is connected as an access port to VLAN 2, keep it untagged on VLAN 1  - as everything will happen on the same flat network. And do not add any VLAN "LAN"s on the Orbi Pro AX...

Just in case, forget the idea that all the traffic is passing the Orbi AX or Orbi Pro AX router - the router and each satellite will act as individual access points in AP mode.

If you have done all this, please tell us exactly what Orbi devices we're facing here. Then we might be able to help (or bring in Netgear for assistance) why the Orbi "router" can't discover the wired satellite. At the end of the day, this is a whatever Orbi issue, not a switch problem...

Last but not least: This is just plain L2 networking - no "isolation" or "replication" (whatever the later is).

[dustsl]

Hi Schumaku,

Thanks for the reply, we are using the Orbi System AX6000, not the pro.  The information you provided seems to have worked, and I can now see the satellite device from the mesh router.  

As you advised, I setup the XS708T for STP (it was set for RSTP) and set the Priority to 32768 (default was 0).  I could not find any STP settings on the GS110EMX, and nothing in the manual that talked about where those settings could be.  However, that didn’t seem to matter that much, later on as I continued in the setup.

I removed all the unnecessary VALNs form the switches and removed the unneeded cabling from the GS110EMX switch.

With that setup it looks like the Ethernet backhaul between the Orbi devices is able to communicate with each other.

Thanks again for your input and advise, I believe the issue has been resolved.

[schumaku]

Oh sorry my ignorance, the Smart Managed Plus like the GSxxxE[xx] of course don't offer any STP.