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Internet Connection questions

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KE0RSX
KE0RSX's picture
Internet Connection questions
Hi, everyone,

I'm curious if anyone has connected their AREDN node directly to a modem (or some other fashion like that), and has it worked? I know the typical setup is something like this:  modem --> router --> Smart switch --> AREDN Mesh node. But I'm curious about something like this: modem --> switch --> AREDN Node. Would that work, or would it still need to be a managed (Smart) switch?

The reason I'm asking is that I just found out that my ISP gives me two IP Addresses for my account. So, I could hook a switch up to the modem and two routers to that. I'd have two separate public IP Addresses, and they would be two separate networks. What I wanted to do is something like this:
                                   ----AREDN Mesh Node
modem --> Switch ----|
                                   ---- Home network

(forgive me if the diagram doesn't show up properly).

Would that work, or would I need the managed switch directing packets?

Thanks, and have a great day. :)
Patrick (was KE0RSX now W0PCD)
K6CCC
K6CCC's picture
Yes, that might work
It depends on what equipment you are using.  If for example the AREDN node connected is a Mikrotik hAP, (which has separate network ports for WAN, DtD, & LAN) it will work just fine.  Plug the WAN port of the hAP (port 1) into the switch in your drawing and then whatever computer that you want to communicate over AREDN into one of the LAN ports and you're good to go.  If on the other hand, the AREDN node has everything on a single port (such as a Ubiquiti Rocket), and you would need a smart switch to sort it out.
 
KE0RSX
KE0RSX's picture
I'll have to do some testing then
Thank you for that.

I have a combination of TP-Link CPE210's and TP-Link WBS-210's. I know the WBS has two ports, but I'm not sure how we configured them in the firmware. So, I may have to do some testing. In a perfect scenario, I'll go from the modem to the switch to a WBS that's laying near it, and that will wirelessly connect to the CPE210s, which will create the actual mesh. The WBS doesn't seem to have a great range, so the CPE's would have to do the heavy lifting. Otherwise, I'll just have to do modem --> switch --> router --> smart switch --> Mesh (minor, but I was hoping to avoid extra equipment). I don't know if putting a smart switch between the modems and routers would work, since the routers are handling the authentication for the networks.

Thanks and have a great night. :)
Patrick.
KE0RSX
KE0RSX's picture
Which MikroTik do you have?
Hi there,

Is this the MikroTik that you're using? MikroTik hAP ac lite Dual-concurrent Access Point (RB952Ui-5ac2nD-US) I may buy one to get my network online, if it is. If not, can you tell me which one you have? And how much of a pain was it to configure it to use a WAN port?

THanks, and have a great night. :)
Patrick.
K6CCC
K6CCC's picture
That's the hAP
https://www.amazon.com/d/Wireless-Access-Points/MikroTik-Dual-concurrent...

There is almost nothing to configuring the WAN port.  Set the WAN for DHCP or a static address - depending on what you have available.  That's about it.
 
K6CCC
K6CCC's picture
You didn't read the original
You didn't read the original message where Patrick clearly stated that his ISP will supply two addresses.  In that case, he CAN have a dumb switch connected to his ISP modem with both his "normal" home router, and another device that will use the second address.  I did this for years.  My DSL provider gave me up to eight addresses that were used by as many as four routers (some with multiple addresses).
As I said in my first response, if his AREDN node that is going to use the internet connection has a separate LAN port that is not VLAN tagged (such as the Mikrotik hAP), it will work fine.  As I have no knowlege about the wiring of the TP-Link devices, I do not know if they work that way.
 
AE6XE
AE6XE's picture
port configurations

Be sure to scan through the README at the top of the downloads folder or in http://github.com/aredn/aredn_ar71xx.  There is a section that defines how ports are configured on devices.   

Most of the tplink devices have an odd configuration (but will be improved in the future):  the main port is LAN and second port is WAN/DtDlink, so you may need two cables depending on what you are doing.   As these devices convert from ar71xx to ath79 targets (how they are built and what linux kernel is in use), this will be cleaned up.   When the tplink device is moved, the port behavior will then have full functionality on both ports (LAN/WAN/DtDlink).

Joe AE6XE

KE0RSX
KE0RSX's picture
Is that on OpenWRT's end or ours?
Hi, Joe,

I noticed on the OpenWRT page that the TP-Link WBS210 is listed as Ath79 already. So, does that mean they've already converted it over in the code? And does that mean we don't have to do anything to fix the port configurations? I haven't tried updating the firmware to anything with the latest OpenWRT base yet, but I can.

Thanks, and have a great day. :)
Patrick.
AE6XE
AE6XE's picture
openwrt has wbs210 v2 working
openwrt has wbs210 v2 working in their 'master' branch with ath79 target.  AREDN has wbs210 v1 working in our latest builds for ar71xx target, based on top of openwrt "19.07" branch.    Which version do you have?   

Work needs to occur to port the wbs10 v2 on ath79 to the '19.07' branch AREDN is based on.

Joe AE6XE

 
KE0RSX
KE0RSX's picture
I have a v1.2

I have a version 1.2, which was the latest version out when I bought it. I may flash it with the OpenWRT image, just to see if it works. I'll let you know as I go along.

What will it take to port it over to ath79, if it's already ported that way in the OpenWRT base? I'm imagining that it's just moving the files over from the ar71xx directory to the ath79 one and changing pointers to that.

I'm looking at the datasheets for both the 1.2 and 2.0 versions, and aside from them not specifying a model number for the processor, they appear to be the exact same device. I'm confirming with TP-Link about the processor. The reply I got was to look at the FCC ID, but they didn't know of any significant differences. So, I would imagine it will work with the Ath79 target as well.

Have a great day. :)
Patrick.

Have a great day. :)
Patrick.
 

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