I'm relatively new to mesh, and have been acquiring equipment. I have several Ubiquiti nodes flashed and am now turning my attention to the GS105E switch. I have two of them, and four nodes that I could use them with depending on circumstances such as the needs of an event or ARES activation.
I've been told that the AREDN software has an algorithm that calculates the IP addresses any given node can assign based on it's MAC address, and that this is to prevent IP collisions between nodes. Makes perfect sense to me.
My question is this: the directions for configuring a switch start out by connecting it to a non-mesh router (my home router for example) assigning an IP and then configuring the node to use that static IP for that switch. I plan to get a couple more switches and any given switch could be used with any given node.
Must I pair the node and switch? Going into the node, I don't see any ability to reserve a specific IP for any device, other than selecting an IP from the drop down list and reserving it for a particular device. That would seem to lock the two devices together. I don't follow the logic of assigning an IP from my router that would be outside the domain of the node, e.g. 192.168.1.n vs. 10.n.n.n.
Would it not be better to let the switch dynamically get it's address from the node, or does this interfere with the ability to reserve IP's for things like Mesh-Chat servers, RasPBX's, camera's etc.?
I'd like to get this thought process sorted out before I start configuring and paint myself into a corner, so to speak.
Any advice will be greatly appreciated!
My goal at the moment is to become proficient with the mesh hardware and software, then to put on a series of demos to my ARES group to promote usage for events and activations.
Thanks!
Rich
KC7ZDM
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Can I use a GS105E with multiple nodes (not at the same time)?
Sat, 05/20/2017 - 18:18
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Can I use a GS105E with multiple nodes (not at the same time)?
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If you connect your switch to a node, it will need an IP from that node's range. THEREFORE, I recommend configuring your switch to use DHCP addressing. That way, it will get it's ip from the node that you connect it to. To MANAGE the switch, you will need to determine what IP it was assigned (which can be by looking on the SETUP/DHCP Port Forwarding page in the node.
Other than that, the switch is NOT "paired" to A node. It can be used on any node in the above configuration.
One problem is see is that if I move a server, say RasPBX, from one node to another for a deployment, I should remove the reservation where the node is not, so to speak, and add it where I've moved it. Otherwise, wouldn't there be a duplicate? Or does the mesh have the ability to resolve that?
Thanks very much for all your help on this!
Thanks for that! I agree.
Now for the next layer of the onion... seems there always have to be layers! :)
I'm now actually configuring the switch and am wondering if the article about this is dated. I can't configure a VLAN 10, my options are only 1 through 5 so I chose 5 and assigned the VLAN 1 ports 1 and 5, and VLAN5 ports 2, 3, and 4. I released and renewed my DHCP with ipconfig /release and ipconfig /renew (on a Windows 10 Surface Pro 4) and now cannot see the DHCP server of the node.
I tried powering off the switch and back on, no joy. The switch is a GS105Ev2, and the version of firmware is V1.4.0.9. I see there is a new version, V1.5.0.4, and a release note that once applied, ProSafe versions before 2.4.3 will no longer work with the switch. I'm currently using version 2.4.3.
Before I upgrade the firmware, I have to ask, should I? Or does a solution exist at the current firmware level. I haven't been able to find an article about this on the site.
Edited to add the fact that my surface pro is plugged into port 2 of the switch, which is now in VLAN 5.
Thanks, and sorry to be a pest!
OK, OK, I figured out what I was doing wrong. I didn't notice that 802.1Q was actually a menu item on the VLAN configuration screeen. I read that as a label. Bad UI! Bad, bad UI! I do this for a living, sheesh!
I figured this out by backleveling the ProSafe utility 4 levels, one at a time, and not seeing any differences. So I went back up to 2.4.3 and then had the aha moment.I had been in the Port Based menu when I needed to be in the 8021Q menu. Once I got there, the other elements fell into place. I'm posting this because others may be having the same issue I was. I hope this helps someone.
The only difference I see is that the setup instructions called for port membership to be 1 and 5 for VLAN1, and 2, 3, and 4 for VLAN 10. The screen shots at http://www.aredn.org/content/gs105e-3-lan-1-node-1-wan show VLAN's 1, 2, and 11. I stayed with VLAN's 1 and 10, and tagged them the same way as the screen shots so that port 1 is included in VLAN 10.
I changed my laptop to port 2 (which is in VLAN 10) from port 5 after making the last configuration change. After releasing and renewing the ipconfig everything is working and I can browse to the node. Wahoo!
Thanks to everyone who helped!
FYI, the VLAN10 and VLAN11 numbers are arbitrary. The only "reserved": VLAN numbers are 1 & 2. Your LAN VLAN can be anything else.
Also, please IGNORE the Netgear installable "client" to manage the switch, and go DIRECTLY to the switch's IP address to configure. The WebUI is much easier to operate (IMHO).
Since our switch "how-to" articles where published, Netgear has upgraded their firmware to have the WebUI and we need to update our articles accordingly.
We shoul
Thanks! I'll do that next time out, which could be fairly soon. I have another node I tried to flash today, a Rocket M5 that turned out to be an XW and wouldn't load the AREDN software. I have a post on another section of the forum for that, hoping that the nightly build software may be nearing ready to go. I have a second switch to configure for that one.
The one I was working on was with a Bullet Titanium node. I could configure it with that one but I took it out to the garage and brought this one in and I'm too lazy to switch them back! :) I now have three nodes flashed, 2 NanoBridges, the Bullet, and the Rocket is the latest one, for now. I have an airRouter and another wi-fi device coming and hope to be testing with some friends next weekend. We're planning to play mesh for Field Day and then demo for our ARES group (many of whom will be there on Field Day!).
You can load 3.17.1.0RC1 on the XW device (under the "Release Candidates" link on the downloads page)
Wahoo!
Loaded the release candidate to the Rocket successfully, and got the second switch configured with the web ui which as you advertised was much easier to navigate. Looks like I'm up and running. Comm testing comes next, but not tonight!
Thank you so much!