GR12 troubleshooting

[patrykk]

Hi,

    I have GR12 AP connected to TP-Link (PoE) switch. All good as long as I try to connect to my NAS storage from a device connected to the network through the AP (WiFi). 

AP (bridge mode) and NAS are on the same network, connected to the same switch. 

If I connect the laptop to wire network - no problem with accessing the NAS (just ping). Putting the laptop on WiFi - ping fails.

I checked on NAS (tcpdump) and I cannot see any packets from my laptop reaching NAS interface. It tells me that AP drops the packets. 

I changed the AP to NAT - the same issue. Cannot reach NAS device. 

Why is that? How can I troubleshoot it and what else can I do to allow such communication? 

[Xydocq]

Hello @patrykk 

Your laptop will recieve an IP-adress from a DHCP server. Did you check if the IP-adresses are on the same range when connecting the laptop thru LAN or WLAN?

As example: 192.168.10.230 and 192.168.10.100 =same range / 192.168.20.230 and 192.168.10.230 = different range

[patrykk]

Thanks, @Xydocq, for the reply.

It's not that. I am getting 192.168.20.10 from WLAN and 192.168.20.11 from LAN for the laptop.

It is strange behave. I can ping router VLAN interface from WLAN but the NAS IP 192.168.20.252

As all on the same VLAN there is no router involved, but there are any:any rules on that VLAN anyway. No packets from laptop on WLAN can be seen on NAS interface. The packets must be dropped on AP for some reason. Any way to confirm that? 

[Xydocq]

Sure some weird behaviour.

Did you check if your AP truely runs on Bridge Mode? Information can be found here Meraki Go WiFi Access Point Features - Cisco Meraki

I don't have a GR12 but changing the mode back and forth helped me to solve other problems I've had with Meraki Go devices.

Is it just the NAS or are other devices like computer and printers also affected?

Not sure what NAS you are using. In case you have a QNAP did you try to find it with Qfinder pro? Or for Synology with Synology Assistant? It could be possible your NAS is blocking the IP 192.168.29.11 due to a wrong login-attempt. You might want to take a look at the blocked IP-list. Can't really tell what to do with other NAS brands.

[patrykk]

Update - it appeared to be miss-configuration NAS (Synology) -> Switch (TP-Link). You can combine interfaces together, using LACP - that what I did. On switch, I configured LACP and on Synology NAS you can choose one of the LACP modes. I tried Adaptive Load Balancing, IEEE 802.3ad and Active/Standby. Trying tonight, the Balance XOR mode fixed the issue 🤔 It looks like the LACP on TP-Link is Static Link Aggregation (not that you have a choice there). 

I am very disappointed with TP-Link - fair enough is half price of Meraki Go PoE switch but the way you configure it - it's just pain. You get what you pay for, looks like. 

The strange thing is all devices wired (eth cable) were working fine - just all devices connected to the network by WLAN (MerakiGO GR12) had an issue with accessing the NAS.

Thanks @Xydocq 

[Xydocq]

Adaptive Load Balancing is used when a Switch has no support for Link Aggregation. It can be used without the need of supporting hardware.

Most Switches in a lower price-range only offer Static Link Aggregation. Static Link Aggregation can cause problems on a Synology NAS when you need to use Virtual Switch on them. That's the case if you want to run Containers on them or a small Virtual Machine.

What I learned back then, if you want to have a Switch supporting Dynamic Link Aggregation (IEEE 802.3ad), you have to dive deep into their specs before you buy them.