ASUS RT-N66U need help with iptv

[kudzoe123]

I just moved to a new fiber optic ISP and I need help setting up my router.

Current network setup is like this:

The lower right part, network hub, media player, iptv box, and Nintendo Wii, they are in the main living room. There is only 1 RJ45 socket on the wall which is now connected to the network hub (old network hub).

The IPTV box is working now, because the network hub is connected to the fiber optic modem LAN port directly.

But, the media player cannot reach the media server.

I have an option to connect the network hub (red cable) to the ASUS router (or to the network switch), but I don't know how to configure it. Last time I tried to connect the network hub to the network switch and the IPTV didn't work.

My knowledge about IPTV is quite limited, but I know networking in general about router, hub, switch, bridge, vlan. If I understand correctly, the IPTV usually have VLAN ID, however ... I don't know what it is because there is no information from the ISP. They don't like this setup and told me to connect directly to their fiber optic LAN port.

Note that there is only 1 RJ45 socket available in the living room, and I want to maintain that way.

Thanks.

 

[sWORDs]

There are many solutions to your problem.
It al depends of the options of your equipment and wishes.

You could remove the Asus router (or just use it as an AP) and connect the switch to the router of the ISP.

You could place the Asus router as first device after the NTU and trunk the IPTV VLAN to a managed switch near the mediaplayer.

You could place a managed switch with macbased VLAN support as first device after the NTU.

If the current first device supports it you could add the route to the ip range of the Asus.

Identifying the correct options for the ISP should be easy with a hub or managed switch with port duplication and Wireshark as you can detect PPPoE (if used) username and pass, VLAN's and priorities (normally voice>iptv>internet)

As for the current config, if the Asus and switch are close remove the switch and use the Asus ports as switch. Never use a hub unless Wiresharking, get a managed switch with IGMP snooping and 802.1Q VLAN's as this will significantly increase your IPTV options. I do hope the Asus is connected by wire? Does your current switch support IGMP snooping and 802.1Q VLAN's?

 

[tytai7]

Hi

I also have a problem just that this is a simpler problem.

I am trying to access my IPTV through the router. I just connected the cable to the router but i am unable to access anything at all. Is there some kind of configuration I must do in order to watch?

 

[sWORDs]

For some IPTV setups you need to assign the port to a VLAN, also you might want to enable IGMP snooping.

 

[kudzoe123]

Thanks for your feedback, but I need to clear up something here.

I don't have a router from the ISP, in the drawing I stated it as "fiber optic modem". That's not a router.

When I connect a switch to this modem, nothing work. After I called the ISP tech support, they told me it's just a modem and I can only use it with 1 device to access the internet. I tested this and it's correct.

That's why I am now using the ASUS RT-N66U as the router so my PCs can connect to the internet, also provide AP for mobile devices wireless access.

And they are all connected via UTP cable.

I don't think my switch supports IGMP / VLAN though, but is close to the ASUS router, so it can be removed.

The thing is that there is only 1 possible LAN connection to the living room.

There are many solutions to your problem.
It al depends of the options of your equipment and wishes.

You could remove the Asus router (or just use it as an AP) and connect the switch to the router of the ISP.

You could place the Asus router as first device after the NTU and trunk the IPTV VLAN to a managed switch near the mediaplayer.

You could place a managed switch with macbased VLAN support as first device after the NTU.

If the current first device supports it you could add the route to the ip range of the Asus.

Identifying the correct options for the ISP should be easy with a hub or managed switch with port duplication and Wireshark as you can detect PPPoE (if used) username and pass, VLAN's and priorities (normally voice>iptv>internet)

As for the current config, if the Asus and switch are close remove the switch and use the Asus ports as switch. Never use a hub unless Wiresharking, get a managed switch with IGMP snooping and 802.1Q VLAN's as this will significantly increase your IPTV options. I do hope the Asus is connected by wire? Does your current switch support IGMP snooping and 802.1Q VLAN's?

 

[sWORDs]

Then an option is to trunk iptv to a managed switch.
I've never seen a device with more then one utp as output that isn't a router. Maybe it is a router but in bridge. Are you sure the Asus does not get an internal ip? Could you give the first section of the WAN ip on the Asus?

If it's truly a modem you could set a port of the Asus to a VLAN and trunk that on another port to a managed switch in the living room, where you assign a port to that vlan for IPTV. This means two cables between the Asus and ISP device. It also means some scripts on the Asus for the trunk.

Even if it's a modem you still should be able to remove it and put the settings in the Asus as discussed before.

In a nutshell your issue is that you want two seperate networks over a single LAN cable. So you need to flatten it or trunk it. Flattening would require mac based VLAN (only available in the more expensive managed switches, like SG300-08, but I've never tried it for IPTV, I might have a go with it in a few weeks), trunking requires a managed switch with 802.1Q support. The switch inside the Asus supports 802.1Q, but trunking isn't available in the web GUI, so it would require a script. Then on the other side you would require another managed switch to "de-trunk" and assign the second network to a port for your settopbox.

Option 1 (Asus behind ISP device):
modem WAN port to NTU
modem LAN port to Asus WAN
modem IPTV port to Asus LAN4
Asus LAN 3 to managed switch livingroom port 1
Asus LAN 2 to PC2
Asus LAN 1 to PC1
STB to managed switch livingroom port 2

/jffs/scripts/wan-start:
#!/bin/sh
/usr/sbin/robocfg switch disable
/usr/sbin/robocfg vlan 1 ports "1 2 3 5t"
/usr/sbin/robocfg vlan 10 ports "3t 4"
/usr/sbin/robocfg switch enable

In the managed switch you add vlan 10, trunked on port 1, assigned to port 2, also enable IGMP snooping on the managed switch.

Option 2 (Asus replacing ISP device):
Before doing anything connect a hub or managed switch (mirroring the NTU port) between the modem and NTU and use Wireshark, you'll see the VLAN's with Priorities and PPPoE (if used) settings of the modem. Or google to see if anyone else has figured it out already for your ISP.

In my case I spotted that it uses a trunk with:
Internet VLAN6 with a priority 1 with PPPoE using username@internet as username and ppp as password
VoIP VLAN7 with priority 5 with unknown SIP settings (meaning I still need to use the providers device for SIP)
IPTV VLAN4 with priority 4

So what I did is connect the WAN of the Asus to the NTU and configured PPPoE, and created trunks (VLAN1 = LAN):
WAN to NTU with VLAN 4 (tagged), 6 (tagged), 7 (tagged)
Port 4 to ISP device with VLAN 4 (tagged) and 7 (tagged)
Port 1, 2, 3 going to the managed switches of the floors with VLAN 1 (default untagged) and 4 (tagged)

All managed switches (Currently one SRW2016, two SLM2008's and a DGS-1210-28) and the Asus have IGMP snooping enabled.

/jffs/scripts/wan-start:
#!/bin/sh
/usr/sbin/robocfg switch disable
#vlan 4 = IPTV
/usr/sbin/robocfg vlan 4 ports "0t 1t 2t 3t 4t"
#vlan 6 = INTERNET
/usr/sbin/robocfg vlan 6 ports "0t 5t"
#vlan 7 = VoIP
/usr/sbin/robocfg vlan 7 ports "0t 4t"
/usr/sbin/robocfg switch enable

Now I can use IPTV on the ports of the ISP device or assign any port on any of the managed switches as VLAN4, while still having normal LAN on all other ports.

Option 3 (flatten network):
Still todo as I don't have a device supporting mac based VLAN's free at the moment (I need all ports of the DGS for my ESXi hosts), thinking about changing the SRW2016 for a SG300-08, so I can have a go with it.

Option 4 (Managed switch between NTU and rest):
Here you also need to Wireshark/google first as you need to know the VLAN's. Basically this is not that different from option 2, but instead of using a script you can use the webinterface of a managed switch to configure everything. Multiple cables between this first switch and Asus and/or ISP device. This was the option I used first, but it uses more ports on the switches and looks quite messy. It works fine. Something like this, but then also trunking IPTV to the other switches.

Questions:
What does the Asus currently show as first segment of WAN ip?
What ISP have you got?
What's on the labels of the ISP device (Device and model)?

 

[kudzoe123]

Thanks again sWORDs, I understand all the options.

But, I think I am not ready to invest a new managed switch.

Current switch doesn't support VLAN

So, I saved your explanation for the future.

 

[tytai7]

For some IPTV setups you need to assign the port to a VLAN, also you might want to enable IGMP snooping.

thanks bro, this is getting too technical for me though.

i'm bringing the iptv to a friend's place to verify its functionality 1st. i really do not know what to expect because i called ISP. and ISP says this should be iptv vendor problem as all connection seems correct. I called ASUS support, they said this is simple plug and play. so all pointing to the IPTV as a fault now. that is why i will try it at another place.

if it works then it means its a router problem, right.
if it doesnt work, at least i know it is iptv spoil (highly unlikely)