BE98 Pro Mesh System – Constant Instability Issues, Anyone Else Experiencing This?

[ComputerSteve]

@SomeWhereOverTheRainBow with AdGuard are you allowed to use a different subnet ? I remember you writing that if you do that it’s only going to work on the main router and the nodes won’t work correctly. Is this still the case ?

 

[SomeWhereOverTheRainBow]

@SomeWhereOverTheRainBow with AdGuard are you allowed to use a different subnet ? I remember you writing that if you do that it’s only going to work on the main router and the nodes won’t work correctly. Is this still the case ?

I fixed that from what I can tell, and other users have reported my fix works on their guest network pro as well. I think the problem you were experiencing was an unaccounted for variable where one might have multiple subnets enabled, and also have a guestnetwork that uses the same subnet as the main. Hence the symptom I patched last night. It just requires the user to run an update with the installer using option 1.

 

[ComputerSteve]

I fixed that from what I can tell, and other users have reported my fix works on their guest network pro as well. I think the problem you were experiencing was an unaccounted for variable where one might have multiple subnets enabled, and also have a guestnetwork that uses the same subnet as the main. Hence the symptom I patched last night. It just requires the user to run an update with the installer using option 1.

I’ve actually noticed the total opposite @SomeWhereOverTheRainBow , which is why I’m reaching out here.

Originally, I had my IoT guest network on a different subnet, but with that setup, clients would mostly fail to get internet or would randomly lose connectivity whenever your add-on was installed. To try and work around it, I recreated the guest network and this time selected “keep on the same subnet.” That definitely works better, but I still see odd behavior where clients will suddenly stop responding.

When I completely uninstalled your add-on and switched over to the built-in AdGuard, the issue disappeared. The downside is that the built-in version is paid and lacks support for REGEX rules, which I rely on.

This is at least on the BE98Pro's & I also did get two GT-AXE11000, & noticed the same thing. I am wondering if it's the quad band wifi thats causing an issue maybe something is different on those ?

 

[SomeWhereOverTheRainBow]

e actually noticed the total opposite @SomeWhereOverTheRainBow , which is why I’m reaching out here.

I’ve actually noticed the total opposite @SomeWhereOverTheRainBow , which is why I’m reaching out here.

Originally, I had my IoT guest network on a different subnet, but with that setup, clients would mostly fail to get internet or would randomly lose connectivity whenever your add-on was installed. To try and work around it, I recreated the guest network and this time selected “keep on the same subnet.” That definitely works better, but I still see odd behavior where clients will suddenly stop responding.

When I completely uninstalled your add-on and switched over to the built-in AdGuard, the issue disappeared. The downside is that the built-in version is paid and lacks support for REGEX rules, which I rely on.

This is at least on the BE98Pro's & I also did get two GT-AXE11000, & noticed the same thing. I am wondering if it's the quad band wifi thats causing an issue maybe something is different on those ?

Well, I also have to consider the complexity of your setup and weight that against other users who are reporting a basic run is working on their guest network pro. First I need to know if there are any scripts you could be running which introduces a change to your running environment that I have not accounted for in my script. If so, then it is a dead give away to why your not able to run AdGuardHome. Something could easily be causing a conflict with AdGuardHome, and I am not decided that it is guestnetwork pro any longer because I have tested that with numerous users who have reported all is good on their end.

Here is what I do know:
* The current AdGuardHome scripting works with Guestnetworks Pro on different subnets.
* You have created this thread and made an attempt to have your nonworking setup troubleshooted.
* You believe the cause was AdGuardHome which you had installed using my script.
* I do not know what version of my script you were using, but the current version has been patched and running environment tested with several other users running Guestnetwork Pro with different subnets from their main lan subnet. <------- I read in the earlier part of the thread you were running 1.9.3.
* So far you haven't presented any new tests showing that show the current version is not working with your setup (specifically including the patch I added the other night after reading your request for my review).
* I have no test data, and no knowledge of your setup or what parts of your network could introduce conflicts with this AdGuardHome if there is one on that end.

Currently I await any helpful data, or information that could help me further help you with this matter.

 

[ComputerSteve]

Well, I also have to consider the complexity of your setup and weight that against other users who are reporting a basic run is working on their guest network pro. First I need to know if there are any scripts you could be running which introduces a change to your running environment that I have not accounted for in my script. If so, then it is a dead give away to why your not able to run AdGuardHome. Something could easily be causing a conflict with AdGuardHome, and I am not decided that it is guestnetwork pro any longer because I have tested that with numerous users who have reported all is good on their end.

Here is what I do know:
* The current AdGuardHome scripting works with Guestnetworks Pro on different subnets.
* You have created this thread and made an attempt to have your nonworking setup troubleshooted.
* You believe the cause was AdGuardHome which you had installed using my script.
* I do not know what version of my script you were using, but the current version has been patched and running environment tested with several other users running Guestnetwork Pro with different subnets from their main lan subnet. <------- I read in the earlier part of the thread you were running 1.9.3.
* So far you haven't presented any new tests showing that show the current version is not working with your setup (specifically including the patch I added the other night after reading your request for my review).
* I have no test data, and no knowledge of your setup or what parts of your network could introduce conflicts with this AdGuardHome if there is one on that end.

Currently I await any helpful data, or information that could help me further help you with this matter.

I actually just installed your fix. I wasn’t aware of it. I have actually not that complicated a setup since I now am only using 3 GT-BE98pros. I have my 1 main network and the 1 IOT network. I don’t really consider that design that complicated. Unless I’m wrong ?? Meaning it’s built in features of the firmware. The additional things are your add-on, VPN routing,dual wan replacement script, and entware. All these routers have been factory reset. I originally tried not installing your add-on to see if that fixed the problem. It did. It’s just the built in AdGuard is limited. I appreciate all your help with fixing this and for troubleshooting. I didn’t have any of these problems on the GT-AX11000 either pro or non-pro.

 

[ComputerSteve]

Also @SomeWhereOverTheRainBow if you need me to try anything or to help anyway I am more than willing to do that.

 

[SomeWhereOverTheRainBow]

Also @SomeWhereOverTheRainBow if you need me to try anything or to help anyway I am more than willing to do that.

I guess the only thing useful you could do from here is try running a test run with the guestnetwork setups you like to use. see if the issues are present. observe any behaviors in logs you think are noteworthy mentioning. Even look for log errors present with other scripts you run from the addons. If any of the other scripts have debug logging, I'd recommend enabling it. If vpn setups you use have debug logging and if you route traffic from guestnetworks to those VPN, I'd would adjust the log levels to debug. Use the debug details to see if you see any noteworthy messages.

 

[ComputerSteve]

I will do that !

 

[ComputerSteve]

I am also wondering if it’s something with the latest firmware. Another forum thread mentioned that downgrading the firmware to the one before this current version worked more stable.

 

[ComputerSteve]

So I don't know if this is just firmware or the Adguard is still not working but I have multiple devices on the IOT network that are saying they are online but don't have internet.. Example, My ring cameras except for 3 of them are all offline - meanwhile they are saying they have ip's and what I notice with them is they randomly come online.

 

[degrub]

What is different about the 3 Rings that are online ? connected to ? signal strength at the Ring ? versus the ones that are off/on ?

 

[SomeWhereOverTheRainBow]

So I don't know if this is just firmware or the Adguard is still not working but I have multiple devices on the IOT network that are saying they are online but don't have internet.. Example, My ring cameras except for 3 of them are all offline - meanwhile they are saying they have ip's and what I notice with them is they randomly come online.

Ring cameras are notoriously finiky when they are not able to make a connection to cloudflare for dns manswers, and if their clocks are not being set properly over ntp or dns. Also, they do not like any of the amazon content delivery domains/IP to be blocked. So for example, if a block list has the domains for amazonaws content delivery domains or IP addresses in it, then the ring devices will constanly have random disconnects. You may have to allowlist all the amazonaws cdn network domains to get the ring cameras not to act up.

You may find these articles useful.

s3.amazonaws.com DNS Resolution and Firewalla

A few years ago I bought a Firewalla Gold device to help provide some additional protection to my home network, but more importantly to control what my kids had access to and when they had internet…

blog.oholics.net

and

Firewalla – Allowed IP Addresses for Ring Camera Devices

My initial setup of Ring Camera’s with my Firewalla was pretty lacklustre! They were isolated in a device group from all other networks, but had free outbound access to the internet. So, at f…

blog.oholics.net

As they will help you understand what might be happening.
What i recommend is reviewing your adguardhome query logs for frequently blocked domains done by your ring devices. If any of those blocked requests are amazon bound, i'd allowlist it. That should help your ring and other amazon iot devices.

so it is clear to me now what is creating instability for devices on your network. The blocklists you are choosing in adguardhome is blocking too many domains for your amazon bound iot devices/ and possibly iot devices bound for other outbound domain locations. You need effective allowlisting for IOT devices you wish to remain contected to the internet. So this is not an issue i have exclusively created with my installer, but it is something you can control with proper allowlisting.

It may take you alittle query log research, but it is completely doable. I look forward to hearing more about your progress.

 

[ComputerSteve]

Ring cameras are notoriously finiky when they are not able to make a connection to cloudflare for dns manswers, and if their clocks are not being set properly over ntp or dns. Also, they do not like any of the amazon content delivery domains/IP to be blocked. So for example, if a block list has the domains for amazonaws content delivery domains or IP addresses in it, then the ring devices will constanly have random disconnects. You may have to allowlist all the amazonaws cdn network domains to get the ring cameras not to act up.

You may find these articles useful.

s3.amazonaws.com DNS Resolution and Firewalla

A few years ago I bought a Firewalla Gold device to help provide some additional protection to my home network, but more importantly to control what my kids had access to and when they had internet…

blog.oholics.net

and

Firewalla – Allowed IP Addresses for Ring Camera Devices

My initial setup of Ring Camera’s with my Firewalla was pretty lacklustre! They were isolated in a device group from all other networks, but had free outbound access to the internet. So, at f…

blog.oholics.net

As they will help you understand what might be happening.
What i recommend is reviewing your adguardhome query logs for frequently blocked domains done by your ring devices. If any of those blocked requests are amazon bound, i'd allowlist it. That should help your ring and other amazon iot devices.

so it is clear to me now what is creating instability for devices on your network. The blocklists you are choosing in adguardhome is blocking too many domains for your amazon bound iot devices/ and possibly iot devices bound for other outbound domain locations. You need effective allowlisting for IOT devices you wish to remain contected to the internet. So this is not an issue i have exclusively created with my installer, but it is something you can control with proper allowlisting.

It may take you alittle query log research, but it is completely doable. I look forward to hearing more about your progress.

I’m still seeing instability, and it’s not just Ring devices. I downgraded the firmware to test, but the flakiness continues.
For example, with Ring today: when I woke up, both cameras were offline. What’s odd is that if you go directly to a camera, it will say “connection restored.” That behavior is new — on my old routers, if a camera went offline, it would stay offline until I manually reconnected it. Now it feels like the devices are going offline because they’re timing out, not because they’ve truly lost connection.

• My devices are connected to the correct node, but that doesn’t seem to help.
• I moved them onto their own subnet using the SDN network (previously they were on the same subnet). @SomeWhereOverTheRainBow mentioned this setup should be fine.
• Other than that, nothing else has changed.

Right now I’m running 3006.102.4, and I downgraded the nodes to the build closest to the stock GPL:

3.0.0.6.102_37812-g78f7da8_1207-g0fc42_BB0B
Both of these cameras restored themselves when I tapped them in the ring app:

 

[degrub]

did you factory reset and manually configure after the reversion ?

 

[ComputerSteve]

did you factory reset and manually configure after the reversion ?

Yes, WiFi issues still are present.

 

[degrub]

Just curious, airtime fairness ON or OFF ?
Same for MLO

 

[ComputerSteve]

Just curious, airtime fairness ON or OFF ?
Same for MLO

Airtime fairness is off on all bands, MLO is on for 5ghz, 6ghz-1, and 6ghz-2

 

[degrub]

pursue the logs at debug for those devices. It sounds like those specific devices are not getting through to the mother ship amzn. etc.

 

[SomeWhereOverTheRainBow]

Airtime fairness is off on all bands, MLO is on for 5ghz, 6ghz-1, and 6ghz-2

Try running adguardhome with all local adblocking disabled. See if you start to notice things beginning to work correctly. If you do, then it could be important captive portalling and connection detecting domains are being blocked. Using adguardhome statistics for top blocked requests to check if the top blocked domains are necessary for devices to establish connection.