Need help setting up Synology RT 2600ac router in Access Point mode

[rhimbo]

Hello all,

I just purchased two Synology RT 2600ac WiFi routers. I will use the first one (the main router) to connect to my cable modem. I plan to use the second one in bridge mode (access point mode); call this one the AP router. I would like to create:

• a single network (a single sub-net) for both wired and wireless clients
• LAN ports on AP router switched as normal in same sub-net as main router (implied by point above)
• a single SSID for wireless access

Currently the main router is installed and configured, and it seems to be working fine. I'm having some difficulty figuring out what configuration to do and the order in which to do it for the AP router.

First question is: does the AP router connect to the main router via DHCP? And, should I connect the AP router via its WAN port (not one of the four LAN ports)?

Before connecting the AP router, however, I believe I need to do the following steps.

1. Set the AP router's IP address to an explicit "hard" address out of range of the main router's DHCP address range.
2. Disable NAT (haven't figured out where to do this yet on Synology router)
3. Disable DHCP on the AP router.
4. Disable plug-and-play (UPnP) on the AP router.
5. Connect the AP router to the main router via Ethernet cable via the AP router's WAN port to one of the LAN ports on the main router.
6. Reboot main router.
7. Reboot AP router.

Is the above correct? Am I missing anything (I would be very surprised if I didn't!!)....

I've attached the Synology router local network configuration screen in case it helps for reference. The information is prior to any configuration, that is, it shows the settings straight out of the box.

Many thanks in advance...,

 

[Trikein]

What model cable modem do you have? If it is a true stand alone modem, it will use the access IP of 192.168.100.1, but if it's a gateway(even bridged) it will have a IP of 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1. If so, you need to make sure neither router's access IP conflicts with that IP, unless you can change that IP on the modem/gateway.

Besides that, you have everything covered. See page 9-10 of manual for info on how to set the router mode of router 2 to Wireless AP mode under "Internet" tab. That should automatically take care of steps 2,3 and 4. Also make sure the two router's wifi channels are different and as far apart as other wifi networks around you allow. If you have a lot of smaller wifi devices (iphones, blueray players, etc) it is better to lower the transmission power as much as possible so they can roam easier between the two, but some of that will depend on roaming settings on the router and compatibility on the devices.

 

[rhimbo]

Hello Trikein,

I have a Ubee "Advanced Wireless Voice Gateway" combo cable modem/voice gateway/router:
http://www.ubeeinteractive.com/prod...eways/dvw32cb-advanced-wireless-voice-gateway

However, it's being used only as a cable modem. The LAN ports are not being used and the WiFi is disabled. It's used for the cable TV (Spectrum) only. The feed from "the street" (Spectrum feed) is bifurcated via a splitter.

One coax feeds into the Ubee; The other coax from the split feeds into a Motorola SURFboard SB6141:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AJHDZSI/?tag=snbforums-20

My Synology RT 2600ac router is connected to the WAN cable on the SURFboard; it's the black network cable at the top of the SURFboard above the coax. The attached photo shows the configuration.

If I understand what you're saying about the IP of the cable modem, I believe the Ubee is being used only as a cable modem and not a router. The Synology router has an IP of 192.168.1.1 and I believe it's identified as the default gateway ("Gateway" in the config screen, also attached). I think this suggests that the Ubee is really being used as a cable modem only and that the router function is disabled. I might be guessing here, but it seems to me that the Synology would have an IP address of 192.168.1.2 otherwise.

I'll proceed as you suggest, Trikein. I'll contribute my experience here in case it will help others.

I downloaded the Synology manual the other day and read Chapter 2 (to which you refer ... pages 9-10). But these manuals leave out a lot of detail. I actually constructed my numbered list of steps by reading lots of forum posts for different routers, most notably Linksys E4200 Access Point mode....!!

Many thanks for your help...!

 

[Trikein]

Everything looks good there. No conflicts. You might consider a MoCA/POE filter for SB6141 incase the Ubee gateway uses MoCA for the TV service, but it isn't absolutely necessary, more of a precaution.

Just remember you need to set router 2 (the one you will using as a AP) to Wireless AP mode under the "Internet" tab. I only mention it because you included a picture of the "Local Network" tab again.

 

[rhimbo]

Do you mean this screen shown in the first attachment? If so, I don't think I understand what needs to be modifying there.

I thought that I would change to the Wireless AP mode on the Operations Mode tab, shown in the second attachment, after doing all the config discussed so far in this thread.

Sorry I'm not catching on.... appreciate your patience...!

 

[Trikein]

My apologies, I meant what you showed in the second newest screenshot for "Operation Modes". The way the manual worded it confused me. Router 1 should be in be in "Wireless Router" mode and Router 2 should be in "Wireless AP" mode. The ethernet should connect to port 1-4(doesn't matter) on router 1 and connect to the WAN port on router 2. Technically you could connect it to any port on router 2, but for simplicity sake, use the WAN/Internet port. After that, the only other router setting you should have to adjust are the wireless settings of both routers and the access IP of router 2. I would suggest a access IP of 192.168.2.1 and you change it using the "Local IP" IP address field shown in the screenshot in post #3. Just make sure whatever you set it to isn't used by anything already on your network, but I predict that IP wouldn't.

 

[rhimbo]

Great, thank you, Trikein.

I find that the user guides and manuals are missing a tremendous amount of information. None of this stuff is in there. Nor is it in the manuals of other manufacturer's products. I created my initial questions by reading many forum posts on many sites including Synology, Netgear and Linksys!! I would never have thought of all the issues otherwise.

Thank again. I'll do the config this morning....

 

[Trikein]

I think the issue is instead of releasing full user manual for each model, they released general user "guides" when they released to the FCC, and then released a full user manual for the general firmware installed in both units. Because of this, the user manual is written in a way as to try to apply to both units, and this makes it confusing. I think it may be that Synology is new to the router game, so their manual procedures followed their other product line. When you make a lot of different hardware with the same firmware like a NAS, it makes more sense not to have individual manuals.

I created my initial questions by reading many forum posts on many sites including Synology, Netgear and Linksys!!

Finding the right user base for the question is tricky. When even I come to a new forum I make it a habit to try to help others on the forum before I post my own question or issue. Pay it forward and all that. Maybe if you get everything working you could post some screenshots and data documenting the process. That way if someone else runs across this problem there now WILL be data on the process. That will draw in more readers too, so if you later have problems, you can have a thread to update and get more feedback. The best part of helping others is that it also teaches me. Thanks for the interesting thread!

::Edit:: Not sure if you visited DSLR in your forum travels, but I find that is usually a good blend of users and experts. Here is one on general router hardware, and here is one on wireless networking. I think SNB is superior, so always keep this forum in mind, but it doesn't hurt to get as many eyes on a issue as possible sometimes. If this breaks any forums rules, I apologize and delete this edit. Also please notify me so I know not to link other forums in the future.

 

[rhimbo]

I will most definitely post screen shots and an ordered list of steps when I finally get it working.

I completely agree with you. Forums with mature, knowledgable adults are simply wonderful. I really like the community spirit of the good forums. And I'm learning a lot. I will check out the other two forums you mention. But I must say that I've only just joined SNB forums but already like it very much. I found it by first doing an Internet search for some search terms such as "bridge mode config" (I don't recall the exact term I typed in!) and the posts seemed well-written, and I just got a good vibe from the way people responded to queries.

Stay tuned. I will post results when I get this puppy working...!

 

[rhimbo]

Hello folks,

OK, I was successful finally configuring my two Synology routers, the first one being the "main" router and the second one being the "AP" router. It turned out to be embarrassingly simple. In retrospect I now see how I confused myself. The explanation is at the end of this post.

I set up the main router in the typical manner. I plugged it into my cable modem, and then I connected to it via address 192.168.1.1. It was simple. Follow Chapter 1 in the user guide. I won't repeat what is adequately explained in the manual. However, I draw your attention to the selection of the router operation mode. Just select the default "wireless router."

There is one critical piece of instruction missing in the user guide Chapter 2. To set up the AP router in "Wireless AP (Access Point)" mode, also referred to using the standard term "bridge mode" in the user guide, start by leaving the router disconnected from any network, that is, not connected to the main router; do not plug in any network cable.

When doing the initial setup out of the box, select "Wireless Access Point" from the drop down menu in the "Set Up Your Operation Mode" menu. See Step 6 in Chapter 1 of the user guide. In step 7, select your internet connection type even though you are not connected to a network.

The next screen will ask you if you still want access to SRM (Synology Router Manager). I selected "yes" so that I could still get to the management console and tabs (some of which are shown in the screen grabs below). I believe (I haven't tried it) that if you select "no" you will not be able to log in to the SRM software. The http server will be disabled basically.

After the Synology Router Manager saves the configuration, you want to connect the AP router to the main router via Ethernet cable (AP router WAN port connected to main router LAN port 1 - 4). Then power cycle the AP router. I did not need to power cycle the main router.

What the user guide fails to explain or address at all are the technical details regarding what happens when you select your operation mode to be Wireless Access Point mode. The screen grabs below help explain (I hope).

Here is the "local network" tab's pane of the SRM console. Notice that the IP address is 192.168.1.1 (as expected).

And here is the "traffic control" tab's pane. Notice the IP address of the AP router is 192.168. 1.65.

Finally, here is the SRM console for the AP Router.

Notice that the "local network" tab is gone from the AP Router's SRM configuration console.

Synology chose the path of doing a lot of the configuration "magic" for you when you select "Wireless AP" operation mode. I am limited to 4 file uploads so I can't show more screen grabs. I have not found a screen that indicates the AP router's subnet mask or IP address range. Basically, like other routers about which I've read while initially researching how to set up two routers like this, I believe the AP router uses the DHCP address range of the main router. Thus, it uses the main router's "default gateway" for the wireless connections.

I suppose you could manually configure the router. This is what got me into trouble and why it took me a while to get it going. I tried manually configuring by doing these steps in this order:

1. Disable DHCP on AP router
2. Set AP router IP address to 192.168.1.2 (also tried 192.168.2.1)
3. Disable NAT
4. Set WiFi security to WPA-2 and AES

But there were apparently some dependencies that I could not resolve. I got all kinds of errors such as "DHCP address must be in the same subnet s the default gateway".

Anyway, I think the big problem was that the SRM software hard-wired the AP router's http server address to 192.168.1.2:8000. So, after doing steps 1 - 4 above, I could not get in to complete the configuration. However, if you select "Wireless Access Point" operation mode using the set up wizard, all of these configuration changes are done and saved simultaneously. That's the best I can explain it.

So now I'm up and running and both router's have the same SSID, same WiFi password, and I can seamlessly migrate from one transceiver to the other when walking around my home. Also, the LAN ports work as expected on both router units.

One additional point. When setting up the first router, the SRM creates the default admin account name "sinology." But the default account name on the second unit is "admin." I don't know if this is a result of a design change (perhaps my two units were manufactured at different times and shipped with different software; I haven't checked yet). Or, perhaps this is intentional to give the user extra information about the unit to which he or she is really trying to log in. I have to do some more digging. Both "admin" and "sinology" accounts exist on both units. It's just that one of them is disabled on one unit and the other account is disabled on the second unit.

I hope this post helps...!