Switch capabilities of AiMesh Nodes?

[OzarkEdge]

For Guest Network Pro compatibility I would stick to the official list here:

[Guest Network Pro] What is Guest Network Pro? | Official Support | ASUS Canada

RT-BE58U is in what Asus calls Smart Home Master products line category:

[Wireless Router] What is Smart home master? | Official Support | ASUS Global

Sure seems like it's effectively all the same stuff but with the same ongoing mess of different marketing.

OE

 

[Tech9]

Sure seems like it's effectively all the same stuff

Not really. Routers with Smart Home Master don't have user configurable VLAN options. It's sort of stripped down Guest Network Pro.

 

[jksmurf]

Not really. Routers with Smart Home Master don't have user configurable VLAN options. It's sort of stripped down Guest Network Pro.

Exactly. Simply put, you can connect mesh nodes, but there are limitations on WiFi bands per interface and VLAN propagation to the nodes Ethernet ports.

 

[TD99]

Sound like a good plan to me. Let us know how it works in real life.

Guest Network Pro is currently functioning on my AiMesh setup and my nodes are RT-BE58Us and my main router is an RT-AX88U Pro. If they forgot to mention the RT-BE58U as compatible what other products, if any, did they forget in their list?

For Guest Network Pro compatibility I would stick to the official list here:

[Guest Network Pro] What is Guest Network Pro? | Official Support | ASUS Canada

RT-BE58U is in what Asus calls Smart Home Master products line category:

[Wireless Router] What is Smart home master? | Official Support | ASUS Global

I did some more testing and have some good news... well, good for me at least...

To recap, I originally wanted all IoT devices (Alexa, cameras, smart switches, Govee, etc.) to be on their own guest network VLAN but could never get it working with my current hardware. In the end, I was able to solve the issue and separate traffic from those devices and my local computers by creating some firewall rules on my pfSense firewall.

But I still wanted to have basic guest network functionality when friends and family do come over (because apparently Verizon's signal is crap in my house and they want to use my WiFi -- I'm personally on T-Mobile).

This especially hit me hard this past weekend because we had some neighbors over and I was forced to connect them to my main SSID due to lack of a Guest Network. They were on iPhones and somehow they managed to figure out my SSID's password (which I've since changed)!!! I'm not an iPhone user, so I have no idea how they figured it out.

Anyway, my "a-ha" moment earlier today was to simply enable Guest Network Pro on only my main RT-AX86 Pro router in my office, which is directly above the family room where my guests tend to hang out.

This is what I did...

1. Enable the unused Ethernet interface on my pfSense firewall (named OPT2) with a static IP of 192.168.3.1.
2. Create a new VLAN52 interface in pfSense and assign it to the OPT2 interface with an IP range of 192.168.52.1/24.
3. Create a new DHCP server on the VLAN52 interface with a range of 192.168.52.101 to 192.168.52.199.
4. Connect a short Ethernet cable from the OPT2 port on the pfSense to LAN Port 4 on the RT-AX86U Pro.
5. On the Asus GUI, create a new Guest Network on VLAN 52, but ONLY for the RT-AX86U Pro itself (since my other two nodes don't support VLANs).
   
   
6. Create a firewall rule on the pfSense VLAN52 interface to allow traffic from any IP on the subnet to the local gateway 192.168.52.1.
7. Create another firewall rule on the pfSense VLAN52 interface to allow traffic from any IP to any IP except local private networks (192.168.0.0/16).

And that was all!

Using my phone, I was able to connect to the new guest network running solely on the RT-AX86U Pro, get an IP of 192.168.52.101, and reach the internet.

I then went downstairs and checked signal strength and latency:

Looks good to me!

Then I ran a speedtest:

So in conclusion, this will work for me. My IoT devices can't mess with my main network and I have guest network functionality, albeit on just my main router -- AND I didn't have to spend any money (I'm retired, so I'm on a limited income).

If you got this far, then cheers!
- Dave

 

[Seth Harman]

The RT-BE58U is advertised as having "Smart Home Master" and not VLAN support, but as an AiMesh node in my network which has a Pro router as the main router it does support WiFi VLAN properly, i.e. clients connecting to an RT-BE58U node using my IoT VLAN SSID are being assigned an IP from the IoT VLAN block. Asus has screwed up the marketing so badly for GNP and SHM even they're confused about what is compatible and what isn't.

 

[Tech9]

Asus has screwed up the marketing so badly

Be happy. The "AI-boosted Smart AiMesh technology" figured it out for you.

 

[jksmurf]

Be happy. The "AI-boosted Smart AiMesh technology" figured it out for you.

I have no idea what that means but I guess that’s the point … sounds fabulous on the marketing material… but WTF does it all mean …

 

[Tech9]

I have no idea what that means

This is what Asus says about RT-BE58U:

RT-BE58U｜WiFi 7｜ASUS Canada

Dual band WiFi 7 router with speeds of up to 7200 Mbps. Dual 10G ports, Quad 2.5G ports and Quad Gigabit ports. Quad-core 2.6GHz CPU. Backup WAN, Subscription-free network security and comprehensive

www.asus.com

The most important - "Engineered for Always-On Connection" and for "enhanced AI networking". This means if your old routers disconnect from time to time and play dumb - it's perfectly normal and expected. You need to upgrade to Smart routers.

 

[jksmurf]

disconnect from time to time and play dumb - it's perfectly normal and expected.

That pretty much describes me, so we’re well suited. Sorted.

 

[Tech9]

I have the same old Sometimes-On type network as you. Food is expensive lately, can’t afford AI driven Always-On network.

 

[degrub]

don't forget to put the coin in the power meter slot machine

 

[visortgw]

As we just saw earlier up in this thread at least some AiMesh nodes running 3004 aren't properly tagging wireless clients with GNP VLAN IDs so when wireless clients are connecting to a 3004 node they're getting tagged with VLAN ID 1 (or no tag at all) even when GNP is operating correctly on the main router:

I finally upgraded my RT-AX86U Pro (running in AP Mode) from 3.0.0.4_388_24199 to 3.0.0.6.102_34349. Of course doing that changed the way Guest Networks work -- now with VLAN functionality.

• I have two AiMesh nodes: RT-AC86U on 3.0.0.4.386_51967 (latest) and RT-AC68U on 3.0.0.4.386_51733 (latest)..
• All 3 were connected (Ethernet backhaul) via a Netgear unmanaged switch. So I just replaced it yesterday with a TP-Link TL-SG108E to get VLAN support.
• My main WiFi network IP range is 192.168.2.X and my Guest Network (VLAN 52) is 192.168.52.X. All DHCP is handled by my pfSense firewall.

I've tried configuring the TP-Link switch many different ways based on this Asus FAQ and this one too. No luck.

Whenever a wireless IoT device (Amazon Echo, EZVIZ Camera, Kasa Smart Switch, etc.) connects to one of the Asus AiMesh nodes, it gets a 192.168.2.X IP address instead of a 192.168.52.X address. The only way I can force the devices to get the correct IP is to simply cut power to both my Asus nodes so everything connects to the main RT-AX86U router.

The managed switch can VLAN tag wired clients regardless of what firmware an AiMesh node is running, it's the wireless clients that are an issue.

@Seth Harman: So... I just need to throw out a caution flag with respect to the TP-Link TL-SG108E switch that you recommended. I am not positive that it was causing issues, but please read on...

I added one to my network as part of my effort to move ALL IoT devices (wireless AND wireless) to a dedicated IoT VLAN. After configuring the switch, all the connected devices functioned correctly on the new VLAN. A couple of weeks ago, I began noticing significant packet loss (at times 50+ percent using simple ping command from primary router to AiMesh nodes!!!) between my primary router and my AiMesh nodes. I initially discovered some "wonkiness" in the connection between primary router and AiMesh nodes using the mn. command (AiMesh Node(s) Info) within the MerlinAU add-on, which would randomly return one or more of the AiMesh nodes as unreachable (Thank you @ExtremeFiretop for your assistance in debugging!). Because of multiple "happenings" (vacation, ER visit/hospital admission, life in general, ...), I never was able to completely troubleshoot the packet loss issue until a couple of days ago. Since the issue was not localized to a single AiMesh node, I first replaced Ethernet patch cables common to all AiMesh nodes (e.g., (1) primary router to patch panel and (2) patch panel to TP-Link TL-SG3210XHP-M2 managed backbone switch) without resolution. Next, thinking back to recent network changes, I focused on the the TP-Link TL-SG108E switch as a possibility. To continue with the same segregation for wired IoT devices, I did the following:

1. reset the TL-SG108E to factory default (essentially changing it to an unmanaged switch);
2. configured an unused port on my primary router (GT-BE98 Pro) to Access Mode for the IoT VLAN; and
3. moved the TL-SG108E to that previously unused port on my primary router; and
4. rebooted entire network (primary router and all AiMesh nodes only) via AiMesh >> System Settings >> System Reboot in primary router web UI.

This appears to have completely resolved all of the packet loss (and associated issues)! I'm not sure why the TL-SG108E configured as it was previously would cause issues, but I have no other explanation!

 

[Seth Harman]

@Seth Harman: So... I just need to throw out a caution flag with respect to the TP-Link TL-SG108E switch that you recommended. I am not positive that it was causing issues, but please read on...

No idea what to tell you, I've got two of them and have experienced no such issues.

 

[visortgw]

No idea what to tell you, I've got two of them and have experienced no such issues.

What firmware versions are you running on router and nodes?

 

[Seth Harman]

What firmware versions are you running on router and nodes?

Nodes: Current Version : 3.0.0.6.102_37073-g3124d2d_968-gc6148_BB0B
Switches: 1.0.0 Build 20230218 Rel.50633

 

[visortgw]

Nodes: Current Version : 3.0.0.6.102_37073-g3124d2d_968-gc6148_BB0B
Switches: 1.0.0 Build 20230218 Rel.50633

Similarities and Differences:

1. the exact same firmware on my switch;
2. Merlin 3006.102.5_beta1 on the primary router AND nodes;
3. my primary router is WiFi 7 vs your WiFi 6.

Not sure what the issue might be, but the switch definitely screwed up my network!

 

[Seth Harman]

Similarities and Differences:

1. the exact same firmware on my switch;
2. Merlin 3006.102.5_beta1 on the primary router AND nodes;
3. my primary router is WiFi 7 vs your WiFi 6.

Not sure what the issue might be, but the switch definitely screwed up my network!

It's possible you got a bad switch, it happens. The only other thing to test would be to revert a node to stock firmware and see if it solves the problem for it.

 

[TD99]

OK folks, I'm back again with an update.

To recap (again), I originally wanted all IoT devices (Alexa, cameras, smart switches, etc.) to be on their own guest network VLAN but could never get it working with my current hardware. In the end, I was able to solve the issue and separate traffic from those devices and my local computers by creating some specific rules on my pfSense firewall. Then I realized I still needed Guest Network functionality for when we actually have guests over. So I enabled Guest Network Pro -- but on only my main RT-AX86 Pro router in my office, which is directly above the family room where my guests tend to hang out and which worked great.

During my troubleshooting, I had contacted ASUS Support and according to them, for Guest Network Pro to work, all routers/nodes must be one of the following models:
GT-AX6000, GT-BE19000, GT-BE96, GT-BE98, GT-BE98 Pro, RT-AX57 Go, RT-AX86U Pro, RT-AX88U Pro, RT-BE86U, RT-BE88U, RT-BE96U

The RT-AX57 Go caught my eye because of the small form factor, they are wall mountable, and the fact that they are not an eyesore. So I purchased two RT-AX57 Go this week since they were/are on sale for $70 each instead of the usual $100.

I just wrapped up did some testing moments ago, and you know what??? They work great! But the most suprising part was the fact that I didn't have to replace my unmanaged switch with a managed one to pass the Guest Network VLAN traffic as I previously assumed.

This is what I did...

1. I added one new RT-AX57 Go to the Living Room.
2. Then I replaced the old RT-AC68U in the Guest Bedroom with the other new RT-AX57 Go:

3. I edited the AiMesh settings in my Guest Network (currently named "OFFLINE") as shown below:

4. I then connected my Pixel 7 Pro phone to the OFFLINE SSID on the RT-AX57 Go in the Living Room, and voila! I quickly got a ".52" IP address and acquired internet access!

5. I then ran a speed test and was blown away by the results!

Aaaaaaand it looks like I had just bought another TP-Link TL-SG108E managed switch for no reason, because the Guest Network VLAN functionality is actually working with my unmanaged Netgear GS-308! Not sure how, but it is. IIRC, someone previously in this thread said they too have an unmanaged switch in their VLAN setup.

The best part of the RT-AX57 Go is that it has a toggle switch on it that allows you so save two separate configs. So when I travel, I can just take it off the wall, flip the switch and hook it up to a USB power bank to use it on the road as an access point. This video explains it pretty well.

Cheers!

 

[Seth Harman]

Aaaaaaand it looks like I had just bought another TP-Link TL-SG108E managed switch for no reason, because the Guest Network VLAN functionality is actually working with my unmanaged Netgear GS-308! Not sure how, but it is. IIRC, someone previously in this thread said they too have an unmanaged switch in their VLAN setup.

The managed switch is for situations where you need wired clients to be members of a VLAN and your AiMesh nodes don't support wired VLAN tagging. I don't remember off the top of my head your specific setup as it's been awhile since I've been in this thread, but an AiMesh node can't magically make an unmanaged switch start VLAN tagging traffic so the switch isn't playing a part at all in your VLAN setup.

 

[Tech9]

Not sure how, but it is.

RT-AX57 Go runs 3006 firmware with Guest Network Pro support.