VLAN Issue/Sanity Check Appreciated

[JoeHz]

We just took the plunge on home automation with some Amazon Echo devices and KASA smart plugs.

1) So I went and created an IoT network in GuestNetworkPro with its own VLAN ID and subnet and discovered a hiccup. The plugs all worked fine when they were connected to the main router (An RT-AX86U_Pro running 3006 AsusMerlin) but were able to do nothing when connected via the AIMesh node (An RT-AC86U running 3004 firmware).

I'm pretty certain that this happens because the 3004 firmware doesn't know nothing about no VLAN packets. Ultimately I had to make the AIMesh node not any carry guest networks or else it would actively interfere with them. Would running YazFi on it get me around this issue?

Or am I being pushed into a upgrade in hardware (or lowering of my standards by letting the iot stuff on my main wifi) here...?

2) Having the DNS settings left blank or set to the router IP address for the networks listed in GuestNetworkPro did not work at all. I had to specify DNS Servers manually or else names would not be resolved. I recall posts about this with DNS Director but I'm not using it (and trying it helped me not at all). What's up with this?

ADVThanksANCE

 

[bennor]

YazFi does not currently work on Asus-Merlin 3006.102.x firmware.
YazFi does not work on AiMesh nodes.
And Yazfi likely doesn't work on AP nodes either due to many features (possibly including the firewall) being disabled when the router is configured for AP mode.

To confirm, when you created the Guest Network Pro IoT Profile did you select the AiMesh node under the the AiMesh option in the Guest Network Pro Profile?
[Wireless Router] How to set up Guest Network features to Sync to AiMesh node?

Because Asus has not been forthcoming on exact deails of how 3004.x AiMesh nodes work with 3006.x Guest Network Pro, users are finding certain limitations or issues as they try to use 3004.x AiMesh nodes with a 3006.x main AiMesh router. Make sure to setup the first Guest Network Pro Profile as the Guest Network you want to extend to AiMesh nodes.

When it comes to 2.4Ghz WiFi devices having issues, try the following troubleshooting suggestions:
Disable Smart Connect.
Use WPA2-Personal for authentication.
Select a specific WiFi Control Channel (1, 6, or 11).
Set the Channel bandwidth to 20Mhz.
Avoid long complex SSID names and passwords, and avoid using special characters in passwords.
On the IoT device, forget all previously saved WiFi connections (including any saved/stored online through the IoT vendor's website) and connect the device as if it was a new first time connection to the AiMesh node's WiFi.

And finally note the following limitation as indicated by Asus at the Asus support link above: "Guest network is currently designed to allow the first set of each band (2.4G, 5G, 5G-1) available to the AiMesh node. Only one set is available for each band."

PS: If Yazfi was previously installed under 3004.x firmware, when you update to 3006 firmware YazFi should be uninstalled using the uninstall method in the YazFi command line interface menu to avoid YazFi potentially causing issues in the 3006 firmware.

 

[JoeHz]

To be precise, I've never installed YazFi anywhere. I was simply hoping it would fix this problem if put on the 3004 firmware router/aimesh node.

What I observed was that the smart plug had no issues connecting with strong signal strength to the iot network wherever it was, but when connected to the 3004 running aimesh node, it could not actually connect to anything on said network. This problem was resolved when the mesh node was turned off or when it was turned on without the ability to handle the iot network (i.e. unclicking both of the 2.4g/5g bands for the iot network in the AIMesh settings for the iot network. It connects fine to the main router without the mesh node being involved and with the iot network accepting WPA2 Personal/WPA3 Personal.

This leads me to believe that 3004 firmware has a problem with the configuration of the iot network having a VLAN identifier at all and is simply not passing that through when used for aiMesh purposes.

If this is correct, I believe this to be worthy of an update to the 3004 firmware even for out-of-support models otherwise this issue can force people who upgrade their router into mass upgrades of their Asus branded AImesh nodes, or else they cannot actually use the new features of said router. Making it so control data isn't getting stripped out of the packets is way more bug fix than feature addition. I hope I'm wrong about the underlying cause, but I don't see any other thing that could cause this.

I'm hoping the new beta of 3006 works to resolve some of this. That's my next step.

 

[Tech9]

otherwise this issue can force people who upgrade their router into mass upgrades of their Asus branded AImesh nodes, or else they cannot actually use the new features

This is perfect. Asus run business, not charity. AiMesh is excellent marketing strategy. Sells more routers to existing customers.

 

[bennor]

This leads me to believe that 3004 firmware has a problem with the configuration of the iot network having a VLAN identifier at all and is simply not passing that through when used for aiMesh purposes.

If you search the Asus subforums here for 3004/VLAN discussions you'll see that 3004 firmware has extremely limited VLAN support (mainly confined to the Guest Network #1 if I remember right). There are some earlier discussions early on with the 3006 firmware VLAN and adding using 3004 AiMesh nodes. Don't remember off hand were people netted out but I recall some had issues making certain things work for their use case.

 

[Tech9]

Also to note RT-AC86U is actually 2 generations behind in firmware development. It runs on 3004, but 386 branch firmware. Most of AiMesh compatibility threads discuss 3004 with 388 branch firmware. So it will be even more limited in features. EoL on top, it is what it is. I would recommend to @JoeHz a second RT-AX86U Pro as replacement. Or something better as Main and existing Pro as Node.

 

[JoeHz]

This is perfect. Asus run business, not charity. AiMesh is excellent marketing strategy. Sells more routers to existing customers.

Of Ubiquiti products to soon-to-be former Asus Customers? Why yes. Yes, it does.

I am on record that the RMerlin firmware is the only reason I have any loyalty to Asus products. It provides the functionality I want.

Planned Obsolescence as a way to sell more product is not a very good business strategy. See: Chrysler K-Car.

 

[Tech9]

Planned Obsolescence

It's part of the design now. Nothing we can do about it.

Of Ubiquiti products

SMB may give you the control you want today, but don't expect maintained compatibility for years down the road. I believe nothing you buy today will still have support 10 years from now. First the business model is different now, second the technology changes faster.

 

[JoeHz]

It's part of the design now. Nothing we can do about it.

In my case, I can. Mesh is a nice-to-have feature for me, but if I have to go AP only to get my VLAN functionality working, I will.

If this means I have to buy new product that supports VLAN, I'll do that too. But under no circumstances would I go back to the manufacturer that forced that expense upon me for my next purchase, that's for sure. Nobody ever bought a second K-Car either.

 

[Tech9]

UniFi can give you all the VLANs you want on LAN and WLAN, but I can't guarantee you 8 years down the road everything UniFi will be compatible with what you purchase now. Your RT-AC86U router was released in Aug 2017, it's 8 years old hardware now. I also sense some consumer marketing related confusion what is Mesh and what AP. Not sure what exactly nice-to-have feature is Mesh. Ubiquiti in particular doesn't recommend using Mesh configurations.