Confused - is there a sequence to adoption? Lots of questions.

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Confused - is there a sequence to adoption? Lots of questions.

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Confused - is there a sequence to adoption? Lots of questions.
Confused - is there a sequence to adoption? Lots of questions.
2021-06-30 02:26:19

I bought into the Omada setup with several devices for my home office which also includes my shops. I did a bunch of research but now that I've actually obtained everything I'm a bit more confused.

 

I bought:

 

  • OC200 Omada controller (that works fine, have it powered via PoE) 
  • TL-R605 router
  • TL-SG3428 24 port managed switch (with four SFP slots)
  • TL-SG2210MP 8 port PoE switch (with two SFP slots)
  • 2X EAP-235 wall access points
  • 2X EAP-225 ceiling access points
  • EAP-225 outdoor access point

 

The intention was to replace my aging wi-fi and infrastructure setup with this and have full control. The router, two switches and Omada controller are all in my data closet; the two ceiling units will be installed in my house, the two wall units in my two shops on my property and the outdoor unit on one of the eaves of my house. (I have a LOT of IoT devices.)

 

What I wanted to do was move from a 192.168.x.x to a 10.x.x.x ip schema with two VLANS - one for my own computers/tablets/TV's and one for all my IoT devices (I have quite a few of them and will be expanding in the future.) I was hoping the SDN would simplify this for me. Create three (yes, three) SSID's - one for 5GHz devices, one for 2.4GHz devices and one for 2.4GHz IoT devices. Obviously the IoT would be separated from the other network completely, with only access to the internet itself. I wanted to keep the 5GHz SSID separate because I currently have a (not very reliable) mesh system that "auto negotiates" between the two bands and I can't tell which one a device is running on. I'd like to make that decision myself. What I DO want is for these EAP's to all have the same SSID's so that I can move seamlessly between them with my tablets/laptops/phones (my desktops and TV's/etc. are all hardwired.)

 

Currently everything is connected in a segregated manner (no internet connection at the moment as I am still using my existing infrastructure as to avoid disruption of service.)  I have two of the SFP slots on the 3428 connected to the two SFP slots on the 2210 (wanted to do link aggregation to get more throughput) and all the wireless AP's are connected to the 2210 for power and ethernet. The OC200 is also connected here as well. The R605 is connected to the 3428 but I wasn't sure there was much point in connecting the other two SFP slots to it (as it will just be my internet router/firewall when its all said and done.) My internet is a cable modem and currently running as the router/firewall itself, but can be switched into bridge mode (which I will do once I get this network figured out.)

 

That being said I originally tried running the Omada controller in Docker on my QNAP NAS - which while it worked fine, I wasn't sure if it was adopting properly and in between stints I flat out forgot the password and just plain gave up on it, breaking down and getting the OC200. The real trouble was when I got in, and found that most of the equipment had to have the firmware updated to work with the OC200 - so I did that (a major pain) and now none of the devices seem to want to adopt outside of the two switches. 

 

I have several questions:

 

  • Do I need to go in and change the admin password on the devices that don't want to adopt to the one in the Omada controller?
  • Do I have things connected right, and/or is there a particular sequence to how I should adopt these devices? I suspect I just need to find the device password in the OC200 and make it match on the EAP's - I have the 3428 and 2210 adopted fine so far. I don't remember if I have the R605 adopted just yet.
  • Do I need to connect just one ethernet cable to the R605>3428? Is having two connections confusing things? (Again, I have the R605 connected to the 3428 via SFP ethernet adapters.)
  • Can I move the whole system from a 192.168.x.x environment that it defaults to, to a 10.x.x.x environment? (Will have two VLAN's, again, one being 10.x.x.x and the other being 10.y.y.x) 
  • Will I need to use two interfaces on the R605 for the two VLAN's?
  • Can I forward the DHCP requests on the IoT VLAN to the other VLAN so I only need one DHCP server? (I want to use Pi-Hole as an overall DNS server and be able to manage it from a single pane of glass rather than have to have two separate DNS servers, or worse - just route the IoT requests straight to the internet, giving me no visbility. Also wanting to have more control over DHCP where I can add options like an NTP server so everything is in sync.)

 

Any thoughts or ideas are greatly appreciated! Just a little guidance - most everything here is wired that can be to avoid any bandwidth hogs. I also have several laptops (and an MS Surface) to access the OC200 directly with, so that isn't an issue.

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Re:Confused - is there a sequence to adoption? Lots of questions.
2021-07-01 07:45:49

 

I have several questions:

 

  • Do I need to go in and change the admin password on the devices that don't want to adopt to the one in the Omada controller?
  • Do I have things connected right, and/or is there a particular sequence to how I should adopt these devices? I suspect I just need to find the device password in the OC200 and make it match on the EAP's - I have the 3428 and 2210 adopted fine so far. I don't remember if I have the R605 adopted just yet.
  • Do I need to connect just one ethernet cable to the R605>3428? Is having two connections confusing things? (Again, I have the R605 connected to the 3428 via SFP ethernet adapters.)
  • Can I move the whole system from a 192.168.x.x environment that it defaults to, to a 10.x.x.x environment? (Will have two VLAN's, again, one being 10.x.x.x and the other being 10.y.y.x) 
  • Will I need to use two interfaces on the R605 for the two VLAN's?
  • Can I forward the DHCP requests on the IoT VLAN to the other VLAN so I only need one DHCP server? (I want to use Pi-Hole as an overall DNS server and be able to manage it from a single pane of glass rather than have to have two separate DNS servers, or worse - just route the IoT requests straight to the internet, giving me no visbility. Also wanting to have more control over DHCP where I can add options like an NTP server so everything is in sync.)

 

Any thoughts or ideas are greatly appreciated! Just a little guidance - most everything here is wired that can be to avoid any bandwidth hogs. I also have several laptops (and an MS Surface) to access the OC200 directly with, so that isn't an issue.

@Ken73 

1. You can change it or not, in won't affect the Controller.

2. No special sequences have to be followed. Just adopt what you want.

3. R605 doesn't support aggregation, two connection will make a loop, just use one connection is good enough.

4. Yes, you can change IP to 10.x.x.x and set two VLAN on different IP range.

5. Yes, two interfaces, so both VLAN could use internet.

6. The R605 is the DHCP server, it can assign IPs on different range.

In case you want to know more about configuration, here is the User Guide and emulator.

https://www.tp-link.com/us/support/download/omada-software-controller/

 

Just striving to develop myself while helping others.
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Re:Confused - is there a sequence to adoption? Lots of questions.
2021-07-01 15:53:20

@Virgo Thanks so much for the reply! I think there's a bit of confusion on some of the items still:

 

  1. I think there's a bit of misunderstanding (and I probably didn't explain well enough.) My EAP's all had to be upgraded to a newer version of firmware in order to work with the original Docker image version, so I had to go into each one, create a local account and then ugprade the firmware. I think this is causing the system to not just automatically adopt them. Can I reset them to factory defaults instead somehow with the reset switch? (I may not remember the password I used, I gave up on it a few weeks ago as I have other pressing issues.) I did go into each device and upgrade it so I wouldn't (ideally) have any issues.
  2. EXCELLENT! Now if I can just get them all adopted. I may try again this evening.
  3. That may be part of the reason I haven't been able to adopt the R605 - I'll give that a try! 
  4. I'm not sure I saw in the interface exactly how to do that - how will the devices communicate (or is there a back channel I'm unaware of?) when I change it in the interface?
  5. Perfect! That's what I figured but I wanted to be sure.
  6. I think I mis-stated my intentions: I want to use the Pi-Hole as both the DNS server as well as the DHCP server (that way the Pi-Hole can manage host names - as well as send additional DHCP options like NTP server so all my systems are sync'ed to a single time source.)

 

Again, thank you so much for the help! 

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Re:Confused - is there a sequence to adoption? Lots of questions.
2021-07-02 06:39:43

 

Ken73 wrote

@Virgo Thanks so much for the reply! I think there's a bit of confusion on some of the items still:

 

  1. I think there's a bit of misunderstanding (and I probably didn't explain well enough.) My EAP's all had to be upgraded to a newer version of firmware in order to work with the original Docker image version, so I had to go into each one, create a local account and then ugprade the firmware. I think this is causing the system to not just automatically adopt them. Can I reset them to factory defaults instead somehow with the reset switch? (I may not remember the password I used, I gave up on it a few weeks ago as I have other pressing issues.) I did go into each device and upgrade it so I wouldn't (ideally) have any issues.
  2. EXCELLENT! Now if I can just get them all adopted. I may try again this evening.
  3. That may be part of the reason I haven't been able to adopt the R605 - I'll give that a try! 
  4. I'm not sure I saw in the interface exactly how to do that - how will the devices communicate (or is there a back channel I'm unaware of?) when I change it in the interface?
  5. Perfect! That's what I figured but I wanted to be sure.
  6. I think I mis-stated my intentions: I want to use the Pi-Hole as both the DNS server as well as the DHCP server (that way the Pi-Hole can manage host names - as well as send additional DHCP options like NTP server so all my systems are sync'ed to a single time source.)

 

Again, thank you so much for the help! 

@Ken73 

1. You have to reset them, login and update the firmware, then reset them again and adopt them. Or, you could adopt them first and update the firmware on the Controller. Like this pic

2. About how to set VLAN, refer to this one "How to configure Multi-Networks & Multi-SSIDs on Omada SDN Controller"

https://www.tp-link.com/en/support/faq/3091/

 

3. Well, I'm not familiar with this setting, but I can tell that you could disable DHCP server on Controller, and I'm not sure if this will affect the multi-nets settings above or not, you may have a test by yourself.

Just striving to develop myself while helping others.
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Re:Confused - is there a sequence to adoption? Lots of questions.
2021-07-08 18:51:43

@Virgo I finally got some time set aside last night to start working on this. Here's my experience:

 

I had already upgraded the firmware on all the systems, so going in through the controller was pointless. However I think my main problem was connecting things incorrectly - I had some duplicate connections that probably created loops so I disconnected everything but the 2210 (PoE switch) from the OC200. Connected my laptop to the OC200's extra port and managed to adopt the 2210 just fine. Added the 3428 and the R605 in and adopted them just fine. As I added each one I gave it a static IP address (as I don't have a DHCP server just yet and the R605 wasn't up and running at first either.) After the R605 came online the EAP's all managed to get DHCP addresses just fine, but at some point I do want to give them static IP's. I do think there's a proper sequence to adopting these devices, even in a fresh new network. You need to have a gateway or some device running DHCP first to dole out IP's as they all want to default to 192.168.0.1 until then. Overall, I do have all the devices now adopted and talking just fine.

 

I will say that I upgraded the OC200 firmware to the latest at one point, which is a huge mistake as for some reason I couldn't change the IP address of the 2210 itself at all. The option doesn't present itself in the Config section at all after the upgrade.

 

One thing I did notice was that in the section Wired Networks>LAN was that I can't change the default LAN settings? I created a separate LAN for my devices and selected one of the WAN/LAN interfaces (which, btw are mislabeled between the Omada interface and the physical router) but that selection still remains on the default LAN (which has all four interfaces checked.) Am I missing something here? I don't want that IP range across all four interfaces, just the one LAN one. I guess I need to go rewatch some YT videos and read the docs more.

 

Still a ways to go before my ideal network is setup but I think I'm on the way now that I have all the devices adopted - again, thank you for the advice!

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Re:Confused - is there a sequence to adoption? Lots of questions.
2021-07-09 01:44:27

@Ken73 

 

You should be able to change the LAN, are you using the Cloud website? Try to locally access the OC200 via IP address, any differences?

Just striving to develop myself while helping others.
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Re:Confused - is there a sequence to adoption? Lots of questions.
2021-07-09 02:44:19

@Virgo No, not using the cloud. I go into Settings>Wired Networks>LAN>Networks and it won't let me uncheck any of the (router?) interfaces without griping (and not letting me continue.) I get this "The purpose of the Default LAN cannot be modified." error when I deselect any of the other interfaces. I only want one LAN interface to be selected - should I simply change the other profiles to not use that "Default LAN" network and create my own? I can change the IP addresses just fine but can't change which interfaces on the router it talks through. 

 

I think I'm misunderstanding where I need to be changing the LAN settings? Seems like these are settings that are used under the Switch Settings?

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