ande wrote

M
I managed to update them to firmware 2.1.0 but I'm a little surprised that I got only hardware version 1 while buying them only weeks ago.

V2 software is just a Visual Identity update and rumors has it that V2 hardware will have only one Ethernet port and no more PoE pass-through. So I certainly prefer V1 hardware over the V2.

I could set the first device to get an address via DHCP and I've chenged it to a fixed IP from there, subnet is 192.168.24.0

Now i have to set the second device up as AP client (via IP 192.,168.0.254)

In a setup with one AP and a client, both share the same subnet. You should set both to a fixed, unused IP from the same subnet.

As a genral rule: always configure your devices over a wired connection, not over a WiFi link, especially if changing operation modes or doing firmware updates!

I think the behaviour, especially when unconfigured devices should rather be:

1. Wait a minute if the device gets a valid IP from a DHCP server and then stick to it.

2. If no IP is given and the device is unconfigured, and only then, should it set up its own DHCP server.

3. The DHCP should turn OFF if the device is not configured for another 30 minutes.

Definitely no. The DHCP server should stay off until told to start. I install a lot of CPEs by connecting them to my local network, setting just my laptop's IP to 192.168.0.10 and accessing the device for initial configuration with its well-known IP address 192.168.0.254. I would not want to fiddle with the main router just to find out which IP has been assigned to the CPE dynamically by my router.

DHCP is o.k. for mobile guest devices coming and leaving a WiFi network, but certainly not for statically connected devices and especially not for wired devices of a network.

Then I would expect at least an automatic information if there is a new firmware available for that device.

Agree. At least, a RSS feed or some other notification mechanism would be helpful.

I would also welcome an auto-update function, well cryptographically protected for sure.

Never ever! It would be a nightmare if devices out in the field do automatic updates. Imagine a hotel, where the housekeeping disconnects devices in the middle of an update process, because they need a wall plug for their vacuum cleaner. ;) The device would be left bricked and support calls would increase. You think this can't happen? I can tell you: indeed, it happens very often that they unplug WiFi devices by accident.

ande wrote

How do I file the bug report? I thought TP-Link are reding here?

Contact TP-Link support (ticket.tp-link.com).

And if you're a professinal, you're going to prepare devices en masse in your lab. Then the DHCP client would be very helpful. I agree that a DHCP must be able to be switched off, maybe per hardware switch.

That's just my opinion and setup in our lab: no DHCP. Doesn't improve preparation, but hinders it. Your mileage may vary.