Accessing wired devices on an AT&T router from wireless devices on the Deco mesh

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Accessing wired devices on an AT&T router from wireless devices on the Deco mesh

This thread has been locked for further replies. You can start a new thread to share your ideas or ask questions.
Accessing wired devices on an AT&T router from wireless devices on the Deco mesh
Accessing wired devices on an AT&T router from wireless devices on the Deco mesh
2021-02-18 23:30:57 - last edited 2021-02-19 02:11:39

Hi

As the subject suggests, I've added a pair of Deco W3600 routers to my AT&T Uverse home network.  I have a variety of devices hard-wired into the AT&T router with the Deco routers handling all of my wireless traffic, but am unable to connect to any of the wired devices from the wireless network.  Namely, I need to be able to access some SAN drives, Linux servers and windows shares between the two.

 

The wireless tp setup seems to be working and devices are switching seamlessly between the two nodes.

 

AT&T router is managing the 192.168.1.0/24 network

Deco W3600 primary is wired into one of it's ports and set as a cascaded router in the AT&T management console.

Wireless network is 192.168.15.0/24

 

Without converting the Deco to AP mode (and losing the QoS and parental controls - the whole reason for switching from the built-in wifi), what's my best bet for getting this configuration working between the two?

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Re:Accessing wired devices on an AT&T router from wireless devices on the Deco mesh-Solution
2021-02-19 12:38:08 - last edited 2021-02-19 16:08:20

 

eldamir wrote

Hi

As the subject suggests, I've added a pair of Deco W3600 routers to my AT&T Uverse home network.  I have a variety of devices hard-wired into the AT&T router with the Deco routers handling all of my wireless traffic, but am unable to connect to any of the wired devices from the wireless network.  Namely, I need to be able to access some SAN drives, Linux servers and windows shares between the two.

 

The wireless tp setup seems to be working and devices are switching seamlessly between the two nodes.

 

AT&T router is managing the 192.168.1.0/24 network

Deco W3600 primary is wired into one of it's ports and set as a cascaded router in the AT&T management console.

Wireless network is 192.168.15.0/24

 

Without converting the Deco to AP mode (and losing the QoS and parental controls - the whole reason for switching from the built-in wifi), what's my best bet for getting this configuration working between the two?

@eldamir 

 

Consider setting your Main Deco as single router for all your home network equipment.

 

Get 5-port gigabit switch and connect it to second port of Main Deco. Connect wired devices to that switch, only leave Main Deco connected to AT&T router.

Back up AT&T router configuration and change its network to something other than 192.168.1.0/24.

Configure Main Deco to manage 192.168.1.0/24.

Replicate all DHCP reservations from AT&T router to Main Deco, if you had any. 

 

Extra step, if your hardware or software complains of double NAT: reconfigure AT&T router to run in bridge mode.

 

Done.

 

If you ever need to rollback, for example you decided to remove Deco mesh or switch it to AP mode and use AT&T router, the rollback process is straightforward.

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Re:Accessing wired devices on an AT&T router from wireless devices on the Deco mesh
2021-02-19 02:11:34 - last edited 2021-02-19 16:08:24

@eldamir 

Hi, you could try to open the ports for the wireless devices behind the Deco:

https://www.tp-link.com/support/faq/1797/

Thank you very much.

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Re:Accessing wired devices on an AT&T router from wireless devices on the Deco mesh
2021-02-19 02:56:01

@TP-Link 

Thanks for the suggestion.  Setting up port mappings would allow the wired devices to connect to specific wireless ones, but not the reverse.  Nearly all connections will be initiated on wireless devices headed to wired resources.  There does need to be some bi-directional-ness for the occasional laptop as a destination, but primarily it's for wireless->wired resources.

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Re:Accessing wired devices on an AT&T router from wireless devices on the Deco mesh-Solution
2021-02-19 12:38:08 - last edited 2021-02-19 16:08:20

 

eldamir wrote

Hi

As the subject suggests, I've added a pair of Deco W3600 routers to my AT&T Uverse home network.  I have a variety of devices hard-wired into the AT&T router with the Deco routers handling all of my wireless traffic, but am unable to connect to any of the wired devices from the wireless network.  Namely, I need to be able to access some SAN drives, Linux servers and windows shares between the two.

 

The wireless tp setup seems to be working and devices are switching seamlessly between the two nodes.

 

AT&T router is managing the 192.168.1.0/24 network

Deco W3600 primary is wired into one of it's ports and set as a cascaded router in the AT&T management console.

Wireless network is 192.168.15.0/24

 

Without converting the Deco to AP mode (and losing the QoS and parental controls - the whole reason for switching from the built-in wifi), what's my best bet for getting this configuration working between the two?

@eldamir 

 

Consider setting your Main Deco as single router for all your home network equipment.

 

Get 5-port gigabit switch and connect it to second port of Main Deco. Connect wired devices to that switch, only leave Main Deco connected to AT&T router.

Back up AT&T router configuration and change its network to something other than 192.168.1.0/24.

Configure Main Deco to manage 192.168.1.0/24.

Replicate all DHCP reservations from AT&T router to Main Deco, if you had any. 

 

Extra step, if your hardware or software complains of double NAT: reconfigure AT&T router to run in bridge mode.

 

Done.

 

If you ever need to rollback, for example you decided to remove Deco mesh or switch it to AP mode and use AT&T router, the rollback process is straightforward.

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Re:Accessing wired devices on an AT&T router from wireless devices on the Deco mesh
2021-02-19 15:11:30

@Alexandre. 

I had been considering that route as well (and actually have everything other than a pair of TVs already on a separate switch that could be migrated to the Deco), but that leaves me with no way to connect to or manage the AT&T router if I need to do anything to it - short of dragging a system over to it and hard-wiring into it any time I need to access the AT&T router config.

 

Granted, that shouldn't be often, but given the current physical location of the AT&T router, it's certainly not ideal either..

 

That said, I do have a desktop with 2 ethernet cards in it, so should be able to run a line to the AT&T router using that one as well.

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Re:Accessing wired devices on an AT&T router from wireless devices on the Deco mesh
2021-02-19 15:36:05 - last edited 2021-02-19 15:36:20

@eldamir 

 

that leaves me with no way to connect to or manage the AT&T router if I need to do anything to it - short of dragging a system over to it and hard-wiring into it any time I need to access the AT&T router config.

 

 

 

Simple solution: bridge your AT&T modem/router and you won't have anything left to configure in it. Bridging your modem allows you to use a third-party router (a.k.a. Deco) and disables the modem’s Wi-Fi capability.

 

Also, I may need to refresh my networking knowledge, but ... assuming AT&T router has Web management interface, is default gateway with IP 192.168.1.1 and its Web interface accessible by http://192.168.1.1, so: 

 

you are saying that on mobile device connected to Deco mesh (with mobile device IP in 192.168.15.* range) you can't open web site http://192.168.1.1

 

Did I get it right?

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Re:Accessing wired devices on an AT&T router from wireless devices on the Deco mesh
2021-02-19 16:08:09

Alexandre. wrote

@eldamir 

 

that leaves me with no way to connect to or manage the AT&T router if I need to do anything to it - short of dragging a system over to it and hard-wiring into it any time I need to access the AT&T router config.

 

 

 

Simple solution: bridge your AT&T modem/router and you won't have anything left to configure in it. Bridging your modem allows you to use a third-party router (a.k.a. Deco) and disables the modem’s Wi-Fi capability.

 

Also, I may need to refresh my networking knowledge, but ... assuming AT&T router has Web management interface, is default gateway with IP 192.168.1.1 and its Web interface accessible by http://192.168.1.1, so: 

 

you are saying that on mobile device connected to Deco mesh (with mobile device IP in 192.168.15.* range) you can't open web site http://192.168.1.1

 

Did I get it right?

@Alexandre. That got it in a nutshell.  

 

So, I just took the plunge and did the reconfiguration - set the Deco on 192.168.1.254 (to mimic the original AT&T setup) and the AT&T router as 192.168.15.1

 

Did not make any changes on the AT&T router other than the changing the CIDR settings.

 

I am actually able to connect to the AT&T router on it's 192.168.15.1 address from hosts sitting on the Deco's 192.168.15.0 network, so I think my concerns are resolved for now :)

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