Cannot 'see' Wired Devices when connected via Tenda Mesh WiFI

[Vishmister]

Hello Forum,

 

I hope you are all managing to keep well. 

 

I am having an issue connecting to a wired NAS via any wireless device - such as a laptop. 

 

The setup we maintain is a 'Sky' (internet provider) router acting as a modem only, which is connected to a Netgear switch for wired devices throughout the house, and a Tenda MW3 Mesh WiFI for wireless devices. Since we have switched to the Tenda system, we have found that wireless devices cannot access those devices connected via Ethernet, such as a PS4, or importantly, a Synology NAS. When we used the 'Sky' router for WiFI instead, we were able to access all wired devices without any issue. 

 

Are there any settings you would recommend changing within the Tenda system such that we would be able to 'see' the wired devices? The Tenda Settings do allow you to change the IP Addresses assigned to Wireless devices, change DNS Settings, Port Forward etc. 

 

I am by no means a networking expert, so any assistance would be appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance!

[Vishmister]

Follow-up: 

I can, however, ping the NAS from a laptop - and get a response. 

I have tried changing File Discovery, changing ipv4 settings etc. to no luck.

[Falcon1986]

1 hour ago, Vishmister said:

Follow-up: 

I can, however, ping the NAS from a laptop - and get a response. 

I have tried changing File Discovery, changing ipv4 settings etc. to no luck.

What I suspect is going on here is that you have each node of the network (ISP's gateway, Netgear switch and Tenda Mesh) on a different subnet. Please comment on the layout of devices on the following diagram if it is correct or not.

 

 

If you want all clients attached to each node to be able to communicate with each other, they'll have to be placed on the same subnet.

 

Is the Netgear switch a smart or unmanaged switch?

 

Are you able to access the Sky device's web interface to make configuration changes?

[Windows7ge]

If you've connected a switch to the Sky Router for wired devices and all these devices work then you have not configured the Sky Router in bridged mode.

 

I second Falcon1986. The Tenda isn't an AP. It's its own router. Any devices connected to it will not be able to talk to devices on the parent subnet. Only the Internet.

 

If it supports AP mode configure that. If not Bridged Mode may yield a similar result. This will disable the router and allow devices connected to it to talk to devices on the Sky router.

[Alex Atkin UK]

3 hours ago, Windows7ge said:

I second Falcon1986. The Tenda isn't an AP. It's its own router. Any devices connected to it will not be able to talk to devices on the parent subnet. Only the Internet.

Not exactly, you CAN talk to the devices on the parent network (as the Tenda will perform NAT to that network, thus why ping works) but you won't be able to access things blocked by the Tenda firewall (likely to block Windows file sharing, as you wouldn't want that accessible from the Internet, which is what it thinks the parent network is) and all broadcast traffic (what allows PCs to just see other devices on the network without you knowing their IP address) will be blocked.

[Vishmister]

21 hours ago, Falcon1986 said:

What I suspect is going on here is that you have each node of the network (ISP's gateway, Netgear switch and Tenda Mesh) on a different subnet. Please comment on the layout of devices on the following diagram if it is correct or not.

 

 

If you want all clients attached to each node to be able to communicate with each other, they'll have to be placed on the same subnet.

 

Is the Netgear switch a smart or unmanaged switch?

 

Are you able to access the Sky device's web interface to make configuration changes?

Hi Falcon, 

 

Thank you so much for your reply.

 

Your diagram is entirely correct. The Sky modem is connected to the phone line, which connects via Ethernet to the Netgear switch that powers all of the ports in the house.

 

The switch itself is a Netgear "GS724Tv4" - which is a 'Smart' switch and does have a configuration ip address I believe. Additionally, as you asked, I am able to access the Sky Router interface via 192.168.0.1 to make any changes that were needed.

 

Would you be aware, based on the map you provided, of the best way to place all devices on a single subnet to allow them to communicate?

 

Thank you. 

[Vishmister]

18 hours ago, Windows7ge said:

If you've connected a switch to the Sky Router for wired devices and all these devices work then you have not configured the Sky Router in bridged mode.

 

I second Falcon1986. The Tenda isn't an AP. It's its own router. Any devices connected to it will not be able to talk to devices on the parent subnet. Only the Internet.

 

If it supports AP mode configure that. If not Bridged Mode may yield a similar result. This will disable the router and allow devices connected to it to talk to devices on the Sky router.

Hi, 

Thank you for your reply.

 

My Tenda has the ability to be placed in PPPoE, DHCP (current), Static IP, and *bridge* mode - which tells me that various settings, including DNS, UpNP etc will be disabled. 

Would you recommend changing the Tenda settings to Bridge mode? We connect to the Tenda WiFi as a separate AP, instead of the default Sky AP - which we do not have broadcasting. 

[Falcon1986]

32 minutes ago, Vishmister said:

Hi, 

Thank you for your reply.

 

My Tenda has the ability to be placed in PPPoE, DHCP (current), Static IP, and *bridge* mode - which tells me that various settings, including DNS, UpNP etc will be disabled. 

Would you recommend changing the Tenda settings to Bridge mode? We connect to the Tenda WiFi as a separate AP, instead of the default Sky AP - which we do not have broadcasting. 

Yes, if the Tenda Mesh system has a bridge mode, that would be what you need to set it to.

 

As far as putting everything on the same subnet goes, tell us what are the internal/LAN IPs of the Sky device and Netgear switch.

[Vishmister]

2 hours ago, Falcon1986 said:

Yes, if the Tenda Mesh system has a bridge mode, that would be what you need to set it to.

 

As far as putting everything on the same subnet goes, tell us what are the internal/LAN IPs of the Sky device and Netgear switch.

Thank you for the advice - I placed the Tenda in Bridge Mode, which now enables the NAS to be seen from the laptop, and the PS4 from my phone. 

Appreciate the help.

[Falcon1986]

40 minutes ago, Vishmister said:

Thank you for the advice - I placed the Tenda in Bridge Mode, which now enables the NAS to be seen from the laptop, and the PS4 from my phone. 

Appreciate the help.

Yes, that makes sense that that happened. By placing the Tenda in bridge mode, you removed one subnet and now it's on the same subnet as the switch.

 

Good job!