Network Troubleshooting **Networking Noob**

[Rbv]

Hey everyone! Running into a network issue. Basically I can't access my NAS via any machine that is hardwired on my network.

The network setup is as follows. I have a Google Fiber box that feeds a Google Mesh WiFi setup. Wifi is turned off on the orignal Google Fiber box. I have 3 desktops that are hard wired to the Google Fiber box and the NAS is hardwired to one of the mesh wifi points. If I attempt to connect to the NAS via a wifi device (that is connected to the mesh) I have no issue, but when leveraging one of the 3 desktops I can't reach the NAS.

I think the issue is that the Google Fiber box's LAN IPv4 address is 192.168.1.1 while the Mesh is 192.168.86.1. I am unsure what the best next steps to resolve this would be, whether to change the LAN IP on the mesh to match the address on the fiber box or go another direction.

Cheers for any input.

 

[sretalla]

Your mesh router (the one that's connected to the fiber box/router) is probably natting traffic, so is acting as a one-way door, so traffic originating on the .86 network can pass out to the .1 (and on to the Internet, where it's natted again by the fiber box/router), but nothing can pass in without port forwarding telling it which box to target for that port... your mesh router is the only address that can be seen from outside the mesh.

You have 2 choices (the way I see it)...

1. Work out how to make the mesh router actually not NAT the traffic, but only route it (if that's possible), then traffic should pass in both directions between the networks, maybe needing some setup of routing on both Fiber and mesh boxes too.

2. Connect the Fiber box to the Mesh router on one of the LAN ports, not the WAN port, implying that you must turn off DHCP on the mesh router and give the mesh boxes an address on the .1 network (the fiber box should then give .1 addresses to all your DHCP clients.

I think you need to do a lot of reading of the manuals and some general topics like Routing and NATting.

 

[elvisimprsntr]

Sounds like you have two DHCP servers running on your network, each without their own sub-net.

1. Disable and/or forward DHCP requests from Mesh to Fiber

2. Change the netmask from 255.255.255.0 to 255.255.0.0

 

[NugentS]

This is the sort of question where I ask for a network diagram, with IP addresses. That way we know eher the wires go, whats attached to what etc

 

[Rbv]

This is the sort of question where I ask for a network diagram, with IP addresses. That way we know eher the wires go, whats attached to what etc

I am sure this is grossly oversimplified for what you are looking for, but it was a first stab. I will throw in any additional info needed.

2 things that I have came across while messing with this and investigating.

1. I did have a desktop that was hardwired into 1 of the mesh points and I was able to connect to the NAS from that PC.
2. When I connect the NAS to the Google Fiber Box I can reach the NAS from any machine on the network. It does not care if it is a WiFi device or a device hardwired to a mesh point, but when switched back (to the original config) the original behavior is observed.

Sounds like you have two DHCP servers running on your network, each without their own sub-net.

1. Disable and/or forward DHCP requests from Mesh to Fiber

2. Change the netmask from 255.255.255.0 to 255.255.0.0

After looking into this I don't think I can disable DHCP on either the Google Fiber Box or the Google Mesh WiFi, but still investigating.

Your mesh router (the one that's connected to the fiber box/router) is probably natting traffic, so is acting as a one-way door, so traffic originating on the .86 network can pass out to the .1 (and on to the Internet, where it's natted again by the fiber box/router), but nothing can pass in without port forwarding telling it which box to target for that port... your mesh router is the only address that can be seen from outside the mesh.

You have 2 choices (the way I see it)...

1. Work out how to make the mesh router actually not NAT the traffic, but only route it (if that's possible), then traffic should pass in both directions between the networks, maybe needing some setup of routing on both Fiber and mesh boxes too.

2. Connect the Fiber box to the Mesh router on one of the LAN ports, not the WAN port, implying that you must turn off DHCP on the mesh router and give the mesh boxes an address on the .1 network (the fiber box should then give .1 addresses to all your DHCP clients.

I think you need to do a lot of reading of the manuals and some general topics like Routing and NATting.

I am investigating option 2... Currently the mesh device is connected via one of the LAN ports and the mesh point is being assigned 192.168.1.129 (if my understanding of how this is working is correct). I do have the ability to set a static IP instead of leveraging DHCP, so I can give that a shot.

 

[elvisimprsntr]

I'm guessing you connected the Mesh WAN port to a LAN port on Fiber. If so, the Mesh is acting as another firewall, thus you are running double NAT. You need to not use the WAN port and configure Mesh to route traffic to your Fiber box (gateway, netmask, DNS, DHCP, etc.) According to Google, you need to put it in bridge mode, but according to FAQ it only works with a single node thus your other nodes will be useless. If true, seems like a poorly designed product.

Bridge mode - Android - Google Nest Help

Bridge mode is only needed when encountering specific cases of Double NAT. For most people, Double NAT does not affect Wi-Fi performance. However, it can be an issue if you play online games or use

support.google.com

 

[NugentS]

View attachment 48716

I am sure this is grossly oversimplified for what you are looking for, but it was a first stab. I will throw in any additional info needed.

2 things that I have came across while messing with this and investigating.

1. I did have a desktop that was hardwired into 1 of the mesh points and I was able to connect to the NAS from that PC.
2. When I connect the NAS to the Google Fiber Box I can reach the NAS from any machine on the network. It does not care if it is a WiFi device or a device hardwired to a mesh point, but when switched back (to the original config) the original behavior is observed.




After looking into this I don't think I can disable DHCP on either the Google Fiber Box or the Google Mesh WiFi, but still investigating.




I am investigating option 2... Currently the mesh device is connected via one of the LAN ports and the mesh point is being assigned 192.168.1.129 (if my understanding of how this is working is correct). I do have the ability to set a static IP instead of leveraging DHCP, so I can give that a shot.

Can we have IP address (where known) on each box please?