Looking for help using the AP 903 as a range extender with the simple home / homeworking set up I have.

I replaced my old Netgear router with a Draytek Vigor 2762ac. Expecting weaker wifi I brought a Vigor AP 903 as a range extender / bridge in the office.

Set up summary:

• ADSL internet connection to Draytek Vigor 2762ac modem router (works fine, pretty stable).

• One USB drive attached to the router and used as a NAS. Generally OK but configuration could be easier / better documented… Used for router syslogs etc.

• Single LAN setup with 2.4 and 5GHz wifi enabled. No second LAN’s, guest wifi’s, VPN’s etc (I’ll play with all that when I can get a useable base configuration)

• Clients - two wifi multifunction printer / scanners. Generally OK. Two NAS boxes connected by patch cables to the router; no issues. Other stuff – wifi connected TV’s etc; OK except for poor wifi from the router. Various client devices generally using wifi – Windows 10 PC’s, iPhone and Android devices, Macs etc. Mostly OK except as below.

I then have an office with:

• AP 903 in range extender mode. Single SSID set up covering both frequency bands.

• Patch cable from the AP 903 to a PoE switch connected on to a VOIP phone and a Sonos music speaker. Both of these work fine.

• Windows 10 PC(s) connected to AP 903 by wifi (or ethernet)

The AP 903 was originally configured via the GUI Wizard. I’ve then made changes to get the thing to work OK but I’m by no means sure what I did or if it solved one problem but created another (eg manually switched off the AP 903’s DNS client – it still seems to have two valid IP’s that the GUI can be launched from…)

I suspect there are more issues below the surface, but the most obvious expression is that network devices are not visible to client devices connected to the AP 903 eg:

• When connected to directly to the router wifi, Win10 PCs can see NAS boxes etc in ‘Explorer-Network’. Network printers and scanners are available as expected.

• Connected to AP 903 with wifi or ethernet, Win10 PC only sees itself in ‘Explorer-Network’. Network printers and scanner are ‘offline’ and connect be reached (note: not Windows print queue ‘working offline’)

o In multiple Win10 PCs, the AP 903 wifi and ethernet is set up as a private network with sharing enabled.

o Mapped drives (NAS), internet connection and finding devices by known host name / IP works

o Pinging any enabled device works as expected

What is really annoying is that I dug out my old BT 1200 range extender and configured it for the new router. That works a treat with the same devices that struggle with the AP 903.

I am no expert in network configuration – possibly a must for kit expected to be used by enterprise professionals – and would really appreciated some guidance on getting round this issue.

I’m open to and expecting clarification questions

Thanks!

These points stood out ...

Ray Jade wrote:
• AP 903 in range extender mode. Single SSID set up covering both frequency bands.

– it still seems to have two valid IP’s that the GUI can be launched from…)

• Connected to AP 903 with wifi or ethernet, Win10 PC only sees itself in ‘Explorer-Network’. Network printers and scanner are ‘offline’ and connect be reached (note: not Windows print queue ‘working offline’)

o In multiple Win10 PCs, the AP 903 wifi and ethernet is set up as a private network with sharing enabled.

o Mapped drives (NAS), internet connection and finding devices by known host name / IP works

o Pinging any enabled device works as expected

Have you tried WDS-mode, rather than Range Extender-mode? (The former is supposedly more like a true Bridge, whereas the latter is more like NAT).

The "two valid IPs" and "Windows Network Browsing failing", smacks of clients being on different IP networks. The AP903 is unusual in having a DHCP Server; have you enabled it? Is there another DHCP Server somewhere?

Thanks for coming back quickly.

The "two valid IPs" and "Windows Network Browsing failing", smacks of clients being on different IP networks. The AP903 is unusual in having a DHCP Server; have you enabled it? Is there another DHCP Server somewhere?

The only DHCP server is the router; AP903 server is off and AP903 DHCP client is on.

In case I'd messed up, I've factory reset the AP903 and reapplied the Range Extender wizard. It seems that two valid IP's in the same range is default:

• With AP903 configuration LAN > General Setup left in default with the DHCP client enabled, default IP 192.168.1.2 is greyed out.
  
  In Dashboard - Device Overview, the AP903's IP is given as 192.168.1.2 with the greyed out comment "via DHCP". The MAC address is that of the 5GHz network I opted to link the AP903 to the router with.

• In Dashboard - Range Extender (I think this section changes depending on AP903 mode), the IP is given has (in this case) 192.168.1.14 which is in the router's DHCP assignment pool (192.168.1.2 isn't)

• Both IP's can be used to access the AP903 GUI via a web browser; both respond to 'ping'

• Looking at System Maintenance -> System Status, the 5GHz Universal Repeater is set up (presumably by the Wizard) with a different MAC address to the main AP903 SSID. No IP matching has been found. Does that suggest the AP903 is forwarding the router's 5GHz signal as-well-as its own??

Summary - I think there are two IP's by design; no amount of changing the variables helped... but many of the really didn't and had to be undone.

Have you tried WDS-mode, rather than Range Extender-mode? (The former is supposedly more like a true Bridge, whereas the latter is more like NAT).

Nope; I'm not familiar with WDS. I hoped to get the extender working out of the box which it really should. And its nearly there, just this behaviour that's blocking printers and visibility of other resources (but not actual access to them)

Any further help really welcome.

Ray Jade wrote:
It seems that two valid IP's in the same range is default:
...
Summary - I think there are two IP's by design;

I wrote: Have you tried WDS-mode, rather than Range Extender-mode? (The former is supposedly more like a true Bridge, whereas the latter is more like NAT).

Nope; I'm not familiar with WDS. I hoped to get the extender working out of the box which it really should. And its nearly there, just this behaviour that's blocking printers and visibility of other resources (but not actual access to them)

It's all coming back to me now :wink:

Earlier this year, I did some playing around with "Universal Repeater Mode", but they were none-Draytek units and I couldn't get them to work (pretty sure it was because they weren't VLAN aware). One of things I noticed, was this additional IP address...

I said earlier, that Repeater Mode was like NAT (I read this somewhere), but maybe it's more like a Proxy - I reckon everything that gets relayed by the Repeater appears to come from a single IP address at the far end. I further reckon, that this confuses Windows Networking, since it's probably using Broadcasts for Network Discovery. (Broadcasts may even just get dropped - which would also stop things like SkyQ or Tivo access). I'm pretty sure that Windows still reverts to 30+ year old LAN Manager behaviour and uses Broadcasts, when there's no compatible DNS infrastructure (as you'd find in an Active Directory scenario).

You may get somewhere by enabling LMHOSTS on your Windows PC(s) - adding at least an entry for the 'Master Browser' (your NAS box, at a guess). However, I think it's much more likely to spring into life, if you configure WDS. (It's not too bad - both ends need to know about one another's MAC addresses, that sort of thing)

Thanks again for coming back.

WDS - I found the Draytek article on settting up WDS from 2017: https://www.draytek.com/support/knowledge-base/5020. My 2762ac router has the wizard options to set this up but the AP903 does not (only AP / extender / mesh root or node). There is a menu item under 5GHz wifi on the AP903 to see WDS status. I have neither the confidence nor competence to experiment with configurations; I just don't know enough (and have a (partly teenage) user base who are not tolerant of downtime :roll: )

I did check out some variations on the AP903:

• Extender mode with connection from router to AP903 by wifi - two IP's is normal.
  
  My Windows 10 clients connected to AP903 cannot 'see' network resources but can access the internet.

• AP mode with ethernet connection to router - one IP and full access to network (but multiple SSID's, of course)

• Mesh root with ethernet connection to router - as AP but single SSID etc

My solution has been to throw (more) money at the problem and achieve what I'd originally wanted; I've put in a 2862ac router which can now (firmware 3.9.2) act a mesh root. The AP903 is now in mesh node mode and currently testing.

Once the inevitable IP conflicts have resolved, it seems to be setting well. I have a moderate connection (I think, anyhow -65dBm / 63% typical) and have a VOIP phone, 2x NAS (all connected to AP903 LAN ports) and a wifi client running a Teams video conference all co-existing without problem and without too much load according to the AP903 dashboard.

Early days but hopeful; likely I'll add a small mesh node device for a still weak wifi area (AP802 maybe?).

Why do you say "of course" multiple SSID's with the AP in AP mode?