DrayTek UK Users' Community Forum

Help, Advice and Solutions from DrayTek Users

Single AP903 node + 2926ac root: mesh node always offline

  • mattgumbley
  • Topic Author
  • Offline
  • Junior Member
  • Junior Member
More
28 Jul 2020 21:23 #1 by mattgumbley
Hi,
I've tried adding a single AP903 (1.3.6 firmware) to my 2926ac (3.9.3.1 firmware), with the 903 as a node to the 2926's root. They're connected wirelessly, no ethernet.
Searching on the root finds the node, but in the root's status, the node is always shown as offline.

If I do the search via the iOS app, it finds the node, then shows the config being synced to the 903, but the 2926 web UI still shows it as offline.

Mesh discovery on the root does a scan, and finds the node. Link status: new. (This is also shown on the 903's web UI)

How do I make it online? I have changed the mesh group name first, before adding the node to the root. I've tried several times, involving factory resets (note that before a factory reset and config rebuild of the 2926ac, it would not find the 903 during a search).

Kind regards,
Matt Gumbley

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

  • mattgumbley
  • Topic Author
  • Offline
  • Junior Member
  • Junior Member
More
28 Jul 2020 23:39 #2 by mattgumbley
I think I've solved it... a bit non-obvious, the user guides don't mention this...

I reset the mesh group name back to VigorMesh on the root (this may not be relevant), and on the node, set the 'Wireless Uplink Band' to 'Dedicate 5GHz' (this may not be relevant) ... and due a WAN config change I needed to make to the 2926ac, it needed to reboot. After the reboot, the 903 mesh node became online. The wireless LAN eventually settled down, and now I have clients connecting via the 903.

Is this what you're supposed to do to get it working?

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
29 Jul 2020 08:03 #3 by piste basher
You have more patience than I. As I need more than 1 AP to get decent coverage, as soon as I found that the 2926ac could not "see" another AP in Mesh mode I just turned off wifi on the 2926 and use 4 AP903s in mesh mode instead. I suspect (from the router GUI) that if using it as a root you don't see all the information that you get on the 903 GUI ? In any event, I don't miss the router :mrgreen:

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

  • mattgumbley
  • Topic Author
  • Offline
  • Junior Member
  • Junior Member
More
29 Jul 2020 08:43 #4 by mattgumbley
Hi,
It has been something of a fraught experience, getting this Draytek kit working - see my other desperation in the post '2926ac + Netgear wifi extender - odd routing problem' (which seems to have been cured by adding this AP903... I have no idea how, or why...)

The 903 and 2926 web UIs are different, with the 2926 just showing textually that nodes are online/offline, and how many hops, signal strength to the root, number of clients using each node, which can be expanded to show the client details. There's no dashboard as there is on the 903 - I hope Draytek add these visualisations to the 2926 and iOS app. The 903 traffic graphs are very useful. Likewise, the addition of some of the 2926's diagnosis tools to the 903 would be good (ping, please!).

Once I'd stumbled on the 2926-reboot-to-get-nodes-online 'fix', my estimation of the product rose considerably. I was close to throwing the towel in, and investigating goat herding as a potential career change. The user experience could certainly be improved (I think this would be on the 2926 side).

I have yet to decommission my wifi extender (see the '2926ac + Netgear wifi extender - odd routing problem' post) and connect my Ethernet equipment into the 903. Hopefully, it'll Just Work... Nor have I investigated 903 syslog and SNMP capabilities.

Regards,
Matt

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.