X. WAN
ExpiredVigor 130 - Access Modem WUI from Router with Multi-VLAN
It's not normally possible to access the Vigor 130 Web Interface from the router you've connected it to. This is because the Vigor 130 acts as a transparent modem, allowing the router to connect directly to the ISP, the IP layer is between the router and the ISP. The drawback of this, is that it's not possible to log into the V130 Web interface to check its status, or check and change any settings.
If it's a DrayTek router connected to the Vigor 130 modem, then a special DrayTek feature enables the DSL status to be viewed from the router in the [Online Status] > [Physical Connection] page. Learn more about that feature here.
However there is a method that can be used, to enable you to access the Vigor 130's Web UI fully from behind a router. If the router supports multi VLAN on its WAN interface, this guide explains how to set all of this up. The primary use for this link to access the Vigor 130 modem, is to access diagnostics, the web console to tweak DSL settings, and to enable you to update firmware on the Vigor 130 from a machine connected to the router.
Accessing Modem WUI & Internet with Multi-VLAN
The advanced feature-set of DrayTek Vigor routers includes Multi-PVC / Multi-VLAN. Multi-VLAN gives extra virtual WANs that can be used on the router and associated with a physical WAN port. The only time this is typically used, is by ISPs to implement Triple Play (Internet, IPTV, VoIP) functionality. Where they dedicate a virtual WAN, to traffic dedicated for a specific purpose, for example IPTV via a set top box connected to the router. We can utilise this functionality to create a dedicated interface, which will be used for the purpose of mananaging the Vigor 130.
These virtual interfaces share the WAN port, with a VLAN tag differentiating the virtual WAN traffic from regular WAN data.
Virtual WANs can be bridged to LAN ports directly, establish a general WAN interface, IPTV WAN, or management-only WAN.
Virtual WAN interfaces are not part of the router’s Load Balance pool, so they can’t be used for general Internet connectivity. But they can be used to access specified services and servers, through use of Route Policy rules.
With Multi-VLAN, a DrayTek Vigor router i.e. Vigor 2866 can utilise a single network cable, to access the Internet and the Vigor 130 modem’s management interface from the router.
To achieve this, the VLAN tag required by the ISP is configured on the router's Ethernet WAN interface, instead of the modem. Then Multi-VLAN can be used to open a secondary, virtual WAN interface with no VLAN tag, to access the Vigor 130's web UI management interface.
Important Note: This does not enable the Vigor 130 to have internet access. Access to the Vigor 130 modem utilises Network Addresss Translation (NAT), therefore, it's not a two-way interface.
The Vigor 130 modem's management interfaces can be accessed from PCs on the LAN, but the Vigor 130 itself does not have Internet access. This is because the modem does not have a default route or way to send traffic to other networks. It can't use the connected router as its router.
Vigor 130 Modem Setup
We have to configure the Vigor 130 to handle VLAN tags differently, so that we can send tagged and untagged traffic from the router, without the Vigor 130 adding its own VLAN tags.
Access the Vigor 130’s web interface and go to [Internet Access] > [General Setup].
On that page, set the Service and Customer VLAN tags for VDSL2 to Disable, then click OK, which will prompt to restart. Ignore that for now and continue to the next step.
Now go to [Internet Access] > [MPoA / Static or Dynamic IP] and enable the MPoA (RFC1483/2684) interface.
Click OK to save and apply the change. This will prompt the modem to restart, click OK to proceed with the restart.
Upon restarting, the modem will no longer provide an IP address through DHCP, which is required by the MPoA Bridge Mode configuration for full bridging to take place.
With the Vigor 130 modem now configured to bridge VDSL to Ethernet with no VLAN tag added by the modem, the router can now be configured to work in this configuration.
Check the DSL LED on the Vigor 130 modem. While it’s flashing, the DSL modem has either not detected (blinking slowly), or is syncing with the line (blinking rapidly).
When the DSL LED is lit solidly, the Vigor 130 has established the link to the DSL line and can be used for bridging.
Connect the Vigor 130’s LAN port to the Ethernet WAN port on the router.
Vigor Router Setup
Now, we can set up the router's WAN, so that it's able to establish an Internet connection via the Vigor 130. Then we'll add on the configuration required to enable management of the Vigor 130 in the next section.
On the router, go to [WAN] > [General Setup] and select the WAN interface that the Vigor 130 modem is connected to. In this example, WAN2 is used on a Vigor 2866 router:
In the settings for the Ethernet WAN port with the modem connected:
- Set Customer VLAN Tag insertion to Enable
- Specify the correct Tag value for your ISP:
- With most UK ISPs that would be 101
- In Ireland that would typically be 10
- Specify the correct Tag value for your ISP:
- Set Service VLAN Tag insertion to Disable
Click OK to save and apply that setting. The router will request to restart to apply the change, ignore that for now and proceed to the next step.
Go to [WAN] > [Internet Access], select the correct Access Mode for your ISP, in this example PPPoE
is selected as the Access Mode for WAN2 on the Vigor 2866 router. Click Details Page to proceed.
On the WAN – Details Page, this will open the settings for the selected Access Mode.
- Enable the Access Mode i.e. enable PPPoE
- In the ISP Access Setup:
- Leave the Service Name field blank
- Enter the Username & Password supplied by your ISP
- In the IP Address Assignment Method (IPCP) – Fixed IP setting:
- If your ISP provides a public static IP address, set Fixed IP to Yes, then enter the Fixed IP Address in the textbox below
- Otherwise, leave the Fixed IP set to No (Dynamic IP)
Click OK to save and apply the change. The router will ask to restart, click OK again to proceed with the restart.
Once the router has restarted, check the WAN status on the [Dashboard]:
In this example, the WAN2 interface has successfully connected to the Internet, which indicates that the VLAN tag on the Ethernet WAN port is being passed through correctly.
The connection can now be used for Internet access.
The following steps demonstrate how the Multi-VLAN feature of DrayTek Vigor routers can be used, to establish both an Internet connection and access the management / diagnostic web interface of the Vigor 130 modem.
Configuring Multi-VLAN
To set up Multi-VLAN on the router, it must be configured as shown in the preceding steps, with the VLAN tag on the Ethernet WAN port specified as the Customer VLAN tag.
Setting the VLAN type to Service will not allow multiple VLAN connections with Multi-VLAN, unless the ISP is using QinQ VLAN tagging, e.g. Service VLAN tag 101 for the Opeanreach network, with Customer VLAN tags of 10 and 20 used at the ISP end.
Once the Internet connection is working on the Ethernet WAN port, go to [WAN] > [Multi-PVC/VLAN] to see the virtual WAN interfaces available on the router.
The VLAN tagged Internet link operates as the main WAN interface, while the secondary link Multi-VLAN WAN that will be set up now, will interface without a VLAN tag to the Vigor 130’s management subnet.
Then a Route Policy rule is configured to allow computers connected to the Vigor router to access the Vigor 130's web UI management console.
In this example, the first available virtual WAN interface will be used. Click on the first available virtual WAN number to proceed:
On the settings page for the virtual WAN:
- Enable the virtual WAN and select the WAN port it applies to. For example Ethernet(WAN2)
- Specify the (Customer) VLAN tag as 0, essentially the same as untagged / no VLAN tag
- Tick “Open WAN Interface…” and select Static or Dynamic IP as the WAN type
- Specify an IP address on the Vigor 130’s LAN subnet, with the V130’s IP as the gateway:
- IP Address: 192.168.2.100 (can be any IP from .2 to .253)
- Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
- Gateway IP Address: 192.168.2.1
- DNS Primary and Secondary IP Address: Leave as default
With those settings configured, click OK to save and apply the setting change. The router will prompt to restart, click OK again to restart the router.
Upon restarting, check the Virtual WAN status in [Online Status] > [Virtual WAN], this should now display in green to indicate that the connection is active.
To access the modem’s web UI from the LAN, a Route Policy rule is required to direct 192.168.2.x traffic to the virtual WAN.
To configure that, go to [Routing] > [Load Balance/Route Policy] and select the first available rule by clicking on the index number i.e. 1
In the Route Policy rule settings:
- Enable the rule
- Give the rule a suitable name to identify it in the Comment field
- Set the Destination to IP Subnet:
- Network: 192.168.2.0
- Mask: 255.255.255.0 / 24
- For the Interface, select WAN/LAN > WAN7
Click OK to save and apply the rule.
Now try accessing https://192.168.2.1 in a web browser from a computer connected to the Vigor router, it should now be possible to access the Vigor 130’s web interface ! Neat.
- First Published: 16/12/2021
- Last Updated: 23/12/2021