Help with cross band repeating TP-LINK RE200

[Giuse1977]

Hi all, that’s my first post in here!

I am trying to extend the wireless network with my RE200, to have better coverage of my garden. My setup is :

FritzBox 7530 for DSL router/voip/DECT (no wireless), network x.x.0.0
|
ethernet
|
Netgear GS108Ev3 VLAN capable
|
ethernet
|
ASUS RT-AC56U with Merlin Firmware, as primary wireless router both bands, network x.x.1.0
\
wireless (network x.x.1.0)
\\ 5GHz
RE200
\\2.4GHz
Garden clients

Sorry for the poor schema. My goal would be to use 5GHz as a backbone to extend the 2.4GHz for a seamless roaming (same SSID) as was with the original TP-LINK firmware.

I am able to connect the 5 Ghz network as client to my router, and to create a 2.4 Ghz AP. Garden clients can only connect to internet until the ethernet cable is connected (lan-br configured as static IP of same network x.x.1.0), neither setting IP manually on clients. I’m quite sure to mess something with bridge settings. Can anybody help me with a working configuration?

Regards
Giuseppe

[trendy]

Please post here the output of the following commands

uci export network; uci export wireless; uci export dhcp

Please use "Preformatted text </>" for logs, scripts, configs and general console output.

[Giuse1977]

root@RE200:~# uci export network
package network

config interface 'loopback'
        option ifname 'lo'
        option proto 'static'
        option ipaddr '127.0.0.1'
        option netmask '255.0.0.0'

config globals 'globals'
        option ula_prefix 'fdda:b633:a56a::/48'

config interface 'lan'
        option ifname 'eth0'
        option type 'bridge'
        option proto 'static'
        option netmask '255.255.255.0'
        option ipaddr '192.168.1.252'
        option gateway '192.168.1.1'
        option delegate '0'
        option stp '1'
        option igmp_snooping '1'
        list dns '192.168.1.1'

config interface '5GHz'
        option proto 'dhcp'

config interface '24GHz'
        option proto 'dhcp'

root@RE200:~# uci export dhcp
package dhcp

config dnsmasq
        option domainneeded '1'
        option localise_queries '1'
        option rebind_protection '1'
        option rebind_localhost '1'
        option expandhosts '1'
        option readethers '1'
        option leasefile '/tmp/dhcp.leases'
        option resolvfile '/tmp/resolv.conf.d/resolv.conf.auto'
        option localservice '1'

config dhcp 'lan'
        option interface 'lan'
        option ra 'static'
        option ra_slaac '1'
        list ra_flags 'managed-config'
        list ra_flags 'other-config'
        option ignore '1'
        option authoritative '0'

config dhcp 'wan'
        option interface 'wan'
        option ignore '1'

config odhcpd 'odhcpd'
        option maindhcp '0'
        option leasefile '/tmp/hosts/odhcpd'
        option leasetrigger '/usr/sbin/odhcpd-update'
        option loglevel '4'

root@RE200:~# uci export wireless
package wireless

config wifi-device 'radio0'
        option type 'mac80211'
        option channel '36'
        option hwmode '11a'
        option path 'pci0000:00/0000:00:00.0/0000:01:00.0'
        option htmode 'VHT80'
        option country 'IT'

config wifi-device 'radio1'
        option type 'mac80211'
        option hwmode '11g'
        option path 'platform/10180000.wmac'
        option htmode 'HT40'
        option country 'IT'
        option channel 'auto'

config wifi-iface 'wifinet0'
        option device 'radio0'
        option mode 'sta'
        option ssid 'MySSID'
        option key 'Mysecretkey'
        option encryption 'psk2'
        option network '5GHz lan'

config wifi-iface 'wifinet1'
        option device 'radio1'
        option mode 'ap'
        option ssid 'OpenWrt'
        option encryption 'psk2'
        option key 'Mysecretkey'
        option ifname '24GHz'
        option network 'lan 24GHz'

[trendy]

You cannot combine the interfaces in bridge like you have. In general you won't be able to bridge directly a wireless client (mode sta) with an interface.
To achieve what you want you should look at WDS (if the AC56U supports it) or go for relayd.

[mk24]

Or if you only need the garden users to have access to the Internet and not your whole LAN, set up a routed client.

[Giuse1977]

Garden LAN clients should be able to reach internal LAN, so NAT is not an option. I will try to use WDS (ac56u should support it from what I see from web interface) or go with relayd. I still can’t understand how those bridge works, if I forgot something or they work in a different way than the standard..
My CCNA and AWFSS are now 15 years old, so I forgot most of networking knowledge, this is a good way to refresh it a little!
Is anyway possible to have a crossband repeater or should I repeat each band?

Regards
Giuseppe

[trendy]

You'll use one band for backhauling, using both would create a loop.
For AP you can use them both.

[Giuse1977]

Thanks for the answers!
I gave a try to WDS solution but I wasn’t able to make it work. So I went back to the original firmware (with sysupgrade, so consider working also with v1) and will retry with OpenWrt in the future.

Regards
Giuseppe