[Solved]How to set up a switch together with router?[Solved]

Installing and Using OpenWrt Network and Wireless Configuration
1

Hi I am new to Openwrt and I have a small problem. I have a Reolink POE doorbell which require power over ethernet and the ethernet ports on my router are not powered.

Previously I was using a TPLink router with their firmware and it was a simple case of plugging an ethernet cable between the router and the POE switch.

After installing Openwrt on a Redmi AX6S router flashed with Openwrt, I am at a loss of how to configure the POE switch so that I can get the ethernet connection to the doorbell working so that sound and video is connected to my network. I can't bypass the POE switch as the doorbell is powered by POE. The video feed and notification of the doorbell have to goes to my PC or my phone.

My novice mind suspect it is because I need to configure the switch as a bridge in the Openwrt interface. However I am not experienced in doing so.

Would appreciate if someone can walk me through the process or point me to an article or documentation which do not need me to be able to customize a general article to a specific custom solution.

2

A PoE switch should 'just work' in terms of powering PoE compliant devices. That is unless it is managed and via the management interface the PoE was disabled.

What PoE switch are you using? Is the doorbell powered?

3

Yes, it does power my doorbell. The problem is with the data. The sound and video are not getting to me as the doorbell does not get a IP address from the AX6S router (router to POE switch to doorbell).

4

Ok... if it's just data, chances are that your doorbell has an IP address that is in the wrong subnet (i.e. the subnet used by the previous router which may be different than the one you are using now). Assuming it gets an address via DHCP, the problem will resolve in time, or you can unpower the doorbell. When you power it back up again, it should request a DHCP lease. As long as the switch is connected to the router, it should work without issue.

You can test this by plugging a computer into the switch and the switch into the router... if the comptuer works, the doorbell should, too.

5

I plugged a laptop in and check windows network... it says that cannot reach DHCP server.

6

Plug that laptop directly into the router (instead of the switch). What happens?

7

Works as normal. Can connect to internet and router interface page.

Previously, I bricked the AX6S router and recovered it by loading the original firmware to the router via ethernet with the laptop.

Will following the instructions on this page possibly resolve my issue?

8

What make and model is the switch? And from your router:

Please connect to your OpenWrt device using ssh and copy the output of the following commands and post it here using the "Preformatted text </> " button:
grafik
Remember to redact passwords, MAC addresses and any public IP addresses you may have:

ubus call system board
cat /etc/config/network
cat /etc/config/wireless
cat /etc/config/dhcp
cat /etc/config/firewall
9

Sorry I was an ass and accidentally left one end of the ethernet cable between switch and router disconnection tinkering around. Once I remedied that, the laptop can get a IP address from the router. As for the doorbell, I still have no IP address for it. However I will try around for a bit more since it is shown that the switch does allow the router DHCP interface to connect to devices on the switch.

Maybe I need to reconfigure the doorbell itself due to switching of routers. So I will try to figure it out on my own first since you proved that the router can give devices connected to the switch an IP address. Will be back only if it is not due to the doorbell itself.

10

So now unplug the Ethernet cable from the doorbell and plug it back in again.

11

Did that multiple times (and did it again when you suggested it)... The reolink software on my PC cannot find the device on the network.

This is so puzzling. The switch can give the laptop an IP address and yet the doorbell isn't getting an IP address???

12

It is possible that the reolink has a static IP. I would check the manual for the doorbell and find out how to reset it. Once reset, it should have either a default IP address (which you may need to change) or use DHCP to obtain an address.

This is not an issue with OpenWrt, though.

13

Thank you for your excellent advice. Turn out that the doorbell couldn't get the correct IP subnet despite choosing DHCP aka auto assigned in the Reolink software. Managed to resolve it by using the other router (192.168.31.1) to force it to take the fixed IP of 192.168.1.X which is in the same subnet as the Openwrt router. Didn't expect it to be the case as DHCP should have automatically assigned it a random 192.168.1.X.

14

Sounds like a poor firmware/software design by Reolink. It may be buggy, unintuitive, or incorrectly implemented (or all of the above) -- hard to say without more info.

But I'm glad it is now resolved.

If your problem is solved, please consider marking this topic as [Solved]. See How to mark a topic as [Solved] for a short how-to.
Thanks! :slight_smile:

15

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