20M : Confused about Superhub

[Teazel]

Sorted!

Made a fresh start this morning. This time, put the SH in modem mode. Once refreshed, switched it off and on.

Then I reset the Airport Extreme as if a first-time install. It went through the start-up motions, asking me to enter my details for my wireless network.

Once it had fully booted-up it connected with the SH in modem mode and had self-populated with all the relevant details for itself, and without any intervention by me.

It didn't require 'bridge mode' but automatically set itself up in 'DHCP and NAT'.

I told you it was simple ;~)

[Sephiroth]

Well done. If you're in modem mode, you wouldn't want the AE to be in Bridge Mode!

[Teazel]

One problem solved, and another emerges.

When in router mode, all my ethernet connected devices around the house work without problem.

In modem mode, though, only those ethernet devices directly connected to my Airport Extreme work.

In Airport Utility, in the 'Network' pane - in the DHCP Reservations - I have listed all my ethernet-connected devices alongside their MAC Addresses, then updated the Airport Utility.

I have left the Port Settings empty.

Two such ethernet devices - my AppleTV and the Portal of my Humax Fox-T2 cannot make a wired connection to the network.

I'm sure it's something simple to remedy this situation - but then I thought the same about connecting the Airport Extreme to modem mode in the first place.

[Sephiroth]

Can we have a deeper understanding of the topology, please? You've got a Sh (Modem Mode for this problem contect); an AE (in shared public IP mode) connected to port 1 of the SH. Coming out of the AE you have a Devolo Homeplug 200AV.

So far, my own configuration exactly.

Or do you still have, in modem mode, additional devices connected to the SH? They won't work in modem mode; only the first port is active.

[Teazel]

In lounge - SH (modem mode) - Devolo 200 via ethernet - plugged into one half of wall socket.
In Bedroom A - Airport Extreme - Devolo 200 via ethernet.

As a wireless router, the AE works fine. No problem.

However...

In lounge, I also have AppleTV and Humax Fox-T2 connected to a Devolo 500Gb 'triple' plugged into second half of wall socket.

Across the other side of the lounge, I have a ReadyNAS, Squeezebox Touch, Mac Mini HTPC, and Yamaha AVR.

In the AU of the AE, I have input all the MAC Addresses of all my ethernet devices - including the MAC Address of each Devolo plug.

When the SuperHub was previously in 'router' mode, all these ethernet-connected devices performed as expected.

In 'modem' mode, though, none of these ethernet-connected devices - except for those directly connected to the AE - such as Squeezebox Touch, Mac Mini Server, and Xerox printer - are connected to the network.

[Sephiroth]

I reckon, the difference between modem & router mode in this case is the first port of call.

In modem mode, the first port of call is the Devolo device and not the AE (does the green light show on the AE)? In my system, the AE is the first port of call.

In router mode, the furst port of call is the router section of the SH. The ethernet logic, if I can put it this way, is clean.

In your circumstances it seems to me that the AV500 isn't being served by the AE but by the Devolo itself - which it can't, if you see what I mean.

It's why I didn't have the AE in my office - in modem mode it would have it the Devolo 200AV first.

[Teazel]

Either in modem mode or router mode, the green light of my AE is illuminated.

That is...

SuperHub > first port of call: Devolo.
Then Devolo > first port of call: Airport Extreme.

In router mode, the SH handles all DHCP addresses automatically, and ALL ethernet devices connected via Devolo plugs work, no problem.

So, surely the Devolo plugs are not the issue - BUT, in modem mode, even though the MAC Address of ALL ethernet devices (including all Devolo plugs) have been input into the AE's DHCP Reservations List.

Strange.

[Sephiroth]

I believe that the Devolo acts as a switch forwarding the SH in modem mode to the AE. That shuts out the ther devices on the Devolo circuit. If you didn't have the AE in, I reckon you'd see just one of the devices on the AV500.

he SH needs to bridge to a DHCP device in modem mode and that's not the Devolo 200AV.

[Teazel]

I would have thought that in using Devolo's own dLAN Cockpit software, and adding each socket in the network (as I have done) would not have posed this problem.

Moreover, I don't understand why all the Devolo plugs work in router mode, but not in modem mode.

[Sephiroth]

The Deveolo plugs work in router mode because the DHCP is performed at the SH and before the Devolo. In your constellation, the Devolo (first) acts as a dumb hub, the router provides the DHCP and nothing else is seen by the SH.

[arcimedes]

There is a very old thread here which asks the same questions and seems to come to the conclusion that what you want is not possible for the reasons that Sepiroth postulates.

In a related scenario I have a camera connected by home plugs i.e camera/homeplug ->-> homeplug/Wireless adapter (each floor is on a separate ring main) ->-> router which OK exzcept when you need to update the camera software when the second homeplug has to be connected directly to the router

So there are difficulties with homeplugs.