Hello,
I think I've managed to stumble through setting up two E4200s to work together, with only one acting as DHCP server (Benny) and the other in bridge mode (Frida). I can Ping various other devices on my home network, including common items like a NAS drive (wired via ethernet to the server Benny.
Most other devices are wireless so when I Ping, I guess I cannot be sure if each unit is speaking wirelessly to each device I Ping, or if the packets are being passed to the 'nearest' of the two E4200s. I cannot Ping Frida from Benny nor Benny from Frida. I've set Frida up on a static IP at 192.168.1.150 and Benny is 192.168.1.1. They can Ping themselves, but not the other. I can reach the browser utility for each E4200 on its respective IP (and I'm using that utility to do the Pinging).
In the case of Frida Pinging the NAS drive, I think the only way is via Benny. I've tried the Traceroute diagnostic but all I seem to get is results that begin with 1, and then tell me the IP I was aiming for and then repeating that IP. In the case of wireless devices, I interpreted the 1 to mean 1 'hop' (I'm totally trying to decipher the use of English words in networking jargon). I would expect when Frida, the access point, Pings the NAS drive, there ought to have been two hops and I should have seen a trace through 192.168.1.1, but the result reads quite similarly to the other (wireless) devices. My iMac is connected via ethernet through Frida, onto Benny and the internet, and I get good speed and ping results when I check my internet connection. Airport is off, just in case I was circumventing a faulty Frida. But Frida seems to be working in some ways... the browser utility, ethernet.
Oh, in the E4200 manual, it recommends connecting the access point via one the LAN ports back to Benny, rather than through the Internet port. I thought this was weird and things were working when I had it hooked up either way. Right now, it's set up on a LAN port, meaning that Frida has two ethernet LAN ports connected, and nothing else (except wireless).
I have a Sonos sound system 'riding' this network and I can Ping all of the Sonos units from each of Benny and Frida but the Sonos system went down this morning, which is why I started to look into the network itself. Everything worked well, including the Sonos units, before the weekend. Right now, Sonos desktop controller software wants to update itself but cannot seem to see the internet. In any case, I don't expect anyone to comment here on the Sonos stuff, it's just background.
Is not being able to Ping between server and access point normal? Might it have to do with the port on Frida where Benny enters? Hmmm... an odds sentence, to be sure.
Thanks,
Dev
