Aimesh nodes can't do Ethernet backhaul over switch trunk

[jit6526]

I have a weird situation here.
My connection is as following:

This setup works perfectly, but recently I wanted to replace the dumb switch on 2F with another managed switch. The ethernet backhaul stop working once I replace with the switch, no matter how hard I tired. But node 2 that connect directly to the main managed switch never have the issue.
I keep the vlan default with VID 1 in the switch I want to replaced on 2F, try both tag or untag trunk port, still no luck. Anyone have this issue before? I tried to dig into the forum but can't seem to find anything similar to my situation. I don't need a guest vlan for now, and with default factory firmware.

 

[L&LD]

Welcome to the forums @jit6526.

Did you try fully powering down your entire network equipment and then methodically and in series, power up each device that is next in the chain?

Other than that, this is a known issue with managed switches and AiMesh.

 

[Bschmabo]

I was able to get AIMesh working with an Aruba InstantOn 1930 48-port POE managed switch. The issue is some sloppy code in Asus’s router software, but which can be worked around as follows (with steps 4/5 depending on whether you will use all wired backhaul, or a combination of wired and wireless backhaul):

1. Create a VLAN on the switch that includes all ports you will use for the Ethernet backhaul, with those ports UNTAGGED. I used default VLAN 1 for this.

2. Connect the Asus router via Ethernet from a switch port on VLAN 1 to a LAN port on the router.

3. Connect the Asus wired nodes via Ethernet from a switch port on VLAN 1 to each node’s 2.5G WAN port.

4. (Only if all nodes wired): If ALL your Asus nodes are connected via Ethernet, go to the ASUS router web portal, navigate to General>AIMesh>System Settings>Ethernet Backhaul Mode, and check the enable toggle switch. Once enabled, you are done, and all nodes should now recognize the Ethernet backhaul. Wallah!

5. (Some nodes wired, some nodes wireless): If ANY of your Asus nodes will use wireless backhaul, the Ethernet Backhaul Mode toggle will be greyed out by Asus’s software. Instead, you have to manually set the Backhaul Connection Priority for each node. For each node, go to the ASUS router web portal, navigate to General>AIMesh>Topology>Node Name>Management>Backhaul Connection Priority. For each Ethernet backhaul node, set the priority to “2.5G WAN first.” For each wireless backhaul node, set the priority to either “6GHz WiFi first,” “5GHz WiFi first,” or “Auto.” Done.

Ultimately, the problem is Asus’s “Auto” Backhaul Connection Priority setting. If a node’s priority is “Auto,” it will correctly default to Ethernet backhaul when connected directly to the router or through an unmanaged switch. However, the “Auto” setting will incorrectly default to wireless backhaul when the Ethernet connection is through a managed switch’s VLAN. The Asus router and nodes can still see the Ethernet connection through the VLAN, but the “Auto” setting incorrectly prioritizes wireless backhaul instead. Asus could likely fix this with a few lines of code. But until they patch this, do not use the “Auto” setting for any nodes connected to a managed switch. Either enable the Ethernet Backhaul Mode (all nodes wired), or set the connection priority for each wired node to explicitly prioritize your Ethernet connection (2.5G WAN) first.