Asus ZenWifi XT8 2.5gb BackHaul cat6 link

[AMG-One]

Have two xt8’s and cabled them using the standard route i.e main router wan 2.5gb port, 1gb lan uplink > second unit using 2.5gb port.

This works fine, I have fibre 900 down/110up so I’d like to place the wan/internet port on Lan. 1gb port is all I need and releasing the 2 2.5gb ports for the back haul.

I thought you could cable both the units using 2.5gb ports and selecting dual wan and specify which Lan port I want to use for Internet..

If I do this the second xt8 just flashes blue, I can see there is connection on the status page showing 2.5 but the second unit won’t connect

Any ideas or steps I’m missing? I have the latest ver 386.41994 but tried on 386.41157 same issue

 

[Tlex]

Lol I was about to write the exact same post !!!!
I'm still waiting to buy myself a QSW-1105-5T-US 2.5gbe switch in order to make the ethernet backhaul run on the wan interface instead of the 1gbe lan port and was wondering if it would work... anyone achieved that already ?

 

[Philibuster]

I don't think that works. I don't think you can configure one of the 1gbps ports to be the WAN interface. If you configure the units as AP mode (standalone, no nodes) then they bridge all the ports and you can use the 2.5gbps port as a switch port. You'd lose all routing/qos/firewall in this configuration. I've been running this configuration (not with 2.5gbps backhaul, because I haven't gotten a 2.5gbps switch yet) and it's been super solid. Roaming works great, frees up every available band for your end devices, and can specify non-overlapping channels.

 

[rmariboe]

Sorry for resurrecting this thread; posts on the subject are scarce
Did you come to any conclusion? I'm looking into adding a wired router to the setup like this guy:

https://www.reddit.com/r/HomeNetworking/comments/v1fgal

- It seems that even the main unit serving config to the rest may be connected to 2.5 ("WAN") when in AP mode...

 

[tgl]

So ... what is it you're trying to accomplish?

You can probably connect the two APs' 2.5G ports together and have 2.5G wired backhaul, but then what? You don't have the ability to shove 2.5Gbps to anywhere else. Maybe there is a use-case for getting better-than-1Gbps throughput between two wireless clients connected to the two nodes; but that doesn't seem like a mainstream use-case, and there are a bunch of issues that would likely prevent you from reaching such speeds in the real world. (mumble DFS mumble)

If I had better-than-1Gbps internet service, I'd be looking to wire each AP I had directly to the ISP's box using the AP's fastest port, not daisy-chain the APs. If the ISP's box isn't supplying enough ports, then you buy a multi-gig switch and put it in the middle, you still don't daisy-chain the APs.

As the redditor you quote mentions, this is all pretty much theoretical without some multi-Gbps target for your data transfers.

 

[kildare]

Well, in my case there is a reason to use a 2.5 Gbps wired backhaul, even if not having a so fast internet connection.
I have a couple of NAS and all PCs/servers with 2.5 ethernet cards located on different house floors. XT8s are in AP mode.
Using the XT8 WAN ports at 2.5 Gbps and some 2.5 switches I get all devices intercommunicate at this higher speed, also my ultrabook with a 160 MHz wifi card connects wirelessly at 2.4 Gbps to the 5GHz-2 and can take advantage of this speed.

I can add that the PC-to-PC file transfer speed has improved from 150/160 KBps (1 Gbps backhaul) to 250/260 KBps (2.5 Gbps backhaul).

 

[glens]

I've got my XT8s set up so my 3 AX clients each get at least 80MHz if not 160, on their "own" 5 Ghz radio/channel and they can routinely transfer 50-60 MB/s amongst themselves where/how they're situated. If I optimize their situations any at all I can bump 90 MB/s on occasion. This using the gig ethernet from router to node/AP.

I can certainly see the utility of a 2.5 gig "backhaul", even on my 500Mb symmetrical fiber feed. If I needed it I'd sure try to make it happen, and have mulled it over but just haven't got a round tuit.