Asus Zenwifi XT8 wired backhaul question(s)

[Turok]

I just picked up a Asus ZenWIFI XT8 over Christmas and I set it up for wired backhaul a couple of days ago. No problems with the wired backhaul.

My question is this - The node is wired backhaul connected, uses the WAN port on the node to go to a LAN port on the router. If I connect another device to one of the LAN ports on the node, should it just work as a port would on a router or switch? I connected my smart tv and Nvidia Shield to the LAN ports on my node and they both hung and didn't establish a internet connection. Ended up switching back to wireless.

Do I need to run an additional ethernet cable from the node to the router to establish a wired internet connection on the node?

When I think of a backhaul connection to me the data is one way and that's outbound to the router then to the modem. My impression is that the backhaul wouldn't send/receive data, since it's purpose it to send wifi data from the node to the router.

Would like to figure out what the issue is so I can run my primary TV and Shield on ethernet rather than wifi

Please correct me if I'm wrong, new to MESH wifi routers, always had just a standalone router.

 

[shama_001]

Hi,

Your assumption is correct: with backhaul in place you can use all ports on the node or the router as a switch. Your wired backhaul seems correctly connecter (WAN node port ---> LAN router port), does the logs on the router shows something?
What if you connect a computer on a LAN port on the node (and the router to compare)? This last one will expose more troubleshooting options about the IP/DNS received and various tests are so possible

 

[Gustour]

You ll have to give more details about your configuration, because yes, that should wordk.
Modem -> WAN XT8 router ; LAN XT8 router -> WAN XT8 node; LAN XT8 node -> anything

 

[Turok]

Hi,

Your assumption is correct: with backhaul in place you can use all ports on the node or the router as a switch. Your wired backhaul seems correctly connecter (WAN node port ---> LAN router port), does the logs on the router shows something?
What if you connect a computer on a LAN port on the node (and the router to compare)? This last one will expose more troubleshooting options about the IP/DNS received and various tests are so possible

Today I'll connect my laptop to the Node and the router to test it out and see if it connects. I'll also check the logs when I connect it to see if it shows anything. I'll post back later with my results. UPDATE: I connected my laptop to the ZenWifi XT8 Node via ethernet cable (T568B patch cable) and it connected without any issues. I performed a speed test and it tested fine, surfed around, brought up a bunch of different websites without any issues. I only connected for about 8 minutes. I'll do a longer connected test later today but so far so good. Now to figure why my Smart TV and Nvidia Shield is not connecting properly via ethernet cable.

 

[Turok]

You ll have to give more details about your configuration, because yes, that should wordk.
Modem -> WAN XT8 router ; LAN XT8 router -> WAN XT8 node; LAN XT8 node -> anything

Do you mean my network configuration or the router configuration? For the router I have not done much configuration wise, except setup the internal IP's the way I had it setup on my old router i.e: 192.168.1.1 rather than the default 192.168.50.1. Other than that I haven't done to much advanced changes other than switching to wired backhaul setup.

For my network it's pretty much as described Modem -> ZenWifi XT8 Router - > ZenWifi XT8 Node (Wired Backhaul setup). Then I have another ethernet cable running from the router to a switch in my office that connects my Linux server, Win10 desktop, Phillips Hue hub, VoIP gateway, wired Shield Pro and a Sony 4K smart tv which are all located in the basement.

I made a new cable for the wired backhaul cable and tested it with a cable tester. I've also had no problems with the backhaul that I've seen. In the router admin GUI it says the connection is "Great" for the backhaul, so I'd assume the ethernet cable is working properly.

 

[Turok]

So I was thinking the cable I made is a T568A cable would that make a difference as opposed to using a T568B? I read up on it and from what I've read along as both ends are the same i.e : T568A -T568A or T568B - T568B it shouldn't make a difference. I did read most cables are T568B wire configuration.

 

[shama_001]

Both should work but indeed, I made all my cabling with T568B including the node to router cable.
If you can test, please share the result

 

[Turok]

I'll be testing with my laptop on the Node in a few hours. I'll post my findings.

 

[Turok]

Both should work but indeed, I made all my cabling with T568B including the node to router cable.
If you can test, please share the result

So it looks like the T568A cable I have running from the Node to the Router for the wired backhaul is working fine when my laptop is connected.

 

[Turok]

So it looks like the T568A cable I have running from the Node to the Router for the wired backhaul is working fine when my laptop is connected.

Hi,

Your assumption is correct: with backhaul in place you can use all ports on the node or the router as a switch. Your wired backhaul seems correctly connecter (WAN node port ---> LAN router port), does the logs on the router shows something?
What if you connect a computer on a LAN port on the node (and the router to compare)? This last one will expose more troubleshooting options about the IP/DNS received and various tests are so possible

So discovered a couple things today.

1) I created a new ethernet cable as a T568B and it didn't work (used a cable tester and it passed) using my Shield or LG
2) I created a new cable as a T568A and it worked fine with my Shield, LG TV and laptop
3) Used a store bought Cat7 cable and it worked fine with my Shield, LG TV and laptop

I also for tested a short patch cable I had originally used that wasn't working with my Shield and it worked fine with my laptop but not the Shield or LG TV.

I also took all 4 cables and connect it to the Router and connected my laptop without any problems using each different cable.

I also noticed another issue. When I was switching the working cables with my Laptop or Shield (Cat7, T568A) it took several minutes for my Shield to figure out if it was actually connected. It kept saying no ethernet connection and I had to step away to help my kids with something and came back 10mins later and the Shield had a connection. So not sure what that's all about.

Tomorrow a friend of mine has a higher end cable tester he's going to lend me and I'm going to re-test all the cables again to make sure.

 

[Turok]

Still running into a weird problem with the Shield and LG if I change or swap out the ethernet cables. It takes about 20mins for the Node to reconnect the devices to the Node via ethernet cable. So not sure if that's a firmware issue or not.

I'm wondering if it's a DNS issue now. I can't seem to find the section in the GUI to set or define the DNS that DHCP will handout/use for devices.

I had my Shield set to DHCP and then changed it to Static IP/my gateway and then used 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 but then it the Shield stopped working and when I removed the DNS and left it blank for the router to assign it started working (This did not solve the above issue when I change cables, I made shorter cables since the distance from the Shield and TV are within 10ft).

Can anyone tell me where I can define the DNS for the DHCP or in general that the router will use? My old router I was able to set the DNS and I used my ISP's for awhile then changed everything over to Google's public DNS,

 

[shama_001]

Here is what I did on my setup to set custom DNS (not the ISP ones)

-LAN>DHCP>no DNS defined (blank)
-WAN>WAN DNS Settings
Connect to DNS Server automatically>NO (avoid ISP DNS settings)
DNS Server1/2: set the DNS you want to use (google, cloudflare, else)

I enable DNS over TLS etc, but that's a separated thing. The DHCP client will receive the router's IP as primary DNS server, and your router will make queries to DNS defined (plus enabling cache)