RT-AC68U & clients behind wireless bridge

[NickoP]

Hi all,
New to this forum, first post. To say that I am a ‘small net builder’ will be hugely overstated. So please have mercy and help me 

Here is my problem. My system is: RT-AC68U (FW 3.0.0.4.374_501) <--> wireless bridge TEW-680MB on the 5GHz band <--> four wired clients.

In the router client list and the DHCP server I can see all connected clients but all of them with the MAC address of the bridge (TEW-680), so I don’t know which one is which, and if I want to manually assign IP address I cannot do it because the router returns error message about this MAC address already being in the table.

Did someone encounter the same problem?

 

[RMerlin]

Hi all,
New to this forum, first post. To say that I am a ‘small net builder’ will be hugely overstated. So please have mercy and help me 

Here is my problem. My system is: RT-AC68U (FW 3.0.0.4.374_501) <--> wireless bridge TEW-680MB on the 5GHz band <--> four wired clients.

In the router client list and the DHCP server I can see all connected clients but all of them with the MAC address of the bridge (TEW-680), so I don’t know which one is which, and if I want to manually assign IP address I cannot do it because the router returns error message about this MAC address already being in the table.

Did someone encounter the same problem?

This is a technical limitation caused by the bridge. There is nothing the router can do about this.

 

[NickoP]

This is a technical limitation caused by the bridge. There is nothing the router can do about this.

RMerlin, thanks for your reply. In the opening post I forgot to mention that this problem is specific for RT-AC68U. I tried two other routers - E4200 and EA6900 - with same bridge settings, and with them I can see the clients MAC addresses and names. With RT-AC68U not only the MAC addresses are same as the bridge address, but all the client names are TEW-680MB, like there are 5 TEW-680B in the system - one for the bridge + 4 clients.

 

[KGB7]

RMerlin, thanks for your reply. In the opening post I forgot to mention that this problem is specific for RT-AC68U. I tried two other routers - E4200 and EA6900 - with same bridge settings, and with them I can see the clients MAC addresses and names. With RT-AC68U not only the MAC addresses are same as the bridge address, but all the client names are TEW-680MB, like there are 5 TEW-680B in the system - one for the bridge + 4 clients.

Similar issue as well. Main ac68 can see clients by name, but second ac68 that is set up as Media Bridge sees same clients only as MAC.

 

[NickoP]

The curious thing is that if IP addresses are assigned manually using clients' MACs then the router will do it correctly although it will continue showing the bridge's name and MAC. Go figure...

 

[RMerlin]

The curious thing is that if IP addresses are assigned manually using clients' MACs then the router will do it correctly although it will continue showing the bridge's name and MAC. Go figure...

That would probably be because the client's MAC address would be contained inside the DHCP request sent by the client.

 

[RMerlin]

RMerlin, thanks for your reply. In the opening post I forgot to mention that this problem is specific for RT-AC68U. I tried two other routers - E4200 and EA6900 - with same bridge settings, and with them I can see the clients MAC addresses and names. With RT-AC68U not only the MAC addresses are same as the bridge address, but all the client names are TEW-680MB, like there are 5 TEW-680B in the system - one for the bridge + 4 clients.

Then it means those routers do not use ARP to build their list of clients, but some other method, possibly relying strictly on the DHCP lease list, for example. That also carries its own set of issues.

What I'm saying is that this is not a bug, but a limitation caused by the bridge, NOT by the router. People have been reporting this long before the RT-AC68U was even released. There is nothing that Asus could do about this.

 

[NickoP]

In about a week or so I will try the Linksys WUMC710 AC bridge and report the results.
Thanks again RMerlin and Happy Holidays

 

[RMerlin]

BTW, I actually tested a DD-WRT router running in Wireless Client mode, and an RT-AC56U working in Media Bridge mode, with a netbook connected behind the bridge as a client. The DD-WRT router in Wireless Client mode had my netbook share the MAC of my bridged router, but with the AC56U in Media Bridge I was properly getting the Netbook's MAC.

Some excellent reference to these different bridge modes: http://www.linksysinfo.org/index.php?threads/difference-between-client-bridge-and-wet-modes.18832/

 

[NickoP]

I am still not getting it: why in a system Router<->Bridge<->Clients if the router is Linksys or D-Link the clients' MAC addresses will be displayed properly, but with Asus router they will not. Common sense tells me that the reason should be in the router. In any case my knowledge is not enough to judge. Thanks Merlin and Happy New Year everyone.

 

[RMerlin]

I am still not getting it: why in a system Router<->Bridge<->Clients if the router is Linksys or D-Link the clients' MAC addresses will be displayed properly, but with Asus router they will not. Common sense tells me that the reason should be in the router. In any case my knowledge is not enough to judge. Thanks Merlin and Happy New Year everyone.

See my explanation in post #7.

 

[NickoP]

Short update: I replaced the bridge with Trendnet TEW-800mb (it's ac). Now all the clients behind it are being reported correctly with their MACs and names
For those interested windows reports file transfer rate of ~60MB/s. I am still on the 501 Beta FW.