Can't Access Server When Router in AP Mode

General Discussions
1

I recently upgraded to a Netgear Nighthawk router and, to avoid double NAT, thought I would just turn off DHCP and set it in AP mode to have it act as a wifi extender. I have a cheap modem/router supplied by my ISP that is terrible at 1080p or above. I then just connected my Synology server, with Plex, via one of the ports. I can access my server just fine and run Plex but for some reason I can no longer access Plex through any apps, even desktop. I can get to the login but it can never locate my server. I’ve tried reinstalling Plex, etc. but nothing seems to work. I can access it locally at 192.168.1.10:32400/web and get the user option but then it just never finds the server.

Any ideas?

2

Have you tried to put the modem/router supplied to you by your ISP into bridge mode? I have the same Netgear router, I set my ISP router to bridge mode and use the Nighthawk as the router.

3

Thanks for the reply. I should have mentioned that’s not an option with my isp, unfortunately. I was thinking that by turning off dhcp and setting it to AP mode it would kind of act like a bridge. It’s odd because everything else works just fine, even other apps on my synology NAS that are connected exactly the same.

4

Ok, I got it to work on my tv now by manually adding the ip. Odd that I can’t access the same via my desktop. I’ll keep messing with it.

5

On your Synology, make sure you have the firewall profile set to allow all of Plex’s ports including the one’s for discovery (UDP). Also remember, UDP broadcast packets often do not propagate through APs or other devices unless expressly allowed. As part of your Synology testing, it might be best to temporarily disable the firewall or switch to an ‘allow all’ profile you create.

I also have a cheap ISP-provided modem. The single biggest impediment to getting Plex to work on it, in conjunction with my Netgear’s wifi, is “wireless isolation”. If that is enabled, broadcast packets will go nowhere. I suspect Netgear has continued to provide this level of ‘security’ .

My configuration looks like this:

ISP modem
  |
  |
Network switch     --------   Netgear Wifi  ------- Tablets and Wireless Televisions 
  |
  |
Synology and other wired devices.
6

Thanks ChuckPA. I’ll tinker with that. I’ve now gotten it to work on all my devices but can’t access via my desktop which is where I need to update settings, etc. Strange.

7

It may help you, as it did me, to start assigning Static IP addresses. DHCP can be a pain in certain situations.

With Wifi devices, I go into the Netgear DHCP server and create a Reservation (MAC address) so it always has the assigned IP. MUCH easier

8

If you have the limitation of not being able to put your ISP router in bridge mode, then the diagram that ChuckPa provided would be the way to go. If your router is having issues with handling the bitrate of 1080p files, then the network switch would help a lot. The network switch would do packet switching and the only traffic that would pass through the ISP router would be traffic destined to and from outside of your home.

If the NightHawk is in AP mode, then the DHCP service should only be enabled on your ISP’s router. I also use static address on most things, especially servers, and let DHCP handle the wireless devices.

9

My network switch is the Netgear GS-108T V2. It’s a managed switch (meaning it has an IP) and supports Link Aggregation. I use 2 ports on the Synology to feed directly to it and can feed all 4 ports if I need. That’s 400 MB/sec if i really need that level of performance (VERY unlikely).

10

Thanks everyone. It turned out that the firewall settings on my NAS was the final fix. Now everything is working fine on the local network and internet speed is good. I haven’t figured out how to get external access but not a big deal. I ended up assigning a static ip to my router and server after turning off DHCP and putting it in AP mode. I then set a port forward to 32400 on my isp router but not getting through for some reason. Not sure if it will work without the two being bridged but not a big deal.

I’m going to add the switch you use as well.

I’m in Bahrain so the time zones caused a bit of a delay in my response. Thanks again.