[Solved] New Network Stack with an Unknown Issue..?
Update: It was DNS... its always DNS...
Hello there!
I'm in a bit of a pickle.. I've recently bought the full budget Tp-link omada stack for my homelab. I got the following devices in my stack:
ER605 Router
OC200 Controller
SG2008P PoE Switch
EAP610 Wireless AP
EAP625 Wireless AP (getting soon)
I've set it all up and it was working fine for the first few days of using it. However, last few days it's been working very much on and off randomly(?) . Basically devices will state they are connected to WiFi/Ethernet, but they are not actually getting it. (As seen in the picture). This is happening with our phones(Pixel7+S23U) and my server(NAS:Unraid), have not noticed any problems on our desktop PCs. So it is happening on both wired and wireless, as my server and desktop PC is connected to the switch.
I haven't done many configurations in the omada software yet, but am assuming it's something I have done that causes this... Would greatly appreciate any advice to solve/troubleshoot this!
A buddy experienced the exact same issue as OP just the other day. We ran diagnostics and it turns out his computer was running deprecated DNS IPs for a popular ad-blocking DNS provider.
I had it at default settings - but all of my devices are connected over Tailscale which uses NextDNS. Somehow when connected to the WiFi i guess things weren't compatible...? Anyway i changed my Omada system to use NextDNS and voila! all devices connects flawlessly!
Start at the bottom and work your way up. Cables connected? Link lights on? Link up in the OS? Getting a valid DHCP lease? Can reach outside IP addresses, DNS servers, resolve hostnames?
The WiFi icon with good connection+ exclamation on Android means the connection to the access point is good, but you don't have a path to the internet. I would start by connecting a PC, wired, directly to your router. Make sure that's working. If not, get some specifics on what's failing and troubleshoot.
Then connect to the switch. Repeat. Then connect to an app, repeat.
I have not tried it, but would like to! Think I will stick to using what Omada has to offer first, as I am rather inexperienced with networking. But have heard great things about OpenWrt though, so its on the future agenda :)
Did you disable DHCP on your access points? This sure sounds like you may have plugged everything in and didn't setup the network IP space and addressing properly. You should only have one DHCP provider on a network, and this seems like you have multiple running.
Had similar behaviour last night. Turned out UnboundDNS had crashed in my opnsense firewall and took "internet connectivity" with it. Restarting the service fixed it in one click after I found it.
Terrible opsec sharing your WiFi SSID, by the way. I can't find one right now, but I've seen global "wardriving" maps of all broadcast WiFi SSIDs that allow to pinpoint a somewhat unique SSID or at least narrow down to a few options. A list of SSIDs around you pretty much gives away your precise location.
Not tried pinging (when it's not working). However I'm unsure this is a problem with the switch if my wireless devices are also having the issue? Unless you mean the AP itself is being affected by this?
Whatever you are using that provides the brains of the network (like dhcp) in your setup probably the router or controller? Iāve never needed to move past an all in one but it seems like an intermittent routing issue. Have you u checked device logs to see if part of your network equipment is crashing or rebooting during these outages?