Problems with Bridge Mode - Please advise.

Question

Problems with Bridge Mode - Please advise.

Folks I have my Time Capsule on our network in bridge mode to use it as a switch and wireless access point. Internet connectivity seems to keep having problems and I am not sure if my setup makes sense:

My Setup: Netgear DGN3500 Router (modem built in) ->Time Capsule (in bridge mode via ethernet) -> Network devices

Problems:
- Time Capsule TCP/IP has 169.xxx.xx.xx IP Address using DHCP, subnet is wrong (missing one "255" set) , router address is correct
- Netgear router sees Time Capsule connected with a proper IP address (192.168.1.xxx) in routing table
- flashing amber light due to airport not having a valid IP address even though I turned wireless off temporarily for the purposes of trouble shooting. I first just want to get ethernet working correctly

I've reset my router, the Time Capsule all settings, renewed DHCP Lease in Time Capsule...all the standard fanfare.

Any ideas folks or is this thing just done?

Tesserax if you're out there, please respond. I think you've addressed this as well, but I have no solution.

Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.6)

Posted on Mar 10, 2011 9:30 AM

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Answer 1

Tesserax

Level 10

158,208 points

Mar 10, 2011 10:14 PM in response to Tangier Clarke1

It sounds like you have the Time Capsule (TC) connected properly to the Netgear so that shouldn't be an issue. Just to rule anything out, did you already try using another Ethernet cable and/or connect between different Ethernet ports on both routers?

I don't have a TC, but instead use two 802.11n AirPort Extreme Base Stations (AEBSn) that connect back to my main Internet router, a Cisco RVS4000. I always using static Private IP addresses on all network routers, wireless access points, and Ethernet/wireless printers ... so if you went with the default of having the TC configured as a DHCP client, I would recommend the same.

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Answer 2

Mar 11, 2011 9:59 AM in response to Tesserax

Thanks. I guess the first thing I wonder is knowing what I should expect. TC is an extreme base station with a hard drive so we're not that far from each other.

If my router is the DHCP server and my TC is in bridge mode (accepting DHCP info) shouldn't my TC be getting 192.xxx.x.xxx numbers and same subnet mask? It's not even doing that. It only gets the router IP. The other numbers are not correct.

Additionally, if the TC is in bridge mode, can it serve other devices through the other LAN ports? I thin that's the other confusing part. Does it need to be in "share in IP mode" and I have to then make it a second DHCP server on the network - which then creates (potentially) duplicate IP addresses with the netgear router.

I suppose I could tell my netgear to only give a range of addresses and the TC another range, but I didn't think I'd have to go through all of that.

Strange thing is, this all just started a few days ago. It was working fine now nothing seems to be working even after a hard reset and factory reset.

I will try a new cable too and see how that goes.

By the way I forgot to mention one part of my network - the switch (not the LAN one built into my netgear router). There's a 24-port Netgear gigabit switch between my Netgear and the TC. The Switch sends the info upstairs to the TC.

If you have any ideas let me know.

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Answer 3

Mar 11, 2011 10:30 AM in response to Tesserax

A few more things to consider since my original posting:

- Time Capsule was unplugged overnight and is now (after setting it up again) is getting the correct info from our DHCP server

- Only my MacPro is getting all of the correct networking numbers from the TC at first. My MacBook Pro and iPhone 4 are not getting the info. They are getting 169.xxx.x.xxx numbers Five minutes later, MacBook Pro gets the correct info - no adjustments made on the MBP during that time. Five minutes more, the iPhone gets it.

Either my TC is dying or the TC is just slow passing the info along.

- TC Lan ports are working to other devices. Though slow, it seems that now all is working. And I just bought a Netgear WN802T - blazing fast in comparison.

Could it be that all I had to do was unplug the unit for a while.? Crazy.

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Answer 4

Bob Timmons

Level 10

185,090 points

Mar 11, 2011 5:55 PM in response to Tangier Clarke1

If my router is the DHCP server and my TC is in bridge mode (accepting DHCP info) shouldn't my TC be getting 192.xxx.x.xxx numbers and same subnet mask?

Yes. Have you power cycled the entire network as a troubleshooting step in this regard? If not, power everything down on the entire network, order is not important.

Start your modem first and let it run a moment by itself, then start the next router connected to the modem the same way. Start the Time Capsule the same way. Continue starting devices one a time the same way until the entire network is powered back up.

Additionally, if the TC is in bridge mode, can it serve other devices through the other LAN ports?

Yes. In bridge mode the ethernet ports are acting like a simple ethernet switch. Since they all behave like LAN ports in this configuration, try a different port on the Time Capsule for your connection from the switch to see if that helps.

I suppose I could tell my netgear to only give a range of addresses and the TC another range, but I didn't think I'd have to go through all of that.

I would not recommend that you do this. Even if you are able to avoid IP address conflicts, you'll have a Double NAT error on the network, at best slowing communications down. At worst, devices on one sub net will not be able to communicate with devices on the other sub net.

By the way I forgot to mention one part of my network - the switch (not the LAN one built into my netgear router). There's a 24-port

As a troubleshooting step, try bypassing the switch to see if that makes any difference in the performance of the TC. I like Netgear switches and have used them for years, but I've also had an occasional failure in several of their ethernet switches. It does happen.

Message was edited by: Bob Timmons

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Answer 5

Tesserax

Level 10

158,208 points

Mar 12, 2011 12:40 PM in response to Tangier Clarke1

Bob did a great job covering your initial questions so I won't respond to those and try to address your new ones if you don't mind.

Time Capsule was unplugged overnight and is now (after setting it up again) is getting the correct info from our DHCP server

Unfortunately, as you have experienced, networks sometimes can be a bit "fussy." It is actually not unusual for network devices to stop "communicating with each other." Most of the time just performing a power recycle gets them talking again. I've experienced scenarios where the length of time required to make this successful is overnight. This is usually attributed to network devices that have back-up batteries ... some of which you can actually get to, to temporarily remove & replace them to have them "forget" what's connected to them.

Either my TC is dying or the TC is just slow passing the info along.

Remember as a bridge, the TC's DHCP server is disabled. That would mean network clients would be getting their IP addresses from the router upstream of the TC. Why the TC is not "passing thru" the information would be the question ... and, if the TC itself is not getting the proper addys from this same router would be an indication that something may be amiss with either the connection between routers or the DHCP server service in the upstream router itself.

It is also important to note that the built-in Ethernet switch in the TC is a Data Link Layer 2 type of switch (or unmanaged switch). That means that is works at the MAC address layer and not at the IP address one. As such it doesn't know or care about IP addresses.

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