Can't access clients that are in bridge mode across network

I have an RB433 that has roughly 15 clients connected to it. Most all of my clients are set up as client routers but I have one of them bridged. It has a static ip on the same subnet as all of the other devices but for whatever reason I can not access it’s interface or even ping it when I am a couple of hops away.
RB433 ------- RB600 -------- RB433------client bridge.


The client is a Nanostation 2. I can access it fine if I am wirelessly connected with my laptop directly to the same RB433.

I can access all the devices that are in router mode just fine.

Set your wireless client as station pseudobridge, or use wds.

I just tried to hook a nanostation that was set up as a bridge to one of the ethernet ports on the RB433 to see if I could communicate with it over the network and I can’t even do that unless I am wirelessly connected to that specific RB433. If I am 1 or more hops away from the RB433 there is no way to access the nanostation. If I set the nanostation up in router mode it is no problem. Not sure what is going on.

Since you posted in the wireless support, I assume that you have a wireless network between both of your RB433 and RB600. If that is the case, then you need wds or pseudo-bridge if you want to bridge these networks.

Between the RB433 and the RB600 I am using WDS

And what have you set for wireless mode in your NanoStation?

I tried both station and station wds. The nanostation doesn’t have a station pseudobridge setting. And as I was saying I also hooked it to the RB433 via ethernet just for testing purposes and I still could not access it over the network.

Station WDS mode enables packet forwarding at layer 2 level, so that should work out well.

PC-----> Wireless Station-----> Access Point-----> LAN (Not Possible)

PC-----> Access Point-----> LAN (Possible)

PC-----> Station PseudoBridge-----> Access Point-----> LAN (Possible)

PC-----> Station WDS-----> Access Point-----> LAN (Possible)

PC-----> WDS Slave-----> Access Point-----> LAN (Possible)

Not sure I am understanding your layout. Let’s say I am connected like the layout below.

example 1 Me----lan—RB433—wds link-----RB600----wds link------RB433-----lan-----nanostation bridge.

example 2 Me----lan—RB433—wds link-----RB600----wds link------RB433-----wds link-----nanostation bridge.

example 3 Me----lan—RB433—wds link-----RB600----wds link------RB433-----non-wds link-----nanostation bridge.

example 4 Me----lan—RB433—wds link-----RB600----wds link------RB433-----non-wds link-----nano in router mode.


Of those examples, example 4 is the only one that will allow me to access the interface of the router. The other 3 give me nothing.

Can anyone tell me what I’m doing wrong?

I found a solution. If I let the nanostation receive an ip via dhcp from the RB433 rather than assign a static ip, I am then able to access the interface. I wonder why it makes a difference?

I wanted to revisit this because I am still want to figure out why I can not reach the nanostation unless I let the routerboard assign it an ip address via dhcp. If I assign the nanostation a static ip in the same subnet it is not reachable.
I’ve tested this on multiple segments of my network with different pieces of equipment and it still does not work.

I would assign an ip within the local netmask, but outside the dhcp range. I always leave a few ips outside the dhcp range.

I only use part of the localnet for dhcp. I use xx.xx.xx.1 for the gateway, xx.xx.xx.16-xx.xx.xx.250 for dhcp. That way I can use xx.xx.xx.2 to xx.xx.xx.15 for static ips.

I already do this.
But if a person didn’t, would assigning a static ip from the dhcp pool, affect being able to access a device?

The best practice is assign static ips outside the range of the dhcp server. If it does issue an ip you have assigned as static, there will be a challenge.

Otherwise, on the static assignment, insure the netmask (/ip address), default gateway (/ip route), and the dns servers (/ip dns) are correct.

I don’t know if you missed it on my previous post, but I already do this.
I don’t believe my issue has anything to do with this.

Your dhcp-server is probably set to add ARP for leases. We have had to sometimes set static ARP entries with Tranzeo gear.