Hybrid Nest wifi network with switches experiencing drops

[AllanD]

Hi,

Looking for possible fixes and feedback.

I have a hybrid nest WiFi system to be able to reach multiple outbuildings and locations, recently made more complex to reach one more.

Setup is:  (in main house) ISP> nest router (plus 2 wifi points) > switch >

1) (barn) > another switch> nest router 

2) (garage) > nest router 

3) > point to point bridge > (far outbuilding) nest router 

The network seems to work at all locations, but I'm getting drops at the barn fairly regularly.

Am I doing something wrong?  Or is there anything I can change/configure?

[MichaelP]

Hello @AllanD 

Just to clarify, the switch in the barn is connected via a long Ethernet cable back to the primary switch in the main house that is connected to the primary Nest WiFi Router's LAN Ethernet port, correct? If that's the case, and it's unreliable, I would focus on testing that cable and all of the Ethernet switch ports in the path. 

There's a possibility the P2P bridge set is using loop detection, which will cause problems with any wired Google/Nest WiFi network like yours. So, I would also disconnect that bridge pair temporarily just to see if it's causing the issue. I consider this unlikely, since your garage unit (which is also wired, right?) is still working properly. But, it's still a possibility, if that unit is close enough to get a wireless connection, you might not notice the issue.

[AllanD]

Hi @MichaelP, correct on switch in the barn.  The path is two switches connected via long Ethernet cable.

I've tried disconnecting all points from the first switch and seeing if the points work individually.  They seem to.

I also tried something yesterday - I was connecting the two switches with one end in the uplink port.  I tried moving to just a normal port and things seem better - I need more time given that it is intermittent drops.  But do you have a reason why that would work?

Thanks 

[MichaelP]

Ports can definitely go bad – especially on a longer run between buildings. As for uplink vs normal ports, that's kind of an archaic distinction in switches. Switch ports now auto-sense cable polarity and adapt automatically. Uplink ports have the opposite polarity (like a client device), so were used to connect to a normal port on an upstream switch. But, like I said, everything auto-detects polarity now. It's possible that port is bad, and a different port is just working better. 

[AllanD]

This setup seems to be stable and working now!  More than 24 hours without any drops or issues.

I'm not sure if it was unplugging and replying all the wired connections or if was a bad port (replugged into other than uplink port).  

I'll report back in a week or so on how it works.

Thanks for your thoughts and suggestions.