Note: If the management pages of your switch and router are different from this FAQ, refer to How to manage EAPs at different places across Internet using Omada Controller (via NAT Port Forwarding and DHCP Option 138)? (Old UI).
When EAPs are located in different areas, how to manage them together?
Take the following topology as an example. A company wants to manage EAP1 and EAP2 using the controller host with a static IP address 192.168.1.253. Although the network of HQ and Branch Office are connected through internet, the controller host cannot discover the EAP in Branch Office by itself because they are in different LANs.
Figure 1 Network Topology
Demonstrated with T2600G-28TS as the switch and TL-ER6120 as the router, this article introduces how to help the controller discover the EAPs in different places via NAT Port Forwarding and DHCP Option 138.
Note: To achieve the same effect, you can also use the following alternatives:
· Via NAT Port Forwarding and EAP Discover Utility
· Via VPN Tunnel and EAP Discover Utility
· Via VPN Tunnel and DHCP Option138
Follow the steps below to configure the switch and routers.
Step 1. Add an NAT Port Forwarding rule on the Router (TL-ER6120) in HQ
Go to Transmission > NAT > Virtual Servers and add a Virtual Server entry. Specify port 29810–29813 as service ports and specify the controller host as Internal Server.
Figure 2 Configuring NAT Port Forwarding
Step 2. Disable DHCP Server on the Router (TL-ER6120) in Branch Office
Go to Network > LAN > DHCP Server and disable DHCP Server.
Figure 3 Configuring DHCP Server
Step 3. Configurations on the Switch (T2600G-28TS) in Branch Office
On the switch, change its default IP address to avoid IP conflict with the gateway router. Enable DHCP Server and add DHCP Server pools to configure IP addresses and other network parameters that EAPs obtain from the switch.
1. Go to L3 FEATURES > Interface. In Interface Config, click Edit IPv4 to load the following page. Change the IP address and click Apply.
Figure 4 Configuring Interface
2. Go to L3 FEATURES > DHCP Service > DHCP Server > DHCP Server. Enable DHCP Server and specify the WAN IP address of the router in HQ as Option 138. In this example, it is 172.30.30.138. Click Apply.
Figure 5 Configuring DHCP Server
3. Go to L3 FEATURES > DHCP Service > DHCP Server > Pool Settings and click Add to create an IP address pool for Branch Office. Fill in the required field, Default Gateway, and DNS Server. Click Create.
Figure 6 Configuring DHCP Server Pool for Branch Office
Step 4. Adopt the EAP to the Controller
Launch Omada Controller and go to Access Points. The EAP which has been configured by EAP Discovery Utility just now will appear in the Pending list. Click Adopt and wait for the adoption. Then you can manage the EAP centrally.
Figure 7 Adopting the EAP to the Controller Host in HQ
Note:
1. After the controller successfully adopts the EAP, you can remove the computer running EAP Discovery Utility from the network.
2. If the controller still cannot discover the EAP, refer to What should I do when the controller fails to discover the EAP? to find the problem and solve it.
