I just installed a mesh WiFi network in addition to my ISP-provided router that could barely reach upstairs. I had some locally hosted services set up as per Mediabox. All containers were set up with my machine IP(?) 192.xxx.x.xx and were working great inside my network, which is all I wanted to do while I’m learning. I noticed today that if I connect via the other, mesh WiFi network that this IP can’t be accessed, despite it being the same machine. What’s going on?
All advice much appreciated as I am (obviously) a self hosting novice!
Hello,
From your post and other comments it sounds like you’re under double NAT when connected to the deco access points.
In order to solve this, go to the deco app. Go to more -> advanced -> operation mode and change it to access point mode.
This will stop the main deco acting as a router and will hand over DNS, DHCP, routing and other such things to the main router, thus keeping your docker containers and devices connected to the deco’s on the same network
Hope that helps!
Hello! I for sure have a double NAT problem - after writing this post I went to connect my xbox to the new mesh WiFi and it told me this was the issue, but I had no idea how to fix it until all of the great advice on here. Your instructions were spot on and now everything is working as expected! :)
Do you have any thoughts on if I should stop the ISP router from broadcasting its 2.4 and 5GHz networks now? They seem redundant, but I saw that turning the router into modem mode will prevent me from using all it’s Ethernet ports :/
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Hello again,
Ah I did not realise your ISP router had a modem mode, this gives us another avenue to approach the problem, as far as I see it there are three options
Have a look at your ISP routers settings there may be a way to disable just the wireless radios without putting it in modem mode, depends on the router though and without the model I am unsure if its doable on your router. This would mean you still use your ISP router for routing, DHCP, DNS etc. but the WiFi connection comes from the decos.
Depending on your model of deco you probably have a spare ethernet port or two on the main deco (that’s plugged into the ISP router) if that’s the case you could buy a cheap unmanaged switch, something along the lines of this: https://amzn.eu/d/dJ3tq1P this will plug into one of the spare ethernet ports on the Deco and act as an ‘extender’ so you can plug multiple devices into the switch and then the switch into the deco. Then you would reverse what you did on the first post, by gong to the deco app More -> Advanced -> operation mode and selecting WiFi router, after this go to your ISP router unplug all the ethernet devices apart from the deco (and make sure the deco is in port 1) and enable modem mode. This means your ISP router is now a dumb modem and all routing, DHCP, DNS etc is handled by the deco (so if you ever want to port forward it will all be handled by the decos via the deco app and you no longer use your ISP routers admin page). This will still have all your devices on one flat network as it is now and will avoid the double NAT issue.
You do nothing, as long as your not noticing WiFi degradation when your near the ISP router in theory it should cause no issues. If you do choose this option I recommend you go to on the deco app More -> Network Optimisation and run through that, this will make the decos try and find a wifi channel that is not busy, meaning it will in theory put your decos on a different chanel to the ISP router and attempt to avoid clashing.
Let me know if you have anymore questions but if you not, hope that helps!