Network, NAS and Plex - help needed!

[Cloudy147]

Hi all,

Any experts on here when it comes to home networking please? I am at my whits end with this puzzle...

My set up...

• A BT router connected to the internet
• A Tenda Nova 3-box 'Mesh' system with its own Wifi ID and password
• A hard-wired Synology NAS drive, connected to the Tenda Mesh in the office.
• All devices connected to the Tenda Mesh via wifi in the house.

The issue...

• I mainly bought the NAS for Plex and for some reason it has stopped working. It used to be connected to the BT router, so thought it might be because everything else is now on the Nova that its not routing properly. So I put everything onto the Nova, including the NAS.

What I CAN do:

• I can map a drive to the NAS on my PC, works fine.
• My TV in the front room can connect to Plex fine.
• Nothing else (including my PC) can connect when using Plex, they all say it can't connect to the NAS.
• As of last night, I could connect to the NAS via its IP and do the usual maintainence etc via the web browser, but as of today, I cannot even do that.
• The NAS doesn't show up in the "Network" folder on Windows. Last night it did.

Absolutely nothing has changed from last night to this morning, but I've no idea why its got the arse on in such a way that some bits work, on some tech, and others don't.

Anyone got any suggestions as to what to check or do please? I'm a bit stuck!!

Thanks!

Edited by Cloudy147 on Sunday 11th July 16:52

[Nimby]

Not sure about your mesh but I much prefer having my Deco mesh in AP mode so everything is on the same subnet, the only DHCP server running is the broadband router, and the broadband router's wifi is disabled.

No problems anywhere with my Synology NAS and Plex.

[Cloudy147]

Nimby said:

Not sure about your mesh but I much prefer having my Deco mesh in AP mode so everything is on the same subnet, the only DHCP server running is the broadband router, and the broadband router's wifi is disabled.

No problems anywhere with my Synology NAS and Plex.

Well goodness, Nimby, that has done the job!! Thanks so much for this, I've been pulling my hair out messing with this for ages.

I googled "AP" for Nova and it said to change to Bridge, which I did and it appears to have solved it.

Do you happen to know why this might be? What's the difference between DHCP and Bridge please? Assume it keeps everything on the same subnet in a way they might not have been before or something?

Thanks again!!!!

[Nimby]

Hard to say for sure but if both the router and mesh were issuing addresses, devices could randomly end up on separate subnets, so one side couldn't see the other. AP mode just extends the main router's network.

I think you only need Router mode (which seems to be the default) if you're connecting the mesh directly to a broadband modem rather than a broadband router.

Do make sure you've disabled the broadband router's wifi.

[Cloudy147]

Yeah I'll disable the router Wifi now to prevent any further confusion on the network.

Thanks again Nimby, I really appreciate your help!

[BigTZ4M]

Bridge mode tells the Tenda to play dumb on the routing front - not act as a DHCP server, pass through clients to your BT router where it also gets it’s IP address from etc. Out of the box they also act as a router until put into bridge mode. So you end up with a router behind a router, two DHCP servers etc. Things get confused.

Why do they do this? Well with the Tenda acting as a router in default mode the app can do the extra features they advertise in the app and in their marketing - you’ll find they aren’t available now. Then they gamble everyone uses WiFi connected to Tenda only and in 80% of cases it is. But in some, like yours, it isn’t. Thus you need bridge mode and I’m glad it’s sorted for you.

[anonymoususer]

Unrelated but watch out for app updates on the synology there are some important ones regarding media server

[stemll]

On the Plex server, I do not run the version available from the Synology package centre as it's way behind Plex's own releases. Download direct from Plex and then install using the Manual Install button in the package centre. I am running 1.23.3 but according to Synology the latest available is 1.18.5. Install new versions over the top.