Setting up a mesh network using my DSL-AC68U and my XD4 with AX1800

[alanofamersham]

I currently have the XD4 acting as a mesh network and connected to the AC68U via ethernet WAN but if my pc is connected to the mesh I cannot access the DSL-AC68U or anything it is connected to (eg I have a connected usb drive I need to access) and if I connect to the DSL-AC68U then I cannot access the mesh network or any devices on it (eg wireless printer).  The DSL-AC68U can act as a mesh hub I believe so is there any way to use that as the master with the XD4 system all being nodes or a sub network???

For example should I designate the AC68U as the DNS server??

If not possible can I at least incorporate the AC68U into the mesh network? For example by changing it to look at the 1800 as the DNS server?

Do not want to simply test out various ideas as no doubt the family would resent losing internet connection! Hence seeking some pointers!

[jzchen]

Is this DSL service where the DSL-AC68U is the modem and router, aka gateway?

While a little hard to understand this may hold the key to your issue, the DSL-AC68U only supports wireless backhaul it seems, as a node if I'm interpreting it correctly:

https://www.asus.com/us/support/faq/1039736/

[alanofamersham]

I was baffled by the ASUS quote 'for node only Wireless backhaul supported, do not support Ethernet backhaul (as this model lacks dedicated ethernet WAN port)'. Does this mean it can act only as a node and only in wireless mode? Yes the DSL is the modem and at the moment it is connected to the XD4 router via an ethernet cable. This partially works - the XD4 system gives me a mesh - but I cannot go from mesh back to the DSL (except for internet access), possibly due to that backhaul issue or possibly (?) due to it being on a different IP address range acting as its own DHCP server. Ideally I would like to have had the DSL acting as modem/ router and the XD4 router and nodes all acting as wireless nodes off the DSL. An alternate I guess may be to have the DSL acting as modem but also as a wireless node to the XD4 (is this possible) - I assume this would mean pointing the DSL and any connected devices to the DHCP server on the XD4? Is this a possible solution? What puzzles me is that the XD4 connects via ethernet to the DSL and everything I read says backhaul is necessary for sub-nets to connect to internet. But devices connected to the XD4 nodes do connect to the internet via the DSL so I assume ethernet backhaul must work on the DSL??? I suspect I am missing something important here!

[jzchen]

If your DSL-AC68U has an IP of 192.168.50.1 then AiMesh nodes when added via the AiMesh Add a Node function should be assigned an IP of 192.168.50.xxx, unless your Subnet Mask is 255.255.25x.0 where x is less than 5.  (This is a normally functioning AiMesh as mine functions.  Subnet Mask being something I learned within the last couple of months).

From my understanding you have devices connected directly to the DSL-AC68U, which precludes putting into Bridge mode (if I'm not mistaken).

After rereading the AiMesh article I linked again I suspect your best option is to delete the nodes (XD4s) from the Mesh, hard/factory reset them, then disconnect the Ethernet connections to them.  After that add them as wireless AiMesh nodes.  Then see if you get "normal" functionality where you can access devices on the DSL-AC68U and XD4s, because everything including XD4s and what connect through the XD4s should be assigned 192.168.50.xxx based on the router first three triplets and default DHCP setting.

[alanofamersham]

My DSL is actually on 192.168.1.1 but the XD4 mesh router does use 192.168.50.1 and its dhcp server is set to go from 192.168.50.2 to 192.168.50.20. It knows the internet is on 192.168.1.251 and it sees the Asus DSL as a connection on 192.168.50.162 but I assume these simply route the internet to/fro. I will wait a couple of weeks - I will then be here on my own  - and can then try out your suggestions, thanks. PS yes I actually have a router hanging off the DSL router though at present it only has NAS Server connected (currently defunct - another issue but if/when I get it back up and running it had various sub nets - 192.168.1.xxx for its cloud, media etc).