Hello everyone! I have four QNAP QSW-M2106-4C switches (one on each floor of my house). My home network is managed by a Netgear Orbi 971 system (router 971 and three 970 satellites). The Netgear 971 router is before the QNAP switches, and the Netgear 970 satellites are behind each of the QNAP switches, all connected via Cat 6 Ethernet. The Netgear’s Guest WLAN doesn’t work on the 970 satellites. Netgear indicates that a VLAN ID of 4091 must be configured to allow the Guest WLAN broadcast from the 971 router. When I try to create a VLAN ID of 4091 on the QSW-M2106-4C switches, the QNAP switch tells me that only VLANs from 2 to 4000 are allowed! I’m unable to create this Guest VLAN (Netgear Ethernet backhaul) for my Guest WLAQ. Otherwise, the main Wi-Fi works perfectly on my Netgear Orbi 971 router → QSW-M2106-4C switch → Netgear 971 satellites. Do you have a solution to this problem, or do I need to replace my QNAP switch? Or all the Netgear Orbi 970 equipment, which was very expensive…?
Theoretically, it should not make a difference what VLAN ID is used on the switch provided by the Netgear device are each on that VLAN. I don’t know how QNAP switches work but I regularly run traffic over Cisco switches where the VLAN ID of the incoming packets does not match the VLAN ID on the switch. The switch complains that there’s a mismatch but the traffic is passed. The packets are still tagged with the proper VLAN ID so the Netgear devices should communicate.
Think of the VLAN as nothing more than a long cable. It just happens to be going through your switch!
Now maybe QNAP switches insist on the VLAN ID on the packets match the VLAN ID of the switch port. I don’t know.
I do find it really odd that Netgear insists on such a high VLAN ID. The highest VLAN ID I have seen allowed in my experience is 4095. But I’ve seen a lot of switches that don’t get anywhere close to that number of VLANs.
Here is what I would try.
Create a VLAN on the switch - whatever number - it doesn’t matter. For example let’s use 100.
Add the appropriate ports on the switch to the VLAN. Make sure you add them as UNTAGGED. You don’t want tagging in this case.
Connect your satellites and your router to these ports.
It should work. Traffic coming from/to the Netgear devices will have a VLAN ID of 4091. The switch has a VLAN ID of 100, but it should not block the mismatch. It may complain but traffic should still flow.
Hi @Philippe
Based on your inquiry, our response is as follows:
According to IEEE 802.1Q standards, the valid VLAN ID range is 1–4094. Our current design supports only 1–4000, and therefore cannot accommodate the Guest WLAN VLAN ID 4091 requirement. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience.
A VLAN ID functions simply as an index, and all indexes provide the same capabilities. Since 4091 is a value selected by Netgear, it would ideally be configurable to allow more flexibility for users.
We are currently reviewing this internally and allocating resources to enhance our VLAN support (covering the full 1–4094 range). We aim to include this in a future release.
There is nothing special about VLAN numbers particularly outside of the switch. He can have VLAN 4091 in his Netgear world and VLAN 5 in QNAP world. It doesn’t matter. I have native VLAN mismatches all the time in my network. Not ideal but it happens.
The VLAN is simply a virtual construct in Layer 2 of the switch fabric that provides a dedicated and isolated connection between two or more ports. The numbers really mean nothing outside the switch.
Hi @NA9D
Thank you for your response. In certain usage scenarios, this approach can work. However, I am not fully aware of Philippe’s specific requirements. If he needs to run multiple VLANs on the same port at the same time, further evaluation may be necessary.
Thank you for sharing this information.
Agreed. Although it’s pretty rare that you run more than one VLAN on a port. Encapsulated trunks are one example. Another is where you may need a device to listen on one VLAN and send data on another. But those are pretty rare.
The only think I am not sure of is if his Netgear is tagging his VLANs. Other than trunked scenarios, I am weak at tagged VLANs as I have never used them. I don’t know if a tagged VLAN would be an issue or not. Methinks maybe not as long as tagged packets are permitted, the VLAN just acts as a pipe. But again, I’m starting to talk beyond my level of knowledge…
Hello Everyone!
Thank you for all your explanations and answers in trying to resolve my issue with VLAN ID 4091 “suggested” by NETGEAR. Following RonaldHsu’s remarks suggesting I wait for a future QSW release, I decided to replace my entire network management—router and its Netgear ORBI access points—with UniFi equipment (gateway and APs). This has solved my VLAN ID problems as well as many other instabilities that the ORBI system had.
I should have done this a long time ago, as the UniFi system is fantastic for configuring and controlling a fairly complex network with many mixed clients.
Great thread guys. Philippe, I think it was a very good idea to swap out your Netgear for UniFi. Used as a standalone in a single type of environment I’m sure it’s fine, but once you add complexities in the end the orbi is still a consumer grade product.
Philippe, I think it was a very good idea to swap out your Netgear for UniFi. Used as a standalone in a single type of environment I’m sure it’s fine, but once you add complexities in the end the orbi is still a consumer grade product.