I have tried just about everything I can think of to get this working on my own, but I believe I'm missing something critical with existing documentation. Hopefully y'all can see what I'm overlooking go get this working.
Layout
I have an x86 VM which I'd like to use as my primary AREDN node for persistent connection to server resources hosted on the same Proxmox machine. In absence of an RF link, this node will also be able to serve these resources over the internet via Starlink. Being a VM allows me to provision higher performance resources for a tunnel server, make backups, easily replicate to another node for DR, etc.
To connect this to the rest of my network through a Ubiquiti UCG Ultra, I attempted to follow the instructions for configuring an Edge Router X, found here: https://www.arednmesh.org/content/edgerouter-x-0
I used a modified version of the following port configuration listed as an example:
Port Device
eth0 WAN-internet
eth1 Mesh Node A
eth2 Mesh Node B
eth3 LAN device of Node B
eth4 LAN device of Node B
But, the Edge Router X SFP has a mandatory uplink port on eth5, and the only way I was able to get it somewhat working was with this port setup:
When applied, this pulls an IP address from the x86 VM node, which is listed in DHCP leases and can be reached from eth3 or eth4.
The roadblock
With all of the above, the Edge Router does not automatically pull a DHCP IP from my upstream router and there is no WAN access.
I applied the following NAT policies on the router to attempt to resolve this:
I also designated eth5 as WAN.
This gets the Edge Router to appear on the upstream router's designated AREDN VLAN and it can pull a DHCP IP, but there's no WAN access and traffic does not flow on eth5.
Troubleshooting
To verify the issue wasn't with the VM itself or the Proxmox configuration, I removed the Edge Router as a variable. I used my MikroTik hAP AC Lite in the Edge Router's place with a connection on the upstream "Internet" port to my primary router, a DtD connection to the x86 VM on port 5, and my laptop patched in via LAN port 3 (later replaced by a wifi LAN hotspot which worked the same). The hAP AC Lite pulls an IP address from the primary router on the AREDN assigned VLAN without issue, and provides WAN access from that upstream connection to both itself and the x86 VM.
Just for fun, I also connected my WAN source directly to eth5 with no change in the VM's ability to access WAN.
This leads me to believe there is an issue with how I'm configuring the Edge Router X SFP, and that the Edge Router X instructions either don't work with this device, or I need to configure additional policies to get them to work. If anyone can provide instructions for getting this configuration working, I would like to write them up into a standard configuration guide since this is a desirable modern configuration for efficiently hosting services on cheap, high performance hardware.
Layout
I have an x86 VM which I'd like to use as my primary AREDN node for persistent connection to server resources hosted on the same Proxmox machine. In absence of an RF link, this node will also be able to serve these resources over the internet via Starlink. Being a VM allows me to provision higher performance resources for a tunnel server, make backups, easily replicate to another node for DR, etc.
To connect this to the rest of my network through a Ubiquiti UCG Ultra, I attempted to follow the instructions for configuring an Edge Router X, found here: https://www.arednmesh.org/content/edgerouter-x-0
I used a modified version of the following port configuration listed as an example:
Port Device
eth0 WAN-internet
eth1 Mesh Node A
eth2 Mesh Node B
eth3 LAN device of Node B
eth4 LAN device of Node B
But, the Edge Router X SFP has a mandatory uplink port on eth5, and the only way I was able to get it somewhat working was with this port setup:
eth0 | |
pvid | 12 |
vid | 1,2 |
eth1 | |
pvid | 11 |
vid | 1,2 |
eth2 | |
pvid | 10 |
vid | 1,2 |
eth3 | |
pvid | 10 |
vid | |
eth4 | |
pvid | 10 |
vid | |
eth5 | |
pvid | 1 |
vid |
When applied, this pulls an IP address from the x86 VM node, which is listed in DHCP leases and can be reached from eth3 or eth4.
The roadblock
With all of the above, the Edge Router does not automatically pull a DHCP IP from my upstream router and there is no WAN access.
I applied the following NAT policies on the router to attempt to resolve this:
I also designated eth5 as WAN.
This gets the Edge Router to appear on the upstream router's designated AREDN VLAN and it can pull a DHCP IP, but there's no WAN access and traffic does not flow on eth5.
Troubleshooting
To verify the issue wasn't with the VM itself or the Proxmox configuration, I removed the Edge Router as a variable. I used my MikroTik hAP AC Lite in the Edge Router's place with a connection on the upstream "Internet" port to my primary router, a DtD connection to the x86 VM on port 5, and my laptop patched in via LAN port 3 (later replaced by a wifi LAN hotspot which worked the same). The hAP AC Lite pulls an IP address from the primary router on the AREDN assigned VLAN without issue, and provides WAN access from that upstream connection to both itself and the x86 VM.
Just for fun, I also connected my WAN source directly to eth5 with no change in the VM's ability to access WAN.
This leads me to believe there is an issue with how I'm configuring the Edge Router X SFP, and that the Edge Router X instructions either don't work with this device, or I need to configure additional policies to get them to work. If anyone can provide instructions for getting this configuration working, I would like to write them up into a standard configuration guide since this is a desirable modern configuration for efficiently hosting services on cheap, high performance hardware.