NWA210AX - Homekit/mDNS/Bonjour issues

kevleviathan

Hi all,

I added this AP to my home to get better coverage - it's connected hardwired to my Asus router which is stuffed into a comms panel and therefore has weak coverage to places like the patio. Zyxel is running in AP mode.

Today I tried disabling the wifi radios built into my Asus router and having all devices go through the Zyxel. This worked mostly fine, however I have a lot of Apple devices and use HomeKit extensively. I noticed that all HomeKit devices which connect directly via Wifi stopped responding. A quick Google revealed a thread here in which Zyxel responded that this AP doesn't support mDNS, and I think this is probably the cause as I believe HomeKit relies on mDNS to function.

So just putting some feelers out to see if this is indeed the case or if anyone has gotten HomeKit working with this AP.

Part of me kind of thought that as long as the router supports mDNS, the AP wouldn't necessarily need to if it's in AP mode?

Zyxel_Bella

Hi @kevleviathan,

 

AP is a forwarding in this scenario, it will pass the traffic when AP receive the query from device.

Can you describe about the details of the symptom that all HomeKit devices which connect directly via Wi-Fi stopped responding?

Does it mean to the devices can’t access internet, or the communication between devices is dropped?

Thank you

 

Regards,

Bella

kevleviathan

Zyxel_Bella said:

Hi @kevleviathan,

 

AP is a forwarding in this scenario, it will pass the traffic when AP receive the query from device.

Can you describe about the details of the symptom that all HomeKit devices which connect directly via Wi-Fi stopped responding?

Does it mean to the devices can’t access internet, or the communication between devices is dropped?

Thank you

 

Regards,

Bella

Hi Bella,

Sorry I should have specified - it means the devices appear in the Home app as “not responding” which as far as I understand means mDNS is not working for those devices. So essentially a problem communicating between devices. However they do connect to the AP and the router, and they have IP addresses, and they can reach the internet. It’s just the Apple Home app which shows them as “not responding”. 

But from your description it sounds like my assumption should’ve been correct that when operating as an AP, this device should not have any effect on mDNS as the router should ultimately be handling it?

Zyxel_Bella

Hi @kevleviathan

 

Noted. We can know the symptom from your description now.

Yes, if the devices are listed on Home App and can access internet without that means the AP passes the traffic properly.

We suggest upgrading driver of devices and App also the NWA210AX to latest firmware V6.20.

Thank you

 

Regards,

Bella