Why does WiFi network go down when internet connection is lost?

TAPTech

It seems that our Nebula AP's stop broadcasting when there is an internet disconnect.  How do we fix this?

Zyxel_Freda

Hi @TAPTech ,

Because the AP will try to become a repeater if it can't access the gateway, did you enable the smart mesh with the Ethernet failover? If yes, you can disable the Ethernet failover to keep the AP as a root when it connects a cable line to switch. 
Otherwise, if you didn't enable the smart mesh, after disconnecting from the gateway for 30 minutes, the AP will restart from renewing DHCP and the SSID is down at this time.
Thanks.

TAPTech

Thank you Freda, I believe you are 100% correct!

TAPTech

Another question- If I have two AP's, one is connected to the switch with a wire, and the other AP has no wired connection- do I need to enable Smart Mesh on both of the AP's, or just the one that is not connected to the switch?

Zyxel_Freda

Hi @TAPTech , 
Sure, because enabling the smart mesh for both APs, they know to act as a repeater or root. If one of the AP is not enabled the smart mesh, it acts a NAP but not root or repeater and the mesh is not able to build up.
BTW, the smart mesh is a global setting in Access point> Configure> AP & port settings, so when you enable the setting, it applies to all AP in the site.

TAPTech

We have a few sites that are using ATP as the firewall.  I understand why the Nebula system does this, but want to make you aware of what happens.  Perhaps there should be a feature request.
The internet service goes down, due to a problem with the ISP.  Users cannot access internet resources.
After a few minutes, the Wireless broadcast in the entire site goes down.  Now, instead of having issues with just the internet, everything on WiFi stops working.  No one can print, wireless users cannot log in to the domain, etc.  Everything stops.

Perhaps we can have a method of telling the system to check/override for connectivity to a local gateway or firewall IP instead of out to the Nebula cloud?

Zyxel_Freda

Hi @TAPTech ,

When the ISP issue happened and let the Internet down, the LAN of ATP should not be affected and the AP should be able to ping the gateway even showing offline on NCC, and the SSID should be broadcast as usual. However, as your description, it seemed not. So, would you check that when the ISP issue happened, does the AP able to ping the gateway? If not, we may need to check what's wrong with the LAN of the ATP. 

BTW, if the printer is not in the same subnet of the AP, the traffic need to pass the ATP.

We could help to check more detail for the AP disconnection and SSID down issue if you are willing to enable the Zyxel support in HELP> support request, and let us know the org/site name.

Reminder: Devices offline on Nebula won't affect the layer 2 forwading.

TAPTech

I will do some testing in my office to see if it is just the "Ethernet failover" option, before spending too much time with Support.  Thanks for all of the info. 

Harry_Gosman

How do I set up a single NAP102 in such a way that the WIFI part continues to work when the internet connection is lost

Zyxel_Freda

Hi @Harry_Gosman,
When the NAP102 has been synced the configuration on NCC and then disconnected from the Internet but still can ping to the gateway and DNS, the AP will keep broadcasting the SSID, so you can access the wireless network. May I know that is there any problem for you to access the SSID? And, would you share the scenario that using without Internet? 

Harry_Gosman

Sorry but my English is not that good (I use google translate) but my problem is that when the internet signal is lost (error at the provider or I disconnect the router) then the wifi signal drops after 1 to 2 minutes away. the AP Smart mesh and the Ethernet failover do not solve this either.