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[Weaver]

Indeed, there’s a lot of fudging in the Firebrick config to forcibly redirect traffic between two subnets and NAT is required to get replies back again from the modem to the machine on the main LAN that initiated the whole conversation

[Alex Atkin UK]

Indeed, on OpenWRT the process involves creating a new interface with an IP in the same subnet as the modem but sharing the same physical port as the WAN/PPPoE connection then some fudging with iptables to get communication across subnets working.

Not if both the modem and router support VLANs it doesn't.

The PPPoEoE traffic does not have IP addresses, it’s L2 traffic, albeit containing payload that is IPv6 over PPP and IPv4 over PPP, so the multiplexing keeps everything apart.

Like I've said before, I do not believe its that simple.  The whole point of a bridge is that ALL broadcast traffic will pass both ways, so at the very least I'd expect ARP packets to be going out the WAN, even if they are ignored at the other end.  To me, that's just a bad configuration.

I'm not sure how cable modems do it, because I know at least on Virgin they do have the LAN and WAN on the same port when bridged,  I assume they have additional rules in place to avoid passing LAN packets out the WAN side.

[johnson]

@Alex Atkin UK

Sure, but in the context of the thread we are talking about a dumb VMG1312/8x24 and either a general consumer router or something more exotic. You are talking about a HH5A with openWRT as a modem and a pfsense box as a router.

The HH5A is indeed a VLAN aware (smart) switch, I dont think the same can be said for a VMG1312.

Dont get me wrong though, I agree with your sentiment about single cable solutions via various methods. Even though a PPP packet and an IP one *should* never end up in the same place it feels impossible for me to say that with certainty.

Even with a 2 cable solution I still have yet to properly fix DHCP announces being rebroadcast over the modems switch and being received on the routers WAN port and filling my logs with errors about it not having a a way to respond.

Paranoia set in once I noticed the MAC address of a Juniper device (I can only assume testing equipment) in my routing table after sighting of a BT van last year - been using 2 cables since.

[tiffy]

Thanks to all for the further input, very interesting and informative.

Considering the limitations of my proposed system hardware, even with Merlin firmware running on the Asus router, a 2 cable setup will be my best (perhaps only) option, the complexity and required knowledge level to implement a single cable setup is very likely beyond my capabilities.

So, my proposed setup will be:
XyXEL 1312 bridge configured as modem.
Asus RT-AC68U as router.
Cable from ZyXEL port to WAN port on Asus.
Cable from ZyXEL port to LAN port on Asus.
Cable from ZyXEL port to RPi 3B (as per existing setup)
Cable from Asus to Desktop Win 10 PC.

This leaves 2 Gigabyte LAN ports free on the Asus router, I already have a Netgear 8 port gigabyte switch in my existing system for further LAN distribution.

Presume all LAN devices should be configured on the same subnet ?
When exclusively IP address allocated from the Asus router (will configure static addresses) all devices will be accessable on the LAN ?
 

[Weaver]

Agree with the last sentence. You’ll have to set up an IP address for the modem’s admin/control interface by making it fixed, as you say, in the modem’s web UI or by editing the XML config And uploading it - I did the latter. I don’t think you can get the router to hand out IPv4 addresses to the modem via the router’s normal DHCP function.

And yes all devices have to be on the same subnet. It would be a good thing to reserve some addresses on the router so the router’s DHCP pool does not cover them and then the router’s DHCP will not be in danger of handing those addresses out to anything on the main LAN.

[tiffy]

@Weaver:

Many thanks for the further advice and comments.
I would have thought (hoped) with a 2 cable setup the Asus router would allocate an IP address to the ZyXEL modem as per any other connected LAN device ?

I have always set static IP addresses by MAC on all my network devices and MAC filtered all Wi-Fi devices, will continue to do so with the new Asus router.   

[Weaver]

I don’t believe there’s any way that the ZYXEL modem will listed out for IP address assignments handed out by a router by DHCP when the modem is in straight modem-only modem. The Asus router will do its usual thing but the ZyXEL doesn’t ask for a DHCP-supplied IPv4 address for its admin/config interface. I may be wrong but I can’t see anything in the config XML that looks likely to be involved with supporting DHCP client operation. I’ve never tried two cable setup, but I can’t see that that’s relevant. If I could get the ZyXELs to configure themselves by DHCP then that would be really useful to me because currently I have to hand configure four of them individually to distinct static addresses (which I do by running a program that tweaks the modem XML config Before it is uploaded into each modem). If I could just configure them to be all the same and get them auto configured by dhcp by my router when they are plugged in then that would be so great. Perhaps someone else could put me straight regarding this belief?

[banger]

My Zyxel is set as 192.168.2.10 in bridge mode with one cable (that runs through the house). Attached are the Asus Wan settings used to get stats and access to the Zyxel from computers attached to the Asus RT-AC1200G+, and also works with my previous Asus DSL-N55U.

[tiffy]

Good to see the site up and running again after the extended outage.

Having finally got my hands on the Asus RT-AC68U router, Hermes exceled and delivered well before Amazon's predicted date in the end.
Now configuring settings, static IP addresses etc. pre change over to 2 box operation.
Also loaded the AsusWRT-Merlin firmware.

Using a direct ethernet cable connection to my laptop with Wi-Fi switched off on router and laptop to avoid any conflict with the still active ZyXEL modem/router.
Note that the Acer goes into what appears to be "sleep mode" with inactivity after a short delay, slowly flashing power LED, can't find a way to "awaken" other than re-booting, is this normal ?

Perhaps when fully integrated into the system and on line this won't occur ?
The is a "wake on LAN" parameter in the interface, should I be utilising this ?

Would like to get a better understanding of this "feature" before putting the Asus router on line.

Edit: Typo correction.   

[tiffy]

Everything up and running now with XyXEL modem & Asus router configuration, switch over went very well, no unexpected issues.
Utilised the down time opportunity to reinstate my UPS which had been out of service for battery replacement/load testing.
Did use the 2 cable modem to router configuration with the RPi3B connected to a ZyXEL modem port, no problems accessing the ZyXEL and RPi GUI's on LAN.

I still use a Sam Knows WhiteBox line monitor, useful for unattended long term line monitoring, the unit ports are not Gigabyte speed capable, SK won't change out as currently over subscribed on my package/area.
Their recommended setup is to route everything through the WhiteBox, doing this would loose downstream Gigabyte capability on the LAN and defeat one aspect of the upgrade.
Found that connecting the WhiteBox WAN port to a ZyXEL modem LAN port and connecting the RPi to a WhiteBox LAN port satisified the ctiteria with no noticeable difference in trends to date and maintaining LAN gigabyte capability for the rest of the system.
Found that something must be fed through the WhiteBox to obtain a healthy status, can not just branch off the LAN.

The Asus router going into sleep mode when idle reported earlier does not now occur with the unit in service and the Wi-Fi enabled.

Satisfactory conclusion, many thanks to all for the advice and input.
Still lots to discover regarding the Asus routers capabilities especially when running the enhanced AsusWRT-Merlin firmware. 

[tiffy]

After 2 days of running on the 2 box setup, have noted a minor anomaly which was not there before conversion.

My Google Home Hub, which is Wi-Fi connected to the Asus router with a static IP address and in the same room, quite regularly looses connection and takes a while to re-connect again, this may well occur with all my Wi-Fi connected devices but is very visable on the Google Home Hub as it has a display screen and is situated beside by desktop PC..
No changes have been made to the Google Home Hub since original commissioning.

The Asus DHCP lease time is the usual 86400 sec's (24 Hrs.) and I did disabled the DHCP server in my ZyXEL modem at change over.
Even more strange, if I fire up my second browser, Pale Moon, during the Wi-Fi re-connect period it won't connect to WAN, however, if still using my main browser, Firefox, it keeps on working merrily!

Anyone any ideas?

[tiffy]

Looks like the "minor anomaly" may not be so minor after all.
Adopting a more logical approach to diagnosis it's now clear that the Asus router is frequently dropping PPP session, the indication of "no connection" on the Google Home Hub is just a product of PPP session loss.
Loss of PPP session is clearly indicated on the router GUI internet status page.
Modem/DSLAM synch is never lost at any time, the ZyXEL modem is rock solid.
With the previous XyXEL modem/router setup maintained solid ISP connection for months, never any issues.
The WAN (internet) LED indicator remains illuminated at all times even when the GUI internet status shows disconnected !

As I loaded the third party AsusWRT-Merlin FW before commissioning, thought it best to load the latest AsusWRT FW, same results, frequent, apparently random dropping of PPP session, WAN connection status LED indicator as before.

Looks like I may have a faulty router, thankfully purchased brand new from Amazon so should get a replacement.

Am I missing anything here before talking to Amazon tomorrow ? 

[Alex Atkin UK]

This is not reassuring: https://www.snbforums.com/threads/why-asus-cant-get-the-basics-right-like-pppoe.55795/

[banger]

That is from 2013 maybe they fixed it now as both my DSL-N55U and RT-AC1200G+ have 40 days PPP connection day.

[tiffy]

@Alex Atkin UK:

Thanks for the "snbforums" link, very informative.
Have actioned a few of the suggestions on the forum and reverted back to AsusWRT-Merlin FW as the Asus "native" FW did not make any difference to the WAN PPP session periodic dropouts.

I was under the impression that the Asus RT-AC68U router, although not being the latest model by any means, was a very well respected unit especially when running AsusWRT-Merlin FW which certainly adds a lot of additional features, somewhat disappointed that I'am experiencing this issue.

Still wondering if the router has a hardware issue and should I try and get a replacement from Amazon, it's still returnable until 30/06/20 as only received on 13/05/20 ?