diff --git a/docs/06-pve-test-wifi-network.md b/docs/06-pve-test-wifi-network.md index bbf990d..12f2872 100644 --- a/docs/06-pve-test-wifi-network.md +++ b/docs/06-pve-test-wifi-network.md @@ -181,31 +181,44 @@ a real outage**: SSH (`ssh root@pve-test.sweet.home`) → web UI via `curl only then worry about `ping` specifically, and check `/etc/pve/firewall/cluster.fw` before blaming the network. -## Real limitation: other wifi clients on the same AP may not reach pve-test at all +## Confirmed limitation: no wireless client on the same AP can reach pve-test -If a client device is connected to the **same wifi network** pve-test -uses (`nbn-fttp-net-5G`) and the router has **AP/client isolation** -enabled for that SSID (common default on many consumer routers, and easy -to have on without realizing it), that device cannot reach pve-test — -not intermittently, not slowly, just never. Client isolation blocks -Layer 2 traffic between wireless clients on the same AP; wired devices -(anything behind the router's LAN ports, another node like `pve1`, VMs -on either) are unaffected, which makes the symptom confusing: "every -wired thing I test from reaches it fine, but my laptop on the same wifi -can't" looks like a client-specific problem but is actually the router. +**This is not an AP-isolation toggle** — tested and ruled out (router: +TP-Link BE9300, AP Isolation confirmed unchecked). Two independent +wireless devices (a laptop and a phone) on the same SSID pve-test uses +(`nbn-fttp-net-5G`) were both completely unable to reach it — not +intermittent, not slow, no ARP entry ever resolves (`arp -a` on Windows / +`ip neigh` on Linux/Mac shows nothing at all, not a stale entry). Every +wired device tested (this repo's own Claude session, `pve1`) reaches it +fine, every time. -Diagnostic signature: the affected device has **no ARP entry at all** -for pve-test's IP (`arp -a` on Windows, `ip neigh` on Linux/Mac shows -nothing, not a stale entry) — its ARP requests never get a reply because -the AP drops them before they reach pve-test. +Root cause: pve-test's wifi connection uses 4-address (WDS) framing to +make bridging possible at all (see above) — that's what lets the AP +forward frames from arbitrary MACs (VM traffic, the bridge's own +identity) instead of only the wifi card's own hardware MAC. This +router's firmware evidently handles wired↔pve-test forwarding for that +4addr peer correctly, but doesn't correctly forward *wireless-client* +broadcast/ARP traffic to it — an asymmetric gap in the AP's own 4addr +handling, not a policy setting. Likely not fixable short of a firmware +update from TP-Link (if one ever improves 4addr/WDS handling), possibly +not fixable on this hardware at all. -Fix is entirely router-side, nothing to change on pve-test: find -"AP Isolation" / "Client Isolation" / "Wireless Isolation" in the -router's wifi settings for that SSID and disable it (or exempt the -specific devices that need to manage pve-test, if the router supports -per-device exemptions). No pve-test or client-side networking change -fixes this - don't waste time on ARP flushes, firewall rules, or bonding -config for this specific symptom pattern. +**Practical implication**: anything on `vmbr0` — pve-test itself, or any +VM/CT created on it — is unreachable from a wireless client on this AP, +full stop, for *any* protocol, not just ICMP. ARP resolution is a +prerequisite for sending any IP packet at all (TCP included); since ARP +itself never resolves for a wireless peer here, the web UI (8006) fails +identically to ping, not just ping — confirmed live, not theoretical. +This includes VMs on pve-test too, since they ride the same bridge/wifi +uplink as the host. **Wired access is the only reliable path to +pve-test and anything running on it** — including reaching a VM's +console through the Proxmox web UI, which still requires the accessing +device to reach pve-test's own IP on port 8006 first, so it inherits the +same requirement. + +Don't waste time on ARP flushes, firewall rules, or bonding config for +this specific symptom (no ARP entry from a wireless peer, wired fine) — +none of those are the cause. ## Known limitation history