DSM 6.2 Mapped drive inaccessible when Internet is down

[sulimc1962]

Hi All. I have a DS418 configured with static IP for a small office. It's connected via LAN cable to an Asus RT-AC68U router. Windows clients connect to the Asus router via WiFi and access the Synology using mapped drives. The weird thing is when there is an Internet outage, the mapped drives are inaccessible with a red "X" over them. I was expecting that since the DS418 is in the same LAN as the Windows clients, the mapped drives should stay connected regardless of the Internet connection being up or down. I looked through several forums and all the settings again but couldn't figure it out. Could anyone here help point out what I'm doing wrong? Many thanks in advance.

 

[NSquirrel]

I assume that your NAS is hard wired (Ethernet) to your router? I used to use the Ethernet connections on my router only to find that when broadband went down, I could not connect to the NAS. It was the lack of broadband to the router that messed up all connections. There is still a wifi problem, e.g. for iPad and iPhones, but almost everything else is hard wired to a seperate multi-port ethernet switch with one connection back to the router. Hence I can still connect PCs, etc.

 

[sulimc1962]

I assume that your NAS is hard wired (Ethernet) to your router? I used to use the Ethernet connections on my router only to find that when broadband went down, I could not connect to the NAS. It was the lack of broadband to the router that messed up all connections. There is still a wifi problem, e.g. for iPad and iPhones, but almost everything else is hard wired to a seperate multi-port ethernet switch with one connection back to the router. Hence I can still connect PCs, etc.

Hi NSquirrel,
Thanks for sharing.
Yes, I have the NAS connected via LAN cable direct to the Asus router. So if I understand your solution, I should get a separate ethernet switch and connect the NAS and router to the switch. Would that enable the computers to access the NAS if they are using the router's WiFi (even when the broadband/Internet is down) or must the computers be connected via LAN cable to the switch in order for the NAS to be accessible?
Many thanks.

 

[NSquirrel]

I think, from my experience, that once loses broadband, then everything stops. One possible idea, and I am sure that others will have better ideas, would be if your have an old router that you could simply use for Wifi to Ethernet. So you would still use your existing router for broadband to Ethernet and then place the 'Wifi to Ethernet' old router between that and the switch or directly to the NAS. (I did that several years ago with an old Roboticcs router, but forget how to implement it. It certainly depended on the capabilities of the 'old router'.)

I hope that this helps you.

 

[sulimc1962]

I think, from my experience, that once loses broadband, then everything stops. One possible idea, and I am sure that others will have better ideas, would be if your have an old router that you could simply use for Wifi to Ethernet. So you would still use your existing router for broadband to Ethernet and then place the 'Wifi to Ethernet' old router between that and the switch or directly to the NAS. (I did that several years ago with an old Roboticcs router, but forget how to implement it. It certainly depended on the capabilities of the 'old router'.)

I hope that this helps you.

Many thanks for your kind response. I'm not really sure I understand how to connect the old router though. Hopefully some other members here have other recommendations. Cheers!

 

[NSquirrel]

I think my 'old router' method is called bridge mode, if I remember correctly. (Obviousy depends on whether you have an old router with wifi and bridge mode; until a recent trip to the recycling centre, I had 3 old ones. Different ISPs or ISP upgrades provided a new router...)

Another quick thought is to set a PC to be a hotspot. Connect from the hotspot to the router and connect the NAS via Ethernet to the PC; anything else using wifi to go by the hotspot. The point being to get as much away from the router itself as possible. Then, if the router goes down due to lack of broadband, the rest stays connected as the hotspot is the centre of the network. (I hope that this makes sense!)

 

[mlewus]

I had a similar problem. At the time we were having Internet outages multiple times a week that turned out to be caused by a 40-year-old cable under the street. Every time we lost the Internet my NAS and Plex server would become inaccessible.

I solved it by connecting all of my wired ethernet devices to a 16 port gigabit switch. I also attached one of the Internet provider‘s router 1GBe ports to the switch. Then I turned off the Wi-Fi radios in the Interner provider’s router. I purchased a high-speed Wi-Fi router, put it in AP mode with its DHCP server turned off, and connected it to the switch. The Internet provider‘s router handles NAT and DHCP, and passes packets to/from the Internet. All other traffic is passed through the ethernet switch and wifi AP, so it continues to work when the external Internet is down.

I finally gave up on cable and had FiOS fiber installed. Works like a champ. But this configuration also works when the power goes out. Power failures are common here but they usually don’t last very long, and rarely impact fiber Internet. I have a single oversized 1500VA UPS with an expansion battery. It runs the switch, the 920+ NAS, both routers, and the fiber termination box. Everything stays up for 4+ hours when the power goes out.

 

[sulimc1962]

I think my 'old router' method is called bridge mode, if I remember correctly. (Obviousy depends on whether you have an old router with wifi and bridge mode; until a recent trip to the recycling centre, I had 3 old ones. Different ISPs or ISP upgrades provided a new router...)

Another quick thought is to set a PC to be a hotspot. Connect from the hotspot to the router and connect the NAS via Ethernet to the PC; anything else using wifi to go by the hotspot. The point being to get as much away from the router itself as possible. Then, if the router goes down due to lack of broadband, the rest stays connected as the hotspot is the centre of the network. (I hope that this makes sense!)

Thanks again for sharing

-- post merged: 12. Mar 2022 --

I had a similar problem. At the time we were having Internet outages multiple times a week that turned out to be caused by a 40-year-old cable under the street. Every time we lost the Internet my NAS and Plex server would become inaccessible.

I solved it by connecting all of my wired ethernet devices to a 16 port gigabit switch. I also attached one of the Internet provider‘s router 1GBe ports to the switch. Then I turned off the Wi-Fi radios in the Interner provider’s router. I purchased a high-speed Wi-Fi router, put it in AP mode with its DHCP server turned off, and connected it to the switch. The Internet provider‘s router handles NAT and DHCP, and passes packets to/from the Internet. All other traffic is passed through the ethernet switch and wifi AP, so it continues to work when the external Internet is down.

I finally gave up on cable and had FiOS fiber installed. Works like a champ. But this configuration also works when the power goes out. Power failures are common here but they usually don’t last very long, and rarely impact fiber Internet. I have a single oversized 1500VA UPS with an expansion battery. It runs the switch, the 920+ NAS, both routers, and the fiber termination box. Everything stays up for 4+ hours when the power goes out.

Thanks for sharing. In my case, would connecting the NAS to a standalone switch then connecting the switch to the router work? Or would a secondary WiFi AP be needed as per your configuration?

 

[NSquirrel]

If you assume when the net is down, your router is effectively disabled, then your router wifi will also be disabled through to the NAS, which is what you are currently experiencing. If you can put in a new separated WiFi point, and disable the router wifi, then you should be ok.

I am assuming you want to be reliant on wifi connectivity rather than via ethernet cables. so if your sole hardwired connection is to the NAS, then a switch may not be necessary as you would simply connect the NAS to the new separate wifi point.

-- post merged: 12. Mar 2022 --

Whoops: just realised an error in the above: Obviously you need to connect the router to the new WiFi point as well as the NAS, so you may still need a switch unless the new WiFi point has two or more Ethernet ports.

 

[sulimc1962]

hi all. i finally managed to solve the issue by using an unmanaged gigabit switch. the DS418 is now connected to the switch (as is a network printer) and the switch connected to the Asus router. Turns out the issue is when the Asus router lost connection to its gateway (which is the main router that provides the internet connection), LAN access to the NAS stops. So now the LAN clients can access the NAS even when the gateway becomes disconnected (due to media converter failure or main router going down) with the addition of the switch. I guess it's down to the behaviour of the Asus router LAN ports when the gateway is unreachable. Thanks everyone for your suggestions.
cheers!