Layer 2 Bridge w/Balance 380 + MAX HD2

Hello,
Is it possible to create a layer 2 bridge between Balance 380 LAN&WAN + another bridge using speedfusion between Bal 380 + HD2? We want the vehicle in the field to pick-up local (house) IP address and have full access to our local/house network.

House Network —> WAN Bal 380 ----> Bridge —> LAN Bal 380 ---->Speedfusion to car —> HD2 in car ----> HD2 LAN—>computer in field now has IP address from House Network DHCP server and is fully bridged to House network.

I see how to setup a speedfusion 2 cell bonded bridge to Bal 380 but cannot bridge Bal 380 LAN/WAN. Would drop-in mode work in this case?

I think you are asking if it is possible to do a layer 2 SpeedFusion tunnel and the answer is yes:
https://www.peplink.com/knowledgebase/layer-2-speedfusion-vpn-configuration/

Thanks,
Tim

Thanks Tim. Two questions:

-The link you provided, is this to be configured on both the bal380, HD2 or both?

-The bal380 is inside our firewall to simply connect an HD 2 to our internal network. How do I configure the Bal 380 so that the HD2 (and devices connected to the HD2) receive IP addresses from our internal network?

Why do you think the clients connecting to the HD2 have to have an internal network address? If you are trying to configure SpeedFusion behind a firewall you can refer to this:
https://www.peplink.com/knowledgebase/configuring-speedfusion-behind-a-firewall/

The SpeedFusion is configured on both devices.

Thanks Tim. The balance and speed fusion is already configured. Now we need to provide local IP addresses to the devices connected to the HD2. Is this possible?

We need this so we can access these devices from inside our building without the need of port forwarding. I need to sit at a computer in house to access a device in the field

Then you don’t really need a layer 2 VPN, a regular layer 3 VPN will work just fine. This is because the SpeedFusion tunnel will automatically update all known networks. Those clients connected to the HD2 can be accessed even with a different IP scheme.

Go ahead and give it a try!

Thanks.

I’m sorry Tim. I tried but couldn’t get it to work. Attached is a picture of the setup. Unfortunately customers will not allow us to replace their exiting routers and gateways so the Balance needs to be inserted on the network. If this should work as drawn, please let me know the settings (i.e. drop-in mode, NAT, etc).

Thanks again for your help.

You should deploy the B380 in drop-in mode to the network before you actually work on the SpeedFusion connection.

  1. Deploying B380 to the network (drop-in mode)

Seem you can’t replace the existing gateway router, you can deploy the B380 (drop-in mode) behind the existing gateway router

Hosts PC <—> LAN Switch <–Drop-In Mode–> LAN- B380-WAN <–Drop-In Mode–> Existing Gateway Router → Internet

  • Hosts PC default gateway should remain to Existing Gateway Router
  • More information regarding to drop-in mode deployment please refer to the knowledgebase below:
    Peplink | Pepwave - Forum

2.Configure SpeedFusion Connections (Layer2/Layer3 - depend requirements)
… <-------------------- SpeedFusion -------------------------->
Hosts PC <—> B380 ↔ Existing Gateway Router <—> Internet <—> HD2 <—> PC

Make sure Existing Gateway Router is port forwarding require ports to B380
https://www.peplink.com/knowledgebase/configuring-speedfusion-behind-a-firewall/

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Hi,
I was able to setup drop-in mode on the B380 and establish Speedfusion VPN connection with HD2. I was also able to setup Layer2 bridge but I can’t get devices on the HD2 LAN to receive a DHCP address from main house network. I’ve tried DHCP forwarding on B380 and HD2. I tried to have HD2 get DHCP address from main house network but it never receives an address. I’ve tried Layer2 bridge using default HD2 LAN connection and also by creating new VLAN.

Can you tell me how to setup the network so that HD2 LAN devices receive DHCP from house main network?

Update:
If I set the B380 to provide DHCP to the HD2 network (with a small pool of IP addresses on the main network subnet), everything works fine. If I change the B380 to DHCP relay, then the remote network does not get any DHCP. Is it possible that there is a bug and DHCP relay does not work while the B380 is in drop in mode?