Connecting TP-Link Switch to Netgear Router - IP Issue

[Bowmaster]

So I have an issue with a configuration I'm trying to do at home. I'm hoping someone here can help... here's my network layout:

Internet (Fiber box) -> Netgear R7000 (10.10.1.1) -> TP-Link SG108E (10.10.2.1)

DHCP is off on all devices because I have a DHCP server (AD/DNS is there too). Right now everything is connected to the Netgear except for 1 test device on the TP-Link.

Here's the issue - when I plug the TP-Link into the Netgear, it's as if the TP-Link becomes a regular unmanaged layer 2 switch. The test device on the TP-Link is picking up an address on the wrong DHCP scope (same as the Router). I cannot ping the 10.10.2.1 TP-Link despite it being physically connected to it. When I tracert to a device on the Netgear, it shows 1 hop, not the 2 I'd expect since it is going through the TP-Link switch to get there. My next though was to manually assign an IP on the switch (10.10.2.0) subnet. When I do that, I can ping the TP-Link, but I cannot get any traffic to go past the switch.

I would really like to have 2 IP networks and I have the DHCP infrastructure in place to support it. If I switch the IP of the router to 10.10.2.1 and switch the statics on the servers, the proper DHCP scope works, so I don't think my DHCP is to blame. I guess it's not the end of the world if I can't, but I'd really like to have it setup this way.

On both devices I am using the most up-to-date vendor supplied firmware (not DD-WRT/Tomato/etc). Any thoughts and inputs would be great! Thank you in advance for your help!

 

[Alabalcho]

If you have device connected to Router2, it cannot see the reply for DHCP broadcast when it tries to go from DHCP1 thru WAN2/LAN2
I suppose your AD is Windwos server. Plug another NIC to that server, get rid of Router2 (or use it as switch / AP only), and assign 10.10.2.0 to NIC2.

 

[Bowmaster]

If you have device connected to Router2, it cannot see the reply for DHCP broadcast when it tries to go from DHCP1 thru WAN2/LAN2
I suppose your AD is Windwos server. Plug another NIC to that server, get rid of Router2 (or use it as switch / AP only), and assign 10.10.2.0 to NIC2.

So I think I understood what you meant, I had never thought of that. The DHCP sever is a VM, but the host is only single NIC (sad, I know). But I did put a 2nd vNIC on the DHCP server and IP'd like you suggested and it did work for DHCP requests on the switch subnet and internal DNS requests. However I could not resolve internet addresses on that subnet.

My Router does have the option for static routes - http://kb.netgear.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/24226/~/what-are-static-routes-and-how-do-they-work-with-my-nighthawk-router%3F Would this be something that could help?

Right now, what I did is set the IP address to 10.10.1.2 (Router is 10.10.1.1) so everything is communicating just fine across both devices and out to the internet. That's fine if that's how it needs to be, but it just would have been nice to have both.

 

[Bowmaster]

I think I'm really close now. I swapped out the TP-Link for my old Linksys DD-WRT router and hooked it to my Netgear. The Negear is still connected to the Internet. I was able to use the Static Route option on the Netgear to allow for communication to and from my DD-WRT. Presumably I could do this with the TP-Link as well. I have 1 final issue...

Devices connected to my DD-WRT Linksys can communicate with with everything else on the network and even receive DHCP requests. The only problem is that devices on DD-WRT can't access the internet. Can't get to any addresses. I can ping them and resolve them so DNS seems to be working, but I don't get replies from the actual ping. Tracert commands fail too. They stop at the Netgear router. I've also tried simply pinging 8.8.8.8. Again, resolves the name, but traffic it seems that traffic is stopping at the Netgear. I've disabled all firewall features on the DD-WRT, so now I'm a little stumped. Any thoughts would be most appreciated.