Grandstream VLAN config help

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neon

156 posts

Master Geek
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#324345 30-Mar-2026 19:43

Based on lot of suggestions in other threads, i have invested in a new grandstream stack. This includes a GWN7001 router, GWN7711P managed switch (POE), and 3x GWN7660 access points.

What i have done so far:

Reset all devices
Update all firmware to latest (and reset everything again)
Connected the router to the internet (works great!)
Physically connected switch to router, and Added/Paired the switch to the router (using the routers web UI)
Physically connected the 3x access points to the switches POE ports and Added/Paired the 3x access points to router (using routers web UI)
Added network SSID for wifi - wifi/internet works great!

So far everything (other than initial firmware upgrade) was done using routers web ui.

Now, im trying to mess with some VLANs. Essentially i want to have like 3 or 4 VLANs, lets say i want a VLAN for IOTs, VLAN for private devices (PCs etc), and a VLAN for devices that are in between both (like the nas/servers that need access to both the private as well as IOT networks). Maybe a different VLAN for all the routers, switches, and access points. I want some devices to have static IPs. Im sure i can figure most things out on my own so long as i can get past the initial barrier - i feel like theres something missing. This is where im getting stuck with the basics (again im only using the routers web UI):

I created couple of VLANs (ID: 40, 50 as well as the default ID 1) using Network Settings -> LAN -> VLAN -> Add. I set an ip, subnet, and ip range (eg for VLAN 50: ip=192.168.5.1, subnet=255.255.252.0, dhcp=on, allocation range= 192.168.5.10-192.168.5.254, forwarding group=all).
I created a new SSID that specifically goes to VLAN 50 using AP Management -> SSIDs -> Add (name=VLAN50Test, wifi=on, Associated VLAN = on, VLAN = VLAN50).

At this stage, i have a wifi ssid for VLAN50Test, i can connect to it with the correct password (im on a macbook air btw). But it seems like i dont get assigned an IP address. I obviously do not have access to the internet nor to the access portals of the router. I initially had the ip/range set to 192.168.50.1, but after fiddling around and changing ip range to 192.168.5.1, my macbook air finally got allocated some weird ip (169.254.193.221, why?). I still cant access internet or local management UIs. However, the device does show up on the client list (from the router UI), with a device name of "Unknown device", and says its in VLAN50.

I figure i probably need to do something on the switch to show that the ports the access points are on have to have some configuration, but nothing like that seems to be available on the routers UI. However, the client list implies that the laptop is tagged as VLAN50, what am i doing wrong here? Is there a known bug in the UI perhaps? or am i the problem, did i miss something?

Any help is appreciated :)

PS. all the while the original SSID works perfectly fine (no VLAN defined), so im using a 2nd laptop to use the portal to mess around settings while using the first laptop to connect to the VLAN50Test wifi.

neon

156 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 19

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#3475746 30-Mar-2026 20:37

oh sigh, i think i figured it out. Despite adding/pairing the switch with the router, the router UI doesnt seem to be able to correctly manage the switches VLAN ports. I managed to fix the issue by loggin in directly to the switch web interface, then going VLAN -> 802.1Q VLAN -> click edit on VLAN50 (as well as VLAN40) -> select Member type = Tagged all (or i assume i could just click T on the 3 ports the access points are connected to). After this, connecting to the wifi correctly assigned my laptop the IP in the configured ip range.

But why? isnt the whole point of having grandstream gear that you can manage everything using one device? but clearly not - i dont have port configuration options (tagged/untagged) for the switch in the routers web ui.

tangerz

662 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 199

#3475826 31-Mar-2026 08:39

neon:

oh sigh, i think i figured it out. Despite adding/pairing the switch with the router, the router UI doesnt seem to be able to correctly manage the switches VLAN ports. I managed to fix the issue by loggin in directly to the switch web interface, then going VLAN -> 802.1Q VLAN -> click edit on VLAN50 (as well as VLAN40) -> select Member type = Tagged all (or i assume i could just click T on the 3 ports the access points are connected to). After this, connecting to the wifi correctly assigned my laptop the IP in the configured ip range.

But why? isnt the whole point of having grandstream gear that you can manage everything using one device? but clearly not - i dont have port configuration options (tagged/untagged) for the switch in the routers web ui.

You've missed one important step, GWN Manager. It's Grandstream's SDN (Software Defined Networking) program. From in that you are able to manage all your Grandstream gear from one place.

Each device has it's own web interface, (which is what you have been accessing), and different Grandstream devices can often "see" each other from within this interface, (like your router sees the switch), but for the "Single Pane View" you need to run GWN Manager on your network. You access the GWN Manager interface to control all your Grandstream devices, not the individual device interfaces.

You could also use the GWN.Cloud service if you don't want to run the GWN Manager locally.

neon

156 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 19

ID Verified

#3476278 31-Mar-2026 18:47

tangerz:

neon:

oh sigh, i think i figured it out. Despite adding/pairing the switch with the router, the router UI doesnt seem to be able to correctly manage the switches VLAN ports. I managed to fix the issue by loggin in directly to the switch web interface, then going VLAN -> 802.1Q VLAN -> click edit on VLAN50 (as well as VLAN40) -> select Member type = Tagged all (or i assume i could just click T on the 3 ports the access points are connected to). After this, connecting to the wifi correctly assigned my laptop the IP in the configured ip range.

But why? isnt the whole point of having grandstream gear that you can manage everything using one device? but clearly not - i dont have port configuration options (tagged/untagged) for the switch in the routers web ui.

You've missed one important step, GWN Manager. It's Grandstream's SDN (Software Defined Networking) program. From in that you are able to manage all your Grandstream gear from one place.

Each device has it's own web interface, (which is what you have been accessing), and different Grandstream devices can often "see" each other from within this interface, (like your router sees the switch), but for the "Single Pane View" you need to run GWN Manager on your network. You access the GWN Manager interface to control all your Grandstream devices, not the individual device interfaces.

You could also use the GWN.Cloud service if you don't want to run the GWN Manager locally.

Ahh that explains that. I didn't realise GWN manager was a VM. I didnt see Mac download so i figured it may not be available for mac.

That said, whats the difference between GWN manager vs GDMS cloud (in terms of management aspect of it rather than the fact one is on the cloud)? Can the GDMS cloud allow you to do almost everything i need?

I started connecting my network to GDMS cloud, and its weird. I connected my router, then it reset one of my SSIDs with some default one. When i logged into the router to re-add the SSID, the change is not reflected in the cloud. I also cant see any other devices on the cloud (switch/APs), seems like i need to add all of these manually to the cloud. This seems like a lot of work. I would have assumed that by adding the router (and if the switch/APs are connected to the router), all the other devices should get added automatically. The cloud vs local interfaces seems to work independently to potentially create a huge mess? How is the cloud meant to be used?