Wireless subnet?

davidblache
davidblache
edited November 2021 in General

I have a home network with a Netgear Orbi CBR750 cable / mesh router set up to serve the WLAN with addresses starting with 10.0.0.1 and subnet mask 255.255.255.0.

I have a collection of wireless Axis cameras that are joined to this wireless network with WiFi using static IP addresses on the same network with addresses starting with 10.0.0.100, and so on.

I would like to put my cameras on a subnet according to the advice from: https://bensoftware.com/blog/segregating-ip-cameras-on-their-own-lan/

I have SecuritySpy running on a Mac mini that uses an Ethernet connection to the router. And the WiFi interface is currently unused.

According to the webpage instructions, it sounds like in order to create a subnet with a Mac mini on the network, I would need to have a dedicated Ethernet network switch and connections for each network camera. But is it not possible to do this over WiFi instead?

Since these cameras connect through WiFi, is it possible to create a subnet with WiFi using System Preferences > Sharing > Internet Sharing instead?

Comments

  • Ben
    Ben

    Yes, this is possible, though I would still recommend using a second Ethernet adaptor to connect the Mac to this second network rather than using WiFi for this, since Ethernet is generally going to be faster and more reliable. Here's the general outline of the setup:

    • You'll need another WiFi access point - i.e. a device that creates a second, separate, WiFi network. Something simple like a Netgear WAC104 would be fine, or if you have another WiFi router lying around that you aren't using that should work fine too.
    • Connect the Mac by Ethernet (preferred) or WiFi to this second access point.
    • On this second access point, set its LAN subnet to something other than 10.0.0, so that it doesn't conflict with your current subnet. For example, you could use 10.0.1, so that all addresses on this second subnet take the form 10.0.1.x (note: if you are having trouble connecting to the access point to adjust its settings, try temporarily disconnecting the Mac from the main network).
    • Connect to each camera in turn, changing its IP addresses to 10.0.1.x and setting it to connect to the second WiFi network. This will be challenging if you can't make both changes at once, because if you make one change but not the other, the camera won't be accessible on either network. Therefore, if this is the case, the best way to do this would be to first set the IP, then connect the camera by wired Ethernet into the second access point, then connect to the camera via its new IP, and then set it to the second WiFi network, then disconnect it from Ethernet.

    Hope this helps.

  • davidblache
    davidblache

    Thanks, Ben. I'll grab an Ethernet adapter and give it a shot. 😊👍️

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