Google Home Mini and Cisco 5508 WLC

[kevinpendergast]

Hi there,

Trying to connect a Google Home Mini to Guest WIFI SSID and no luck. I was able to connect an Amazon Echo but not Google Home Mini.

[Daniel Ordóñez Flores]

hi @kevinpendergast

What kind of security are you using in your guest network?.

Review the encryption options in you google Home, could be incompatibility between TKIP or AES mode.

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[kevinpendergast]

I took off all passwords and still no luck.

[Daniel Ordóñez Flores]

Hi @kevinpendergast

Ok, Lets try with this:

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/wireless-mobility/wireless-mobility/119017-config-chromecast-mdns-wlc-00.html

And check that P2P is no blocking.

[Daniel Ordóñez Flores]

I forgot.

Please try this too.

In WLC, go to Controller -> mDNS -> General

Add a service called Chromecast with the search string _googlecast._tcp.local.

Then apply it to your WLAN profile.

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[andrew.butterworth]

I have a 2504 WLC running 8.5.161.0 (very latest software) and three 3702i APs.  I have three Google Home Mini's and a Chromecast.  All have been working fine for a while.  A few days ago all of them stopped working.  I can see them associated but if you attempt to use them (OK Google) you get a message saying they are not set up.

I factory reset one of them and attempted to re-add it however it doesn't get past the setup phase where they associate with the WiFi I have setup for them.  I have tried this with two of them and the behaviour is the same.  The initial setup works where the Android phone discovers it, associates with it, you go through some initial setup and then tell it what WiFi SSID to use, it then stops advertising its own SSID, associates with the one I've told it and the phone reconnects to the same SSID.  At this point it hangs and then times out with a WiFi error.

I can see the device associated and can ping it.

I have stripped everything back so the SSID is open with no authentication and the L3 switch where the SVI terminates has no ACLs.

I have been through the guides of setting multicast and IGMP snooping as well as the mDNS snooping, however it never gets past the setup phase.  I don't think there is anything else I can configure as I have been through (almost?) everything.

As a test I found a TP-Link broadband WiFi router, defaulted it, set the WAN interface to DHCP, connected it to a LAN that has internet access and tried this.  It worked 1st time with this and I have subsequently tried it a few times since and it just works.

What is the Cisco WLC dropping/blocking that is preventing these Google Home Mini (& the Chromecast) working?

[Mikey Boy]

Do you have broadcast forwarding enabled, or disabled? You can check it from the "Controller" screen. If it is disabled try to enable it and test.

[andrew.butterworth]

Tried it with both and its the same behaviour.

Aironet IE is disabled and P2P blocking is disabled on the WLAN - again I have tried it with all settings and the behaviour is the same.

It 'feels' like Google updated the firmware and there's a bug as its been working for a while without issues and there have been no changes to the infrastructure as far as I can tell.  However the fact it works with the TP-link consumer broadband WiFi router without issues makes me question what's going on with the Cisco WLC & APs.

[Scott Fella]

It seems like if it worked and just dropped off, your existing configuration was fine. Something in the update broke it. You proved this also by connecting some other devices. Using an open ssid is basically a good test, those devices just need internet. Maybe your router or dns is blocking? If however you connect it back to an open ssid and you see the device get Auth and an up address, it’s something further upstream that you need to look at.

[andrew.butterworth]

Hi Scott

Sorry, I probably didn't explain the topology correctly.  The TP-Link is connected with its WAN interface to a LAN interface on the same network as the WLC so it is using the same Internet connection.  The TP-Link just NATs everything to the DHCP assigned address it got on its WAN interface

[Scott Fella]

Okay I see. So again, if nothing changed on your wireless and it has been working for a while, I don’t think that was your issue. Do you know if the google mini got updated? You did mentioned this was working for a while correct?

[andrew.butterworth]

It 'feels' like there was an update since all three stopped working at the same time.  I have tried checking whether an update was pushed out but I couldn't find anything obvious.

What concerns me is that it works effortlessly with the TP-Link and this is a £25 off the shelf broadband router.

[Scott Fella]

I know what you mean, but what you will be doing now is chasing your tail. You can probably follow the chromecast guide and see if that works, but other than that, if that code was working and you didn’t upgrade/downgrade, it will be real tough to find out what will fix it. Try a different code maybe.

[andrew.butterworth]

I was kind of hoping there had been a firmware update to the Google Home Mini's pushed out and its this that has broken things and other people would have replied saying yes they have hit this issue as well - in which case it would obviously be a Google issue (or at least an issue that will be looked into).  The fact nobody has replied saying they also have the problem, AND that it works with the £25 WiFi router is making me question the WLC configuration or the underlying infrastructure the WLC and the APs sit on.

Tempted to look at the Ubiquiti stuff tbh.

[Scott Fella]

I understand... you would have to wait and see if others reply here. I run wireless at home, but not the Google mini’s. Does seem like something on your Infrastructure. With your TP link doing NAT, and then your router, might point to your router. What if you connect your 5508 to a port on the TP Link.