Mark's Blog about Tech and Cool Stuff

I have succeeded in getting a Brother HL-2135W laser printer working across VLANs.  I assume this solution will work for most if not all Brother network printers.  Subsequently, I've found that the same protocols are used by an Epson WF-3640 inkjet printer and the solution also works for that printer. I quickly worked around Windows printer discovery by entering the static IP address in to the printer Port configuration. But I had struggled to get the Brother Print Services (Android) plugin working.  The solution required some firewall rules and a utility to send broadcasts between VLANs.

I've upgraded my home network to use separate VLANs for security, specifically keeping IoT devices and guests off my main network. One device that did not "just work" is the air conditioning controller tablet from Advantage Air .  While the controller device was functional, I could not get the mobile app MyPlace to connect from the source (secure) VLAN to the IoT VLAN. To figure this out I had to do some Wireshark analysis.  Not only did I figure out how to get MyPlace to work across VLANs, but I also discovered how to improve the app connection reliability.