TP-Link extenders

The tplink plugin logs in to TP-Link range extenders and access points through their web interface and reads the uplink, radio and client state. These devices have no SNMP. Turn it on when you run TP-Link extenders, because an extender that has lost its uplink still answers ping while serving nobody, and only this plugin sees that.

The code targets the RE505X and siblings that run TP-Link's LuCI-based firmware.

Enable it

Add tplink to the plugins array.

{
  "plugins": ["tplink"],
  "tplink": {
    "refreshInterval": 120000,
    "timeout": 8000,
    "devices": [
      { "name": "upstairs-extender", "ip": "192.0.2.41", "password": "YOUR_ADMIN_PASSWORD" },
      { "name": "warehouse-extender", "ip": "192.0.2.42", "password": "YOUR_ADMIN_PASSWORD" }
    ]
  }
}

Option	Default	What it does
refreshInterval	120000	Milliseconds between polls.
timeout	8000	Milliseconds per HTTP request.
devices	[]	Devices to poll. An entry missing ip or password is skipped without a message.
devices[].name	the IP	Display name.
devices[].ip	required	Device address.
devices[].password	required	The device's web admin password.
devices[].uniqueId	tplink-<name>	Unique id the plugin sends with the report. The server files the report under the device's IP, so this rarely matters.

What it reports

One payload per device:

• name, ip, kind: "extender", reachable.
• internetStatus, the raw uplink state, and uplinkUp, true when it is connected.
• phyconn.
• radio2g, radio5g, true when that band is switched on.
• clientCount and clients, each with name, mac and band.
• model, hardwareVersion, firmware. A failed firmware read leaves these empty and does not fail the poll.
• error with reachable: false when login or the status read fails.

When it alerts

The server checks these rules in order and the first match sets the status:

Severity	Trigger
error	The payload has error.
error	reachable is false.
error	uplinkUp is false. Reason "uplink <state>, extender is not serving traffic".
error	Both radios are off.
warning	One radio is off. The reason names the band.

TP-Link reports do not get their own service. The server folds them into a device entity keyed by IP, dev-<ip>, with any netscan or SNMP report for the same address. The device status is the worst across its sources. Device alerts go out on the first bad report under source device, and the server does not resolve them when the device recovers.

On the dashboard

The device card is labelled "Extender · <model>".

• UPLINK shows UP in green or DOWN in red. It shows a dash, uncolored, when the device is unreachable.
• RADIOS shows how many bands are on out of 2. Green at 2, amber at 1, red at 0.
• CLIENTS shows the connected client count.
• FIRMWARE shows the version, when known.
• CONNECTED CLIENTS lists up to 12 clients with band and MAC.

Add the extender to netscan as well to get a PING metric on the same card. A device with no report from any source for 300 seconds shows OFFLINE.

Requirements

• HTTP access from the agent to each device. The plugin talks plain http://<ip>.
• The device's web admin password. The plugin encrypts it with the device's RSA key before sending, the same way the web login does.

Gotchas

• The plugin keeps a session per device and reuses it. When a read fails it logs in again once. A poll that still fails drops the session, so the next poll starts with a fresh login.
• radio5g is false whenever the status response has no 5 GHz field. A single-band device, or firmware that names the field differently, will sit at warning with "5GHz radio off".