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Tech Note: Why is Autonomo beaconing, when it seems like it should be in scan mode? (Internal)

How to resolve and how it gets in this state

Background

Autonomo requires connectivity to the Troverlo platform to be in the scan mode (looking for and creating observations for other Troverlo Assets and self-reporting on the Asset that Autonomo is associated with). If there is no connectivity, then it will flip to beacon mode so that the Asset can be discovered by another OE.

A Wi-Fi adaptor must be present and active on the device ("the Asset) Autonomo is running on for Autonomo to operate in either mode.

Connectivity can be provided via Ethernet or Wi-Fi, and both Ethernet and Wi-Fi can be connected at the same time.

Scenario

If Ethernet and Wi-Fi are connected to different routing equipment at the same time that provides Asset with IP addresses using DHCP, connecting and disconnecting either Wi-Fi or Ethernet may cause Internet connectivity issues. 

If Ethernet is connected first, and loses connectivity, then Autonomo will beacon, irrespective of if Wi-Fi has connectivity to the Troverlo platform.

How to resolve

When there is no internet connectivity via Ethernet, remove the Ethernet cable. Autonomo will then start scanning when it detects connectivity to the Troverlo platform.

Why don't we change Autonomo to work around this problem?

Based on research - see reference below - this is NOT a recommended configuration for Windows (multiple connectivity interfaces active at the same time but connected to different routers) and the assumption is that some will do this in production, but it is a very small corner case.

Reference

Reading this article: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/windows-server/networking/automatic-metric-for-ipv4-routes there are several highlighted boxes in that article and one of them is communicating that a configuration like the scenario described above not recommended, meaning, connecting ethernet and WiFi interfaces or just in general multiple interfaces where each interface is attempting to act as a default router adding default routes, DHCPing addresses, and DNS entries, etc.