Sharing my DS6100 problem, so others can Google this in the future.
I originally just had one port connected, Ethernet #1. Life was good. It had a static IP, everything worked perfectly.
This morning I tried to conect Ethernet #2, just to see how that functioned, and test it out. Ethernet 1 is a fixed IP, Ethernet 2 grabbed a new DHCP IP. Everything seemed OK (at first).
After my test I tried disconnecting the Ethernet 2 cable. Error messages happened and the warning beep sounded. No problem I’ll just disable Ethernet 2 from the Control Panel. Not so fast my friend, still same problem on reboot. Every reboot re-enabled the Disabled Ethernet 2, port then the Sentinel complained about the cable being unplugged.
It also caused other odd problems, sluggish Dashboard – monitor, confused my RDP on the LAN, etc…
I called WD Sentinel support. After elevating it, the guy said put Ethernet 1 back to DHCP, let it get a new IP, then unplug Ethernet 2 and shut the machine down. Restart and it will ignore Ethernet 2 like when it was new, then I can change back Ethernet 1 to a static IP. This did not work… It still knew Ethernet 2 had been plugged in before and insisted it be connected again. Arrrgh.
Long story short there is a Registry Entry (unique to the WD Sentinel) that controls this behavior (knowing both ports have been connected simultansously at least once, then complaining about it), see below.
I changed that registry entry and it FINALLY went back to ignoring Ethernet 2 beinc unplugged. It is now behaving like it did out of the box, which is what I wanted.
Messages in Dashboard → Monitor → Details:
Ethernet port 2 is disconnected (after previously having two ports simultaneously connected).
If one ethernet link is connected:
1. Connect ethernet cable to disconnected link port.
2. Connect this cable to switch on same network as connected link.
or if neither ethernet link is connected:
Use Windows Network Troubleshooting at Control Panel → All Control Panel Items → Troubleshooting ->Network and Internet
Here is how you fix this whole problem:
Regedit → Find and edit the following DWord (from 1 back to 0)
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Western Digital\Sentinel\EthernetLinkMonitorProvder\NetRedundancyActive REG_DWORD 0x00000001
Change from 1 back to to 0.
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