The only change I am aware of is the removal of the WAP.
Hmmmm. Still not answered the question. See below.
Understood. An upgrade has been in the plan. This is a server in a residence. Unfortunately life does stand in the way all too frequently.
It is going to take time to get the upgrade deployed.
I know that SME8 is not supported anymore, but it should still function. Let's not get hung up that my configuration is out of date please. I am not condemning the server as it has been rock solid for many years. There is something else happening, but I don't know where to look.
You have had years of notice that SME v8 would go EOL. The same as users of XP. It may be rock solid, it will probably be rock solid for an indefinite period, unless it gets hacked because there is a bug that will never get fixed. And the longer you leave it, the higher the likelihood of that happening. Today is a good day to upgrade. Yesterday was better. Last year was even better again, particularly before 31st March 2016 which as the EOL date.
The problem is that you are also expecting help for a system that is now out of date and unsupported by any of us. If you have a bug, it isn't going to get fixed. If you have a misconfiguration then you are trusting that any of us can remember what to do to fix it, or can be bothered to help.
I'm sorry if you feel that is harsh, but those are the facts. We have all had to upgrade solid boxes (and we tried very hard to make sure v9 was just as rock solid so you could upgrade and sleep easy). All part of life I am afraid, and not an excuse to not upgrade. Putting it off just makes a rod for your own back.
An onsite visit is not possible, I will have to walk my users through the process over the phone or with written instructions.
The Server is configured as the DHCP server. The WAP was simply using the Ethernet ports as a switch. I agree this is not a typical configuration, but I wasn't around when the network/server was installed and didn't know that this was the configuration until we started debugging the failed WAP.
Earlier you said the WAP was BETWEEN SME and the firewalled switch, and now you are saying it was plugged into the switch ? Can you please go back and illustrate CLEARLY what your layout WAS, and what it IS now. Remember, we can't see it and are blind. What IP addresses are using, ranges, server network configuration?
a wireless access point which was between the SME and the Firewalled Network Switch
My guess is it made no difference as it was behind SME and your local users can still get online. You have an issue with your external users not being able to contact SME. Unless you have some incredibly weird wiring there then the WAP has nothing to do with it.
I will get my user to enable SSH access. What should I be looking for?
Read the wiki for some self help. Start looking in your logs. Check for added contributions. Check for services that are enabled/disabled.
Get some settings with:
db config show
Rgds
John