[ale] HELP, need to setup wireless access point!

[Ron Frazier]

Hi Paul,

Glad your system is working. Perhaps this will clarify how things are 
working, or not. I'll tell you how my 3 router setup works. Keep in mind 
that I have specific reasons for doing things this way, and I'm NOT 
recommending it as a general case. In the general case, I recommend:
internet --> cable / dsl modem --> router
using only 1 router, not 3. The LAN function of each router is what is 
exposed on the LAN or SWITCH ports of the router or the WIRELESS 
interface. In a one router case, this would be your INTERNAL LAN. The 
WAN port is what connects to (or toward) the outside world. In a one 
router case, it will be your public IP. Generally, in the router's 
control panel, you set the address on the LAN or INTERNAL network and 
set it's DHCP server to distribute IP addresses to clients on the same 
subnet, attaching to the LAN. Generally, you would set the router to 
obtain it's EXTERNAL WAN address automatically from the ISP. In a ganged 
router case such as mine, the inner router thinks the middle router is 
the ISP, the middle router thinks the outer router is the ISP, and the 
outer router thinks the cable modem is the ISP (which is true). Here's 
how the addresses work out in my setup. Note that each router has 
different LAN addresses.

Outer router - LAN - 192.168.80.1 - This address was set by me in the 
LAN setup screen.
This is a wired router that I use mainly as a firewall. I don't attach 
anything to it other than the next router.
Outer router - LAN - DHCP Server - The DHCP server in this router is set 
to distribute IP addresses 192.168.80.2 - 192.168.80.200 to any clients 
that attach to the LAN.
Outer router - WAN - connected to cable modem LAN port - public address 
- 76.97.???.??? - This is the address given to the router automatically 
by the ISP.

So the settings in the control panel for the router are:

LAN - Router IP - 192.168.80.1
- DHCP Server - ON
- Distribute IP's to LAN - 192.168.80.2 - 192.168.80.200

WAN - Get IP address automatically from ISP.
- DNS - manual override - use IP addresses for OpenDNS, in my case.

OTHER - NAT - ON
- Firewall - ON
- WPA2 Wireless Encryption - if applicable - long random password - ON
- UPNP - OFF
- Ping response to outside world - OFF
- Remote administration (from internet) - OFF

If you have only one router, this is all you need. My other routers are 
configured the same way, except the addresses are different.

Middle router - LAN - 192.168.83.1 - set by me.
Middle router - LAN - DHCP Server - The DHCP server in this router is 
set to distribute IP addresses 192.168.83.2 - 192.168.83.200 to any 
clients that attach to the LAN.
Middle router - WAN - connected to outer router LAN port - 192.168.80.2 
- NOTE, this router thinks the outer router is the ISP. This address was 
assigned by the DHCP server in the outer router.

Inner router - LAN - 192.168.81.1 - set by me.
Inner router - LAN - DHCP Server - The DHCP server in this router is set 
to distribute IP addresses 192.168.81.2 - 192.168.81.200 to any clients 
that attach to the LAN.
Inner router - WAN - connected to middle router LAN port - 192.168.83.2 
- NOTE, this router thinks the middle router is the ISP. This address 
was assigned by the DHCP server in the middle router.

With multiple routers, as Michael T. pointed out, you may have problems 
sharing things. With only one router, if you attach everything to the 
same LAN, wired or wireless, you shouldn't have problems.

In my case, I have a shared printer attached to the middle router. 
Anyone attached to the inner router or the middle router can use the 
printer. If I attached to the outer router, I would NOT be able to use 
the printer. The middle router is a Netgear, which allows you to reserve 
an IP address for a certain function. So, I've set it to always give the 
printer 192.168.83.4, based on it's MAC address. Therefore, I can always 
set up each client to point to that IP for the printer, without worrying 
about it changing.

I hope this makes some sense and is helpful.

Sincerely,

Ron

On 02/05/2011 10:41 AM, Paul Cartwright wrote:
> On 02/04/2011 02:21 PM, Ron Frazier wrote:
>    
>> A router with a WAN port acts as a one way valve.  Unsolicited data
>> cannot come back through the valve from the WAN to the LAN.  On my own
>> personal setup, I have:
>>
>> wifi router 1 -->   wifi router 2 -->   wired router 3 -->   cable modem
>>
>>      
> just for sheets&  giggles, I added my dd-wrt router into the mix. When I
> setup my wrt160N I forgot to add security to the wireless. NOT that it
> MATTERS where I live, 400 feet from another structure&  5 miles from any
> known intelligence..
> SO, I have an INTERNET<-adsl modem<-wrt160N router w/open
> wireless<-wrt54GL w/ddwrt&  WPA2 secure wireless.
> I fired up my windows laptop, told it to connect to dd-wrt, it did,
> google works, ipconfig says 192.168.1.103 and I have NO idea how it gets
> that address. My adsl local network is 192.168.10.1-xxx . I thought for
> sure I gave the wrt160 a local IP of 192.168.2.1 . ah well, it works.
> What I will eventually try to end up with is:
> INTERNET<-adsl modem<- wrt160 with wireless secured
>
> I think I can probably just replace my open 160n with the secured 54gl..
> I think.. should work:)
> anyway, nothing better to do on a rainy saturday morning.
>
>    

-- 

(PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to
call on the phone.  I get about 300 emails per day from alternate energy
mailing lists and such.  I don't always see new messages very quickly.)

Ron Frazier

770-205-9422 (O)   Leave a message.
linuxdude AT c3energy.com