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DHCP forwarding

Hello all,

We have a small network at work. Most machines are running Windows XP SP2 and on 100Mbps ethernet wired to our Windows Server 2003 machine. This server is a DHCP server for handing out an IP address, gateway address, DNS servers, domain names, proxy configurations, and other settings to each machine on the network when it boots. It works great.

We also have a Netgear WGR614v2 Wireless Router (with routing and DHCP serving turned off so it acts as a basic Access Point) connected to the LAN to give wireless access to a bunch of other machines. All the wireless machines have perfect wireless connectivity and work great if I specify the IP address, gateway and DNS settings manually.

While manual config works, I want to be able to use DHCP for all the extra settings the server dishes out. If I change the network config to get the settings via DHCP then perform ipconfig /release /renew the machine drops off the network. If I check the server's DHCP logs when a wireless machine requests an IP, there is a record of the request and the reply but the reply isn't reaching the wireless machine.

My best guess is that the DHCP reply packet is reaching the Netgear router and going no further. I have updated the routers firmware and checked and rechecked all the config options I thought could help.

Can anyone suggest what the problem might be, or better, what the solution might be?

Thank you,

- Jason

Reply to
Jason
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I would suggest that you turn on the DHCP server in the Netgear WGR614v2. Configure it's DHCP scope to include a range of IP addresses that are sufficient for the number of wireless computers that will be connecting.

Then edit the DHCP configuration on the Windows2003 server to exclude the range of IP's that you have configured on the Netgear.

E.G. you will have the server DHCP using 192.168.1.100 - 192.168.1.149 The Netgear DHCP would use 192.168.1.150 - 192.168.1.159

I suspect that the firewall functionality and the Network Address Translation (NAT) could be causing your problem. Assuming that you have connected the Netgear to you local network using the WAN port.

TheDysk

Reply to
TheDysk

On second thoughts... If you have connected the Netgear to the local network using the WAN port. Then move the connection from the WAN port to one of the

4 LAN ports. This should fix the problem without having to reconfigure DHCP on either the server or the Netgear.

TheDysk

Reply to
TheDysk

I tried to include as much information in my original post but I obviously forgot to mention that the router is wired to the network via the LAN ports, not the WAN port. I have also considered using the router's built in DHCP server but that still doesn't help with the additional DHCP settings (other than IP, gateway and DNS) that the router won't broadcast. It also isn't really a solution to the problem, it is more of a workaround. Considering the router is attached via the LAN ports there should be no NAT or firewall blocking any DHCP packets.

- Jason

Reply to
Jason

Fair Point.

The only other way would be to switch off the firewall and NAT in the Netgear. I'm not familiar with the model so do not know if this is possible.

Reply to
TheDysk

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