Netgear WG302 Wireless Bridging

I am trying to set up a wireless network using 5 Netgear WG302 APs on a flat corporate network with DHCP.

Having set them up as per the documentation I can get nothing to work. Non of the clients can be reached from the master.

I have one set as a master in Point to Multi Point Bridge mode with the MAC addresses of the other AP's and connected to the network via an Ethernet cable.

I have the others set up in Point to Point Bridge mode with the IP address of the master as the remote MAC address.

The only way I can get more than just the master working is to change one of the clients to Point to Multi Point Bridge. That way I can ping both the master and client and I get an IP address when connecting via the client.

Has anyone come across a similar issue before or has anyone successfully configured these?

Thanks!

AndyC hath wroth:

v1 or v2 hardware? They're quite different.

Instead of me explaining why this won't work, may I suggest you use the WDS (wireless distribution something) feature includes with the WG302 wireless bridge. It is intended specifically to address using the WG302 simultaneously as an access point and a store and forward repeater, which is apparently what you're attempting.

Note the various application notes on the WG302 v2 page in the lower left:

Interestingly, there doesn't seem to be anything on WDS in either the installation guide or user manual on setting up WDS. The user manual shows the necessary commands, but no clues on how they are used. I could send you to other web sites which explain the general setup, but methinks calling Netgear support to see if there was anything I missed might be useful. This is for Linksys WRT54G but should be applicable.

One big gotcha is that some wireless access points can only do WEP encryption with WDS, while others can handle WPA-PSK with WDS. I don't know the current status of the WG302 firmware, but would be interested in knowing your results.

Be sure to read:

which explains how to complicate your life by enabling the DHCP servers. It also enables NAT translation. This might be why you're having problems.

Another possibility is that you need a firmware update. From:

"1. WG302v2 - Wireless cannot obtain IP address from DHCP server through AP."

Is this is a poll? Yes, I have come across a similar issue in the past and have successfully beaten WDS into submission, however not using a WG302.