1. Home
  2. Wireless Networking
  3. setup for AP off of ethernet bridge

setup for AP off of ethernet bridge

I am setting up a two radio repeater for a distant client to our system.

I have had a router at the distant site acting as an ethernet bridge for some time, so that setup is working fine.

But now they want wifi there, so I'm adding a 3rd. device to the chain (stock WRT54G v4) to act as a local AP. Should be easy as pie to tack an AP on the end of the chain, but what I thought was the obvious setup did not work, i.e., could not ping the ethernet bridge I was cabled to.

I'm a little rusty at the moment, so I thought it might be quickest to just ask for setup comments. I have not seen much online about this setup.

Existing setup:

#0 Hughes Modem with DHCP

cabled to WAN port of:

#1 Router/AP = (Buffalo HP DD-WRT) 192.168.1.1 Gateway, DHCP on WPA

communcates with:

#2 Client Ethernet Adapter - (Linksys WRT54G v4 DD-WRT) 192.168.1.2 DHCP off Ethernet out from LAN port

cabled to WAN(??) port of :

#3 AP (Linksys WRT54G v4 stock firmware)

Question is setup for #3 - the AP

1) Should I go into the WAN or LAN for the AP?

2) DHCP on the AP? on or off ?

3) Local IP? I picked 192.168.1.3

4) Should I give it a WAN IP or automatic?

5) Gateway mode or router mode?

6) what else? oh yes, firewall off, right? forgot that yesterday

7) Am I trying to do something that linksys fw won't do? Seems like it should, but I'll flash it with DD-WRT if needed.

I started with a reset obviously, and security off. I have no issue connecting the bridge, that has been working for some time. It's just getting the AP to work at the end of the chain. I suppose it would be best if #1, the DHCP router could hand out addys, but it's not critical.

Thanks, Steve

Reply to
seaweedsteve
Loading thread data ...

Oh, right. I probably need to switch to LAN port.

Reply to
seaweedsteve

LAN port

ON

AP mode (you'll need DD-WRT)

Off

I guess I'm missing something here. Why is there a need for the 3rd device when the 2nd device can already act as a wifi AP? Are you leaving the wifi capability of device #2 disabled and adding a 3rd device to activiate wifi?

Reply to
jch

The second device is acting as an ethernet bridge. I could set it up to act as a single radio repeater, but I've had problems with that, and plus it is using a directional antenna pointed at the "Gateway" Router/AP (correct term?).

So, I just run a cable off the bridge to the #3 device as an AP.

Interesting that you say DHCP on. In AP mode?

I'm now thinking either

1) WAN port/full gateway mode, DHCP on, or 2) LAN port/AP mode/ DHCP off

In any case you are saying that the WRT54G won't act as a simple AP, right? I really didn't have but 10 minutes for the setup after installation the other day, so I need to take a better look at the interface.

Steve

Reply to
seaweedsteve

The WRT54G will act as a simple AP but I think you need 3rd party firmware like DD-WRT. I may be wrong in that assumption. I have a WRT54G v5 which I've installed DD-WRT micro_generic firmware and I now use the device as a wireless bridge connecting my Xbox and HR20 (DirecTV DVR) to the network. I couldn't do that with the stock Linksys firmware.

Reply to
jch

Yep. That's why I've got device #2 on DD-WRT. I'll check, but it should do AP duty with stock firmware. Might be easier, though, to just flash it over. Quicker than talking about it for very long !

Steve

Reply to
seaweedsteve

LAN LAN LAN !!!!

DOES NOT MATTER

WORKED FINE IN MY CASE

DOES NOT MATTER -GOING THRU LAN PORT

DOESN'T MATTER, BUT KEEP IT ON GATEWAY FOR FUTURE REUSE

SHOULDN'T MATTER, BUT OFF TO BE SURE.

EASILY DONE WITH STOCK FIRMWARE

Further notes: Keeping the SSID and security the same as the gateway (main) router allows for roaming. But at initial setup, right after setting the SSID, it confused my laptop when it could see both. I restarted and it sorted it all out better.

Nothing wrong with having a different SSID and security as well. Just different.

Steve

Reply to
seaweedsteve

Cabling-Design.com Forums website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.