WDS between Draytek Vigor2600g and APExt

Dean,

Zen Internet directly support Macs and also, I believe, the Draytek modems.

I'm sure a call to their *very* friendly tech support team could produce the instructions - if they aren't on their website already.

Odie

Odie,

Thanks for the heads up. I'll go that way forth and see what they have to say.

Cheerz, Dean

zen are not as gung-ho on Draytek as they once were. I'm on zen, with a Draytek 2800 (not G) I hardwired the Draytek to a nearby (6" away) airport express and used it as the master unit for bridging a swarm (well OK 2 more) of other expresses lurking near amplifiers in other bits of the house. So I guess my experience puts an upper (£55) bound on your exposure to any incompatibility between Draytek and Airport.

I'm going from pillar to post here...

Until I get a categorical "no", I believe this can be done. It's just a matter of putting the right settings in the right place... surely it's a matter of getting the vigor to pass it's internet access onto the extreme, via WDS rather than a wire connected to the ethernet or WAN ports!?

I am getting the feeling that the answer is in the IP addresses, rather than the MAC addresses.

Can you expand? I've tried so many configs I'm starting to wonder if I'm repeating what I've already tried!!!

cheerz, d=2E

I have 2600VG and I don't believe it supports WDS, but there may be firmware available ? I suggest you go to

follow the links top support, FAQ and the forum to find your answers. Regards, Martin

Is this any use:

I have the Draytek 2800G and would love to know if you get this working.

Cheers

David

Details

Non-apple example:-

deano wrote: [snip]

To set up WDS you need to configure one (the Draytek) as a WDS Main Base Station and the Extreme as a WDS Remote Base Station. This involves setting the same SSID, channel and security settings, but you also need to enter the MAC addresses of the other routers in the WDS manually on each router in the WDS (enter the address off the AE on the Draytek and vice versa).

For the Airport use Airport Admin Utility to configure it to "Create a Wireless Network (Home Router)", set up the security[1] the same as on the Draytek then under WDS tick "Enable this base station as a WDS" "remote base station" and enter the MAC address of the Draytek in the box labelled Main Airport ID (or hit Select and pick it from the list). Tick "Allow wireless clients on this base station" too.

If you tick "Enable Ethernet Port" in "Base Station Options" on the Express it will also bridge its wired ethernet port to the wireless network.

For the Draytek the process will be similar, but you'll need to set it as a WDS Main Base Station and you'll probably enter the MAC address for the Express into a list of remote base stations.

Tim

[1] You will need firmware version 6.2 or later to use WPA or WPA2 in a WDS with the Airport Express, older firmware can oly use WEP.

As is appropriate on ng's when the OP finally gets the solution to a problem etc...

Here's how I solved the following... Setting up WDS between an Airport Extreme base station and a Vigor

2600g wireless router.

(above for easier search string hits).

**Important Warning** Ensure you have the CORRECT MAC addresses before attempting to set up ANY WDS!

This turned out to be the most basic problem at the root of my trials and errors. The admin pages for the Vigor router config interface does not clearly announce the MAC address for the WIRELESS point of the device. This is to be found at the top of the MAIN "Wireless LAN Setup" screen, under the heading "Wireless Lan Information". Even the guy at Draytek Premium support was unsure where to find this, when first asked. As you are easily led to 2 other different MAC addresses on pages preceeding this, it's easy to assume that one of them is the WLAN MAC address!

Once I tried this MAC address in the Airport admin utility, I was up and running within about a minute. The only other thing you need to focus on between the AEBS and the Vigor, is to ensure that they are both set to the same channel. Disable all security settings for setup purposes, you can configure them later, once you have the WDS working. Also, don't name your AEBS network, the same as that broadcast by the Vigor (it's easy to assume that this is what you should do). Once the WDS has been setup, you use the AIBS's airport network... that sent out by the vigor remains in your drop down list of available networks, but is not required (unless of course you roam outside of the range of the AEBS, but are still within that of the Vigor, which you can then use).

The connection between the AEBS and the Vigor happens beyond your awareness... they converse via the MAC addresses (or DHCP) and all you do is work off your newly named AEBS network.

There are many options on the vigor config pages that are indicitive of having some relevance in setting up a WDS, and it's tempting to tamper with them when you're running out of ideas... DON'T... the vigor tech guy stipulated that nothing need be changed other than entering the MAC address of the peer (AEBS) in the "Bridge" section of the setup pane, after enabling WDS in "Bridge" mode. That's it! do nothing else with the Vigor. Everything else gets done in Airport utility, and that's supported by Apple and the support pages of the Apple site.

If you've been using your vigor as a wireless router before now, you'll likely already have IP's distributed around your network via DHCP and NAT... this remains the same. Your AEBS (or express base station for that matter) gets its own IP this way. In the Airport Utility, after setting your BS up to "participate in a WDS network" and entering the vigor's WIRELESS LAN MAC address into the WDS pane and the AEBS as a "relay", you then go to Internet Connection and, at the bottom, set "Connection Sharing" to "off (Bridge Mode)".

I reiterate my first point... Make sure you have the WIRELESS MAC address of your router.

The rest you should be able to work out, after all, you're a MacUser :)

deano.

deano wrote: [setting up a WDS network]

On my WDS netwrok, the two routers do use the same SSID (network name). Only one network appears in the list on a client and clients automatically select the base station with the strongest signal and will switch between base stations as required.

Tim

Squirrelled away. Thanks.

On Thu, 12 Apr 2007 12:25:10 +0100, Tim Auton wrote in :

The selection part will usually work as desired with most wireless clients, but relatively few wireless clients implement roaming from access point to access point that way, so it's important to choose an appropriate wireless client if multi access point roaming is desired.

On Thu, 12 Apr 2007 14:19:30 +0100, Elliott Roper wrote in :

Also archived on Google Groups. :)

I did wonder about that. The location manager of X on the mac can automatically scan for and inform you of alternative networks to join, if connection to your usual network is lost. But this usually only happens on wake up or restart etc, and not during normal use, like wandering round your wireless zone with your laptop. I move from place to place in my house, with my laptop and, even though my neighbours' wireless networks, offer stronger signals, in certain spots, my mac continues to stay faithful to my own WLAN.

On another note, when setting up a string of Airport stations in a WDS (I have just the one AExtBS and 1 AExpBS), the process ends up presenting just the one airport network name (that of the main base station) those of the additional Express(es) [and Extreme(s)] disappear! It would be useful if there was a utility which showed you exactly which base station your client was getting its signal from.

deano.

On 12 Apr 2007 13:43:43 -0700, "deano" wrote in :

As I recall (but can't easily check at the moment), Intel wireless software is pretty good at implementing automatic roaming to the access point with the best signal.

Some wireless software will show multiple access points with the same SSID together with their MAC addresses. As I recall (but can't easily check at the moment), Network Stumbler is one such application.