Router as an Access Point?

Yes. A wireless router is simply an AP and a wired router in one box, with the AP connected internally to one of the router's LAN ports.

Your router should support a "DMZ" or something similar. This is where you enter the public/private IP mappings so that to the outside world, your PCs seem to have the specific public IPs you own.

although you are now not protected by any firewall in the router.

Mark McIntyre

[POSTED TO alt.internet.wireless - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE]

Actually the WAN port.

The "DMZ" in most low-end routers is simply a catchall mapping of one (and only one) computer on the LAN to the WAN. To use multiple public IPs you need to configure it as a bridge rather than a router (which varies by product).

Which turned it into a bridge.

True. To use the firewall, you need a "router" that can be configured as a bridge.

jens snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.se hath wroth:

Yes.

Access points work on MAC address layer and know nothing about IP addresses. The only thing the IP address in an access point does is help with the web based setup and management. If you plug a typical access point into your 5 IP address connection, you'll have all 5 IP addresses available at the client computers.

In theory, your ISP's DHCP server is smart enough to know if an IP address has been issued to you and to not re-use it until the lease has expired or until it's released. Therefore, you should be able to plug in both computahs, set them for DHCP clients, and your ISP should issue each one a different IP address.

Well, we have a problem here. Because your IP's are dynamic and not static, and because the DI-524 does NOT have a DHCP client on the LAN side, you will not be able to have the LAN IP address of the DI-524 automagically configured. You'll need to configure your DI-524 offline, with just a single PC plugged in, and then lose control when connected to the 100Mbits/sec connection. Basically, you setup:

1. Nothing goes to the WAN port. Do NOT plug DI-524 into enything other than the PC being used to configure it until last step.
2. Leave the IP address at the default (192.168.0.1).
3. After you have all the wireless stuff setup and working, disable the DHCP server. If you need to do furthur configuration, you'll need to setup your windows client for a temporary static IP address of: IP = 192.168.0.5 NM = 255.255.255.0 GW = None DNS= None This will get you back to the configuration screens.
4. Finally, connect a cable beween one of the LAN ports on the DI-524 and what I guess you have a 100baseT switch. You may need a reverse ethernet cable. Check the lights on the front of the switch and DI-524. If they light up, you win. If not, build a crossover cable. If you plug this cable in while configurating the router, and you have the client computer set to DCHP, you will lose your connection to the rotuer configuration.

[POSTED TO alt.internet.wireless - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE]

Some are much easier than others; e.g., SonicWALL has a specific configuration option for the use of multiple public IPs on multiple internal clients while preserving firewall, filtering, and management functions.

It may be a 100 Mb connection, but the available bandwidth is almost certainly much less than that.

That's because they work as a bridge.

That depends. ISP DHCP implementations based on MAC addresses only work well if the router doesn't interfere. There are different potential problems if DHCP Client ID is based on something like hostname.

Easier to simply get a true Access Point (bridge).

John Navas hath wroth:

It will have the same problem if it doesn't have a DHCP client running in the access point. Fortunately most access points do have a DHCP client. For example, the DWL-2100AP offers either a settable IP address or one settable by DHCP.

set to DHCP, it will use one of the 5 dynamic IP addresses from the ISP. It may require a bit of trial an error to find which one is used, but there are only 5 possibilities. Just check the IP address of one of the computers. The access point should be nearby.

Since the access point is now exposed to the internet, with no firewall in sight, the password should be changed to something obscure.

If it's necessary to use the existing DI-524, and if the ISP issues the 5 IP's as a block (highly probable) it might be possible to predict the 5 IP's in advance. If these are known, the DI-524 could simply be setup for a static IP using one of the 5 IP addresses. There's no danger of a duplicate IP because the DHCP server is suppose to attempt to ping an IP address before assigning it. (Use

255.255.255.248 for the netmask). However, if the IP addresses are random, forget it.

I can make my router to work as an AP, but only when using the LAN ports to connect my computers, not the wireless ports. A computer connected to the LAN ports will recieve a Public IP from the ISP, a computer connected via the wireless ports will not receive a public IP. (renewing IP fails, when choosing repair connection or something)

This above when I connect the "internet cable" to the LAN port instead of the WAN

The only way for me to get the wireless up and working on the internet is to use the dhcp server in the router.

why doesn't the wireless ports transmitt DHCP information from the ISP.... IT works if i connect all my computers by wire, but this option will make a mess of my appartment (wires everywhere)

Is it possible to use the following configuration to help solve the problem?

internet -> computer(1) with 2 network-cards -> router (DMZ)

->~wireless~ computer(2).

using computer(1) as a switch more or less...

Will a computer with brdiged networkcards transmitt recieve DHCP and MAC information?

jens snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.se hath wroth:

It should work as previously described. However, there are some things that can go wrong. See if any apply:

1. Encryption: Try it with encryption turned off.
2. ISP registers MAC addresses. This is unlikely as the test computer works when directly connected.
3. DI-524 is blocking broadcasts, which include DHCP.
4. Any chance you have one of your computers acting as a server which might include a DHCP server?

Correct. Some things to check:

1. Do the lights on both ends of the cable turn on when the cable is inserted? If not, you might need a crossover cable.
2. Did you follow my previous instructions (i.e. DHCP server turned off)?
3. When *NOT* connected to the switch (internet cable, or whatever), and a static IP address temporarily assigned to the test computer (as previously described), can you see the web based configuration in the DI-524 via wireless? If this doesn't work, your problem is the wireless connection, not the DHCP.

It should work as an access point but apparently does not. Incidentally, I consider this to be somewhat of a waste of effort. The DI-524 is 802.11b only which will have a thruput of about 4Mbits/sec maximum. That's far too slow for what you would expect from your

100Mbit/sec connection. Also, you really should have the protection of a router between the internet and your local LAN. Unless you have some really disgusting application that insists on a routeable IP address (i.e. H.323), or are running servers, then you have no reason to directly connect to the internet. If there is only one machine that needs to be directly connected, with 5 IP's, you could easily create a mixture or use the DMZ feature in the router. With such a high speed system, running everything through a DI-524 is not a great idea as it is not intended to handle high traffic levels.

I don't know. It should work and works whenever I try it. You might want to experiment with a DHCP test utility: |

will identify any DHCP servers and does not require that the client have an IP address assigned to operate.

No. That's not going to do anything useful. Computer 1 would just be a pass through and would be the same as a direct ethernet connection.

Yes, it should. However, it is possible that the DI-524 is blocking broadcasts, which will screw things up. I can't tell from here. If you are sure that you have a working wireless connection to the DI-524, and that everything is wired correctly, then your options are to either replace the DI-524 with a real access point, or use it as a router with its own DHCP server for your LAN.

Actually, no. The WAN port is where you plug in the internet, its on the 'outside' of the router. For your wireless to be any use, it has to be inside the router, ie on the LAN side.

(I'm guessing you meant WLAN port. If so, bear in mind thats just a LAN port on the switch). Mark McIntyre

[POSTED TO alt.internet.wireless - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE]

No, it was just brain fade on my part. [blush] I was thinking of something else entirely (partitioned wireless router that I recently worked on). You were correct. Thanks.