Question Connecting routers

[medic5678]

I've got a MOFI 5500 4gLTE router. Fair enough to say it's a beast. But I live in a geographic hole and have been able to get internet connection only by installing expensive antennas. No one sells broadband in my area. So I've connected to internet via resellers. Currently on ATT's business network from an eBay reseller.

I've got approximately 50 devices on my network that I've assigned static addresses to. When I've had to reset the modem when I've had connection issues, I've had problems recovering those addresses. Some of my cameras, even though they're assigned static IP addresses in the firmware, have done wonky reassignments on nonexistent networks. Essentially requires a reset of the camera to reconnect. So rather than deal with this, I used an older Asus router that I've connected all my devices to. Should my modem have issues, the cameras aren't connected to it, so they retain their IP address assignments.

I then connected the WAN port of the Asus router to one of my Mofi router's Lan ports. The Mofi router is 192.168.10.1. The Asus router is at 192.168.10.80. The Asus router is set up in wireless router mode.

When I connect my computer to my Asus router wirelessly, I can see the cameras connected to it. I can see and use a printer that has a wireless connection to the MOFI 5500. I have internet access.

When I connect my computer wirelessly to my MOFi router, this is where it gets complicated. I can't see cameras via IP addresses that are connected to the Asus router. Yet I can access my NVR that's connected to the Mofi. What I'd like to be able to do is log into my Mofi Router wirelessly and see everything on the Asus router. while retaining the static addresses on my Asus router.

For anyone who's read this far, I appreciate it.

 

[lantis3]

You should set ASUS router in AP mode.

 

[medic5678]

You should set ASUS router in AP mode.

Don't I then give up the ability to keep the static addresses in the Asus router? I don't need to expand access, My problem is keeping the stability of my camera network and splitting it off the MOFI router, which has the modem inside it.

 

[USAFRet]

Don't I then give up the ability to keep the static addresses in the Asus router? I don't need to expand access, My problem is keeping the stability of my camera network and splitting it off the MOFI router, which has the modem inside it.

You want ONE device giving IP addresses. Either dynamic or static.

Anything else would be in AP mode, just for more WiFi coverage.

 

[lantis3]

You don't have to set static IP for each individual device,

You can set mac address & ip address pair either in Mofi router or ASUS router using either Mofi or Asus's DHCP server, and make sure only one of the dhcp server is running, usually it should be done on the main router.

You should have only one IP range for the whole house. Using 2 routers and cascading them together through WAN port creates 2 networks called double NAT, which make communications between the two hard.

So only one is running in router mode, all other routers should be in AP mode.

 

[medic5678]

The goal is to separate the router function from the modem function so that a modem crash is less painful. I'd just like to use the Mofi router's ability to connect (vastly better than the Asus)) to the Asus network. Maybe that's not possible.

 

[medic5678]

You don't have to set static IP for each individual device,

You can set mac address & ip address pair either in Mofi router or ASUS router using either Mofi or Asus's DHCP server, and make sure only one of the dhcp server is running, usually it should be done on the main router.

You should have only one IP range for the whole house. Using 2 routers and cascading them together through WAN port creates 2 networks called double NAT, which make communications between the two hard.

With respect to the cameras, I find I am a lot better off setting static IP's.

 

[lantis3]

With respect to the cameras, I find I am a lot better off setting static IP's.

That's fine. Uplink ASUS router to Mofi router using one of the ASUS LAN port.

 

[medic5678]

That's fine. Uplink ASUS router to Mofi router using one of the ASUS LAN port.

When I tried that, the Asus network had no internet.

 

[lantis3]

So ASUS will convert WAN port to LAN port, but uplinks LAN port to other router doesn't work?

Same situation as the other thread? Then just use the WAN port.

Question - Wake on Lan issue from Access Point

I have an issue in WOL from my access point. Please refer below image link. https://ibb.co/wQsX9JQ PC1 is perfectly working the WOL function on main router GT-AX11000 but PC2 is not working WOL from AP RT-AC68U. When I connected PC2 to main router GT-AX11000 directly its worked perfectly. How...

forums.tomshardware.com

 

[medic5678]

I'm going to try to open a port on the Asus, so it can be accessed from the LAN. That may bring security issues, but let's face it. Anyone with the wherewithal to penetrate my network wouldn't waste their time on me. No one cares about my goat pasture cameras (unless they have a weird goat fetish).

 

[bill001g]

Pretty standard issue with running 2 routers. You either have to run the ISP router as the router and your other devices as AP OR you run router behind router like you have. The first case you deal with why the ISP router is inferior and in the second case you deal with the NAT between the 2 networks. Port forwarding is going to be very messy. You will have to do something like camera 1 is port 8001, camera 2 is port 8002 etc. Depends on if the software you are running lets you do that. All the cameras share the same IP as the asus router has on the wan port.

The best fix would be likely to buy a new router that can do everything you want and then really use the ISP router as only a modem and connect everything to your new router.

Now if you need to have multiple real networks then you need a actual router with a firewall ability. Maybe merlin image on asus is good enough and you can use 2 different vlans. Otherwise there are many small router/firewall devices that can run multiple networks.


As a side note with consumer grade equipment you generally have to run the DHCP function on the main router. Even though you can run the DHCP function say on your ASUS the feature it does not have is the ability to change the gateway IP. It will always send its own lan IP as the gateway instead of the IP of the actual router/gateway to the internet. You can do it on a very cheap raspberry pi.

 

[medic5678]

It appears that my best solution is to turn off wireless access to the Mofi and buy a new router to connect via its wan port, so I'll just be using the MOFI as a modem. That essentially accomplishes what I'm trying to do. I can configure my other routers to expand the range of the new router, where I'll keep the DCHP tables. It's a shame to lose the MOFI router's power but I don't want to do anything with it except have it automatically reboot a couple of times a day. Keep it as simple as I can. I've already got more time in this than it's worth. Thanks to those who tried to help.