Connecting several routers

[MMDE]

Because what I want to do is a bit complicated, here's an "illustration" of it where I've numbered the devices so I can easily refer to them later:

modem/router (1)
wire
dd-wrt router (2)
wireless
dd-wrt router (3)
wired
PC (4)

Firmware: DD-WRT v24-sp2 (10/10/09) std

I tried to set device 2 as an Access Point and device 3 as Client Bridge, but I've yet to be able to contact device 1 from device 4, and hence no internet connection on device 4.

Both device 2 and 3 get a response when pinging device 1 from their GUI's command field.

If I connect a laptop wireless to device 2, then the laptop can contact device 1 and the internet.

If I connect device 3 wireless to device 1, then device 4 can contact device 1 and the internet.

Probably something very silly I'm missing, but it has been bothering me for a long time.

The routers IP setup:

device 1:
ip: 10.0.0.1
subnet mask: 255.255.255.0

device 2:
ip: 10.0.0.2
subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
gateway: 10.0.0.1
local dns: 10.0.0.1

device 3:
ip: 10.0.0.3
subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
gateway: 10.0.0.1
local dns: 10.0.0.1

device 4:
ip: 10.0.0.4
subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
gateway: 10.0.0.1
dns: 10.0.0.1

Anyone got any ideas how to fix this or what is wrong etc? I just want device 4 to be able to go online through device 3, 2 and 1.

 

[bill001g]

Your likely problem is the wireless connection between 3 and 2 is not setup to use WDS correctly. Since it works to connect to router 1 I would suspect the issue is on router 2. By default a bridge will only support a single mac over a encrypted link.

 

[MMDE]

Your likely problem is the wireless connection between 3 and 2 is not setup to use WDS correctly. Since it works to connect to router 1 I would suspect the issue is on router 2. By default a bridge will only support a single mac over a encrypted link.

I've never touched the WDS settings, so a fix very well might be there. I thought you used WDS if you had several wireless routers all broad casting the same SSID or sub network or whatever etc. Device 1 and device 2 are both broadcasting wireless, but they use different SSIDs, and they are connected through cable. Device 3 is what I want to connect to device 2 instead of device 1.

As I said in first post, when device 3 is connected wireless to device 2 which is connected wired to device 1, I can ping from device 3 to device 1 and get back a response.

Anyways, you said WDS is probably not set correctly on device 3 or 2, but I've never touched that, so some kind of guidance for that would be nice. But when I connect device 4 (PC) wired to device 3, then device 4 can only ping device 2 and not device 1.

That is just an example screenshot of the WDS settings screen for DD-WRT, and NOT my config. My current config is however almost the same, just with the first wireless MAC setting nulled out and set to disabled instead of LAN.

 

[bill001g]

They sure have changed that screen since I last setup WDS.

Router 2 and router 3 must have the same SSID for WDS to work. Now there are even more advanced methods to setup dd-wrt routers where you could use one radio in router 3 to talk to router 2 and a different radio to talk to the end users.

I would just turn the WDS options on and see what happens. What you used to have to do was in router 2 you had to put in router 3 mac address to allow it to use the WDS feature. This was done to prevent some unknown person from setting up a router and then sharing it out. What I have seen lately though is routers just allow anyone to use WDS and could care less about the security risk...the assumption is that if you gave someone your encryption key then you must trust them not to to allow other people unauthorized access.

 

[gbb0330]

Because what I want to do is a bit complicated, here's an "illustration" of it where I've numbered the devices so I can easily refer to them later:

modem/router (1)
wire
dd-wrt router (2)
wireless
dd-wrt router (3)
wired
PC (4)

Firmware: DD-WRT v24-sp2 (10/10/09) std

I tried to set device 2 as an Access Point and device 3 as Client Bridge, but I've yet to be able to contact device 1 from device 4, and hence no internet connection on device 4.

Both device 2 and 3 get a response when pinging device 1 from their GUI's command field.

If I connect a laptop wireless to device 2, then the laptop can contact device 1 and the internet.

If I connect device 3 wireless to device 1, then device 4 can contact device 1 and the internet.

Probably something very silly I'm missing, but it has been bothering me for a long time.

The routers IP setup:

device 1:
ip: 10.0.0.1
subnet mask: 255.255.255.0

device 2:
ip: 10.0.0.2
subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
gateway: 10.0.0.1
local dns: 10.0.0.1

device 3:
ip: 10.0.0.3
subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
gateway: 10.0.0.1
local dns: 10.0.0.1

device 4:
ip: 10.0.0.4
subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
gateway: 10.0.0.1
dns: 10.0.0.1

Anyone got any ideas how to fix this or what is wrong etc? I just want device 4 to be able to go online through device 3, 2 and 1.

So what are you trying to accomplish with this setup?
In 99% of the cases a network only needs 1 router.
Most likely what you are trying to do can be accomplished with 1 router and a combination of access points and wireless bridges.

 

[MMDE]

They sure have changed that screen since I last setup WDS.

Router 2 and router 3 must have the same SSID for WDS to work. Now there are even more advanced methods to setup dd-wrt routers where you could use one radio in router 3 to talk to router 2 and a different radio to talk to the end users.

I would just turn the WDS options on and see what happens. What you used to have to do was in router 2 you had to put in router 3 mac address to allow it to use the WDS feature. This was done to prevent some unknown person from setting up a router and then sharing it out. What I have seen lately though is routers just allow anyone to use WDS and could care less about the security risk...the assumption is that if you gave someone your encryption key then you must trust them not to to allow other people unauthorized access.

I tried to set up WDS on both device 2 and 3. More specifically entered each other's MAC address and set them at LAN. The result was, the device 3 in client bridge mode wasn't even able to connect to device 2 in access point mode, which worked before. I was able to connect to device 2 with a laptop though.

 

[MMDE]

Because what I want to do is a bit complicated, here's an "illustration" of it where I've numbered the devices so I can easily refer to them later:

modem/router (1)
wire
dd-wrt router (2)
wireless
dd-wrt router (3)
wired
PC (4)

Firmware: DD-WRT v24-sp2 (10/10/09) std

I tried to set device 2 as an Access Point and device 3 as Client Bridge, but I've yet to be able to contact device 1 from device 4, and hence no internet connection on device 4.

Both device 2 and 3 get a response when pinging device 1 from their GUI's command field.

If I connect a laptop wireless to device 2, then the laptop can contact device 1 and the internet.

If I connect device 3 wireless to device 1, then device 4 can contact device 1 and the internet.

Probably something very silly I'm missing, but it has been bothering me for a long time.

The routers IP setup:

device 1:
ip: 10.0.0.1
subnet mask: 255.255.255.0

device 2:
ip: 10.0.0.2
subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
gateway: 10.0.0.1
local dns: 10.0.0.1

device 3:
ip: 10.0.0.3
subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
gateway: 10.0.0.1
local dns: 10.0.0.1

device 4:
ip: 10.0.0.4
subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
gateway: 10.0.0.1
dns: 10.0.0.1

Anyone got any ideas how to fix this or what is wrong etc? I just want device 4 to be able to go online through device 3, 2 and 1.

So what are you trying to accomplish with this setup?
In 99% of the cases a network only needs 1 router.
Most likely what you are trying to do can be accomplished with 1 router and a combination of access points and wireless bridges.

I live in a pretty big apartment that is connected to a couple of other big apartments with rather thick walls etc. The main modem/router (device 1) is located pretty far away from where I am (with device 3 and 4) and there is a big thick wall between me (device 3 and 4) and this modem/router (device 1). The connection between the two is not very stable. I just dragged a 35 meter CAT6 cable from that modem/router (device 1) to a room next to this thick wall to a router (device 2) that I connected it to there. Because even between device 1 and device 2 the connection can be somewhat problematic when wireless, and I've tried this before, which is why I'm trying to do it wired between those two now. Device 4, the PC, needs device 3, the router in client bridge mode, for the wireless signal through cable, because it, the PC, has no wireless capabilities.

In any case, this reduces the poor wireless signal to just be between two routers that are only blocked by a thick wall.

This is what I wanna do:
modem/router (1)
wire
dd-wrt router (2)
wireless
dd-wrt router (3)
wired
PC (4)

 

[gbb0330]

buy a dedicated wireless bridge / access point device.

trying to make a router act as a wireless bridge is like trying to use an economy car to tow a boat.
it can be done, but really, its much easier to just use a truck or an SUV.