Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless (
More info?)
Responses below...Thanks a ton for all your help! -Joe
"Jeff Liebermann" <jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us> wrote in message
news
ok3h1927hp6k5be2jolbsl8s36h4v40cp@4ax.com...
> On Sun, 28 Aug 2005 12:18:51 GMT, "Joe DiGiovanni"
> <mrcpuhead@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>>The devices are Belkin High Speed Mode Wireless G Routers (F5D7231-4).
>>They
>>can be configured to run in "access point only" mode.
>
> I'm not sure about that model, but when I tried their "bridge" mode
> selection, all control over the wireless settings were lost because
> the internal web server was disabled in their bridge mode. It's much
> easier to simply:
> 1. Assign a proper IP address (more on this later)
> 2. Disable DHCP.
> 3. Ignore the WAN port connection.
> 4. Connect to the wired LAN using a LAN port, not the WAN port.
> That effectively turns your wireless router into an access point
> without losing the web server config.
Hmmm - I thought about steps #3 & 4, but didn't get around to trying that
yet.
>
>>The autoconfig address is a 169.254.x.x (I don't have the exact address
>>with me - these devices are at my kids' school).
>
> Ok. That means the clients are not connecting to the DHCP server.
> One obscure possibility is that I've seen some access points block
> broadcasts. This requires buggy firmware to accomplish and I suspect
> is NOT the problem here.
>
> Is there some kind of security system running on the W2K server that
> would prevent it from recognizing a new computer on the LAN?
>
No - the W2K DHCP server works fine w/ other network clients.
> Try downloading and using a free DHCP tester:
>>
>>
http://www.weirdsolutions.com/weirdSolutions/files/products/desktopSoftware/desktopQueryTool/querytool_free.exe
> It does NOT require an IP address to be assigned in order to find a
> DHCP server and will function with 169.254.xxx.xxx or whatever.
>
I'll do that.
> Incidentally, I'm not thrilled with Belkin products in general and
> suggest you try an alternative. Almost any wireless router setup as
> an access point will work for what you're doing.
>
>>The Win2K server is both DHCP and DNS server. Indeed I thought that by
>>setting the belkin in "access point" only mode, it would happily pass
>>packets between the wireless client and wired server.
>
> It should. Something is wrong, but I can't tell without sniffing the
> traffic to see what's happening. If you feel ambitious, setup
> Ethereal for sniffing. Connect a hub (not a switch) between the
> access point and the DHCP/DNS server. Filter for DHCP and ARP
> packets. If you've never done this before, this is not a trivial
> exercise and can best be solved by substitution.
>
I'm comfortable w/ software sniffers - I'll try that if the suggestion above
fails.
>>Are you saying in this mode, the WAP *doesn't* have to have an address in
>>the same subnet as the wired computers?
>
> Exactly. However, you have no reason to do this, so I would not.
>
> In the bridge (access point) mode, the only thing that IP address does
> is give you access to the device configuration. It can be any IP
> address you find useful and has no effect on bridging.
>
> I do this on systems that are short of /24 IP addresses[1] or where I
> don't want clients playing with the wireless devices. For example, I
> have the DHCP server deliver IP's to the clients using 192.168.1.xxx,
> while all the access points and devices are on 192.168.111.xxx. Since
> bridging doesn't know anything about IP addresses, as long as my
> management computer can be configured to 192.168.111.xxx, I can talk
> to the wireless devices. XP and W2K allow multiple aliased IP's on a
> single interface so this is really easy. However, in your case, I
> don't see any benefit so setting the device and client IP's in the
> same /24 network is probably the desired configuration.
>
> Incidentally, if you juggle IP's quite a bit on a laptop management
> device, I suggest using:
>
http://www.NetSwitcher.com
> to make it easy. I have something like 30 configurations, one per
> customer network, on mine. Yeah, this is a plug.
>
> [1] Whenever I mention running out of /24 IP addresses (253), someone
> always remarks that such a large system should be broken up with
> VLAN's or subnets to control traffic. That's true. However,
> connecting 2 or more remote offices with a VPN will instantly consume
> a substantial number of IP's. Each client computah now will have two
> IP's. One for the local LAN on one subnet, and one for the VPN on the
> remote /24 network. Traffic is controlled by the routers, but the IP
> consumption is still substantial.
>
>
> --
> Jeff Liebermann jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
> 150 Felker St #D
http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
> Santa Cruz CA 95060
http://802.11junk.com
> AE6KS 831-336-2558