Help setting up router as AP

[atlcr]

I have a netgear 1000wrn wireless router that I am trying to us as a wireless access point, but I'm having trouble.

The current setup is cbeyond internet going into a 16 port switch. All computers in the office are plugged into this switch. There is also a server that is providing DHCP.

Here is what I've done so far...
I first looked up the ip address on the server using ipconfig. It is set at 10.0.1.46. So I hooked the router up to one of the computers using the lan port. I then went into settings and disabled the DHCP on the router. I next tried to change the IP address to 10.0.1.199 but it said the address was invalid. I finally got that to work (there was a space in there that was messing things up). The router then reboots. It tries to reconnect to the router using the new IP address but it says that the page can not load. I also tried to connect using the address www.routerlogin.net but that doesn't work either.

So, I had to reset it to factory default and start again. Same result. I also tried setting the router to 192.168.0.199 and that didn't work either.

Another problem is that I'm tring to make a reservation for this address in the DHCP settings on the server, but I am getting an error that it is an invalid address.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[ch33zw1z]

http://www.ezlan.net/router_AP.html

Assign the netgear WAP a static LAN address outside of the DHCP range. It will need a subnet mask, but it won't require a default gateway

disable these on the netgear:

DHCP, DNS, firewalls, WAN connection

Save and reboot the netgear,

connect a LAN port on the netgear to a switch port. You won't be using the WAN port on the netgear after you set it up as a WAP

 

[gsuburban]

Making a wireless router into an AP is simply "bridging" it. Mainly, disable the DHCP.

 

[atlcr]

http://www.ezlan.net/router_AP.html

Assign the netgear WAP a static LAN address outside of the DHCP range. It will need a subnet mask, but it won't require a default gateway

disable these on the netgear:

DHCP, DNS, firewalls, WAN connection

Save and reboot the netgear,

connect a LAN port on the netgear to a switch port. You won't be using the WAN port on the netgear after you set it up as a WAP

Thanks for the reply!

So by outside of the DHCP range, do you mean something like 10.0.1.300? What would the subnet be?

 

[ch33zw1z]

Look in the server's DHCP settings to figure out what the range and subnet mask will be.

Without going into too much detail, 10.0.1.300 is not a valid address. Each portion of the IP is called an octet because it's made up of 8 bits, each octet of the IP can range from .1-.254

In small office and home office setup's, typically only the last octet is different, so 10.0.1.1 thru 10.0.1.254

The subnet is something we help you figure out, but it will be easiest if you have a workstation that you can list the ipconfig from....

if the client is windows: open a terminal, aka command prompt and enter "ipconfig /all" without the quotes, copy and paste the results here

if the client is linux: open a terminal and enter "ifconfig -a" without the quotes, copy and paste the results here.

 

[atlcr]

Look in the server's DHCP settings to figure out what the range and subnet mask will be.

Without going into too much detail, 10.0.1.300 is not a valid address. Each portion of the IP is called an octet because it's made up of 8 bits, each octet of the IP can range from .1-.254

In small office and home office setup's, typically only the last octet is different, so 10.0.1.1 thru 10.0.1.254

The subnet is something we help you figure out, but it will be easiest if you have a workstation that you can list the ipconfig from....

if the client is windows: open a terminal, aka command prompt and enter "ipconfig /all" without the quotes, copy and paste the results here

if the client is linux: open a terminal and enter "ifconfig -a" without the quotes, copy and paste the results here.

One of the client computers has an IP of 10.0.1.46. The subnet is 255.255.255.0. I set the netgear router to 10.0.1.199 with subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 and I cannot connect to the router anymore after making this change.

I do know that the server DHCP has a range of 10.0.1.0-254. So what would the address look like outside of this range? Something like 10.0.4.1?

 

[ch33zw1z]

no, if the DHCP range on 10.0.1.x (255.255.255.0) is .1-.254, then the entire range is DHCP. Not recommended. Does the site have that many clients that need DHCP?

If it's not reachable, it's likely that .199 is taken.

The Netgear has a LAN MAC, you can try to configure the DHCP server to reserve the MAC for a specific IP, the DHCP server would then avoid giving out that IP to another client. You can still give the Netgear a static IP, just give it the same one that is reserved in the server's DHCP list.

Alternatively, if you can change the DHCP range to less, do that instead and then assign the Netgear an IP outside of the DHCP range.

 

[atlcr]

Ah ok, I see what you are saying.

There are 11 computers on the network, including the server. When I ran ipconfig on one of the computers, it said the IP was 10.0.1.46. On the server, two addresses are reserved in DHCP (10.0.1.23 and 24). I tried to make a new reservation for 10.0.1.199 (which should be available) and it says that the IP address is invalid.

 

[atlcr]

I'm assuming that the proper way of doing this is to make the reservation first?

 

[ch33zw1z]

yea, make the reservation first.

alternatively, make the DHCP range something smaller, like .10-.50, and then set the IP of the WAP outside of the range.

 

[smitbret]

Alternatively, if you can change the DHCP range to less, do that instead and then assign the Netgear an IP outside of the DHCP range.

There are routers that don't let you change the DHCP range?

My first suggestion would bet to find one that does.

I always just take whatever DHCP range the router has set for default (i.e. 100-254), shrink it by my number of access points (if I have 3 then range is changed to 103-254) and then just assign each AP 100, 101 & 102.

Alternatively, if you have a large area to cover but fewer potential devices then make room by going 111-254. Consistency means a lot when troubleshooting network issues later on and it makes life easier if I know that client devices are >110 and gateways, bridges and APs are 100-110.

Don't forget to turn off NAT as well as DHCP just to be safe.

 

[ch33zw1z]

Read the OP, he said there's a server hooked up to the switch that's doing the DHCP. I don't know what he can do, so if he can....then go for it.

Definitely turn off DHCP on the netgear...

 

[hextet]

yea, make the reservation first.

alternatively, make the DHCP range something smaller, like .10-.50, and then set the IP of the WAP outside of the range.

I would abstain from making the scope range smaller, as you can only make one scope per range on a server, unless you want to implement multiple DHCP servers. You can instead use exclusions, and exclude the ip that your netgear router has on the DHCP server. Doing that you can have the netgear on a static IP which isn't being leased out period by the DHCP server. You'll have to disable DHCP on the router it's self because that will cause problems on your network should any clients attempt to renew their DHCP leases. Also make sure the IP address you are assigning to the router isn't a broadcast address for the sbunet, and isn't already being leased out by the DHCP Server.

 

[atlcr]

yea, make the reservation first.

alternatively, make the DHCP range something smaller, like .10-.50, and then set the IP of the WAP outside of the range.

Ok, I will try to make that work first and look into restricting the DHCP range when I am back in the office on Thursday. I may need some help setting up the reservation as it was giving me an error last time, but I will create a new thread if that is the case.

If I have the same netgear problems after performing the recommended steps, I'll report back here.

Thanks for all the help you guys! 😎

 

[ch33zw1z]

I would abstain from making the scope range smaller, as you can only make one scope per range on a server, unless you want to implement multiple DHCP servers. You can instead use exclusions, and exclude the ip that your netgear router has on the DHCP server. Doing that you can have the netgear on a static IP which isn't being leased out period by the DHCP server.

cool, didn't know that was possible.

 

[PliotronX]

connect a LAN port on the netgear to a switch port. You won't be using the WAN port on the netgear after you set it up as a WAP

This is a crucial step, I can't believe how many of my Cisco classmates would connect the WAN port in a LAN and wonder why they couldn't ping a damn thing.

 

[hextet]

ch33zw1z: Yea it's a neat little trick! You could have multiple DHCP servers, each one servicing different parts of a scope, like .1-.99 and .100-.254 but you can only have one scope per range on a server. That's why it's common to use a whole range like .1-.254 but exlcude the addresses you don't want leased out. OP: If you have access to the DHCP server, I'd check out what scope they are using, the current leases, reservations ,and exclusion than make sure your router works with those. You are pretty much just shooting blind if you are trying to setup the router without any idea of what's being done on the DHCP Server. Networks (if designed properly) are well documented, and everything is laid out before it is setup and any changes are documented. If you are able to look at the documentation this will help tremendously, and avoid any potential complications with the already setup network.

 

[atlcr]

ch33zw1z: Yea it's a neat little trick! You could have multiple DHCP servers, each one servicing different parts of a scope, like .1-.99 and .100-.254 but you can only have one scope per range on a server. That's why it's common to use a whole range like .1-.254 but exlcude the addresses you don't want leased out. OP: If you have access to the DHCP server, I'd check out what scope they are using, the current leases, reservations ,and exclusion than make sure your router works with those. You are pretty much just shooting blind if you are trying to setup the router without any idea of what's being done on the DHCP Server. Networks (if designed properly) are well documented, and everything is laid out before it is setup and any changes are documented. If you are able to look at the documentation this will help tremendously, and avoid any potential complications with the already setup network.

Thanks Hex,

Unfortunately, the person that set up the DHCP did not document anything. But, I am able to see everything going on with the network addresses by using ipconfig and the DHCP console. From what I can tell, the range is 1-254 and 2 addresses are reserved at 23 and 24.

I should be able to reserve/exclude any other ip in that range. I'll know for sure when I try again later today. I ran into an error trying to make a reservation last time, but I might have already had the router set to the exact same IP so that would obviously explain the error.

I'll post back here with results.

 

[atlcr]

So here's what is happening now. I'm still at the office working on it right now.

I made a reservation in the server DHCP for 10.0.1.40 (the range ended up being 10.0.1.2-10.0.1.50) after making sure that 10.0.1.40 was not taken already. I then set up the router from factory default by turning off DHCP and setting a static LAN of 10.0.1.40 with subnet of 255.255.255.0. Plugged the router into the switch via LAN port and restarted it. Walah! Everything was working. Wireless connected fine from an ipad here in the office.

To make sure that everything was going to run smooth on reboot, I powered down all machines and then rebooted the server. The server started just fine and I was able to access internet and everything else just fine.

And then the problems started...

I booted one of the client machines and it popped up with an error that it could not connect to the mapped network drive and that it could not load the user profile (we are using active directory with roaming profiles and redirected folders). I also got a prompt from AVG Enterprise to re-enter the credentials. The desktop is blank/black. When I click on the mapped network drive that points to the server (that had a red X), it loads the folder and connects. I can then run the program we use everyday that accesses the shared Microsoft Access database on the server. This only lasts until the next reboot though.

It appears that this is a permissions issue, but I seem to think the router is involved somehow as doing this type of thing before (rebooting server/workstations) never caused a problem before.

Any ideas?

It looks like it is going to be a long night...ugh...

 

[ch33zw1z]

If the range is .2-.50, then you have .51-.254 free to set manually. Pick one of those for the Netgear's LAN IP (Not WAN).

Make sure you plugging the LAN cable from the main switch into a LAN port on the Netgear.

Also, make sure these are disabled on the Netgear:
-WAN
-DHCP
-DNS
-Firewall

 

[hextet]

Ah, silly mistake to not document, you should kindly mention for the person who set it up to make some documentation.

Since you are using a router, it might be better to just exlcude the IP you want the router to have, and than statically assign it.


About the errors you mention, if the client machine says it can't connect to the network drive and wouldn't load a user profile, I think this indicates that your workstations are releasing their DHCP leases after they shut down. When they boot up, they will attempt to either renew or acquire a brand new lease.

There's a couple things you can do, on the DHCP server take a look at the lease duration that is set, and see what other information pops up. Are these computers network boot, or is there a local hard drive that contains the operating system? If they are network booted I don't think there is much you can do. At my school they use DHCP and all the computers are network booted, when they start up it takes a little bit to connect to the shared resources, and each time they boot they get a different DHCP lease.

 

[atlcr]

Ah, silly mistake to not document, you should kindly mention for the person who set it up to make some documentation.

I will definitely recommend this!

Since you are using a router, it might be better to just exlcude the IP you want the router to have, and than statically assign it.

I read up on exclusion versus reservation and the best I can tell, exclusions are best when you want to define a range 10.0.1.2-6 (for example). A reservation only works on a single IP address. Other than that, I don't see much difference between the two other than preference of the administrator, but if you have enlightining information I'm all ears. 🙂

About the errors you mention, if the client machine says it can't connect to the network drive and wouldn't load a user profile, I think this indicates that your workstations are releasing their DHCP leases after they shut down. When they boot up, they will attempt to either renew or acquire a brand new lease.

That's what I thought was happening too, but when I looked at leases in DHCP on the server, all computers were relegated to their own IP's appropriately. I was able to confirm this on workstations by using ipconfig.

There's a couple things you can do, on the DHCP server take a look at the lease duration that is set, and see what other information pops up. Are these computers network boot, or is there a local hard drive that contains the operating system? If they are network booted I don't think there is much you can do. At my school they use DHCP and all the computers are network booted, when they start up it takes a little bit to connect to the shared resources, and each time they boot they get a different DHCP lease.

Lease duration is defintiely worth looking into. These computers are not network boot. They are their own beings except that they need the DHCP from the server and they use a shared database that is hosted on the server. Ideally (and since there are only 10 computers, it wouldn't be much work), I would like to have each workstation have a static IP. I've become increasingly wary of DHCP outside of a home environment. It just doesn't behave very well.

All that said, I found the root of the problem. 😎

Freakin' AVG Firewall! Interestingly, it was listing the router ip as a "network". That might have been part of the problem, but deleting that entry in firewall settings did not help anything. I also tried to whitelist the reserved IP, but no luck there either. I just turned the damn thing off. 😉

When the firewall was disabled and everything was rebooted, all was well. The wireless now works perfectly as an WAP and all the computers can connect to the server without a hitch.

FWIW, ch33zw1z, I set a reservation *within* the range (10.0.1.40) and it seems to be working fine. But I want to understand your suggestion better. Why should it be placed outside the DHCP scope?

{I guess vbulletin doesn't have an option to mark a thread "resolved"?}

 

[ch33zw1z]

FWIW, ch33zw1z, I set a reservation *within* the range (10.0.1.40) and it seems to be working fine. But I want to understand your suggestion better. Why should it be placed outside the DHCP scope?

{I guess vbulletin doesn't have an option to mark a thread "resolved"?}

With the reservation, you should be all set.

Placing the IP outside of the DHCP scope will help avoid IP conflicts. But since you're using the reservation, then the DHCP server shouldn't give it out to any other MAC.

My suggestion was based on now knowing that the DHCP scope was .2-.50

that leaves .51-.254 open, and instead of doing DHCP reservation, you could just manually set the WAP IP to anything from .51-.254

The IP conflict happens when two devices have the same IP. So if you manually set the IP to .10 (example, inside the scope) without reserving it in DHCP server, then you could have another device acquire the same IP, which is a problem.

 

[atlcr]

Gotcha. It's just a different way of doing it.

 

[ch33zw1z]

Yup.