Recommended setup for LAN with WAP?

[Kaido]

Completed!
The new setup is as follows:

Cable Modem > pfsense router > 16-port 10/100 switch > wireless router

I turned DHCP off of the wireless router (Linksys WRT54GS), set its IP to 192.168.1.2 (the pfsense router's IP is 192.168.1.1), and turned on WPA-PSK TKIP. The main issue I ran into was that I couldn't get on the router before (I had it set to 192.168.1.30). After changing the IP to 192.168.1.2, I was able to logon.

Original post:
What's the best way to setup a LAN with a WAP? I'm installing a PC router running ClarkConnect tomorrow and I'm going to set my Linksys WRT54GS as a WAP. Should I set the router's DHCP to .100-.150 and the WAP's DHCP to .151-.200? Should the WAP be on a completely different subnet?

edit: or does a WAP not have to have IPs and just act like a switch...never used it as a WAP before.

 

[JackMDS]

WAP does not Route, if Internet is used, asigne all IPs through the Router, and use the WAP as a transparent device.

Change the core IP of the WAP to be on the same subnet as the Router.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: JackMDS
WAP does not Route, if Internet is used, asigne all IPs through the Router, and use the WAP as a transparent device.

Change the core IP of the WAP to be on the same subnet as the Router.

I'm guessing the best way is to set it up as a static IP on the WAP?

 

[Kaido]

I set everything up today. I switched to pfsense instead of ClarkConnect on the router. So the configuration is:

Cable Modem > PC Router > 16-port Switch > Wireless Router

Here's the setup:

The PC router's WAN is set to DHCP
The PC router's LAN IP is 192.168.1.1
The PC router's LAN DHCP is 192.168.1.100 - 192.168.1.150
The PC router's LAN port is connected to a 16-port 10/100 switch
The Wireless Router 's WAN port is connected to the 16-port 10/100 switch
The Wireless Router's WAN is set to DHCP
The Wireless Router's LAN IP is set to 192.168.0.1
The Wireless Router's LAN DHCP is set to 192.168.0.100 - 192.168.0.150

The Wireless Router is a Linksys WRT54GS. What's the best way to set it up as a secure WAP? I'm currently running it as a router with WPA-PSK TKIP. Basically I want to turn it into a wireless switch with encryption. What's the correct configuration so that the wireless clients can be on the same subnet (192.168.1.x) as the wired clients connected to the 16-port switch?

 

[Kaido]

I don't know if this is the correct configuration, but I tried setting the Wireless Router's LAN IP to 192.168.0.1 (different subnet than PC Router) and then plugged the 16-port switch into a LAN jack on the Wireless Router. Now my wireless laptop is showing up within the DHCP range on the PC router but I can't access the Wireless Router's config page. I also tried giving the router a Static IP on the PC Router's subnet (192.168.1.30), but I couldn't access it that way either. Is the Wireless Router supposed to be invisible? I don't even see it on tracert...

Update: I can access the Wireless Router as long as I set my laptop to a Static IP. I've got my wireless on DHCP and my wired NIC configured as 192.168.0.2 - that way I can plug in my Ethernet cable and configure the router when needed, but hop on wireless to access the Internet. If anyone has a better idea for a configuration setup, please let me know!

 

[Kaido]

Got it working! For some reason it didn't like 192.168.1.30; I changed it to 192.168.1.2 at the recommendation of another pfsense user and everything is peachy 🙂