[Jake]

I want to set up 2 wireless networks in my house and would like to know if this is optimal?

WIFI1
------
WAN: Dynamic
LAN: 192.168.1.1
Mode: 54g
Encryption: WPA-PSK
Wireless Clients(54mbps): W2K, XP Pro (2)
Wired Clients(100mbps): DNS-323 (with USB print server), Slingbox Solo
Channel: 3
WAN port connected to cable modem
DHCP server (with static IPs based on MAC and x.x.x.100 - x.x.x.199 for dynamic IPs)
DNS Server: 192.168.1.1

WIFI2
-----
WAN: 192.168.1.2
LAN: ?
Encryption: WEP
Wireless Clients (54mbps): 3 cameras
Wired Clients (100mbps): Linux Server
Channel 8
WAN port connected to port 1 WIFI1
DHCP server turned off

Basically the 3 cameras are going to be running 24/7 and filling up channel 8. I would like to keep channel 3 clear and open for the PCs. Does this make sense? I am running WEP on the cameras since WPA is not stable on the latest firmware.

 

[JohnnyG]

You should have nothing connected to the WAN port of WIFI2. The cable from WIFI1 should be connected to any LAN port on WIFI2. the WAN address on WIFI2 can be left blank (or 1.1.1.1). Some wireless routers have an "access point" mode but if yours doesn't, don't worry about it.

Other than that, everthing else looks right.

 

[hugh]

Jake, first, what JohnnyG said regarding wiring.

Bit of a tangent but: Are you buying a new router? If so why not just buy an n-router and that would address your bandwidth concerns.

I ran two wireless networks for several years without many issues but I consolidated by buying an extreme-N router which gives greater range (the primary reason for my second router was distance) and greater throughput on all device.

 

[Jake]

Hugh I already have all the 54g hardware. JohnnyG I will look into the WIFI2 modes. I do recall having trouble with encryption when in AP mode. Perhaps I will revisit the settings. I will also connect the routers via LAN to LAN and not WAN to LAN. I should also clarify if the gateway and DNS for WIFI2 is 192.168.1.1? Not that it needs to have access to the internet but If I want to do firmware updates or access time servers it could come in handy.

Next I have to read up on routing tables to see if that applies to me.

Thanks.

 

[JohnnyG]

Gateway and DNS settings for WIFI2 do not matter when it's being used as an access point on the LAN. Think of this as nothing more than a network switch where the connections to the devices are wireless rather than wired.

No need to alter the routing tables at all.

 

[Jake]

Yes if I switch to AP the settings are greyed out. My concern was if the AP is not an option then I will need to specify these parameters (I think).

 

[JohnnyG]

You could just put anything in those fields as those settings would only affect traffic over the WAN port.

 

[graeme86]

Well if you have DHCP turned off on WIFI 2 than you are setting it up the camera's with Stactic information, so it doesn't matter what you enter in the DNS/gateway fields of the WIFI 2, as WIFI 2 will get all its required information from WIFI 1.
Also if you want to access the devices from any computer on WIFI 1 than you will have to Forward ports on the WIFI 2 to communicate with the camera's.

 

[Jake]

you will have to Forward ports on the WIFI 2 to communicate with the camera's

That I will need since each camera has scheduling and configuarion options that will need to be set.

 

[JohnnyG]

No port forwarding would have to be set up at all because you are all within the same network. WIFI2 is NOT a different net. You aren't really configuring two wireless NETWORKS...you are configuring ONE network with two access points. It does not matter that the two access points are not the same SSID and channel, they are still on the same network.

If you want to assign specific IPs to the cameras, do so through WIFI1's DHCP config as static assignments tied to their MAC addresses.

 

[Jake]

do so through WIFI1's DHCP config as static assignments

I meant to mention that earlier as that was my plan for the camera IPs. I should get a chance this week to test everything out. I'll let you know.

 

[I_Want_My_HDTV]

If using the original config plan, I would change the address of WIFI2 to a different subnet, such as 192.168.0.1. Also be aware that many internet routers only do 10 Mbps on the WAN port.

 

[Jake]

Well I went ahead with the changes and kept it all on 192.168.1.X. The only thing I can't do is ping from WIFI2. Thus no internet. I will need to brush up on the firewall rules to allow WIFI2 access to the internet. Down the road this will be needed but not currently. I can PING WIFI2 via the LAN to LAN connetion.

 

[JohnnyG]

Firewall rules in routers are processed only between the WAN port and the LAN ports. So, assuming you did not use the WAN port on WIFI2, I can't imagine anything other than firewall software on the PC's themselves denying the ping.

 

[Jake]

The ping is sent from the router. No PC involved. The connection from router to router is LAN to LAN but I still cannot get a ping working to the internet from WIFI2. Pings within 192.168.1.x work both ways. Since WIFI2 has no DNS entries I suspect it cannot resolve. Too tired for more testing. Tomorrow.

 

[JohnnyG]

You can't ping from the router because it will be trying to ping to the WAN port. Remember that in this config, your router isn't a router...it's just a hub or a unmanaged switch and these types of devices can't ping because they are not really a "device" on the network.

You should be able to ping your gateway just fine from a computer connected to WIFI2.

 

[Jake]

That makes sense. What option do I have so that internet requests get manually routed to the LAN and not the WAN? Routing tables?

PS: WIFI1 has the option to disable the WAN but WIFI2 does not. You have to pick either DHCP or static IP. Since I left it at DHCP and the WAN unplugged it is hunting for a lease every 20 seconds or so.

Here is the emulator for WIFI2. Perhaps I am missing something.

http://www.trendnet.com/emulators/TEW-432BRP_C1/index.html

 

[JohnnyG]

On the "LAN & DHCP Server" page, do you have the DHCP server disabled? If not, wireless devices connecting to this will get their IPs from this device rather than WIFI1 and this will cause all kinds of trouble.

Not really a concern that it's trying to grab an IP for it's WAN port, but feel free to give it static IP on the WAN page. Something that doesn't conflict in any way like 10.10.10.1.

You may actually have to set up a static route on this unit. Set the Network Address to the IP address of WIFI1. Netmask is likely 255.255.255.0, Gateway address you can find on WIFI1 (or an internet connected PC), Interface would be LAN, and Metric can be something like 10.

 

[Jake]

On the "LAN & DHCP Server" page, do you have the DHCP server disabled?

Yes.

but feel free to give it static IP on the WAN page

I think I will do that.

You may actually have to set up a static route on this unit

I will play around with that.

I found this example too work off of. The only difference is the LAN DHCP which I will keep enabled for WIFI1.

http://www.thechangelab.com/toshiya...router-as-a-second-wireless-access-point.html