Since my "Client Bridge" does not allow wireless devices to connect to it (as described in my previous post), I need to add another router (router C) behind the "Client Bridge" to provide wireless access.
There are 2 ways to connect router C to router B.
- To connect router C as a switch
- To connect router C as a router
To use router C as a switch, a straight through Ethernet cable is plugged into one of the LAN ports in router B, and the other end of the cable is plugged into one of the LAN ports in router C. In this case, computers connected to router C can be on the same subnet as computers connected to router A and router B. Only router A is serving as a DHCP server. However, there is no need to turn off DHCP in router C specifically, it is turned off automatically with the Ethernet cable connection (although it may make more sense to do so). Router C's local IP address has to be set to an IP on the same subnet. If it is not on the same subnet, router C can still function as a switch, but the router setup page cannot be accessed :
Setup ⇒ Basic Setup
- Network Setup ⇒ Local IP Address ⇒ 192.168.1.3
- Network Setup ⇒ Subnet Mask ⇒ 255.255.255.0
Wireless ⇒ Basic Wireless Settings
- Wireless Network Mode ⇒ Mixed
- Wireless Network Name (SSID) ⇒ Genius8
- Wireless Channel ⇒ 11
For the above settings
- Router A : 192.168.1.1
- Router B : 192.168.1.2
- Router C : 192.168.1.3
To use router C as a router, a straight through Ethernet cable is plugged into one of the LAN ports in router B, and the other end of the cable is plugged into router C's WAN port. In this case, computers connected to router C can be on a different subnet from computers connected to router A and router B (computers connected to router A and router B are on the same subnet). Router C's DHCP server can be enabled to serve computers connected on this subnet. The advantage (or disadvantage) of this configuration is computers connected to router A and router B cannot see / ping computers connected to router C (unless an entry is added in router A's advanced routing to route the packets targeted for different subnet to gateway in router C). Router C's configurations are as follows :
Setup ⇒ Basic Setup
- Internet Setup ⇒ Internet Connection Type ⇒ Automatic Configuration - DHCP
- Internet Setup ⇒ MTU ⇒ Auto
- Network Setup ⇒ Local IP Address ⇒ 192.168.2.1
- Network Setup ⇒ Subnet Mask ⇒ 255.255.255.0
- Network Setup ⇒ DHCP Server ⇒ Enable
- Network Setup ⇒ Starting IP Address ⇒ 192.168.2.100
- Network Setup ⇒ Maximum Number of DHPC Users ⇒ 50
- Network Setup ⇒ Static DNS 1 ⇒ 0.0.0.0
- Network Setup ⇒ Static DNS 2 ⇒ 0.0.0.0
- Network Setup ⇒ Static DNS 3 ⇒ 0.0.0.0
- Network Setup ⇒ WINS ⇒ 0.0.0.0
Wireless ⇒ Basic Wireless Settings
- Wireless Network Mode ⇒ Mixed
- Wireless Network Name (SSID) ⇒ Genius8
- Wireless Channel ⇒ 11
For the above settings
- Router A : 192.168.1.1
- Router B : 192.168.1.2
- Router C : 192.168.1.1XX - assigned by Router A's DHCP
All the other devices connected to Router C are in the subnet of 192.168.2.xxx.
For both the above cases, the SSID for router C has to be set to a different SSID from router A.