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tyle9257

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Connect to LAN wirelessly with static IP addresses

Hello all! My boss has recently wanted to get wireless access to our LAN, so I purchased a LinkSys WRT54G wireless router. Our network has a total of 15 workstations plus a print server, a Dell PowerEdge server, three switches and a SonicWall node that has an active VPN. We have static IP addresses for every workstation and server iun the building. All I want to do is set up the wireless router to access our network so that my boss can can move anywhere in the building and access files on the server and access the internet.

I spent a few hours trying to set the router up and could only access the utility if I changed the static ip of the server to dynamic, and then I could begin to configure the router, but when I went to change the server back to a static IP there was no access to the internet. When the server had a dynamic IP, the workstations could access the internet, but not the server. I really just need to know what the settings need to be in the setup utility so that I can get this done. I was going to connect the router to the Dell server. The router would connect to the internet through the SonicWall node and then the Dell server would connect to the router. All the other workstations are connected to the network via the SonicWall node. I contacted LinkSys support and they could not help me. I think that the solution has to do with opening ports, but I could be wrong. Please help!
-Bryn
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b0lsc0tt
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tyle9257,

You probably should've just picked up an Access Point.  You don't really need the device to act as a router and that is causing a conflict.  I don't have access to that model right now but it should have an option to change the mode or disable DHCP.  If you can change the "mode" to access point then this should disable DHCP too.  You will need to provide a static LAN IP to this device as the WAN IP so it will connect to your server and network.  Then set up the wireless card the same way you have set up the other computers (i.e. with the static IP, etc).

Let me know if you have any questions or need more information.

b0lsc0tt
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tyle9257

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b0lsc0tt-

The router comes with a default IP of 192.168.1.1. Do I need to change it to one of our free static Ip addresses? I'm not sure if I can change the mode to Access Point or not, as everyone is in the office and I can't take the server down until next Sunday. When you say, "You will need to provide a static LAN IP to this device as the WAN IP" are you meaning the gateway IP or just a regular static IP? I'm sorry if I'm asking basic questions, but I really don't have a lot of experience doing this...
OK, I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume you are running Windows 2003 server, which is set up as a DNS server. For the sake of the discussion, I will assume that the router has an IP address of 192.168.1.1.

First, connect the server with a static IP address:

ip = 192.168.1.200
subnet = 255.255.255.0
default gateway = 192.168.1.1

DNS = your ISPs DNS info

Most of the time when I see an ip address that doesn't work when statically assigned, it is because of either an IP address conflict (windows 2003 server will often not deliver an error) or because the ip address range that was assigned doesn't fall into the same network as the number assigned to the router. Make sure these address settings are consistent.

Be sure you verify the ip address of the server. ipconfig /all is the best method. Make sure it actually has an address and that it falls into the same range as the router and that the default gateway points to the router's address. This will catch conflicts, as an ipconfig will tell you that there is no ip address even though one is assigned.

Once you have that working, it's time to configure the workstations. Assuming you are using the server as a DNS server, the addresses will be

ip = 192.168.1.x
subnet = 255.255.255.0
gateway = 192.168.1.1
DNS = your server

That way, the workstations can pull DNS from the server, and know what the server's name is. This would explain why the workstations were not seeing the server. It sounds weird to do it this way, but the server pass any requests for addresses outside it's own DNS table to the default gateway (which is your router) effectively giving everyone internet access.

I would try this configuration without the SonicWall node to see if it works. If it does, I would (if possible) exclude the SonicWall node from the network, since the WRT54G does come with a built-in firewall. Adding the SonicWall just causes problems down the line.
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b0lsc0tt
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You are correct, we are running Windows Server 2003. Unfortunately, I can't do this without the SonicWall as we have a VPN set up for an employee that works offsite that is essentially working as VoIP. It is for that particular employee's phone extention, so that we can just intercom her and transfer calls even though we are in different states. The SonicWall has the same IP as our gateway...All of the workstations, printers and the server are set up as 10.0.0.x. Do I have to change all of the IP addresses or can I set up an IP range in the router itself?
bol-
Thanks for all the info! That did clarify immensely, however, the only way that I can even access the router's utility is to change the server IP from static to dynamic. The router won't let me access the utility with a static IP. When I was trying to set this up over the weekend it would not let me access the router with a static IP address, but when I decided to see if it would let me with a dynamic IP it let me right in. The utility is accessed through a browser and with a static IP it would timeout.
-tyle
All you have to do is simply:

1.  Connect the router/AP via a crossover cable to a LAN port (not the WAN port) - this turns it into a Wireless bridge on the same layer 2 and 3 network.
2.  Assign the router a static IP from your local LAN's IP Pool for management
3.  Disable DHCP on the router.
4.  Modify security settings (username, password, encryption, SSID, MAC filter) as so desired.

That's it.
That is because it was set to the default (192.168.1.1) and your computer was using an IP similar to 10.0.0.x.  They were in a different network.  If you change the "routers" default IP to one that is compatible with your network then you should be able to access it then.  You don't have to use the server to make this change though.  Any computer that gets an IP from the device will be able to access the interface or you can manually specify the computer's IP as 192.168.1.100, which should be in the default range the router uses.

Once you connect this way then you should change the IP the "router" uses and disable DHCP or change its mode.  The device's instructions will have information on doing this but let me know if you have questions, etc.
give the WAN side of the router or the access point a address that is in the same subnet as your current LAN.   Then either turn DHCP on at the wireless router, or tell it to do static.  


Keep in mind though that you must be on different subnets!!!!!!!!!


So if your current lan is using 192.168.0.xxx

give the WAN side of the router a static IP of 192.168.0.xxx (one that isn't being used)


Set the LAN side of the router for DHCP or STATIC and give it an address of 10.0.0.xxx

If you chose static, then give the laptop an IP address of 10.0.0.xxx


Plug the internet or wan port of the new wireless router into a switch on your existing LAN and you are good to go!   Make sure you put it in the internet port though.  

You are good to go!
Did you still have some question or need some additional information?  I noticed that this question was closed but the grade was a B so I thought I would check.  Let me know if it was a mistake and you still need help or have a question.

I'm glad that I could help.  Thanks for the points and the fun question.

bol