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How do I setup a wireless router behind a sonicwall firewall for full WIFI LAN access?

I recently took over administration of a small business network that has a DSL connection to the internet, leading to a SonicWALL TZ70 firewall, which is connected to a switch to the the LAN. The TZ70 acts as the DHCP server for the LAN, and handles IP addressing for all clients, including one W2K3 server. All is working as it is supposed to within the LAN.

As well as the existing infrastrcture, there is also a Linksys WRT54G wireless router that provides wireless WIFI access to the LAN and the server. This router was reset to factory defaults (the password was lost), and I was able to activate connections to the linksys wirelessly via WPA, and internet via the TZ70 are successful. However, I am unable to access the server or any LAN shares / components. Since the settings were reset to factory default and nothing else changed on the LAN, I've obviously missed a configuration setting on the Linksys.

Being a net newb, I'm lost on this one...if someone can provide me with instructions on what I'm missing here, I'd really appreciate it.

David Beveridge

I replaced the software in my Linksys WRT54GL with software I got from http://www.dd-wrt.com
because it has extra features, so I can't look into my linksys default config directly and tell you what to change, but I assume that the problem has to do with the WINS server value that the router is passing out. If the wireless network is on a different LAN eg 192.168.1.0 for LAN and 192.168.2.0 for wireless then they won't automatically be able to browse the other network without assistance.

if you could change the Access Point to be a wireless bridge instead of a routed network, that might also fix it.

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Johnjces

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David Beveridge

If you can't disable the WAN port in the standard linksys software then you can always download the open source firmware from dd-wrt which does allow you to do this.

LastSaskPirate

ASKER

Thanks very much for the help on this, not to mention the education! I was able to get this working by making both changes you list (not using the WAN port of the router and turing off DHCP on it), but it took me a bit of tinkering, as certain settings on teh router kept throwing me off. One of which was "remote" and "wireless" admin...once I turned off the DHCP, I was unable to administer it without using a direct, wired connection, so it took a bit of trial and error to get it working.

I definitely have a different setup than what was previously in place, as I'm now positive that it had been setup with DHCP enabled and possibly (at least I thought it was) using the WAN port...I hadn't tried looking at the WINS setting, as bevhost sggested...maybe that was something that allowed the old configuration to work, though I realize now that it was probably by chance, and may have left my network open to error. Maybe I can give it a try sometime whn I have time (yeah, right!).

One thing that I fouind in my net-travels in shooting this problem was some background on the router...you may be interested in this, as this particular linksys model is somewhat famous: http://www.wi-fiplanet.com/tutorials/article.php/3562391

Thanks again!

Carll

Johnjces

Thanks! I am glad that my simple not in detail answer pointed you in the correct direction.

The WRT54G is infamous and several OpenSource projects on http://www.sourceforge.net exist for this router.

I have never played with one and I guess it is about time!

Thanks again and good luck!

John