What's the diff between modes?

[wayner]

What's the difference between router mode with DHCP turned off and WAP mode?

This is on an Asus RT-N66U router.

 

[jlake]

What's the difference between router mode with DHCP turned off and WAP mode?

This is on an Asus RT-N66U router.

The most important difference that I can see is that AP mode is bridged to the main router via wire. That means you can connect a client to the asus router that is in AP mode and you will be able to forward a port from your main router to said client.

If you use the old school method of the LAN to LAN cascade and disabling DHCP server, you won't be able to forward a port to aforementioned client.

Asus did a good job with their AP mode, so it only makes sense to use it instead of the dinosaur LAN to LAN cascade when you want it to be an AP.

I'm sure there's other advantages to AP mode vs LAN to LAN cascade, but they are probably transparent to me.

So if you're considering using the asus as an AP, my advice would be to put it into ap mode and plug right in to the ap mode router's wan port and you'll be good to go. Plus you'll get an extra LAN port as a bonus.

 

[sinshiva]

while i haven't tried this with the asus router, there really shouldn't be a problem port forwarding to a client connected to the n66 in router mode; the ap and lan side are more or less bridged together; though you should obviously make sure the lan ip of the router is different than anything else on the network. this only is an issue if you're in a double nat configuration, with the wan port connected to the lan.

also, i'm not sure if asus does things differently, but i'd expect the following configuration to be reasonably possible;

.1 router port forwarding to a vpn server on the asus in router mode at ip .2, also with .1 port forwarding to a client attached to .2, either wired or wireless, hosting a game server, for example. or .1 port forwarding to a file server on .2

what can throw this off, though, is that in router mode the device probably messes up how it should route vpn traffic to the internet. (it will probably insist on going out the wan interface) with a stock configuration, i wouldn't be surprised if the only thing that really works correctly is attaching a storage device to .2 and portforwarding .1 file server ports to .2 and port forwarding a server attached to .2, from .1. bridging is done at layer 2, hence why i can't see why port forwarding should be an issue, if everything is connected/configured correctly.

so, really the only benefit i see using the device in router mode would be for an attached storage device, otherwise default configurations will break things, and of course you lose a lan port

 

[wayner]

I would like to use the Asus as a router but the gateway from my ISP, a Hitron CGN3 from Rogers cable, doesn't work well in bridged mode as it crashes every 24-48 hours. So I have to use it in Gateway mode as both a cable modem and router so I figure that I may as well use e Asus as a WAP until this issue is fixed.

 

[jlake]

while i haven't tried this with the asus router, there really shouldn't be a problem port forwarding to a client connected to the n66 in router mode; the ap and lan side are more or less bridged together; though you should obviously make sure the lan ip of the router is different than anything else on the network. this only is an issue if you're in a double nat configuration, with the wan port connected to the lan.

also, i'm not sure if asus does things differently, but i'd expect the following configuration to be reasonably possible;

.1 router port forwarding to a vpn server on the asus in router mode at ip .2, also with .1 port forwarding to a client attached to .2, either wired or wireless, hosting a game server, for example. or .1 port forwarding to a file server on .2

what can throw this off, though, is that in router mode the device probably messes up how it should route vpn traffic to the internet. (it will probably insist on going out the wan interface) with a stock configuration, i wouldn't be surprised if the only thing that really works correctly is attaching a storage device to .2 and portforwarding .1 file server ports to .2 and port forwarding a server attached to .2, from .1. bridging is done at layer 2, hence why i can't see why port forwarding should be an issue, if everything is connected/configured correctly.

so, really the only benefit i see using the device in router mode would be for an attached storage device, otherwise default configurations will break things, and of course you lose a lan port

Are you speculating? My post wasn't based on speculation. You should try the port forwarding stuff. And try putting an attached storage device. Then come back and delete your post. Lol.

 

[sinshiva]

that would probably be for the best. if you want to use more adavnced features of the router, you could try setting it in router mode, connected from the modem/router to the wan port, but change the local network of the asus to something different, like 192.168.22.1 or whatever. then you could port forward from the hitron to the asus, and port forward again from the asus to the server. what probably wont work is things that need 'passthrough', if the option isnt available on the hitron. this is particularly important for the pptp server, for example which uses something called GRE/53, which is a protocol different than either tcp or udp

 

[sinshiva]

Are you speculating? My post wasn't based on speculation. You should try the port forwarding stuff. And try putting an attached storage device. Then come back and delete your post. Lol.

well, i forgot that asus has that thing in place that forwards all traffic to the 'your internet is down' page when wan is disconnected, but if that 'feature' were disabled, it would work fine

probably would be easy to fix, at least.

 

[RMerlin]

well, i forgot that asus has that thing in place that forwards all traffic to the 'your internet is down' page when wan is disconnected, but if that 'feature' were disabled, it would work fine

probably would be easy to fix, at least.

The redirection can be disabled, Asusnet posted the appropriate nvram setting that needs to be changed (I don't remember what it was).

 

[sinshiva]

Set the WAN type to "Static" to avoid the pop up message in browsers. If needed, enter a fake IP information. This should stop the pop up.

looks like it's even easier then that; didn't test it, though. i actually was wondering if this might work, but figured that would have been too easy, heh

 

[wayner]

When it comes to port forwarding doesn't this have to be done at the router facing the WAN- which in my instance is the Hitron gateway? If I don't forward a port on that device is it ever going to get to my Asus no matter what mode it is running in?

 

[CaptainSTX]

I have port forwarding set up on two routers that are double NATed behind my primary router and it seems to be working with no problem for devices such as my SlingBox.

MagicJacks and Skype also work for devices connected to the secondary routers. Skype handles this through UnPP.

On the other hand I do have remote access to the two double NATed router by using port forwarding on my WAN connected router. I also have the FTP port forwarded on my primary router to the static WAN IP on the router where I have an USB drive connected.

So to answer your question some experimentation may be required.

 

[sinshiva]

here; i haven't tested anything yet, but adding this to /jffs/scripts/wan-start should fix the router in router mode, so that the WAN port is bridged and will allow LAN traffic to pass. set the LAN gateway IP in the script. use the webui to set the router's LAN IP/subnet to something different on your LAN, while setting the static WAN IP to gibberish

#!/bin/sh
# 
# set the LAN gateway IP to $default
default="192.168.0.1"
#
# nuke eth0 settings
ifconfig eth0 0.0.0.0 up
#
route default gw $default
#
# fix the WAN port
brctl addif br0 eth0

chmod a+rx /jffs/scripts/*

 

[jlake]

When it comes to port forwarding doesn't this have to be done at the router facing the WAN- which in my instance is the Hitron gateway? If I don't forward a port on that device is it ever going to get to my Asus no matter what mode it is running in?

Yes, you would need to use port forwarding on the hitron no matter what since it isn't in bridge mode.

Port forwarding with a double NAT, LAN to WAN cascade is no big deal. Just use the link below to guide you. Sometimes when port forwarding through two or more routers, you have to use alternate port numbers so as not to conflict with the routers built in services. e.g.FTP 21. But that all depends on the router.


http://portforward.com/help/doublerouterportforwarding.htm

It's not clear in your original post what you are comparing AP mode to? Are you comparing it to LAN to WAN cascade or are you comparing it to LAN to LAN cascade?

Like I said previously, there's no reason to even attempt the LAN to LAN cascade since the asus has ap mode.

The big draw back (for most people) with LAN to WAN cascade is not port forwarding, but rather file and printer sharing on your network.

When you mentioned disabling DHCP, you would typically do that in a LAN to LAN cascade. But again, there's no need for LAN to LAN cascade since you've got AP mode which is equal or better.

For AP mode, use the asus WAN port and put it in AP mode, you're done.

For LAN to WAN cascade, use the asus WAN port, leave it router mode, change the asus Local LAN IP address to a nonflicting IP address and you're done.

Example of LAN to WAN cascade with non conflicting IP addresses

Hitron 192.168.1.1
Asus. 192.168.2.1