Wireless Bridge Concepts

[Planes]

Maybe my concept on how a wireless bridge works is flawed from the start. I'm certain that my network topology is far from optimized, but that's mostly because my setup is currently just a test bed to see if I can get any functionality. I have (router1 RT-N66U) connected to the internet. It is wire bridged to (Router2 E2500) and (router4 DIR-655 A2). I also have (router3 RT-N56U). AT this point router4 should not be a player as it does not support 5ghz, I mention it for completeness.

I am trying to get router3 to wireless bridge on 5ghz to Either router1 or router2. I have tried dd-wrt firmware on the linksys e2500, but had to revert to factory as dd-wrt does not support 5ghz in this router. The router1(n66u) is running stock firmware. router3 is running 3.4.3.6-068.

I have tried mixing and matching all possible combinations of AP, WDS, AP-AP, AP-WDS, etc and haven't had what I would call success, though sometimes I see the STA connected. While I see the STA connected, I don't see it in the listing of clients on either end, and I'm unable to ping the far side of the net from PC. My questions revolve around IP address, dhcp, routing information. Which direction does routing information flow, if in any direction at all? My wired bridges work fine and I thought I could use the same methodology for the wireless but it doesn't work.
Set the IP address for the router as a device, then set the ip address for the network card as static/dhcp. That way routing information, dns gets propagated throughout the net.
AP = Access Point
WDS = Wireless Distribution System (repeater)
ap-client-only = client to the uplink which seems like it should get dns/routing information from the uplink and make it available to the downlinks

When setting things up in the menu of the router, am I saying what THIS router is, or am I specifying what the remote router should be?

I picture routing information being passed from one router to the next in this manner.

AP--->WDS
AP ---> AP-client
AP <---->WDS+AP

I've been trying to make router3 connect to router1. I was once able to get router1 to show the gateway IP address as router3's ip address, but this is backwards from what I was hoping for. I was able to view router3's web page while connected to router1, but was unable to access any of router3's down links. Should I be trying to build the bridge from inside of router1 to connect wireless to router3? Does it matter which router initiates the connection?

What am I understanding incorrectly?

 

[PrivateJoker]

Maybe my concept on how a wireless bridge works is flawed from the start. I'm certain that my network topology is far from optimized, but that's mostly because my setup is currently just a test bed to see if I can get any functionality. I have (router1 RT-N66U) connected to the internet. It is wire bridged to (Router2 E2500) and (router4 DIR-655 A2). I also have (router3 RT-N56U). AT this point router4 should not be a player as it does not support 5ghz, I mention it for completeness.

I am trying to get router3 to wireless bridge on 5ghz to Either router1 or router2. I have tried dd-wrt firmware on the linksys e2500, but had to revert to factory as dd-wrt does not support 5ghz in this router. The router1(n66u) is running stock firmware. router3 is running 3.4.3.6-068.

I have tried mixing and matching all possible combinations of AP, WDS, AP-AP, AP-WDS, etc and haven't had what I would call success, though sometimes I see the STA connected. While I see the STA connected, I don't see it in the listing of clients on either end, and I'm unable to ping the far side of the net from PC. My questions revolve around IP address, dhcp, routing information. Which direction does routing information flow, if in any direction at all? My wired bridges work fine and I thought I could use the same methodology for the wireless but it doesn't work.
Set the IP address for the router as a device, then set the ip address for the network card as static/dhcp. That way routing information, dns gets propagated throughout the net.
AP = Access Point
WDS = Wireless Distribution System (repeater)
ap-client-only = client to the uplink which seems like it should get dns/routing information from the uplink and make it available to the downlinks

When setting things up in the menu of the router, am I saying what THIS router is, or am I specifying what the remote router should be?

I picture routing information being passed from one router to the next in this manner.

AP--->WDS
AP ---> AP-client
AP <---->WDS+AP

I've been trying to make router3 connect to router1. I was once able to get router1 to show the gateway IP address as router3's ip address, but this is backwards from what I was hoping for. I was able to view router3's web page while connected to router1, but was unable to access any of router3's down links. Should I be trying to build the bridge from inside of router1 to connect wireless to router3? Does it matter which router initiates the connection?

What am I understanding incorrectly?

1. First, router 1 is working correctly and devices can connect to it via wifi & ethernet?

2a. Does router 2 plug into an ethernet port on router 1?
2b. Is router 2 setup as an AP (access point) only, and does it get DHCP info from router 1?
2c. Are you trying to plug additional ethernet clients into router 2?

3a. Does router 4 plug into an ethernet port on router 1?
3b. Is router 2 setup as an AP (access point) only, and does it get DHCP info from router 1?
3c. Are you trying to plug additional ethernet clients into router 2?

4. Why all the APs? Are you covering a lot of space SF wise? You want to balance your wifi needs with your space available, if you flood too few SF with too many APs your devices get screwy not knowing which AP to be on and you're blasting so much RF around it can muddy your performance.

5. What is the purpose of router 3? Don't just say bridge, tell us what you're trying to do with it for what kind of devices.

6. Are you using same SSIDs on different channels across the three APs or different SSIDs for each channel and each band?

7. Just to clarify, although all of these devices are labeled as "routers" you will only have one of them, the one where your internet connection plugs into its WAN port, actually be in traditional "router" mode. It will be a router & an access point. Your other wired routers are typically thought of as "AP"s only since they won't be doing any routing (no DHCP assignments, no NAT, no firewall, etc).

 

[Planes]

I'm going to answer the questions on point by point basis.

1. First, router 1 is working correctly and devices can connect to it via wifi & ethernet?
--Yes router1 is working correctly for wired and wireless clients

2a. Does router 2 plug into an ethernet port on router 1?
--yes it does
2b. Is router 2 setup as an AP (access point) only, and does it get DHCP info from router 1?
--yes it gets dhcp-dns from router1, ip address is static, but still --managed by dhcp. router2 manages it's own subnet so is doing nat



2c. Are you trying to plug additional ethernet clients into router 2?
--for the time being, no, but network topology will be changing once I get --the wireless bridge working. Ultimately I plan on disconnecting router2 --completely, it is just there so as to give another possible wireless bridge --connection. I really don't like the linksys router for a number of --reasons.

3a. Does router 4 plug into an ethernet port on router 1?
--yes router4 connects via ethernet to router1. it serves a vital part of my --network.

3b. Is router 2 setup as an AP (access point) only, and does it get DHCP info from router 1?
--I presume you are still referring to router4. Router4 is like router2 --above, connected by ethernet, manages it's own subnet. Gets dhcp/dns --info from router1. Makes use of NAT.

3c. Are you trying to plug additional ethernet clients into router 2?
--Yes there are a few connected by cat5 to router4.

4. Why all the APs? Are you covering a lot of space SF wise? You want to balance your wifi needs with your space available, if you flood too few SF with too many APs your devices get screwy not knowing which AP to be on and you're blasting so much RF around it can muddy your performance.
-- I'll just say that this is just a test bed while I try to get the wireless --bridge working. Once that is accomplished at least one of the routers --will be disconnected.

5. What is the purpose of router 3? Don't just say bridge, tell us what you're trying to do with it for what kind of devices.
-- I'm using it to connect security cameras, and being able to bridge it to --the internet for a few minutes seems to be the only way to accurately --set the time.

6. Are you using same SSIDs on different channels across the three APs or different SSIDs for each channel and each band?
--each router has it's own sid and subnet.

7. Just to clarify, although all of these devices are labeled as "routers" you will only have one of them, the one where your internet connection plugs into its WAN port, actually be in traditional "router" mode. It will be a router & an access point. Your other wired routers are typically thought of as "AP"s only since they won't be doing any routing (no DHCP assignments, no NAT, no firewall, etc).

--dhcp assignments to devices connected to it. While the ip for each --device is generally static, I hate having to push the reset button and --reconfigure a device because I can't change an IP address. Oh gee I --just upgraded the firmware and forgot to write down all the mac --addresses, that sort of thing.
--I've tried having multiple routers on the same subnet, didn't seem to --work. doesn't seem to be any way for a device connected to router2 to --be assigned an ip address by router1.

The main purpose of this post was to discover in which direction routing/gateway/name server information was passed. It seems to me that a router that was WDS would use the uplink AP as the gateway and get the DNS. On the other hand when in the bridge section of the menu, it could be that you aren't telling the router that IT is WDS, but rather that the router that it's connecting to would serve as WDS, and then you select the sid/mac of the router to connect to. So there's some confusion on that point.

 

[roldogg]

I have a primary router setup in router mode. I'm using the wireless signals as well. I have one of the LAN ports connected to a powerline adapter, the other powerline adapter plugged in on the other side of the house and an AC66U hooked up to in via its LAN port. It's setup as an AP and is assigned a static IP from the primary router. Also, anything connected to this AP I can assign a static IP to on the primary router. I also have a Netgear R7000 with DD-WRT loaded on it, and it's setup as a client bridge, where I don't connect to its wireless signal, but it's connected to the primary router through the wireless signal. It's in my bedroom and has 5 devices connected to its LAN ports, all of which also have static IPs set in the primary router. This is because the primary router is the only one running DHCP and any device that connects to the wireless client bridge or the AP look to the primary router for its IP address. They all have the same SSID, but different channrls. I don't have WDS enabled on anything.

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