Beginners question on bridging seperated LANs

[joe_heaven]

Hi Folks,

this is really a nice forum. I followed it the last days and already got many very interesting hints and information.

I know that my question might have been answered here but from what I found I was not able to solve the problem since I do not understand much about routing/tables/NAT and so on. I'm very willing to learn though.

So my problem/question:
I have an DSL account which is connected to an external DSL modem. I have used a NETGEAR RP114 router before I bought the ASUS WG-500g (running ASUS FW 1.8.1.9 at the moment).
I would like to have the following situation realized:
1.) DSL-Modem ----> Netgear
The Netgear should do dial up. The router (LAN IP 192.168.0.1) is connected to a PC (Static IP e.g. 192.168.0.2) which will be declared as DMZ to serve the internet. No DHCP should be activated at the Netgear.
2.) Netgear --> ASUS + DMZ-PC
At the second port of the Netgear (IP 192.168.0.3) I would like to attach the ASUS (getting 192.168.0.3 as static WAN IP, right?). The LAN IP of the ASUS could be 192.168.1.1.
3.) ASUS --> Client PCs and WLAN, Printer, USB Mass Storage
All clients (cable and WLAN) could be 192.168.1.x and receive their settings via DHCP.

I wired all the stuff and set up ASUS WAN IP static to 192.168.1.1 and its Gateway+DNS to 192.168.0.1 (Since the Netgear should handle this).

What happened was that I was not able to connect to the Netgear and consequently not the Internet with a client PC behind the ASUS.

I changed positions like
DSL-Modem --> ASUS ---> Netgear --> Client PC
and it worked (same as above: ASUS was Gateway and DNS server for Netgear). I was able to surf the net with a client PC without any problems, it received Gateway and DNS via DHCP.

My guess is that I simply don't understand the complexity of the ASUS configuration. The Netgear-Setup is very simple and does not involve many choices.

So to formulate a short question:
How do I have to setup the ASUS router to "route" the traffic throug to the Netgear?

Many thanks in advance (hopefully you understand my question )

Jochen

[Oleg]

How you've configured wl-500g? You need to use Home Gateway mode, router mode requires that you configure your netgear box to route packets to 192.168.1.0 LAN via wl500g.

[joe_heaven]

How you've configured wl-500g? You need to use Home Gateway mode, router mode requires that you configure your netgear box to route packets to 192.168.1.0 LAN via wl500g.

This (Home Gateway Mode) is exactly what I did. I understood that I had to set it up as if it should work with a direct DSL-modem connection, except for the following changings: No PPPoE but static IP, In DHCP-server configuration Default Gateway and DNS server to be the Netgear router (192.168.0.1). And under "IP Config" -> "WAN&LAN" -> "WAN IP Setting" -> WAN-Gateway & WAN-DNS also Netgear IP.

I am a little bit confused whether I should give the clients on the LAN-side (via DHCP) the Netgear-addres as GW&DNS and/or on the WAN-side of the ASUS router. I tried many combinations and maybe I missed something there.
I was not even able to ping the netgear. It seemed no traffic went through the ASUS.

But Oleg thank you very much for the quick answer and your interest in my problem. I really hope my idea is possible. Would you think that in principle it should be working?

Jochen

[Oleg]

I am a little bit confused whether I should give the clients on the LAN-side (via DHCP) the Netgear-addres as GW&DNS and/or on the WAN-side of the ASUS router. I tried many combinations and maybe I missed something there.
I was not even able to ping the netgear. It seemed no traffic went through the ASUS.

Your clients should use wl500g both as dns and gateway, i.e. you need to keep wl500g defaults - it should automatically point your clients to it.
[qoute]Would you think that in principle it should be working?[/QUOTE]
Sure.

It would be handfull if you run ipconfig /all on your clients and post/analyze this info.

[joe_heaven]

Your clients should use wl500g both as dns and gateway, i.e. you need to keep wl500g defaults - it should automatically point your clients to it.

Would you think that in principle it should be working?

Sure.

It would be handfull if you run ipconfig /all on your clients and post/analyze this info.

At least it should work so I will give it another try. But I will have to wait until my wife doesn't use her computer for some time . I will come back with (hopefully positive) results. Thanks again.

Jochen

[brubber]

Your clients should use wl500g both as dns and gateway, i.e. you need to keep wl500g defaults - it should automatically point your clients to it.

Yep, So your WL-500g DHCP DNS and gateway should be 192.168.1.1

[joe_heaven]

Ok, I finally got it working by simply telling the ASUS-DHCP-Server to provide the clients with a GW-IP of 192.168.1.1 (the ASUS itself) but to let them use the Netgear (192.168.0.1) as the DNS server.
Now everything runs smoothly and I can start to develop the firewall rules to uses PC1 at the Netgear as a server in a DMZ which will not be allowed to enter the ASUS-Lan.

Thanks in any case for this fantastic forum.

Jochen

---------------Old Post------------------
Hi Again,

thank you first for your answers.

Today I tried the idea again. Everything is working except for the DNS.

To recap the setup:
DSL-Modem --> Netgear Router (PPPoE working, WAN IP + GW + DNS automatic, LAN IP 192.168.0.1, DHCP Server running, One Client-PC "PC1" connected directly to this router with IP 192.168.0.2, GW+DNS are set automatically to Netgear 192.168.0.1)
Netgear-Router --> ASUS WL-500g (No PPPoE, automatic WAN IP (192.168.0.3) + GW (192.168.0.1) + DNS (192.168.0.1), also DHCP server running)
ASUS --> Client (Second Client PC "PC2" connected with automatic given IP 192.168.1.2, GW+DNS are set automatically to ASUS 192.168.1.1).

ASUS is configured to respond Ping on WAN-port to test communication.

So was is now possible:
1) Ping PC1 -> Netgear: OK (of course)
2) Ping PC1 -> ASUS WAN IP: OK (since I allowed this)
3) Ping PC1 -> "wl500g.info": OK (DSL is working with DNS)
4) Ping PC2 -> ASUS LAN IP: OK (of course)
5) Ping PC2 -> PC1: OK (thats better than before, ASUS is letting traffic through!)
6) Ping PC2 -> Netgear: OK (yes, yes, yes ....)
7) Ping PC2 -> "wl500g.info": FAILED!
8) Ping PC2 -> 217.67.235.46: OK! (aha! Internet is there but no DNS)
9) Browser on PC2 opened with 217.67.235.46: OK!
9) Time synchronisation of ASUS to time.nist.gov: WORKED! (so ASUS does have DNS information!)

To summarize:
The clients of the ASUS router (with DNS set to 192.168.1.1) are not able to resolve DNS, but ASUS itself does.

I tried on PC2 WinXP Pro SP2 and Linux (Damn Small Linux, 093).

I'm so close, only DNS is missing on PC2.

Any suggestions? At first I thought that the Netgear is making the trouble, but since the time is synchronized I guess that it is somewhere in the ASUS or the client PC2.

All your help is welcome.

Greetings
Jochen

[Oleg]

There is a bug in stock firmwares, preventing propagating DNS server info to clients. You may want to switch to latest custom firmware - 1.9.2.7-3c.

[joe_heaven]

Hi Oleg,

There is a bug in stock firmwares, preventing propagating DNS server info to clients.

I see. Is this bug mentioned on your page "list of known bugs in ASUS firmware"? If so I really appologize. A former teacher of mine always had the correct commentary on such incicidents: "If everything else fails, try to read the instructions". Something like RTFM, but nicer

You may want to switch to latest custom firmware - 1.9.2.7-3c.

From what I learned in the forum many people are facing problems after the upgrade. Does this happen only in special cases? Up to know I'm really (apart from the easy to solve problem with the propagating DNS queries) happy with the original firmware 1.8.1.9.

Are your custom made firmwares (eg versions 1.8.1.9) purely bug fixing or may they introduce new problems even within the same major version?

Greetings
Jochen

[Oleg]

Are your custom made firmwares (eg versions 1.8.1.9) purely bug fixing or may they introduce new problems even within the same major version?

They're bug fixes and enchancement versions generally, although as any software they could contain bugs.

[joe_heaven]

Dear Oleg,

now this is really great! You are doing a wonderful job! I was a little bit afraid in moving to your newest firmware but it pays off really!

Now everything is working perfectly, all possibilities are used: Connected a shared printer to parallel port, all Clients are double secured due to Second router, and the attached USB-HD is even accesible with samba! Unbelievable, because I was already trying to explain my wife how to use FTP together with winamp. Now she only has a new drive letter and thats it. Perfectly!

Two (very small) questions left:
1) Is it normal that browsing the directories an the USB-HD is slow? It takes several seconds (up to 15 I guess) until the files are listed.
2) I mount the drive in ro mode (because at the moment only NTFS partitions present). May I simply turn of the drive after use? Or do I have to unmont them first ("Eject" in Webinterface or "umount" via telnet)?

Thanks again. I would pay at least 5 Euro more for the router, maybe even 10, if in return ASUS would pay you for your excellent job. Or may I donate in other ways?

----EDIT----
Just while pressing the submit button I discovered the "donate" link. But do you in person benefit from this money? I understand that the forum itself also needs money but my priority would be to support you personally.
----EDIT----

Greetings
Jochen