AP431W multifunction AP

I have an AirLink 101 AP431W multifunction AP whose docs are here

http://www.airlink101.com/download/ap431w.php

.... which docs consists of a User Manual and a Quick Installation guide
2 .pdf links at the above link. Naturally the device itself also comes
with a CD. All of that - those docs - says that the multifunction
device can be used as any: an access point, an access point client, an
AP repeater or a WDS bridge.

I've read the docs and looked at the pictures, but I don't understand
the configurations for some of the things I want to try to do with it.

Exercise 1: I want to attach the device via the ethernet port of a
computer and access a wireless network. I don't understand how to
configure the computer or exactly how to setup the device for it/ with
it. One concept would be to use one mode of the AP to stand in the
place of a wireless card for a computer with ethernet only, but that's
not all, see below.

Exercise 2: I want to attach the device via the ethernet port (WAN or
LAN) of a router2. I want the router2 to be the heart of a sub-network.
The AP (or Bridge) will be communicating wirelessly to the AP (or
router1 integrated AP) of the other network, and the computers connected
to the router2 wired or wirelessly will be getting their NAT IPs from
router2.

The general purpose of both of these exercises would be to allow me to
locate the Airlink AP431W physically somewhere different than where the
computer in Exercise 1 is located or all of the computers in Exercise 2.

I think I should configure the device's mode by ethernetting it to a
router or a switch so that I can establish its mode via the device's
webpage configuration. Then after that, I'm confused.

Say I configure it to be an AP client by connecting it to a switch or
router and then disconnect that and connect it to the ethernet of a
computer. How do I configure the computer, say a Windows OS Vista or
XP, to be able to use the AP client to connect to a wireless network and
get an IP and connectivity from that wireless network?


--
Mike Easter

Bob wrote:
> Mike Easter wrote:
>
>> Exercise 1: I want to attach the device via the ethernet port of a
>> computer and access a wireless network. I

> The manual seems straightforward on how to do the usual TCP/IP setup of
> the computer in order to do the initial access of the AP in order to
> configure it. Once the AP has been set to client mode you should be able
> to revert your TCP/IP setting to "obtain an IP address automatically"
> and it should get an IP address from the network you are connecting to.

Thanks for looking at the docs.

This wireless adapter part isn't working. I can configure the 431w as
an AP client and configure it to connect to a wireless network by SSID
and MAC with configuration for the security.

<for my next experimental stage I'm going to turn off the security for
the wireless network's AP and 431>

When I then ethernet the 431 to the computer, I do not get assigned an IP.

One of the problems with this attempt is that when the 431 is
ethernetted to the computer, I cannot access it with its webpage address
(which I changed to http://192.168.1.251 because I have another
device/AP in the LAN with the 431's default page http://192.168.1.250)

For a little background; this network is Airlink AR325W router, D-Link
DES-1105 5-port switch, Airlink AP421W access point (as an access
point), with the router and the a/p using WPA security.

The only way I can see the 431 to tinker with changing anything is to
take down the ethernet to the computer and put the 431 (back) on the
switch. Then tinker and then take it back down again to 're-ethernet'
to the computer.

That router requirement is going to be a problem in a few days when I
travel to the place where I want to try this 'for real' -- because I
wasn't planning on taking a router with me if I could make this
experiment 1 work.


<OT> Speaking of routers; Fry's has that cute dd-wrt configurable
wireless G router on sale now for $12. If it was a good deal at $20, it
must really be a good deal at $12.


--
Mike Easter

Bob wrote:
> Mike Easter wrote:

>>>> Exercise 1: I want to attach the device via the ethernet port of a
>>>> computer and access a wireless network. I

>> <for my next experimental stage I'm going to turn off the security for
>> the wireless network's AP and 431>

OK I got it working as an open insecure system. Unfortunately, I
believe that is the condition of the system that I'm going to be trying
it on in a few days.

Now I'm going to work on getting WEP working.

> Did you reboot the AP?

Yes. Because of the (somewhat awkward) way I am doing this, whenever I
change something such as putting the 431 from the computer to the switch
and then back to the computer again, I powerdown the switch and the 431
and the computer, ethernet the 431 to the switch instead of the
computer, powerup the switch then the 431, open the 431 configuration
page with another computer on the network, make the changes, powerdown
the switch and the 431, move the 431's ethernet to the computer instead
of the switch, powerup the switch then the 431 then the computer.

Just to make things a little more complicated, the computer I'm using
with the 431 has wireless which I haven't reconfigred to be disabled on
startup, so whenever it gets powered up again, its integrated wireless
is connected with an IP - so then I disable that to prevent confusion on
my part and on such as a browser's part about which connectivity to use
- local connection (to the 431) instead of the integrated wireless.

> Step 4
> Once the Access Point has restarted, you may disconnect it from the
> wireless router and connect it to the Ethernet port of your computer or
> game console, and reboot the Access Point.

From my perspective, those Airlink instructions are very skimpy for
anything besides a default access point.

Once when I was doing some 431 'configuring' by trying to take a
shortcut and not use the switch, I accidentally accessed the other
airlink a/p (part AP421W) and when I tried to configure it as a access
point client with security, I got the message that WPA security wasn't
available on the AP client mode of that a/p.

I haven't gotten that message from the 431, but maybe it has the same
problem/condition just without the alert.

--
Mike Easter

Bob wrote:
> Mike Easter wrote:

>> Exercise 2: I want to attach the device via the ethernet port (WAN or
>> LAN) of a router2. I want the router2 to be the heart of a sub-network.
>> The AP (or Bridge) will be communicating wirelessly to the AP (or
>> router1 integrated AP) of the other network, and the computers connected
>> to the router2 wired or wirelessly will be getting their NAT IPs from
>> router2.
> From Manual:-
> WDS (Bridge)
> The WDS mode converts the Access Point to a wireless bridge. It bridges
> the network clients from physically separate LANs into one virtual LAN.
> You will need to use ap431w access points throughout your network. This
> mode will not work if you try to use them with any other brand of access
> point.

I don't 'accept' that statement about WDS not working except between two
431s. I don't understand why that would be (with my limited networking
tech level of understanding) and I don't know what would be so 'unique'
about a wireless signal that would make an airlink AP431W not be able to
talk to an airlink AP421W, for example, or any of a number of other
a/ps, such as an Airlink AR325W; to say nothing of some other brands
which might have the same wireless chipsets and other characteristics.


--
Mike Easter

On Mon, 17 May 2010 10:32:57 -0700, Mike Easter <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>Yes. Because of the (somewhat awkward) way I am doing this, whenever I
>change something such as putting the 431 from the computer to the switch
>and then back to the computer again, I powerdown the switch and the 431
>and the computer, ethernet the 431 to the switch instead of the
>computer, powerup the switch then the 431, open the 431 configuration
>page with another computer on the network, make the changes, powerdown
>the switch and the 431, move the 431's ethernet to the computer instead
>of the switch, powerup the switch then the 431 then the computer.

In the ~23 years that I've been playing with networking, I haven't
bothered to power down any equipment when I make cabling changes.
Perhaps I've been lucky, I don't know.

>Just to make things a little more complicated, the computer I'm using
>with the 431 has wireless which I haven't reconfigred to be disabled on
>startup, so whenever it gets powered up again, its integrated wireless
>is connected with an IP - so then I disable that to prevent confusion on
>my part and on such as a browser's part about which connectivity to use
>- local connection (to the 431) instead of the integrated wireless.

No question, you aren't making this easy for yourself.

I've done (and am doing) everything you're trying to do, but I'm using
multiple Linksys WRT54GL's so my experience probably doesn't apply, at
least from a step by step perspective. Hang in there, you'll get it.

Mike Easter wrote:

> Exercise 1: I want to attach the device via the ethernet port of a
> computer and access a wireless network.

I was only able to do that open, no security. I could not successfully
configure for WPA or WEP. That is, I could configure for that, but I
could not achieve connectivity.

> Exercise 2: I want to attach the device via the ethernet port (WAN or
> LAN) of a router2.

I was not able to do this at all. I used the WAN port on the router to
ethernet the 431 and a computer to a LAN port. That situation is very
difficult to troubleshoot, because the 431 is 'invisible' in the middle,
so none of the troubleshooting tools I was using did any good.

The troubleshooting only went as far as from the computer to the router,
which was working just fine. That is, the computer had a local
connection to the router and the computer which was wirelessly equipped
could also see the router's wireless. It seemed that the router had an
IP which I assumed came from the 431 which was connect to the other
network's AP, but maybe it didn't.

In any case, the computer couldn't get 'past' the router to see the
internet. Or the 431 which was ethernetted to the router's WAN.

In the configuration of the 431, one option was to configure it as a WDS
or as a WDS with accesspoint. I configured it 'just' as a WDS.


--
Mike Easter

Char Jackson wrote:

> In the ~23 years that I've been playing with networking, I haven't
> bothered to power down any equipment when I make cabling changes.
> Perhaps I've been lucky, I don't know.

The other day I was trying to find out something in the wikipedia about
keyboard and mouse connections and I learned that there was potential
'danger' to the mobo from the PS/2 hot swap. The risk factor isn't
high, but it isn't zero either.

I have never been sure about hotswapping ethernets. I have made changes
hot, but in this case, the switch I was using to configure the 431 was
the same switch that was connecting for the access point which was
(also) being reconfigured for open vs wep vs wpa. I wanted to be sure
that the switch was 'straight' with the network so that there wasn't one
more source of confusion when I couldn't get connectivity.

So, I figured I might as well powercycle the switch and since it was
being power cycled, the poweroff stage might as well be the part when I
was switching cables.

The other 'normal' AP in the mix, the 421, would sometimes 'act up' when
it would be rebooted by software saving a new configuration, and it
would also then need to be powercycled because its lights would go
whacky and its webpage become unaccessible.

> No question, you aren't making this easy for yourself.

At each step, I thought I was 'just about thru' so I didn't bother
killing the integrated wireless on the test laptop.

> I've done (and am doing) everything you're trying to do, but I'm using
> multiple Linksys WRT54GL's so my experience probably doesn't apply, at
> least from a step by step perspective. Hang in there, you'll get it.

Actually I would like to hear about what you've done with the linksys,
because I'm getting ready to dd-wrt (or some other firmware mod) the
little Fry's router. Maybe it could have more capability than what I'm
trying with this airlink multifunction + trendnet router. I'm not
actually so very happy with all I've accomplished so far.

I could use the 431 as a remote AP in the particular situation I'll be
in the next week or so because I believe that wireless is just open, but
I was hoping to be able to make a subnet off that AP as a bridge.


--
Mike Easter

On Mon, 17 May 2010 12:53:29 -0700, Mike Easter <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>Mike Easter wrote:
>
>> Exercise 1: I want to attach the device via the ethernet port of a
>> computer and access a wireless network.
>
>I was only able to do that open, no security. I could not successfully
>configure for WPA or WEP. That is, I could configure for that, but I
>could not achieve connectivity.

I've done that with an open connection and a WEP-encrypted connection.
I haven't tried anything more secure than that.

>> Exercise 2: I want to attach the device via the ethernet port (WAN or
>> LAN) of a router2.

I'd probably have to go back to your OP to see what you're trying to
accomplish here. This brief description doesn't make any sense to me.

>I was not able to do this at all. I used the WAN port on the router to
>ethernet the 431 and a computer to a LAN port. That situation is very
>difficult to troubleshoot, because the 431 is 'invisible' in the middle,
>so none of the troubleshooting tools I was using did any good.

I wasn't able to follow what you're trying to do here.

>The troubleshooting only went as far as from the computer to the router,
>which was working just fine. That is, the computer had a local
>connection to the router and the computer which was wirelessly equipped
>could also see the router's wireless. It seemed that the router had an
>IP which I assumed came from the 431 which was connect to the other
>network's AP, but maybe it didn't.

There should be only one DHCP server per subnet, (if you use DHCP at
all), thereby not only eliminating IP conflicts but also eliminating
all doubt as to where IP address assignments are coming from.

>In any case, the computer couldn't get 'past' the router to see the
>internet. Or the 431 which was ethernetted to the router's WAN.

I thought the 431 was the AP, but since it's cabled to the router's
WAN port it's obviously not configured as an AP. I'm easily confused.

>In the configuration of the 431, one option was to configure it as a WDS
>or as a WDS with accesspoint. I configured it 'just' as a WDS.

I very briefly played with WDS quite awhile back but was not impressed
with its performance at all. I'm sure there are situations where it's
well suited, but it wasn't what I needed.

On Mon, 17 May 2010 13:56:19 -0700, Mike Easter <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>Char Jackson wrote:
>
>> In the ~23 years that I've been playing with networking, I haven't
>> bothered to power down any equipment when I make cabling changes.
>> Perhaps I've been lucky, I don't know.
>
>The other day I was trying to find out something in the wikipedia about
>keyboard and mouse connections and I learned that there was potential
>'danger' to the mobo from the PS/2 hot swap. The risk factor isn't
>high, but it isn't zero either.
>
>I have never been sure about hotswapping ethernets. I have made changes
>hot, but in this case, the switch I was using to configure the 431 was
>the same switch that was connecting for the access point which was
>(also) being reconfigured for open vs wep vs wpa. I wanted to be sure
>that the switch was 'straight' with the network so that there wasn't one
>more source of confusion when I couldn't get connectivity.

My switches get rebooted whenever we lose power here, which I believe
has happened 2 or 3 times since 2001. When I shuffle cables on a
switch, it seems to recover within a second or two.

>So, I figured I might as well powercycle the switch and since it was
>being power cycled, the poweroff stage might as well be the part when I
>was switching cables.
>
>The other 'normal' AP in the mix, the 421, would sometimes 'act up' when
>it would be rebooted by software saving a new configuration, and it
>would also then need to be powercycled because its lights would go
>whacky and its webpage become unaccessible.
>
>> No question, you aren't making this easy for yourself.
>
>At each step, I thought I was 'just about thru' so I didn't bother
>killing the integrated wireless on the test laptop.
>
>> I've done (and am doing) everything you're trying to do, but I'm using
>> multiple Linksys WRT54GL's so my experience probably doesn't apply, at
>> least from a step by step perspective. Hang in there, you'll get it.
>
>Actually I would like to hear about what you've done with the linksys,
>because I'm getting ready to dd-wrt (or some other firmware mod) the
>little Fry's router. Maybe it could have more capability than what I'm
>trying with this airlink multifunction + trendnet router. I'm not
>actually so very happy with all I've accomplished so far.

I'm currently using several Linksys WRT54GL's + dd-wrt as an access
point (open, WEP, WPA, and WPA2), as a wireless client (open, WEP),
and as a wireless client bridge (open, WEP). The wireless client
bridge didn't work until I upgraded to a newer beta version of the
firmware.

>I could use the 431 as a remote AP in the particular situation I'll be
>in the next week or so because I believe that wireless is just open, but
>I was hoping to be able to make a subnet off that AP as a bridge.

I'm not able to parse your last line above. An AP is already a bridge,
and it will be a member of whichever subnet it's attached to, so if
you want the AP to be on a new subnet you'd create that new subnet on
the device to which the AP is attached, right?

Char Jackson wrote:
> Mike Easter

>>> Exercise 2: I want to attach the device via the ethernet port (WAN or
>>> LAN) of a router2.
>
> I'd probably have to go back to your OP to see what you're trying to
> accomplish here. This brief description doesn't make any sense to me.

Here's the rest

Exercise 2: I want to attach the device via the ethernet port (WAN or
LAN) of a router2. I want the router2 to be the heart of a sub-network.
The AP (or Bridge) will be communicating wirelessly to the AP (or
router1 integrated AP) of the other network, and the computers connected
to the router2 wired or wirelessly will be getting their NAT IPs from
router2.

>> I was not able to do this at all. I used the WAN port on the router to
>> ethernet the 431 and a computer to a LAN port. That situation is very
>> difficult to troubleshoot, because the 431 is 'invisible' in the middle,
>> so none of the troubleshooting tools I was using did any good.
>
> I wasn't able to follow what you're trying to do here.

What I'm calling using the 431 as a 'bridge' is that the network which
is NATed from the airlink router1 is connected AP to AP - wirelessly -
so that the other router2 is able to NAT for the computers connected to
it wired and wirelessly. In this case, the router2 is a Trendnet.

> There should be only one DHCP server per subnet, (if you use DHCP at
> all), thereby not only eliminating IP conflicts but also eliminating
> all doubt as to where IP address assignments are coming from.

I'll pay closer attention to the DHCP configuration. I assumed that I
would be using the trendnet router2's dhcp for the subnetwork.

> I thought the 431 was the AP, but since it's cabled to the router's
> WAN port it's obviously not configured as an AP. I'm easily confused.

The airlink docs were very scanty about how to configure the 431 as a
bridge.

The reason I thought I should connect it to the trendnet router2's WAN
is because that is where the trendnet and its 'family' would be getting
their connectivity from.

But I think I recall that the airlink people said I should connect it to
the LAN of a router, but that didn't make any sense to me in my
configuration. Then the router2's WAN port would be empty. Is that the
way it is supposed to be when there is a subnet situation?




--
Mike Easter