Linking Wired and Wireless Networks

Hi,

Just curious as to whether this can be done. Here goes:

I have a wired network with an SMB four port router and a Linksys
802.11b WAP in one room of my house. My main Internet connection is a
broadband connection. I use W2k Advanced server running DHCP with
other computers this network. They get get their IP address via DHCP
from the wired network. I use the WAP for my wireless laptop.

However, I also have three other computers in another room that I
would like to network, but have no wired access.

Can install a wireless PCI card in one of those computers and then
possibly share that one connection with the other computers, maybe by
putting a wired, second NIC card in the first computer. Is there a way
to multihome this setup? The wireless card can get an IP via DHCP from
the Linksys WAP and the wired NIC card can be used to create the rest
of the wired network, by giving each computer a static IP address? Or
do I need a bridge or another WAP in that second room and configire it
so it receives an IP address from the WAP in the first room and the
connect the other computers together with a hub.

In essence, I am trying to get a wired network to connect via a WAP
and wireless NIC to create a wired network where none exists?

Does this make sense?

Thanks,

David

On 12 Sep 2003 13:02:37 -0700, (E-Mail Removed) (DavidNoack) wrote:

>Hi,
>
>Just curious as to whether this can be done. Here goes:
>
>I have a wired network with an SMB four port router and a Linksys
>802.11b WAP in one room of my house. My main Internet connection is a
>broadband connection. I use W2k Advanced server running DHCP with
>other computers this network. They get get their IP address via DHCP
>from the wired network. I use the WAP for my wireless laptop.
>
>However, I also have three other computers in another room that I
>would like to network, but have no wired access.
>
>Can install a wireless PCI card in one of those computers and then
>possibly share that one connection with the other computers, maybe by
>putting a wired, second NIC card in the first computer. Is there a way
>to multihome this setup? The wireless card can get an IP via DHCP from
>the Linksys WAP and the wired NIC card can be used to create the rest
>of the wired network, by giving each computer a static IP address? Or
>do I need a bridge or another WAP in that second room and configire it
>so it receives an IP address from the WAP in the first room and the
>connect the other computers together with a hub.
>
>In essence, I am trying to get a wired network to connect via a WAP
>and wireless NIC to create a wired network where none exists?
>
>Does this make sense?
>
>Thanks,
>
>David

You're making this way more complicated than it actually is: if you already
have a WAP plugged into a router, then the same WAP your notebook talks
through can be used by up to another 250-something wireless nodes.

So you just add wireless nics to the desktop systems you want to add to your
LAN and you should be good to go. You can either use fixed addressing for the
added nodes or have the router or your AS box do DHCP...

/daytripper

/daytripper

On 12 Sep 2003 13:02:37 -0700, DavidNoack <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> I have a wired network with an SMB four port router and a Linksys
> 802.11b WAP in one room of my house. My main Internet connection is a

> However, I also have three other computers in another room that I
> would like to network, but have no wired access.

Are those three already networked together?

If not, then adding a wireless adapter on each is probably easiest.

My preferred solution would be a wireless bridge. Network the three
computers with a four port (at least) switch.

One way to bridge is to use a wireless bridge such as the linksys
WET11 or similar products from other companies.

Another way is to use two matching WAP11's (or similar products from
other companies) with one in "access point" mode (your existing wap
may work) and the other in "access point client" mode. This is
essentially the same as the bridge solution, but can be a bit more
challenging to configure.

sdb

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