"Wiseman" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>Hi Jeff,
>
>Well I just wanted to use the wifi part of the WRT54G to connect to my isp
>and use the router/switch part to connect my individual computers. Otherwise
>I have to buy a wifi client (AP / bridge etc) and a router. If this one
>device could replace two devices it would be economical.
If your ISP has a wireless AP that you can access, then yes a
WRT54G in client mode (using third party firmwire) can access
the AP and will bridge that link to the 4 LAN ethernet ports,
which can be connected to various hosts on your LAN.
To increase the number of LAN ports, the WLAN port could also be
reconfigured to make a total of 5 LAN ports available, or one of
the 4 ports can be connected to another multiport switch.
Or the WLAN port can be configured separately (as opposed to the
4 LAN ports, which are not routed) and traffic routed to it through
the firewall module in the WRT54G. Such routing can be used to
keep two distinct LAN's separated.
BUT, note that as it is configured (and reconfiguration of this
part is not trivial) you cannot use the firewall between the
wireless and the LAN ports, only between the WLAN port and the
wireless + LAN ports as a group.
For what you have described, it would be best if you did
reconfigure the bridge in the WRT54G. Learning how would be
lots of "fun". But what you'd actually want is to have all 5
ethernet ports bridged together, and the wireless separated from
them by the firewall. That would isolate your LAN from the
Internet (wireless ISP) with the significant filtering
capability of a Linux firewall.
Here it is graphically. The configuration by default is
intended to have the Internet connected to the WLAN connection,
but your use would look like this, with up to 4 host computers
connected to the LAN ports, and a 5th connected to the WLAN
port. Only host 5 is protected by the firewall.
+--------+
| |
| |==> LAN1 (host 1)
| |
+----------+ | |==> LAN2 (host 2)
| WRT54G | | WRT54G |
(host 5) <==WLAN--| LINUX |---| BRIDGE |==> LAN3 (host 3)
| FIREWALL | | |
+----------+ | |==> LAN4 (host 4)
| |
| |==> WIRELESS (ISP)
| |
+--------+
Probably most useful is something like this. All 5 hosts are
protected by the firewall. This is a possible configuration,
but cannot be done with the web interface provided (DD-WRT
beta firmware might in fact be able to do this from the web
interface, I'm not sure).
+--------+
| |
| |==> LAN1 (host 1)
| |
+----------+ | |==> LAN2 (host 2)
| WRT54G | | WRT54G |
(ISP) WIRELESS <==| LINUX |---| BRIDGE |==> LAN3 (host 3)
| FIREWALL | | |
+----------+ | |==> LAN4 (host 4)
| |
| |==> WLAN (host 5)
| |
+--------+
If you are not into doing things like 3rd party firmware and
getting very deep into the machinations of reconfiguring (and
perhaps recompiling) the whole works, it might be a great deal
simpler to purchase a little ethernet switch (I've got both 5
port and 8 port units from D-Link that were inexpensive and work
very well) and set up something like this one. It can be easily
be done with the web interface, using any of the various
firmware packages that allow client mode operation,
d-Link Swtch Linksys WRT54G Router
------------- ---------------------------------------------
/ \/ \
+--------+
| |
| |==> LAN1 (unused)
+-------+ | |
<==| | +----------+ | |==> LAN2 (unused)
<==| Dlink | | WRT54G | | WRT54G |
<==| Swtch |<==WLAN--| LINUX |---| BRIDGE |==> LAN3 (unused)
<==| | | FIREWALL | | |
+-------+ +----------+ | |==> LAN4 (unused)
| |
| |==> WIRELESS // to ISP
| |
+--------+
>I've got another question for you: while reading the user manual for the
>Linksys WAP54G and D-link DWL-2100AP I discovered that for using these
>devices in client mode it is necessary to mention the MAC address of the
>remote AP. Does this mean that when you don't know the mac address you can't
>connect to the remote AP ? If yes, then how do people do to connect to
>hotspots when travelling ?
In regular client mode you don't need the MAC address unless the
AP is filtering on MAC addresses. Hence, an open AP would not
have that set and it would not be needed, but a closed AP might
very well require it.
On the other hand, if WDS repeater mode is used, it does need the
MAC address.
--
Floyd L. Davidson <http://web.newsguy.com/floyd_davidson>
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska)
(E-Mail Removed)
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