WDS between Draytek Vigor2600g and APExt

Hi.

Have been trawling the discussion boards, phoned Draytek and phoned
Apple.
Both companies have told me that it is possible to set up the above
but can't
send me to a page of specific instructions.

Draytek can't support Apple products, and vice versa, "but, it can be
done!" they
both said!

My Vigor 2600g wireless router currently handles my internet
connection and feeds
that to all my wireless clients in the house. But there are black
spots that I wan't to
bring into the zone.

I bought a new Extreme Base Station and an Express Base Station. The
Ext to give
me better coverage, and the Exp to also extend the zone and feed
airtunes to some
speakers in the kitchen ceiling.

Rather than hardwiring my Ext in to my Vigor and getting netconn that
way, I read about
WDS and saw that both the Ext and Vigor support it. That would be a
great solution, as it
would not make the WLAN side of my vigor redundant. I could use this
in addition to the
extended network provided by the Ext and Exp.

Does anyone have setup details that would enable me to get this up and
running? Details
for doing this with any WDS enabled non-apple router would also
provide me with some
clues.

Many thanks,
Dean.

deano wrote:
>
> Hi.
>
> Have been trawling the discussion boards, phoned Draytek and phoned
> Apple.
> Both companies have told me that it is possible to set up the above
> but can't
> send me to a page of specific instructions.
>
> Draytek can't support Apple products, and vice versa, "but, it can be
> done!" they
> both said!
>
> My Vigor 2600g wireless router currently handles my internet
> connection and feeds
> that to all my wireless clients in the house. But there are black
> spots that I wan't to
> bring into the zone.
>
> I bought a new Extreme Base Station and an Express Base Station. The
> Ext to give
> me better coverage, and the Exp to also extend the zone and feed
> airtunes to some
> speakers in the kitchen ceiling.
>
> Rather than hardwiring my Ext in to my Vigor and getting netconn that
> way, I read about
> WDS and saw that both the Ext and Vigor support it. That would be a
> great solution, as it
> would not make the WLAN side of my vigor redundant. I could use this
> in addition to the
> extended network provided by the Ext and Exp.
>
> Does anyone have setup details that would enable me to get this up and
> running? Details
> for doing this with any WDS enabled non-apple router would also
> provide me with some
> clues.
>
> Many thanks,
> Dean.

Dean,


Zen Internet directly support Macs and also, I believe, the Draytek
modems.

I'm sure a call to their *very* friendly tech support team could produce
the instructions - if they aren't on their website already.


Odie
--
Retrodata
www.retrodata.co.uk
Globally Local Data Recovery Experts

Odie,

Thanks for the heads up. I'll go that way forth and
see what they have to say.

Cheerz,
Dean

In article <(E-Mail Removed) om>, deano
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> Odie,
>
> Thanks for the heads up. I'll go that way forth and
> see what they have to say.

zen are not as gung-ho on Draytek as they once were. I'm on zen, with a
Draytek 2800 (not G) I hardwired the Draytek to a nearby (6" away)
airport express and used it as the master unit for bridging a swarm
(well OK 2 more) of other expresses lurking near amplifiers in other
bits of the house. So I guess my experience puts an upper (£55) bound
on your exposure to any incompatibility between Draytek and Airport.

--
To de-mung my e-mail address:- fsnospam$elliott$$
PGP Fingerprint: 1A96 3CF7 637F 896B C810 E199 7E5C A9E4 8E59 E248

I'm going from pillar to post here...

Until I get a categorical "no", I believe this can be done. It's just
a matter
of putting the right settings in the right place... surely it's a
matter of getting
the vigor to pass it's internet access onto the extreme, via WDS
rather than
a wire connected to the ethernet or WAN ports!?

I am getting the feeling that the answer is in the IP addresses,
rather than
the MAC addresses.

Can you expand? I've tried so many configs I'm starting to wonder if
I'm
repeating what I've already tried!!!

cheerz,
d.

> zen are not as gung-ho on Draytek as they once were. I'm on zen, with a
> Draytek 2800 (not G) I hardwired the Draytek to a nearby (6" away)
> airport express and used it as the master unit for bridging a swarm
> (well OK 2 more) of other expresses lurking near amplifiers in other
> bits of the house. So I guess my experience puts an upper (£55) bound
> on your exposure to any incompatibility between Draytek and Airport.
>
> --
> To de-mung my e-mail address:- fsnospam$elliott$$
> PGP Fingerprint: 1A96 3CF7 637F 896B C810 E199 7E5C A9E4 8E59 E248

I have 2600VG and I don't believe it supports WDS, but there may be firmware
available ?
I suggest you go to www.seg.co.uk follow the links top support, FAQ and the
forum to find your answers.
Regards,
Martin

On Apr 10, 8:36 pm, "deano" <d...@yesits.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:
> Odie,
>
> Thanks for the heads up. I'll go that way forth and
> see what they have to say.
>

Is this any use: http://apx.indusdevelopment.com/

I have the Draytek 2800G and would love to know if you get this
working.

Cheers

David

deano wrote:

Details
> for doing this with any WDS enabled non-apple router would also
> provide me with some
> clues.
>
> Many thanks,
> Dean.
>

Non-apple example:-
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/content/view/24308/98/

deano <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
[snip]
> Does anyone have setup details that would enable me to get this up and
> running? Details
> for doing this with any WDS enabled non-apple router would also
> provide me with some
> clues.

To set up WDS you need to configure one (the Draytek) as a WDS Main Base
Station and the Extreme as a WDS Remote Base Station. This involves
setting the same SSID, channel and security settings, but you also need
to enter the MAC addresses of the other routers in the WDS manually on
each router in the WDS (enter the address off the AE on the Draytek and
vice versa).

For the Airport use Airport Admin Utility to configure it to "Create a
Wireless Network (Home Router)", set up the security[1] the same as on
the Draytek then under WDS tick "Enable this base station as a WDS"
"remote base station" and enter the MAC address of the Draytek in the
box labelled Main Airport ID (or hit Select and pick it from the list).
Tick "Allow wireless clients on this base station" too.

If you tick "Enable Ethernet Port" in "Base Station Options" on the
Express it will also bridge its wired ethernet port to the wireless
network.

For the Draytek the process will be similar, but you'll need to set it
as a WDS Main Base Station and you'll probably enter the MAC address for
the Express into a list of remote base stations.


Tim

[1] You will need firmware version 6.2 or later to use WPA or WPA2 in a
WDS with the Airport Express, older firmware can oly use WEP.

As is appropriate on ng's when the OP finally gets the solution to a
problem etc...

Here's how I solved the following...
Setting up WDS between an Airport Extreme base station and a Vigor
2600g wireless router.

(above for easier search string hits).

**Important Warning**
Ensure you have the CORRECT MAC addresses before attempting to set up
ANY WDS!

This turned out to be the most basic problem at the root of my trials
and errors.
The admin pages for the Vigor router config interface does not clearly
announce the MAC address for the WIRELESS point of the device. This is
to be found at the top of the MAIN "Wireless LAN Setup" screen, under
the heading "Wireless Lan Information". Even the guy at Draytek
Premium support was unsure where to find this, when first asked. As
you are easily led to 2 other different MAC addresses on pages
preceeding this, it's easy to assume that one of them is the WLAN MAC
address!

Once I tried this MAC address in the Airport admin utility, I was up
and running within about a minute. The only other thing you need to
focus on between the AEBS and the Vigor, is to ensure that they are
both set to the same channel. Disable all security settings for setup
purposes, you can configure them later, once you have the WDS working.
Also, don't name your AEBS network, the same as that broadcast by the
Vigor (it's easy to assume that this is what you should do). Once the
WDS has been setup, you use the AIBS's airport network... that sent
out by the vigor remains in your drop down list of available networks,
but is not required (unless of course you roam outside of the range of
the AEBS, but are still within that of the Vigor, which you can then
use).

The connection between the AEBS and the Vigor happens beyond your
awareness... they converse via the MAC addresses (or DHCP) and all you
do is work off your newly named AEBS network.

There are many options on the vigor config pages that are indicitive
of having some relevance in setting up a WDS, and it's tempting to
tamper with them when you're running out of ideas...
DON'T... the vigor tech guy stipulated that nothing need be changed
other than entering the MAC address of the peer (AEBS) in the "Bridge"
section of the setup pane, after enabling WDS in "Bridge" mode. That's
it! do nothing else with the Vigor. Everything else gets done in
Airport utility, and that's supported by Apple and the support pages
of the Apple site.

If you've been using your vigor as a wireless router before now,
you'll likely already have IP's distributed around your network via
DHCP and NAT... this remains the same. Your AEBS (or express base
station for that matter) gets its own IP this way. In the Airport
Utility, after setting your BS up to "participate in a WDS network"
and entering the vigor's WIRELESS LAN MAC address into the WDS pane
and the AEBS as a "relay", you then go to Internet Connection and, at
the bottom, set "Connection Sharing" to "off (Bridge Mode)".

I reiterate my first point... Make sure you have the WIRELESS MAC
address of your router.

The rest you should be able to work out, after all, you're a
MacUser

deano.