Wifi router behind switch in LAN

Totally new to this, I would like to have a wifi router *in* my LAN so that
I can use my laptop wireless but still access shared drives inside my LAN.
So I bought an SMC wifi router and placed it behind a switch in my LAN.
Works great in that I can access internet this way with my laptop but I
cannot access shared drives.
I figure file-sharing is blocked ??
Accesssing the router's settings is overwhelming yet I can't seem to find
deliberate file-sharing disabled so I'm not sure ?
Any ideas on this ?

Also, as I want things to be secure (e.g. no other people in my LAN) I set
WPA protection with a passphrase.
That was the first thing I got to work, almost immediately so that itself
looks good but is this safe enough ?
And if so do you recommend I protect things differently ?

Peter wrote:

>Totally new to this, I would like to have a wifi router *in* my LAN so that
>I can use my laptop wireless but still access shared drives inside my LAN.
>So I bought an SMC wifi router and placed it behind a switch in my LAN.
>Works great in that I can access internet this way with my laptop but I
>cannot access shared drives.
>I figure file-sharing is blocked ??
>Accesssing the router's settings is overwhelming yet I can't seem to find
>deliberate file-sharing disabled so I'm not sure ?
>Any ideas on this ?
>
>Also, as I want things to be secure (e.g. no other people in my LAN) I set
>WPA protection with a passphrase.
>That was the first thing I got to work, almost immediately so that itself
>looks good but is this safe enough ?
>And if so do you recommend I protect things differently ?
>
>
>
>
Generally for what you want, you would just attach an Access Point to
the LAN's router. By adding another router, you are on a separate
subnet. Accessing shares on the main network is a routing issue.

Can you turn off the routing functions of the router [ that is, set it
to AP mode only]?

On 10-Jun-2005, "Peter"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> Totally new to this, I would like to have a wifi router *in* my LAN so
> that
> I can use my laptop wireless but still access shared drives inside my LAN.
> So I bought an SMC wifi router and placed it behind a switch in my LAN.
> Works great in that I can access internet this way with my laptop but I
> cannot access shared drives.
> I figure file-sharing is blocked ??
> Accesssing the router's settings is overwhelming yet I can't seem to find
> deliberate file-sharing disabled so I'm not sure ?
> Any ideas on this ?
>
> Also, as I want things to be secure (e.g. no other people in my LAN) I set
>
> WPA protection with a passphrase.
> That was the first thing I got to work, almost immediately so that itself
> looks good but is this safe enough ?
> And if so do you recommend I protect things differently ?

As for you being unable to access your shared drives, you might want to
check the settings on software firewall. That is usually the culprit. You
will probably have to make your laptop part of the firewall's trusted zone.
As for enabling encryption with WPA, that is always a plus. Even if you
didn't have WPA, but only had WEP, enabling encryption is always a positive
thing. Protecting your data is primary. All traffic, via the airwaves, can
be sniffed, but deciphering the traffic takes time. Therefore, I recommend
that you use a long nonsense passphrase. For example:

cXI-rkGKZT8i9SBMloPcY23KhMaZBdGu0QeLDAxj3OR9Az2mD5MqxB-DuNjHRIE
or
47030454834262053731562365809763105864838966532535 7964052645365e MAC address
filtering as another layer that a mischievous hacker must bypass. All in
all, changing the default SSID, enabling encryption, MAC Address filtering,
frequent review of your logs and common sense internet surfing should
provide more than enough security. One other thing, I don't recommend that
you share an entire hard drive. Create a folder for sharing and put
everything you'd like to share in it. Anyway, I hope I was helpful. Take
care.

You can also enab
--
Just Me, D

"Peter" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
news:WImqe.116018$(E-Mail Removed):

> Totally new to this, I would like to have a wifi router *in* my LAN so
> that I can use my laptop wireless but still access shared drives
> inside my LAN. So I bought an SMC wifi router and placed it behind a
> switch in my LAN.


To each their but why is the router connected to a switch? Why is the
swicth not connected to the router? Why is the router not the gateway
device for the LAN and WAN? What is the gateway device, which I must
assume is a computer ruuning ICS?

> Works great in that I can access internet this way
> with my laptop but I cannot access shared drives.
> I figure file-sharing is blocked ??
> Accesssing the router's settings is overwhelming yet I can't seem to
> find deliberate file-sharing disabled so I'm not sure ?
> Any ideas on this ?
>

I don't think you have things setup right or for some reason you decided
not to do it, IMHO. If the router were the gateway device for the WAN and
LAN even with the switch connected to it and machines conncectd to the
switch, the machines wire or wireless using the NAT router as the gateway
device would have no problems sharing resouces if the O/S(s) on the
machines were configured to share resources. The router being the gateway
device the machines would have better potection from attacks from the
Internet.

http://www.homenethelp.com/web/explain/about-NAT.asp

> Also, as I want things to be secure (e.g. no other people in my LAN) I
> set WPA protection with a passphrase.
> That was the first thing I got to work, almost immediately so that
> itself looks good but is this safe enough ?
> And if so do you recommend I protect things differently ?
>

http://compnetworking.about.com/od/w...fisecurity.htm

If you were using the router correctly as it being the gateway device for
the WAN and WAN and the router had logging capabilities, then you would
be able to enhance your secuirty by using a logviwer such as Wallwatcher
or others to review traffic to and from your network to make sure nothing
is dubious with connections to remoter IP(s).

http://www.sonic.net/wallwatcher/#Routers

Duane

Forgive me for my typos. I've discovered that I have a defect of some sort
in my laptop's keyboard. For instance, I can be typing something on the
fifth line, then all of a sudden, I'm back to typing something on the third
line. My wife will not like it, but I'll use this minor inconvenience as a
way of purchasing a new laptop. Us guys must keep our toys up to date
(smile). Anyway, I apologize again for the typos.

--
Just Me, D

smile ...
Not that your wife needs to know but ... I think this happens to more
people, I too have it once in a while.
Sometimes you're not aware that you move your thumb over the touchpad and
that then causes the cursor to jump to another location.
I used to have that often with my Dell, now with my Acer I haven't
experienced it yet.


-------------------------------------------------------
"Doug Jamal" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
newsUnqe.119765$(E-Mail Removed) m...
> Forgive me for my typos. I've discovered that I have a defect of some sort
> in my laptop's keyboard. For instance, I can be typing something on the
> fifth line, then all of a sudden, I'm back to typing something on the
> third
> line. My wife will not like it, but I'll use this minor inconvenience as a
> way of purchasing a new laptop. Us guys must keep our toys up to date
> (smile). Anyway, I apologize again for the typos.
>
> --
> Just Me, D

Thanks I will look into that.

> assume is a computer ruuning ICS?

Correct, a computer configured with Win2K
and a software firewall running on that computer

> I don't think you have things setup right or for some reason you decided
> not to do it, IMHO. If the router were the gateway device for the WAN and
> LAN even with the switch connected to it and machines conncectd to the
> switch, the machines wire or wireless using the NAT router as the gateway
> device would have no problems sharing resouces if the O/S(s) on the
> machines were configured to share resources. The router being the gateway
> device the machines would have better potection from attacks from the
> Internet.

If I put the wifi router between the modem and the LAN, and I connect with
my laptop via the wifi router ...
can I, with my laptop, then onto the LAN ??
That's why I did what I did, I think/thought that was the online possible
setup to be able to access shares from the LAN.

Peter

On 10-Jun-2005, "Peter"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> If I put the wifi router between the modem and the LAN, and I connect with
>
> my laptop via the wifi router ...
> can I, with my laptop, then onto the LAN ??
> That's why I did what I did, I think/thought that was the online possible
> setup to be able to access shares from the LAN.
>
> Peter

Yes, connect your wireless router to the cable / DSL modem via the WAN port.
Your LAN is protected and is behind the firewall. The wireless router will
then be the gateway for all of your PCs to access the internet. In the
meantime, you may have to list the IP and / or MAC addresses of each PC in
the trusted zone of your software firewall. This includes your wireless
device. If everything is set up correctly, you will be able to share files
and printers with each of your PCs safely behind the router's firewall
(provided you have file and print sharing enabled) as well as access the
internet. Again, I hope this information is useful. Take care.

--
Just Me, D

Peter wrote:

>> assume is a computer ruuning ICS?
>
> Correct, a computer configured with Win2K
> and a software firewall running on that computer
>
>> I don't think you have things setup right or for some reason you decided
>> not to do it, IMHO. If the router were the gateway device for the WAN and
>> LAN even with the switch connected to it and machines conncectd to the
>> switch, the machines wire or wireless using the NAT router as the gateway
>> device would have no problems sharing resouces if the O/S(s) on the
>> machines were configured to share resources. The router being the gateway
>> device the machines would have better potection from attacks from the
>> Internet.
>
> If I put the wifi router between the modem and the LAN, and I connect with
> my laptop via the wifi router ...
> can I, with my laptop, then onto the LAN ??
> That's why I did what I did, I think/thought that was the online possible
> setup to be able to access shares from the LAN.
>
> Peter

The other poster has answered your questions.
If you need anymore help you can post back.

Duane