Site-to-Site VPN / RV180W / ZyXEL P-663HN-51

[sjackowski]

In the coming days I will be attempting to connect two sites with a VPN tunnel using two RV180W's, these sites have Frontier as their ISP using the ZyXEL P-663HN-51 DSL modems at both locations.

I need to put these two modems in bridge mode, I founfd this article which seems to make it look rather easy, my question is, will I need the PPoE information since we are talking about DSL here?

Has anyone encountered such a setup?

[paolo bevilacqua]

Wrong forum, post in "Small Business routers". You can move your posting with the Actions panel on the right.

[sjackowski]

Wanted to update with some recent content.

As for the PPoE settings, the current Frontier device at location 1 looks like PPoA? At any rate they are sending out a new device to location 1 (Netgear B90-755044) I'm hoping this device can be easily bridged and work with the RV180W.

The ZyXEL P-663HN-51 resides at location 2.

So my steps should be as follows:

1. At location 1 Put Netgear B90-755044 into bridge mode and attach RV180W to it and configure WAN settings and VPN.

2. At location 2 put ZyXEL P-663HN-51 into bridge mode and attach RV180W to it and configure WAN and VPN settings.

[SamirD]

I believe the rv series doesn't support pppoa, so that might be an issue.  If the newer firmware supports pppoa, you should be okay.

Your steps look good to me!

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[sjackowski]

Well it all worked well but one issue arose.

At location 2 they have a static IP address, when I look at the attached RV180W it does not show that IP?

If they lose power or cycle that RV180W they could obtain another IP address which I do not want.

I know the static IP works because before all this I attached my laptop directly to the (at that point unbridged) ZyXEL P-663HN-51 and statically mapped my NIC and was able to get out fine.

So perhaps the ZyXEL P-663HN-51 does not need to be bridged before I attach my RV180W?

Should I configure the "static" WAN option in the RV180W instead of "PPoE"? (seems like I tried that before and it didn't work)

I could really use some help here.

[SamirD]

Hmmm...so I'm not completely understanding what you mean by static IP. 

Is the zyxel giving your laptop it's WAN IP?  If so, then it looks like it might already be in bridge mode with the pppoe/oa already setup within it somehow.  If so, then you should be able to attach the rv180 and also get the same IP.  If not, just setup the WAN mac address on the rv180 to match your laptop.  Then it will get the same IP.

If you set up the rv180's WAN to static, you will have to manually enter in all the IP address information--IP, gateway, subnet mask, dns servers.  That may be why it didn't work before.  If you're using pppoe and require the login information to get connected, just like you would on your laptop, then the IP address assignment is controlled by the zyxel.  And the same solution of changing the wan mac address on the rv180 to match your laptop may give you the static IP you want.

Clear as mud?  Feel free to ask questions!

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[sjackowski]

1. No the zyxel is not giving me an address, I had to statically map my laptop with the IP address (static one given to me), subnet mask, default gateway and DNS in order to get out.

2. I tried the "static WAN" route on the RV180W but that did not work, I could only get it working by going the "PPoE" route on the RV180W. That’s the issue here I think, if I choose the PPoE method and then go the "status" page of the RV180W it does allow me out and does work but I am getting DHCP WAN address and not the static one, how is that possible?

[SamirD]

1.  I'm confused.  How are you getting an address if you're only using the laptop?

2.  PPPoE is typically dynamic, so it must be ignoring the static information you have put in.

Huntsville's Premiere Car and Bike e-magazine: www.huntsvillecarscene.com

[sjackowski]

I'm taking the static IP that I purchased and using that as my static IP address on my laptop, it's the only way you are going to connect if you are going to connect directly to your ISP's modem, if I did not purchase a static IP address then I could simply use DHCP on my laptop and get a DHCP adress from my ISP.

[SamirD]

Okay, so this is starting to make a little more sense.  Where does PPPoE come into play on the laptop connection?

Cam you post a diagram network with the laptop connected, and then how you would like everything connected?    

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