Help, newbie needs to setup an rv180

[jayrockjunk]

We just purchased an rv180 for the VPN.  We currently have a netgear wireless router setup doing NAT and DHCP.  It connects to a cable modem to the internet.(Comcast)  I would like to keep the rv180 behind the current firewall and just forward whatever traffic to it through the current router. 

We aren't going to do anything special but we just need remote users to access the network from home.  So here goes the questions...

Do I plug the rv180 WAN port into an LAN port on the Netgear and then an rv180 LAN port into the Netgear also?  This would create some crazy loop right?  Does the vpn traffic need to flow through the rv180 or does the fact that it is at least hitting it on the WAN port make it good to go?

Is it possible to not use the WAN port on the rv180 and have still have access to vpn by just using the LAN ports or will it only respond on the WAN side?

Are these ports the ones that need to be forwarded to the rv180 from the netgear router?

   50, 51, 443, 60443, 500, 4500

I guess I'm looking for the physical topology of this setup.  Or would it just be simpler to put the rv180 on the modem and connect the netgear to a LAN port on the rv180?  Essentially having a two router system.  But then in this case how would remote users get access to the network.

Thanks in advance for any help.  :)

I will try to muddle through the rest of it later.

[chrebert]

Hello Jay,

While most things will work properly even in a router-behind-another-router situation like you are describing, it will be very difficult to get the VPN to function.

The RV180 is really meant to function at the edge of the network, with the public IP on it's WAN interface.

Your best bet is to get the cable modem put into bridged mode and have the RV180 function as your router, firewall, NAT, and DHCP.  The entire network would function the same and everyone would be able to communicate.

You can try to forward the ports you need, but like I said, especially for VPN that generally doesn't work, especially if you are wanting to use QuickVPN.  You may also run into an issue with people connected to the cable modem/router communicating with people behind the RV180.  

There is no particular benefit to having two routers like this, since you said yourself it is a rather simple network for user access.  

If you really wanted to have two separate networks you could place the RV180 into router mode and use a different subnet behind it, this would require some static routing, and depends on your netgear routers ability to NAT traffic for the 180.

I would just go with the RV180.  If you need any assistance setting it up or transferring settings over from your netgear router feel from to give us a call at the SBSC.

Cisco Small Business Support Center Contact Numbers

Thank you for choosing Cisco,

Christopher Ebert - Network Support Engineer 

Cisco Small Business Support Center

[SamirD]

This is the best solution.  There's almost no way to configure what you want without it getting overly complex.  Just replace the netgear with the rv180.  You should have no problem configuring the rv180 with similar options like on the netgear (I've got a lot of both Netgear and Cisco smb stuff).