hang US Robotics off a Cisco router

[want2buyRV042]

here's my setup:

http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?t=4674

basically I want to hang my existing US Robotics router off an RV042 wired router

I want <b>one</b> subnet 10.117.xxx subnet mask 255.255.255.0  I see the RV042 (the lan side) will be 10.117.xxx.1 and the US Robotics will be 10.117.xxx.2 and I need to turn off DHCP on the US Robotics

The US Robotics has 3 setup pages for routing.  I've attached the screen grabs.

Does someone confidently know how to set up the US Robotics router?

[Phillip Remaker · Accepted solution]

Sounds like you just want to use the USR as an access point and use no routing capabilities.

Just

* Disable the WAN interface,

* Set a static address on the LAN interface outside of the DHCP range of the Linksys

* Disable the DHCP server

(all of these should be part of the BASIC settings, not the ROUTING settings.

* Attach the USR to any LAN port of the Linksys.

Configre the wireless radio in the future by attaching to its static address.

[want2buyRV042]

thanks so much for replying Phillip!

Sounds like you just want to use the USR as an access point and use no routing capabilities.

that's exactly what I want to do

I know, what if in the WAN options I specify IP and put 10.117.xxx.1 (the address of the Linksys router) in the IP Address and 255.255.255.0 in the subnet mask?  Then the USRobotics will send everything to the Linksys Router?

Configure the wireless radio in the future by attaching to its static address.

okay I'm worried that I have to manually enter 10.117.xxx.1 on all the PC's that connect wirelessly, here's a quote from the link

http://text.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16907434

The PCs that are connected to the second router should have the IP address of the first router as a gateway address.

so what if they don't?  hopefully their MAC addresses are broadcast and the Linksys router gives them an IP address through DHCP?

[Phillip Remaker · Accepted solution]

It's OK to leave the WAN interface the way you have it.  As long as the the WAN interface is unconnected and the USR device is not acting as a DHCP server, the unit will just act as an access point.  Do not assign a local LAN address to the WAN, just leave it obtaining the IP automatically (which it never will, since the WAN is unconnected)

Remember: leave the WAN disconnected.

Set the LAN&DHCP server section to have an address of 10.117.xxx.250, and disable the DHCP server.  When you do that, your web session will disconnect.

At this point, attach the LAN of the Linksys to the LAN of the US Robotics.  Now, any device on the Linksys network should be able to reach the USR device at it new static address 10.117.xxx.250 (you can replace 250 with any number not in the Linksys DHCP range - 250 is usually safe)

The main point here is that the USR device becomes just another client on the Linksys LAN, albeit with a static address.  All wireless devices will get DHCP info from the Linksys once they share the same LAN and the DHCP of the USR is deactivated.

[want2buyRV042]

okay I got it - leave the WAN port empty on the USRobotics router

disable DHCP on the USRobotics but of course leave it on the Cisco router

okay next step is to actually buy the Cisco router which is going to take a few days

All wireless devices will get DHCP info from the Linksys once they share the same LAN and the DHCP of the USR is deactivated.

that's great, I will also connect the TV and Sony PS 3 via cable to the US Robotics, I assume they will get their ip's from the Linksys router?

[want2buyRV042]

I think that I would rather have an RVS4000 because I'm never going to use two WAN ports on the RV042. I looked at Linksys BEFSX41 and I would just rather have better quality.  However I don't think I'll ever use VPN.

[want2buyRV042]

I got the RVS4000, I'm going to print off this thread, read the Product Documentation and tomorrow try to set everything up.

[want2buyRV042]

it works!

first, on the US Robotics router I tried to set DHCP to disable and the IP to 10.117.xxx.250 but it didn't work because

you have click "apply".

then I disconnected the US Robotics router from my iMac and from the cable modem and hooked up the Cisco router

and it set itself as 192.168.100.10, then I reconfigured it to 10.117.xxx.1  It took the Cisco router and the cable modem a few minutes to sync and then the internet worked.

then I unplugged the Cisco router from the iMac and plugged the US Robotics router into the iMac.  It took me several tries to configure the US Robotics router, I have attached some screen grabs of its final configuration.  I noticed that the US Robotics router tried to get an IP on the WAN side.  There were continuous log messages.  Note that Philip is absolutely right that you don't want to plug anything into the WAN port on the US Robotics router!

Don't plug anything into the WAN port on the US Robotics router.

To test it I pinged the Cisco router and brought up the html page on the router.  Similarly I pinged the US Robotics router and brought up its html page.  From a second computer I connected to the US Robotics router using the wireless connection.  The new setup allows me to move the US Robotics router to the centre of the house so the signal strength is much improved.  Which was the main point of the whole deal.

Thank you very much Philip for your helpful advice!

[Phillip Remaker]

Great work!  Thanks for the followup.