Repeater Bridge

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#*Add #*Add
#*Wireless Network Name(SSID) : Different from Primary Router #*Wireless Network Name(SSID) : Different from Primary Router
 +##*[NOTE] - being a bridged setup and all DHCP is being done by the host AP - it is possible to use the same SSID as the Host AP for this Virtual SSID name. This will allow roaming hand-offs between the 2 units.[[User:Redhawk0|redhawk]]
#*Wireless SSID Broadcast : Enable #*Wireless SSID Broadcast : Enable
#*AP Isolation : Disable #*AP Isolation : Disable
Line 59: Line 60:
You should now be able to connect wired clients and wireless clients to the newly configured Secondary router. They will receive IP Addresses from the Primary Router and will be able to use the Internet connection supplied by the Primary Router. You should now be able to connect wired clients and wireless clients to the newly configured Secondary router. They will receive IP Addresses from the Primary Router and will be able to use the Internet connection supplied by the Primary Router.
- 
== '''TROUBLESHOOTING''' == == '''TROUBLESHOOTING''' ==

Revision as of 15:03, 23 January 2008

Wireless Bridging is used to connect two LAN segments via a wireless link. The two segments will be in the same subnet and look like two Ethernet switches connected by a cable to all computers on the subnet. Since the computers are on the same subnet, broadcasts will reach all machines, allowing DHCP clients in one segment to get their addresses from a DHCP server in a different segment. You could use a Wireless Bridge to transparently connect computer(s) in one room to computer(s) in a different room when you could not, or did not want to run an Ethernet cable between the rooms.

The limitation with standard Bridging is that it only allows wired clients to connect to the secondary router. New in v24 is Repeater Bridge mode which allows extension of the LAN via the secondary router and but also allows wireless clients to connect to the secondary router. This is a perfect way to extend the wireless range of your existing network while still allowing wired clients to connect to the secondary router.

Reference Image
Reference Image


In the case in which we are interested, a secondary router running DD-WRT v24 is configured as a Repeater Bridge between a Primary wireless router (of any make/brand/FW) allowing the above configuration.

Assumptions:

Primary router is configured in a 192.168.1.X subnet and leases DHCP address in the same pool. Secondary router is running DD-WRT v24

No security setup will be covered in this Wiki. It will be up to the user to setup security between the Primary and Secondary routers

Contents

Instructions

A very simple step-by-step description to connect a Router running DD-WRTV24 in Repeater Bridge Mode:

To enable Bridge-Mode between two Routers, the Primary router has to be in AP mode. The Secondary router running DD-WRT v24 as Repeater Bridged

  1. Restore Factory Defaults on Secondary(DD-WRT) Router
  2. Connect to the secondary router via wired or wireless client keeping in mind the dd-wrt default settings for dhcp pool and ssid
  3. Open the Wireless -> Basic Settings tab
    • Wireless Mode : Repeater Bridge
    • Wireless Network Mode : Match Primary Router
    • Wireless Network Name(SSID) : Match Primary Router
    • Wireless Channel : Match Primary Router
    • Wireless SSID Broadcast : Enable
    • Network Configuration : Bridged
    • Save Settings
  4. Virtual Interfaces Section
    • Add
    • Wireless Network Name(SSID) : Different from Primary Router
      • [NOTE] - being a bridged setup and all DHCP is being done by the host AP - it is possible to use the same SSID as the Host AP for this Virtual SSID name. This will allow roaming hand-offs between the 2 units.redhawk
    • Wireless SSID Broadcast : Enable
    • AP Isolation : Disable
    • Network Configuration : Bridged
    • Save Settings
  5. Open the Setup -> Basic Setup tab
    • Connection Type : Disabled
    • IP Address : 192.168.1.2 (Assuming Primary Router IP is 192.168.1.1)
    • Mask : 255.255.255.0
    • Gateway: 192.168.1.1 (again assuming Primary Router IP is 192.168.1.1)
    • Assign WAN Port to Switch : Checked or Unchecked - your choice
    • Save Settings
  6. Open the Security -> Firewall tab
    • Uncheck all boxes
    • Disable SP1 firewall
    • Save Settings
  7. Open the Status -> Wireless tab [redhawk - If this step is performed the repeater bridge may not work - skip to Step 8]
    • Wiviz Survey (or Site Survey)
    • Join Primary Router
    • Continue
  8. Open the Administration tab
    • APPLY Settings (In V24 after 07/04/07...use Save for previous versions)


You should now be able to connect wired clients and wireless clients to the newly configured Secondary router. They will receive IP Addresses from the Primary Router and will be able to use the Internet connection supplied by the Primary Router.

TROUBLESHOOTING

[Plaut: Under "Wireless -> Basic Settings", I found I had to use the primary router's SSID for the physical interface and a new SSID for the virtual interface]

[EDIT-Redhawk] - I altered the instructions above....Under "Wireless>>Basic Setings", the Physical SSID must match the Primary Router SSID name as indicated by Plaut and the Virtual SSID (added) needs to be different. Also added was the last step to apply the changes.

[Wlad] The instructions above, starting from default settings with v24RC4, caused my newly set-up repeater bridge to be NATing packets in the direction to the gateway. To disable this, go under the Advanced Routing tab in set-up and change the mode to "router" instead of "gateway". Also have routing disabled under the Admin tab.

[Addition - Absoluteg]
Problem: Wireless clients can connect to the AP, however they can't connect to the internet.
Solution: Followed the instructions listed above and had to do the following: My host wireless router had the SPI firewall enabled (running dd-wrt 23SP2) and my wireless AP (running dd-wrt 24RC3) had the SPI firewall enabled. Per the instructions above I disabled the AP router SPI firewall but also had to disable the host routers SPI firewall. Once I did this the clients attaching to the AP could get to the internet (external access). Additional note: In my case my the host wireless router is directly cabled to the ISP hardware router which does have the firewall enabled.

[EDIT- Redhawk 12/16/07] - Steps are now in a more logical order. The Wireless being done first now allows the "assign WAN Port to Switch" to show up in the Setup page.

[Addition - nmm01]
Problem: LAN clients to the repeater could connect to internet, wireless clients to the repeater could not Solution: I followed what Luniz2k1 mentioned in the forum: http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=23008&view=next&sid=cbd716cdad2d791a3842eabb3400ac0d

Basically set the virtual ssid to a new name and the physical ssid set to the same as the primary router. Save and Apply all the changes, then used the 'join primary router' in the Site Survey. This step changed the virtual ssid to be the same as the physical ssid. But everything is working seamlessly. So I suggest if you are having difficulty getting the original steps above to work, try making these changes.

[Addition - Arturo Gallo 12/31/07]
WRT54G V2
Problem: LAN clients can connect to the repeater, wireless clients can't connect at all.
Solution: I tried everything mentioned above and i still couldn't connect to the wireless, only wired so i asked for help in the forums and user Eko said repeater-bridge is broken in rc6, he suggested to try one of his builds (rc6-8733) which can be found here: http://www.dd-wrt.com/dd-wrtv2/downloads.php (/others/eko/rc6-8733) and it worked on the first try with no problems.

[Addition - Greg McLennan/killersoft]
WAP54G V2 dd-wrt-micro RC.6
Problem: Could see new Virtual Interface via wifi but unable to make a connection.
Solution: Upgraded to http://www.dd-wrt.com/dd-wrtv2/downloads.php (/others/eko/rc6-8733) and the connection worked first try.

Security

Keep in mind any security settings will need to be configured including MAC filtering in order for the Secondary Router to connect to the Primary Router and also for clients connecting to the Secondary Router to gain full access to the connectivity of the Primary Router. There are some factors to consider when setting up Security for Client Bridge mode that may or may not be factors when setting up Repeater Bridge mode. I simply have not experimented with this.

[NOTE {Montrealmike}]Also when your adding WEP,WPA,WPA2 etc... between the AP and the repeater bridge you have to start with the AP first; then the repeater bridge.When you enable security on the repeater click save not apply, then click on the administration tab scroll down to the bottom and click apply settings. You will then have to power cycle the repeater twice ( unplug and plug back in twice ) in order for the repeater bridge and AP to synchronize. This has worked for four repeater bridges for me.

Edit - GeeTek - We know you are trying to help, but there is no logical reason to do a cold boot on anything 2 times in a row to make it work. Please double check your information before posting such advice. Some of the poor freaks out here may actually believe it to be true.

Edit - Altair - In my experience the above advice of power cycling the router has been confirmed. I spent 20 minutes trying different things to no avail before I finally gave in and tried power cycling it twice (I honestly didn't believe it would do anything). After the power cycle it has been working flawlessly.

Edit - pmiller - I can also confirm the power cycling to sync the repeater to the AP. You can confirm that the repeater has syncronized with the AP by going to the Status>Wireless tab on the AP and viewing the MAC address of the repeater with some % signal quality value. Before doing 2 power cycles on the repeater, the MAC address would display on the AP's Status>Wireless tab, but with 0% signal quality. After the power cycles the % quality displayed around 30%. I played around with other security settings later on the AP and found the 2 power cycles to be unnecessary after the 2 had originally sync'ed- no idea why this would work, but it did. I had some difficulty at first because I had security enabled on the AP as WPA2-Personal Mixed, which is basically WPA2-AES or WPA-TKIP simultaneously. The repeater is unable to connect with the AP in this mixed mode; rather you must choose between WPA2-AES or WPA-TKIP . I have now switched both my wireless security settings to WPA-TKIP (physical and virtual) just for simplicity, though in theory the virtual need not match the physical. Your security is as good as the weakest link. For those having trouble, I would turn off all security and turn on SSID broadcast first, then once you get a good sync turn on security on the AP first, then the repeater.

Accessing Both Routers?

With this setup, I have full access to both routers — which runs contrary to a lot of the notes concerning Client Bridge mode. One router is http://192.168.1.1, and the other is http://192.168.1.2. I can access both from either side of the bridge. There is no need to change any settings or IP addresses or the like with this setup in order to do so!

MAC Filtering

For those of you who have enabled MAC filtering on your Primary router, you need to add the WLAN MAC address of your Secondary router to the permitted MAC filter list of the Primary router. This is different than the MAC address printed on the bottom of the case, you can find it by going to Status->Wireless and the top line will list the internal MAC address. Of course, you will want to add the MAC filter list to the Secondary router. This should be setup prior configuring your WPA, WPA2, etc. settings otherwise you will spend some time pondering why the bridge isn't working.

[EDIT - Redhawk] - The wording here was a little confusing. Once I used the Wireless MAC address then all worked correctly....the MAC filter address on the Primary router needs to be the "Wireless MAC" address listed on the Router Status page and not the LAN MAC address . (Use Router IP +2) - Yes...I know it says WLAN but for an noob doing this procedure it could be confused.


Special thanks to Griminal for providing a basic graphic which I modified for this Wiki Entry.