Setting router as AP - IP question

[Filingo]

Main Router A of ISP has IP range of 192.168.1.2 - 192.168.1.254

 

Router B default IP is 10.0.0.138.

 

I disabled DHCP - do I also need to change its IP manually to an IP in the range of Router A? Or once I disable DHCP it will be done automatically by Router A?

 

Or, I need to manually set Router B's IP to an unused IP in the range of Router A, for example 192.168.1.200, and then manually assign this IP in Router A settings?

 

And what about Router B's default gateway?

 

Ty!

[Ralphred]

Unless you want the AP to be able to communicate outside of you LAN (probably not) it won't need a gateway.

Technically the IP you will be using on router B is for "maintenance only" and shouldn't affect it's ability to act as an AP at all, but it's a router and not an AP so putting it's address in 192.168.1.0/24 is probably a good idea.

If you set the DHCP pool on router a to 192.168.1.2-240 you'll have some spare addresses (241-254) you can manage yourself without the nuisance of logging in to it and having to "assign" them.

 

If you can't make act as a proper AP, and have to use it's routing capabilities to create another "lan inside the lan" then it becomes more complicated.

[SupaKomputa]

You dont need to touch anything on the main router.

 

On the slave router:

Disable DHCP server.

Gateway : 192.168.1.1 (the main router ip address).

slave router ip address : set manually to something like 192.168.1.255 (make it exclusive)

(if available) working mode : access point  or repeater.

[Naijin]

26 minutes ago, SupaKomputa said:

You dont need to touch anything on the main router.

 

On the slave router:

Disable DHCP server.

Gateway : 192.168.1.1 (the main router ip address).

slave router ip address : set manually to something like 192.168.1.255 (make it exclusive)

(if available) working mode : access point  or repeater.

You wouldn't want to use static address 192.168.1.255 in a /24 range  

 

1 hour ago, Filingo said:

Main Router A of ISP has IP range of 192.168.1.2 - 192.168.1.254

 

Router B default IP is 10.0.0.138.

 

I disabled DHCP - do I also need to change its IP manually to an IP in the range of Router A? Or once I disable DHCP it will be done automatically by Router A?

 

Or, I need to manually set Router B's IP to an unused IP in the range of Router A, for example 192.168.1.200, and then manually assign this IP in Router A settings?

 

And what about Router B's default gateway?

 

Ty!

What brand/model is your router B?

 

Check the manual of your router, most manuals will list a procedure on how to set up AP/switch mode. On most routers it's disable DHCP and use the (usually) 4 ports for LAN only, the WAN/uplink port can cause issues on some routers (my ASUS and TP-Link listed that as DO NOT USE with AP mode). Your router will basically be running as a network switch so no need for default gateways etc.

 

If possible, just edit your DHCP range and reserve about 10-20 addresses, maybe even limit the range from ex. 192.168.1.2-192.168.1.150 (how often do you use 149 clients?) and the lease to 8-24 hours. That way you can use a few static addresses if you ever feel the need to without accidentally setting a duplicate.

[Filingo]

59 minutes ago, Ralphred said:

Unless you want the AP to be able to communicate outside of you LAN (probably not) it won't need a gateway.

Technically the IP you will be using on router B is for "maintenance only" and shouldn't affect it's ability to act as an AP at all, but it's a router and not an AP so putting it's address in 192.168.1.0/24 is probably a good idea.

If you set the DHCP pool on router a to 192.168.1.2-240 you'll have some spare addresses (241-254) you can manage yourself without the nuisance of logging in to it and having to "assign" them.

 

If you can't make act as a proper AP, and have to use it's routing capabilities to create another "lan inside the lan" then it becomes more complicated.

 

33 minutes ago, Naijin said:

You wouldn't want to use static address 192.168.1.255 in a /24 range  

 

What brand/model is your router B?

 

Check the manual of your router, most manuals will list a procedure on how to set up AP/switch mode. On most routers it's disable DHCP and use the (usually) 4 ports for LAN only, the WAN/uplink port can cause issues on some routers (my ASUS and TP-Link listed that as DO NOT USE with AP mode). Your router will basically be running as a network switch so no need for default gateways etc.

 

If possible, just edit your DHCP range and reserve about 10-20 addresses, maybe even limit the range from ex. 192.168.1.2-192.168.1.150 (how often do you use 149 clients?) and the lease to 8-24 hours. That way you can use a few static addresses if you ever feel the need to without accidentally setting a duplicate.

Thank you guys, this router as an option to leave the gateway ip blank as it's "optional" when I disable DHCP, so that would be the best to leave it blank completely?

 

One more thing I noticed is that even though I disable DHCP, it still wants me to set "Start IP Address" and "End IP Address", and I can't leave it blank - what should I set there?

[Naijin]

1 minute ago, Filingo said:

 

Thank you guys, this router as an option to leave the gateway ip blank as it's "optional" when I disable DHCP, so that would be the best to leave it blank completely?

 

One more thing I noticed is that even though I disable DHCP, it still wants me to set "Start IP Address" and "End IP Address", and I can't leave it blank - what should I set there?

What's your make and model of router? Did you check the manual?

[Filingo]

It's very old, TP-Link TL-WR1043N

[Naijin]

3 minutes ago, Filingo said:

It's very old, TP-Link TL-WR1043N

I used roughly the same router years ago, try this:

https://www.tp-link.com/nl-be/support/faq/1384/

 

Pay attention to step 7, don't use that single blue(?) ethernet port but only use the grouped LAN ports (for uplink and devices).

[Filingo]

5 minutes ago, Naijin said:

I used roughly the same router years ago, try this:

https://www.tp-link.com/nl-be/support/faq/1384/

 

Pay attention to step 7, don't use that single blue(?) ethernet port but only use the grouped LAN ports (for uplink and devices).

Perfect! It's almost what I did! So it should work,

Ty!

[Naijin]

4 minutes ago, Filingo said:

Perfect! It's almost what I did! So it should work,

Ty!

Most modern routers have an AP mode these days where you can simply click a button and everything works.

 

I used to have a "Frankenstein" network at my parents' house when I still lived there, adding piece by piece (wireless modem, Asus router, TP-Link router, some unmanaged switches). I completely changed the network 2 years ago with Unifi equipment (a Fortigate firewall, 2x Unifi switch and 2x Unifi AP) and it works so much better, managing is a lot easier. Since moving out I have a Fortigate and Unifi equipment myself, managing those 2 sites with 1 controller and a tunnel between those networks. Is it necessary? No. Is it fun to set up? Yes.

[Filingo]

2 hours ago, Naijin said:

Most modern routers have an AP mode these days where you can simply click a button and everything works.

 

I used to have a "Frankenstein" network at my parents' house when I still lived there, adding piece by piece (wireless modem, Asus router, TP-Link router, some unmanaged switches). I completely changed the network 2 years ago with Unifi equipment (a Fortigate firewall, 2x Unifi switch and 2x Unifi AP) and it works so much better, managing is a lot easier. Since moving out I have a Fortigate and Unifi equipment myself, managing those 2 sites with 1 controller and a tunnel between those networks. Is it necessary? No. Is it fun to set up? Yes.

planning to get something new soon, this is temporary thank you

[Alex Atkin UK]

13 hours ago, Naijin said:

I completely changed the network 2 years ago with Unifi equipment (a Fortigate firewall, 2x Unifi switch and 2x Unifi AP) and it works so much better, managing is a lot easier. Since moving out I have a Fortigate and Unifi equipment myself, managing those 2 sites with 1 controller and a tunnel between those networks. Is it necessary? No. Is it fun to set up? Yes.

That's certainly a matter of opinion, I still prefer to keep everything independent rather than having to waste resources running a controller (or lord forbid a cloud one, which is kinda useless if you're trying to fix lack of connectivity) that has 10000 options I don't need and can't use unless I tie myself into their ecosystem.

I wish we had an open standard for this sort of thing (SNMP is rather dated and always seems to be implemented feature incomplete, eg my Zyxel doesn't report WiFi client link rates) so you had options for what controller you want to use regardless of brand, but of course they can't tie you into their brand if they do that.

Maybe now OpenWRT are supporting switches they will slowly develop some sort of back-end to do this.