Help with Configuring a Home Network Properly
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Solved lisfolks Oct 22, 2011 10:25:15 AM
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A long post, but hopefully worth the reading:
I had some weird things happening the weekend after I set up my NVG510 as described above in the post starting:
"Okay, so here's what I've done that seems to be working at the moment...
- In the NVG510's setup, under Home Network, then Subnets & DHCP, I set the following:"
The Issue:
When family members were trying to access the Internet with multiple devices, things kept locking up. Say for example, the kids were trying to watch videos, one on an iPad, the other on an iPod Touch. The videos were buffering really slowly and kept locking up. So... back to the drawing board. Now, I have some interesting findings and a new setup.
The Research:
I researched IP-DSL and IP Passthrough a bit. It seems that IP-DSL, which U-verse is using, is actually using IP like a typical ethernet network. (Their prior DSL used ATM, which is a bit more complex technology.) The U-verse Residential Gateway (RG) is getting an IP address and gateway just like anything else you set up with IP and DHCP. The "Broadband IPv4 Address" on the Broadband Status tab is the public IP handed out to the RG. The "Gateway IPv4 Address" is the AT&T router managing the RG (typically called the "Default Gateway").
IP Passthrough is supposed to allow another device to receive the IP address of the RG. When IP Passthrough is turned on, then, the NVG510 is supposed to give its own public IP address to a specified LAN device. The instructions on the right-hand side of the IP Passthrough tab confirm this.
The Theoretical Setup
To set up the NVG510 correctly, then, for use with a home router (assuming you don't want to simply let your home router be a bridge, of course) -
Starting with the NVG510's default settings:
- Under Home Network, then Subnets & DHCP, I set the following:
Device IPv4 Address: <the IP address I want to use for the RG (the default is 192.168.1.254, which is okay too)>
DHCPv4 Start Address: <some IP address within the RG's subnet (say 192.168.1.1)>
DHCPv4 End Address: <the same IP address as the Start Address, above (since I'm not using the NVG510's DHCP)>
- Under Home Network, Wireless,
Wireless Operation: Off
- Under Firewall, IP Passthrough,
Allocation Mode: Passthrough
Passthrough Mode: DHCPS-fixed
Passthrough Fixed MAC Address: <MAC address of the home router>
On the AEBS, then:
- Under Internet, Internet Connection,
Connect Using: Ethernet
Connection Sharing: Share a Public IP Address
- Under Internet, TCP/IP,
Configure IPv4: DHCP
- Under Internet, DHCP, the DHCP values are set as normal, with an address range in a different subnet from the RG, though, in order to prevent double NAT messages. (For example, if the RG is 192.168.1.x, the AEBS is 192.168.2.x)
Restart the NVG510, then the AEBS.
Theoretically, the NVG510 should, using its own DHCP, give the AEBS its own public IP address (the "Broadband IPv4 Address"), a valid Subnet Mask, and the Default Gateway (Router) value equal to the "Gateway IPv4 Address".
In actuality, for some reason, the NVG510 only will give the AEBS its Gateway and DNS values. The AEBS gets an internal IP address and a Subnet Mask of 255.255.255.255. I suspect a bug, er, "feature", in the NVG510's firmware...
The Actual Setup
The fix, then, is to set everything up as described above - except... in the AEBS, I changed the last step:
- Under Internet, TCP/IP,
Configure IPv4: Manually
IP Address: <the RG's "Broadband IPv4 Address">
Subnet Mask: 255.255.0.0 (Note that I'm not certain this is correct. The NVG510 doesn't show a subnet mask on its Broadband/Status tab, but the values I have showing would work with this mask.)
Router: <the RG's "Gateway IPv4 Address">
DNS: <the RG's "local" IP address (e.g., 192.168.1.254 by default)>
Yay, It Works
No more lockups; everything is running smoothly with multiple devices accessing the Internet at the same time.
I'm going to mark this post as the answer, though hopefully I won't later get my hand slapped and told how I terribly messed things up - i.e., anybody trying anything I suggest in any post anywhere does so at their own risk, of course. I don't claim to be an expert - just yet another experimenter in the 'net world. Anybody with more expertise and good explanations is welcome to jump in!
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