dantso
join:2000-07-30
New York, NY | WRT54G: no NAT ? Is there a way to tell the WRT54G NOT to do NAT ?
I need it to do DHCP but not NAT.
Also I would rather be able to set my own gateway rather than its DHCP *assume* that it is going to be the gateway.
I know I can just use the LAN ports, but that doesn't solve the DHCP/gateway problem. I'm using the WAN port just to be able to set my own gateway. |
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 PhilRojo SolPremium
join:2001-06-11
Camarillo, CA
kudos:2 | I don't believe it is possible to disable NAT on this device.
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Correcting one "looser" at a time. |
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 LanikLab-nikPremium,ExMod 2002-03
join:2001-06-25
Bay Area | reply to dantso
said by dantso:Also I would rather be able to set my own gateway rather than its DHCP *assume* that it is going to be the gateway. If I understood what you're asking, as long as you use the router WAN port the gateway of each client will be the routers IP. You change the routers IP and the gateway changes.
And no you can't disable NAT. I'm curious why would you need to disable NAT?
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"If it ain't broke don't fix it." |
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 Mountaineer1Big WVU FanPremium,MVM
join:2002-01-12
Universe
kudos:2 | reply to dantso
said by dantso:Is there a way to tell the WRT54G NOT to do NAT ? I need it to do DHCP but not NAT. Do you want to use it as a switch/AP?
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I'm just a Material Handling Tech. If it's too heavy,get a forklift. |
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dantso
join:2000-07-30
New York, NY | reply to Lanik
said by Lanik:said by dantso:Also I would rather be able to set my own gateway rather than its DHCP *assume* that it is going to be the gateway. If I understood what you're asking, as long as you use the router WAN port the gateway of each client will be the routers IP. You change the routers IP and the gateway changes. And no you can't disable NAT. I'm curious why would you need to disable NAT? My home network setup is fairly complicated, mostly because 1) a single wireless router cannot span the entire distance, 2) I like using a PC (running Freebsd) as the central server, which gets the real IP address from the cable modem.
So, 1) there are multiple PHYs, including two real 10baseTs (laser printers and PS/2's need 10baseTs), a HomePNA, which can span the entire house, and a couple of WiFi APs. 2) The server PC acts as an SMB fileserver, so I cannot have a NAT'ing router between any WiFi PC or laptop and the fileserver. That is why I don't want this WiFi router to do NAT, although I do want it to do DHCP. The central server does NAT, so no point in double NAT, but moreover I need all machines to be able to SMB with the fileserver.
All I want is a WiFi box that will DHCP on its subnet and gateway (WITHOUT NAT) to another subnet (say a 10baseT or HomePNA backbone). |
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dantso
join:2000-07-30
New York, NY | reply to Mountaineer1
said by Mountaineer1:said by dantso:Is there a way to tell the WRT54G NOT to do NAT ? I need it to do DHCP but not NAT. Do you want to use it as a switch/AP? I would be happy for the box to act as a switch/AP for Wifi, as long as it also does DHCP where I can specify the gateway IP address that is handed out, which would NOT be the switch/AP box, but some other IP address. |
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LanikLab-nikPremium,ExMod 2002-03
join:2001-06-25
Bay Area | reply to dantso
I see in that case if you want to by pass NAT all together and use this device as switch/AP take the cable out of WAN port and plug into any of LAN ports, now its switch/AP.
Hope thats what you're looking for.
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"If it ain't broke don't fix it." |
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dantso
join:2000-07-30
New York, NY | said by Lanik:I see in that case if you want to by pass NAT all together and use this device as switch/AP take the cable out of WAN port and plug into any of LAN ports, now its switch/AP. Well, it is half of what I'm looking for. That doesn't solve the requirement for DHCP with a gateway being some other device (in fact it won't give a valid/useable DHCP lease since it thinks that it will be the gateway -- to nowhere since the WAN port will be unconnected).
It is sounding like my only possible solution, without completely reconfiguring my network, is to use this box as a switch/AP, shut its DHCP server down and get some other device (on one of the LAN ports) to act as the DHCP server (and gateway). |
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LanikLab-nikPremium,ExMod 2002-03
join:2001-06-25
Bay Area
1 edit | I'm sorry I missed the part about you wanting to use it as DHCP server. Yes you're right you can't have both with this device either NAT (use it as a router) or no NAT (use it as a switch/AP no DHCP).
See below. 
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"If it ain't broke don't fix it." |
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Mountaineer1Big WVU FanPremium,MVM
join:2002-01-12
Universe
kudos:2 | reply to dantso
Which hardware version is the WRT54G,1~4 or 5~6? I know that the DD-WRT firmware will allow you to disable the WAN port,and let you assign that port to the LAN with a version 1~4. Not for sure about the 5~6 version,since it has less memory.
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I'm just a Material Handling Tech. If it's too heavy,get a forklift. |
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dantso
join:2000-07-30
New York, NY | said by Mountaineer1:Which hardware version is the WRT54G,1~4 or 5~6? I know that the DD-WRT firmware will allow you to disable the WAN port,and let you assign that port to the LAN with a version 1~4. Not for sure about the 5~6 version,since it has less memory. I believe it is a 1~4 (will check later). But what do you mean "let you assign that port to the LAN". If you mean have the WAN port act as an extra LAN port, that is not interesting or useful to me. But if the WAN port could become a gateway to another subnet WITHOUT NAT between the two, then that would be useful. Or even if, by connecting a device to the WAN which is on the LAN, and giving it its proper static IP address, it could become the gateway, that would also solve the problem.
In other words, if the LAN is 192.168.0.x, and by setting the WAN to be 192.168.0.1 and connecting a device to the WAN port whose IP *was* 192.168.0.1, and it would become the gateway (and no NAT going on), that would solve the problem. |
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I thought the Router/Gateway switch on the "Advanced Routing" page was to do what you want
quote:
Operating Mode: If the router is hosting your Internet connection, select Gateway mode. If another router exists on your network, select Router mode.
In Gateway mode it must be a NAT router, In Router mode it should just route, no? |
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Mountaineer1Big WVU FanPremium,MVM
join:2002-01-12
Universe
kudos:2 | reply to dantso
Are you connecting the WRT54G to another router,that has a DHCP server already?
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I'm just a Material Handling Tech. If it's too heavy,get a forklift. |
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| reply to dantso
I don't believe you can disable NAT and still do DHCP. The simplest solution seems to be making the WRT54G an AP, putting it into router mode as opposed to gateway mode, and let something else do DHCP. Making it an access point will disable NAT and DHCP. It will simply forward to/from the actual gateway, which will handle NAT, DHCP, and DNS resolution. In AP mode, you specify on the Linksys what the IP address of the real gateway is.
Since you have a FreeBSD server acting as your gateway, doesn't it make more sense to let it perform that chore? I don't run it here, but I'm pretty sure it can act as a DHCP server. You might also want to look at providing static IPs for your various devices
I do that here with my WRT54G. I run third-party firmware (Tomato) on the Linksys, that will let me specify by MAC address what IP I wish served by DHCP to what device. I think that's doable on the BSD box as well.
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Dennis |
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dantso
join:2000-07-30
New York, NY | reply to Mountaineer1
said by Mountaineer1:Are you connecting the WRT54G to another router,that has a DHCP server already? I am connecting the WRT54G to another router. But at the moment, that router does NOT have an DHCP server running. If it did, then I know I can just use the WRT54G as a switch/AP and problem will be solved. |
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Mountaineer1Big WVU FanPremium,MVM
join:2002-01-12
Universe
kudos:2 | I think you can use the DHCP server on the WRT54G,and have it setup the way I described earlier,in your thread. I have the DD-WRT SP3 BETA running on a network,that I setup for a buddy a few months ago. His network has the DHCP server on a Dlink DI-704P and the WRT54G is connected to port 4 of the Dlink.
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I'm just a Material Handling Tech. If it's too heavy,get a forklift. |
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dantso
join:2000-07-30
New York, NY | reply to dmccunney
said by dmccunney:The simplest solution seems to be making the WRT54G an AP, putting it into router mode as opposed to gateway mode, and let something else do DHCP. ...Since you have a FreeBSD server acting as your gateway, doesn't it make more sense to let it perform that chore? Yes, I'm coming to that conclusion... which is a shame because the WRT54G has all that I need, if I could only configure it and turns individual features on/off more flexibly...
Yes, the FreeBSD server can and currently does run a DHCP server. But it is only for another segment of the network. I guess I'm not as familiar with DHCP as I should be: can a DHCP server serve across multiple routers ? I'm not sure it can. The problem is that the WiFi network segment is not directly connected to the FreeBSD machine -- as explained before, the only network that actually spans the whole house is the HomePNA, and the WRT54G doesn't have a HomePNA connection.
I doubt that DHCP can span multiple routers/subnets since there would be no way for the 2nd tier routers to know to forward the DHCP requests up to the 1st tier subnet (yes?).
But I'm working on getting another device on the WRT54G LAN to do the DHCP -- I think that is the most expedient solution at this point, unless I/someone can find out how to get the WRT54G not to do NAT, but still do DHCP. |
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dantso
join:2000-07-30
New York, NY | reply to Mountaineer1
said by Mountaineer1:I think you can use the DHCP server on the WRT54G,and have it setup the way I described earlier,in your thread. Sorry, I'm not sure exactly which way you mean... The problem I run into when using the DHCP server on the WRT54G is that it wants to hand out itself as the default gateway/default route. If I could change what its DHCP server hands out as the gateway to another device on its LAN ports (e.g. another router connected to one of the LAN ports), then it should work fine. |
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Mountaineer1Big WVU FanPremium,MVM
join:2002-01-12
Universe
kudos:2
1 edit | Well,right now I have Tomato 1.07 loaded in my
WRT54G,so let me load the DD-WRT firmware into it. I will get back with the setup,ASAP.
Edit: This is my WRT54G loaded with DD-WRT SP3 ,and the DHCP server is on my Netopia DSL gateway. I have it set to DHCP Forwarder,so the netopia is handling the DHCP request.It will allow you to set it as a DHCP server,and assign a static gateway,and DNS server.
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I'm just a Material Handling Tech. If it's too heavy,get a forklift. |
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dantso
join:2000-07-30
New York, NY | reply to mstombs
said by mstombs:I thought the Router/Gateway switch on the "Advanced Routing" page was to do what you want quote:
Operating Mode: If the router is hosting your Internet connection, select Gateway mode. If another router exists on your network, select Router mode.
In Gateway mode it must be a NAT router, In Router mode it should just route, no? Hmmm.... I'll have to check that out... sounds like a poss... |
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