1184 Wireless router

Also, is there a way to get this router to do a reverse DNS lookup? For instance, when I do a tracert or run a program called Ping Plotter, it just shows ip address and not the names. I think something is going on...every so often, while I am online, i try to go to different pages, and get "page can not be displayed". When I try it with Mozilla, i can tell it is trying to resolve the name. Thus telling me that the router is doing something funny with DNS.

As you've discovered, there are some serious problems with reverse DNS in the current firmware releases for the 1184. All DNS is proxied by the 1184, even if you specify another nameserver. There's an earlier version of the 1184 firmware that doesn't have these problems. It's referenced in this message.

Not what you wanted to hear, I'm sure.

(edit) I thought you'd configured the 2300 as a bridge, and all was well, according to the lengthy thread about a year ago. Incidentally, the real reason that fix worked is that the DNS proxy in the TM1184 is buggy, as we discovered in the second half of that thread.

Jim

Message Edited by jimw on 04-16-2004 02:32 PM

As far as I know, the reverse DNS problems are still present in current TM2300 firmware. And yes, the earlier version in which reverse DNS worked correctly was reported as being unstable. Someone who's running 1.73 may be able to comment on port forwarding. My recollection is that there were still problems forwarding TCP/80 discussed in the second half of that long thread.

Jim

Is there anyway to get into the router configuration, maybe telnet, and change some settings? I would like to see what the MTU and other settings are?

As long as it's been configured as a router, it should be accessible via your Web browser at   http://192.168.2.1

There's a telnet listener (not at TCP/23), but it gets you to the underlying Linux system, not the router configuration.

I haven't found anything that allows the MTU to be viewed. Although the manual doesn't say so, it may be displayed under System Tools/System Diagnostics.

The most recent version of the TM1184 firmware seems to be v.2.12, A11, dated 2/21/2003. It's here. There's a new "Setup Wizard" that goes with it  here. That version of the "Wizard" is described as only compatible with 2.12 or later.

What problem are you having?

Jim

Other than the DNS issues, theres not really a problem. Its several little things that is going on. I am not getting good consistant speeds from my bandwidth. I know that the NIC has it own Settings, (MTU, Rwin, ect) and I know also know that the router has it owns too. And if the 2 are not the same you can have problems or issues.

Now, I understand about the wireless connection, its not going to be that great (compared to the wired PC), but I should be getting atleast close to my speeds (3000/386). With just the modem and the NIC tweaked, I was getting around 2600/340. Now With the router inline, on the PC that is wired to the router via cat5e, i barely push 2200/300.

From everybody I have talked to, my IT guy at work, my ISP support, and different people in the industry, the common thing that comes up is the MTU and Rwin settings.

What is your input.

I think you are the one that intially help me set this up about a year ago. If I am not mistaken

 

Now, I understand about the wireless connection, its not going to be that great (compared to the wired PC), but I should be getting at least close to my speeds (3000/386). With just the modem and the NIC tweaked, I was getting around 2600/340. Now With the router inline, on the PC that is wired to the router via cat5e, i barely push 2200/300.

Yep, I'm the person you worked with. That's why I keep asking whether you'd reverted to using the TM1184 in router mode. We'd ended that thread with you having switched it to bridge mode, since you also had a broadband router.

So the MTU in question is the wired adapter, connected to the TM1184? That one's almost certainly 1500, since it's Ethernet. I'd be surprised if the 1184 weren't capable of sustaining a 10 mbit/sec. stream on the wired interfaces, but your data suggests it's not.

From what I've found, the typical MTU setting for a wireless device is 1500 (same as Ethernet), but the wireless packet size maximum is actually 2304 bytes. That setting would need to be made on the wireless adapter in the PC, and could make things worse if data's dropped. I've seen articles about changing wireless adapter MTUs for Linux and FreeBSD, but none for any of the Windows variants/wireless vendors. The TM1184 would probably fragment a packet that's bigger than 1500 bytes so it could successfully send it out through the Ethernet interface.

The Windows "ping" utility allows the "Don't fragment" bit to be set, so you can determine the maximum packet size your network will pass without fragmenting. Ours is consistently 1472 (plus 28 equals 1500) whether the machine is connected via one of our access points or via Ethernet. That was done with "ping -f -l 1472 sfo.speakeasy.net". Speakeasy's our ISP, and sfo.speakeasy.net is their test machine for this area. One more byte and the packets didn't make it because of fragmentation.

DSL Reports has an extensive FAQ on the subject of tweaks. I haven't tried any of these on our wireless machines.

I also found an interesting thread about optimizing 802.11b throughput. One of the articles definitely suggests that throughput on the wireless card itself can be the limiting factor.


Jim