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jnerney

15 Posts

7053

June 20th, 2007 16:00

Need help to add wireless to existing wired internet connection

Hello,

 

We need some help to add wireless to existing wired internet connection. Below is our current set up. 

Dell OptiPlex G270 and Dimension 8400 both running XP Pro SP2 connected to DrayTek Vigor 2200E-plus VPN Broadband Router which is connected to a BritePort DSL modem.

 

Each desktop is connected to one of 4 LAN ports on router and the router’s WAN port is connected to the DSL modem.  

 

The VPN connection is our international corporate network and cannot be disrupted – the DrayTek router is the most stable and reliable means of maintaining a consistent VPN connection so it must stay in place.

 

We would like to add a Dell Inspiron 8000 currently running XP Pro SP 1 (plan on installing SP2 from CD today) via wireless to share the same internet connection as the desktops.  Right now  the notebook is not connected to the internet and on the advice of a Dell salesperson 2 weeks ago, we purchased a Linksys Wireless G Router – WRT54G – and a Linksys Wireless G Notebook Adaptor – WPC54G so that we could set up the wireless connection on the notebook.

 

The notebook does not have to be networked to the desktops and should not have access to our VPN connection.  We just want to be able to access the internet on it.  Without disturbing our existing wired setup, can anybody tell us exactly what has to be done to accomplish this?  Any help would be most appreciated.  Thank you, Joan

NemesisDB

7.9K Posts

June 20th, 2007 17:00

The VPN situation complicates matters and as I don't know the specs of your box, I'm not even going to attempt to tell you how best to configure it.  You have two basic options though (as I see it).
 
1) Treat the wrt54g as an access point and place it behind your current VPN router.  You would connect the two routers LAN port to LAN port.  You would turn off routing features and DHCP in the wrt54g.  It would then provide wireless.
 
The downside to this approach is that with a basic configuration, wireless users would have access to the VPN and the wired desktop.  This could potentionally be avoided by setting up seperate vlans or otherwise creating port specific routing rules in your VPN router -- how easy this will be to do (or even if it's possible) depend completely upon the capabilities of your VPN router.
 
This is the best solution if you can get it to work.
 
2) Buy multiple IPs from your ISP.  Then buy a switch.  Connect the switch to the DSL modem.  Connect your VPN router's WAN port to the switch and give it one of the IPs.  Connect your wrt54g to the switch and give it the other IP.  The two network segments will thus be seperated -- a wireless user would appear to the VPN router as any other untrusted internet address would.
 
The downside to this approach is likely the cost from your ISP.  Usually additional addresses cost a bit more per month.
 
 
--
 
What hardware version of wrt54g do you have?  Many of them can be "upgraded" with 3rd party open source firmware called dd-wrt ( www.dd-wrt.com).  This firmware provides many extra features which may or may not help you with what you're trying to do.  For instance, with dd-wrt firmware I can use my wrt54g router as a VPN server (or client) and completely isolate wireless users from the rest of the network with the simple click of a button.  This won't be the solution for you because you want to keep your current VPN bridge/client, but the extra options may still come in handy.
 

jnerney

15 Posts

June 21st, 2007 13:00

Thank you for reply.  When you say to turn off routing and DHCP features on the wrt45g, is that something I do when I access the routers set up page?  Software version 8.0.  Thanks again, Joan
 
 

NemesisDB

7.9K Posts

June 21st, 2007 14:00

yes, those options will be available under the router's webGUI setup page.  Really, since you're not using the WAN port at all on the wrt54g, all you need to turn off is DHCP.  This will allow your primary VPN router to assign everyone an IP address on the same subnet.
 
I assume you mean your hardware version (not software) is 8.0.  You can find more details here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrt54g .  Unfortunately, I'm nearly certain that 8.0 is not supported by dd-wrt -- not that you necessarily need or want it for what you're trying to do.

jnerney

15 Posts

June 21st, 2007 14:00

Yes, I did mean hardware version.  Thanks for your prompt response - I believe we are all set to go now.  Joan

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