Using 2 routers/ different functions

Plutonium0587 · Post by **Plutonium0587** » Tue Jun 19, 2007 6:58 pm

I have two routers set up on my home network, one is a wireless, one is wired. I currently have the internet connection plugged in the WAN on the wired router and have it connected through LAN ports to the wireless which is acting as a switch only. Is there any way to keep the internet connection plugged into the wired router but use the dhcp functions on the wireless? I like features of the wireless router but I am unable to switch the routers places or move the internet connection.

morbidpete · Post by **morbidpete** » Tue Jun 19, 2007 7:04 pm

i think so. you try setting the router with the wan input to switch and the wireless back to the dhcp server? i have done this myself with 2 wired routers

Plutonium0587 · Post by **Plutonium0587** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 1:59 am

Well I wasn't sure if I need to set up anything special for the DHCP router. Do I leave all of the plugs the same? What you are saying though is that I need to have the internet plugged into router one, connect router one to router two via lan ports, and use DHCP on router two instead of one. How will the DHCP router get the "internet" signal from router one to route it through the DHCP if it has nothing plugged into the WAN port? Thanks for the reply.

archangel163 · Post by **archangel163** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 7:57 am

My suggestion is that you configure the wired router to do everything and use the wireless router purely as an access point. It will pull the dhcp from the wan router and everything should work fine. for example:

Wired router:
setup NAT and DHCP, make sure your internet is plugged into the wan port. Set the Lan ip to 192.168.x.1 Then plug the wireless into one of the lan ports from one of it's lan ports. (Note: If these routers don't support auto crossove or have an uplink port you may need to use a crossove cable)

Wireless router:
Turn DHCP off. set LAN IP to 192.168.x.2 configure wireless security and stuff

that should be all you have to do. The wireless clients will get their IP from the main router and everything should work fine.

~ Mike

morbidpete · Post by **morbidpete** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 12:18 pm

thats what he's doin now. not sure why he wants to change it but to each there own

archangel163 · Post by **archangel163** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 2:38 pm

oh opps... shoulda read it more carefully... lol

Plutonium0587 · Post by **Plutonium0587** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 2:59 pm

The only reason I wanted to change it is because the wireless router has more features and I would like to use it as the DHCP instead of the wired one. I want it to be the main monitor of internet traffic instead of the other one but I can't plug the internet into the wireless one nor can I switch the wired one for the wireless one.

archangel163 · Post by **archangel163** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 3:13 pm

Then all you should need to do is plug the wan port on the wireless into the lan port on the wired and set the wireless routers wan to DHCP. It's kind double bagging and I don't know if you will run into any problems but thats how I would try it out.

~ Mike

chrisbirley · Post by **chrisbirley** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 5:16 am

you should be able to have the wired router with a static IP like 192.168.1.1 connected to your broadband.
have you wireless router with an IP address of 192.168.1.2, getting the internet from the 1st router through its LAN port.
you can then set up your DHCP scope of the 2nd router from 192.168.1.3 to 192.168.1.254, set the subnet mask as 255.255.255.0, and set the default gateway as 192.168.1.1 if you set the DNS to 192.168.1.1 and also to some internet based IP address you should be goos to go - i have done this before and this is how i got it working - no pfaffing about with double WAn ports etc - you can do this but then you have 2 completely separate networks - the internet and the LAN - 2 different IP ranges etc

Post by **YeOldeStonecat** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 6:53 am

Depending on your make/model of the wireless router..what you seek may not be possible. Many of them have their DHCP properties fixed...they give themselves out as the gateway, not allowing you to change that. In which case..it would not work.

I recommend either adding it as an access point only, if primary router is 192.168.1.1 make your wireless one 192.168.1.245, disable DHCP on the second one..uplink them using ethernet cable and a LAN port of each. Or...replace primary router with this second one.