Trying to run Linksys BEFSR41 Router as a switch only.

[daemorok]

I have a linksys BEFSR41 router that I am using at my house now, for me and my brother. I am moving in with a few friends and I plan on running several machines in my room.

So my one friend will have the Cable modem and his router in his room, and I wanted to just run one RJ45 to my room, plug into my router and then run all my machines from that router.

So I would like to run the router I have just as a switch, cause otherwise configuring the port forwarding is going to be a real pain in the ass.

I have been looking around, google etc, and I havent found much...

any ideas ?

[GNEP]

Should work as long as you turn DHCP on the router off... I think...

[SitFlyer]

1. Go to the advance settings, dynamic Routing tab- switch the mode to router
2. Go to the basic setup page, DHCP tab, turn off dhcp server

Connect to the other router via the uplink port.

[Kurt]

Don't forget to set the router's internal IP on the same range as the rest of the equipment...

[daemorok]

Ok, problems and an addon to the equation

This is the Network as it stands:


This is how I would like it:


Basically, I setup my router, with the settings suggested in this thread, and I can stay connected for 30-45 minutes then it drops out and I cannot pull an IP.

If I dont use my router, the connection is fine.

[HomeBrewer]

Why do you want to use two routers? Why not run the single RJ45 to a simple hub in your room? Another possibility is to connect the three (if in fact thats all ther are ) Kooldino computers to the router ports 1-3 and the switch (located in your room) to port 4.

I think your problems stems from the 192.168.1.x IP range being set aside as non routable, and you are trying to use it on the wan side. ie I don't think cascading NAT will produce the desired/predictable results.

ADDED:

IANA has set aside specific ranges of IP addresses for use as non-routable, internal network addresses. These addresses are considered unregistered (for more information check out RFC 1918: Address Allocation for Private Internets, which defines these address ranges). No company or agency can claim ownership of unregistered addresses or use them on public computers. Routers are designed to discard (instead of forward) unregistered addresses. What this means is that a packet from a computer with an unregistered address could reach a registered destination computer, but the reply would be discarded by the first router it came to.

There is a range for each of the three classes of IP addresses used for networking:

Range 1: Class A - 10.0.0.0 through 10.255.255.255
Range 2: Class B - 172.16.0.0 through 172.31.255.255
Range 3: Class C - 192.168.0.0 through 192.168.255.255
Although each range is in a different class, your are not required to use any particular range for your internal network. It is a good practice, though, because it greatly diminishes the chance of an IP address conflict

[daemorok]

Actually The cable modem, 1st router, switch and kooldino comp1 are in 1 room.

Kooldino comp2 and comp3 are downstairs, the wires for those are run along the ceiling/wall etc.

Originally i wanted to setup my router to run as a switch if possible, if not i may just buy a small switch instead and I think that would fix the problem.

[HomeBrewer]

The BEFSR41 can't work as a true switch. It must function as a router or gateway. In either case it still does NAT.

[Kooldino]

Originally posted by HomeBrewer
The BEFSR41 can't work as a true switch. It must function as a router or gateway. In either case it still does NAT.

Doh. Are you sure?

[gt40]

Question - are you connecting to the second router through the WAN input?
If you are this will cause problems- you will need to connect to it through one of the regular ports - in which case you must reconfigure the cable as a crossover cable, or connect it through an uplink port.
Now you should be able to still use dhcp as long as the ranges in both routers do not conflict - ie start one at 192.168.1.100, the other at 192.168.1.150.

hope this helps.

[HomeBrewer]

Originally posted by Kooldino
Doh. Are you sure?

Actually NO. I will rephrase. The router portion can only function as either a router or gateway. The back end "switch" section should have the capability of being a three port switch with the uplink/port 1 connected to the rest of the network. I have no technical specs on how many MAC addresses can be learned nor how the switching is implemented. I made an assumption (apparently wrong) that the WAN port was trying to be used as an uplink since the effort was being attempted using a second NAT device instead of "plan" switches in the first place.

So for what it may be worth my BEFSR41 would lock up if it didn't see "something" on the wan port. I do not have that problem on my BEFSX41. Perhaps that is why you are having the "timeing out" issues after 30 -45 min and cant get an IP. Does a quick reset of the "second" router fix the problem?

[daemorok]

yes resetting the router would let me pull a new IP

[HomeBrewer]

Have you given the router a static IP? It may be trying to get an IP for itself from a DCHP server and eventually hangs when it can't get a lease. I assume you are connected to the D-Link switch via the uplink/port 1 and NOT via the WAN port.

[daemorok]

Yes I am connectio Via the uplink port, and no I did not give it a static IP.. tonight im gonna flash to the newest firmware (both routers) and play with the settings some more.

[HomeBrewer]

One other thing I think it is essential for you to do: (if you haven't already)

Change the IP address of the second router. To an unused address in the 192.168.1.x range that is NOT in the range the "Primary" router is set to give out. The "secondary" routers default address is 192.168.1.1. This is the same as the "primary" router and the DEFAULT GATEWAY ADDRESS. If the "secondary" router's address is not changed it will try to switch/intelligent route packets to it's router/gateway WAN port instead of to the uplink port which is ultimately connected to the "primary" router.

Make sense?