Access Point and Router with Windows Server 2003

Hello to all,

A client has Windows Server 2003 providing DHCP to clients. They have an ADSL linksys router obviously with DHCP disabled. All clients are currently wired.They now want a wireless access point for new wireless clients.

Would it be best to configure the WAP with a static ip and give the default gateway address on the WAP as the Win 2003 Server which provides DHCP?

Will the server still provide DHCP to wireless clients this way?

Many kind regards,
Jeff

 

Personally I would set up a static IP address on the Wireless access point and not assign a default gateway to it (unless you need to manage it from outside your network in which case set the gateway address as that of you router).

DHCP packets should travel over the wireless network from the server without modification, but occasionally you can find APs that will block BOOTP and DHCP. Try it and see. If DHCP works fine then no problem. If it doesn't, set aside a block of addresses on your main DHCP server and then set up the AP to assign addresses over wireless from this block - however, I expect you won't have to do this.

 

Thanks Reggie for your reply.

Basically, the access point is a WPN802 version2. It has one LAN port, which is directly connect to a laptop or PC to configure, and what a pain in the neck it is!!!

The ADSL linksys router has an ip address of 192.168.200.201 (this was setup by another IT company). It has DHCP disabled.

The Windows 2003 server, has an ip address of 192.168.200.231, with DHCP enabled.

The access point default ip address is 192.168.0.231, and the instructions say that the PC or laptop has to be set to 192.168.0.210 to be able to configure the access point.

The access point needs a default gateway and DNS settings, it does not allow these to be ommited.

I changed the access point to something like 192.168.200.50 to match the LAN, with a default gateway of 192.168.200.201, and the DNS settings of 217.7.162.2 and 217.7.162.2 (which are the DNS settings on the router). I changed the wireless laptop to something like 192.168.200.51 with a default gateway of 192.168.200.201 and the same DNS settings. I can pick up a good signal from the access point, but cannot get an internet page displayed.

If I set the access point and laptop to enable DHCP i get nothing at all.

Getting a good signal but no Internet page makes me believe that the ip settings somewhere are incorrect, but where!!!

Any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Jeff

 

Just set the WAP to automatically receive an IP address from the LAN and your golden.

 

Hi Scott, have tried all that and still no success.

Jeff

 

If you put the WAP on fully automatic where the server will still hand out DHCP info what adress does your laptop get?

That's some unushual IP scheme. What is the scope of the DHCP?

Give us some clues.
Please post the ipconfig/ all from the server, and your laptop on the wired LAN as well as another desktop.

 

Scott

I agree, it is a strange ip scheme setup by the exisiting IT guy.

Anyway, the DHCP scope is 192.168.200.3-192.168.200.130

There are only 6 wired clients and the 2 wireless laptops will make 8.

The IPconfig looks as such (although I haven't copied you a text file of it):

SERVER

192.168.200.231
255.255.255.0
192.168.200.201 (default gateway)

192.168.200.231 (DNS and WINS servers)

DNS forwarders on server has 217.7.162.2 and 217.7.162.3 for Internet

DHCP = No

WIRED DESKTOP

192.168.200.4
255.255.255.0
192.168.200.201 (default gateway)

DHCP and DNS servers 192.168.200.231

DHCP=Yes

WIRELESS LAPTOP

Gets no ip address wirelessly.

 

DHCP from the server should pass straight through the WAP.
Sounds like your laptop is not being authenticated from the WAP. Therefore it won't give you an IP.

 

Thanks for reply.

The laptop works fine on other wireless networks!!!

 

I think your problem is on the wired side of the access point. I think the next thing to check are your cables. Try swapping the cable between the access point and its network connection (a port on the router or a hub/switch?).

Another thing to look at is whether this is a cross-over issue. Does the access point have a selector to switch between cross-over and straight through? If not does your router/switch/hub?

Can you ping the wireless access point from the server?

 

Thanks Reggie

Do you mean swapping the cable that connects my access point directly? The reason I ask is that the access point has one port only, and has to be connected directly to a PC/laptop to configure (WPN802).

I think I may see where you are coming from. You mean connect the access point to the router or switch, and then connect to the PC/laptop through another port from the router or switch?

Or should the access point have picked up connectivity from the LAN anyway when connecting just to the laptop to configure the settings?

Just as I was leaving, the customer did say that they regular lose internet connectivity and then it returns, he didn't tell me this until that point. I gathered there must be an issue with the router, switch or cabling somewhere as you say. I was actually thinking of just replacing the original wired router with a wireless router and doing away with the access point altogether.

Thanks,
Jeff

 

Your reply does make me think that this could well be a cross-over issue.

How old is the equipment?

When you connect a PC to a network device (router, switch or hub) you use a standard straight-through connection. When you connect a computer to a computer or a network device to a network device you need a cross-over connection.

Standard network cables are straight-through.

There are two ways to get a cross-over connection. You either use a cross-over cable, or you change a port on one of the network devices to cross-over mode. The latest network kit has clever ports that automatically sense whether cross-over or straight-through is required and change to the right configuration without user intervention.

However, with older kit (two or three years and older) you had to do the cross-over manually. Most switches and hubs had a port (either the first or the last) with a small button next to it, that was used to switch the port to cross-over mode.

In your set up - when you connect a laptop to the access point you will need a straight-through connection. But when you connect the access point to the switch, you will need a cross over connection.

If you have switch to change modes, the LED for the port will light up when you have the setting correct.

BTW, you do not have to connect the laptop directly to the wireless point to configure it. You can connect the access point and laptop to the switch and then make the changes through the switch connection. However, it can be convenient to set up the wireless access point off the network, but you need to be aware of the cross-over issue if you are using older kit.

 

I'd like to apologise for the long winded post in advance, as well as the 'starting from scratch' approach.

I can envisage a number of problems with the setup of the network Jeff, and may I suggest you do some step by step problem solving tasks to eliminate "working" parts of the network. I have had to fix a number of AP problems and generally the faults are due to the settings in the AP. The major culprit is the encryption settings, but I have found it is best to check other things first in an ordered manner to eliminate them from the probable cause list.

The first question I have is does the laptop work on the network when it is connected via the switch/router? Is this with DHCP enabled or not? You can choose to use either static or DHCP settings as both should work fine with the AP. If it is working make sure you have a share that you can access on the server with read/write access. (don't worry about the internet at this stage, do this last)

Next connect the access point to the switch/router and make sure the link light is on for the ethernet port (amber for 10Mbps and green for 100Mbps). If it isn't lit it means the cable is not a crossover cable or it is faulty. Change the cable for a new one. Also make sure the wireless light is on.

If the above is OK, reset the access point to the factory defaults. From the netcomm manual the default IP is 192.168.0.231 /24, so configure you laptop ethernet TCPIP settings with a second IP of 192.168.0.210 /24. Reconfigure the access point to have an IP address as per the network scheme (may I suggest 192.168.200.254 /24). If the device won't let you save the settings with a blank DNS and Gateway, set them to the server IP address. (Change these later, or enable DHCP client once you're up and running) Make sure you can ping 192.168.200.254 from the laptop and server.

If you can ping 192.168.200.254 from the server and laptop then the "wired" network is OK and working. (I assume your internet is also working). Now setup the AP to be open without any WEP/WAP encryption, and don't hide the SSID. We want to see the wireless network on the laptop. Disconnect your laptop from the wired network and turn your wireless on and you should see the AP in the available list. Reconfigure your laptop with the open settings and see if you can connect to the wireless network. Now see if you can see the server and your share. (All the DHCP settings will come from the server including DNS, WINS etc if your're using DHCP) If so, then it is a matter of setting up the security settings to finish the job. If not then I would hazard a guess that the AP is faulty. You could try reloading/updating the firmware for the device and try again. This has worked for me on one occassion.

Good luck and hope this helps.

Lids

 

First of all, I just want to say thanks to all the guys who responded to my post and for taking the time to respond thoroughly and quickly. You have all been a great help.

I will give the recommended suggestions ago as per ReggieB and Aussielids, and thanks to Scott also.

Thanks guys, I will let you know how I got on when I get around to having another go at this some time next week.

Thanks to all,
Jeff

 

Doh! I didn't know he was trying to connect directly to the AP wired directly from the laptop.
I assumed he had the AP pluged into the LAN already!

 

Jeff,

Before I forget, if you are running Active Directory on the 2003 server, DNS needs to be set as the IP address of the server, and not the addresses of your ISP's DNS servers (which your router will use).