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Ping wired to wireless....

Stky10

Okay, I've got a work problem that requires some knowledge of
different brands of wireless routers.

Basically, we've got lots of wireless routers that assign IP's to
clients via DHCP (in a different subnet than the normal LAN).
The wireless routers are then connected to the LAN via their
"WAN" port. All is well, the clients can connect and view other
machines on the LAN and do whatever they need to. However
there is now a need for machines on the LAN to be able to ping
(and otherwise access) the clients that are connected wirelessly.

Now the problem I have is that at the moment we're using
Netgear WGT624 routers. There is a couple of problems with
this in that they are designed for home use really rather than
in corporate surroundings. They use a stateful firewall that
blocks WAN to LAN connections. There is a way to turn this
firewall off, but its still not possible to do this. I got in contact
with Netgear support (eventually) and they claim that the problem
is due to NAT and that it cannot be turned off.

So, I'm wondering has anyone else come across this problem, or
is there anyone with a similar setup that is able to ping wireless
hosts from wired hosts, and if so what sort of wireless equipment
are you using....

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Karoma

OK,you seem sure it's a config. issue related to hardware/limitations - i won't disagree. However... (There's always a "but" or "however")

Have you ruled out that it's not a more generic routing issue? (One should be able to ping wired <-> wireless using an all AP's support this (802.3x,802.11x..).
The 'two sections' if you will are on different subnets, and not different nets altogether,right? What is the response received from a ping (Host unreachable?)? What subnet mask have you used?

Stky10

No its a hardware issue alright.

Wireless is 192.168.10.0, LAN 192.168.0.0, both 255.255.255.0. I've set up a static route to point traffic for 192.168.10.0 to 192.168.0.60.

I can then ping 192.168.10.1 which is the LAN ip of the wireless router, but if
I try to ping any of the clients attached (eg 192.168.10.2) then I get a request
timed out error.

I also tried another Netgear router (FWAG114) which has better logging capabilities and set it up the same way, and you can see the ping requests coming in and being refused. So its definetly getting the packets but not
accepting them.

I know I could do it if we used AP's rather than routers, but we need routers
because of the number of wireless devices we're using and that they need to
use DHCP. Any AP's I've seen all use static IP's and don't create a seperate
network for the wireless devices.

tomk

Set up one router with a bit more intelligence on the wired side of your setup, and use it to create the subnet for wireless clients, and serve DHCP. Connect as many APs as required to that subnet - and I mean basic APs, no NAT, DHCP, firewall, etc. All that stuff can and should be done on the router, with the additional advantage that you have control over the entire subnet on one machine.

Stky10

Well thats what I'm really looking for. A recommendation of a router with more intelligence.

I can't do it as you say because there are multiple buildings involved here (I suppose I could do one per building but it would be messy)

I've been on to Linksys technical support, and from their reply they reckon they should be able to do this. I think I'll just buy one and test it myself. €100 shouldn't break the bank...

Zab

Hey Stky,

Sounds like you don't have the right routers for the job alright. I don't know the Netgear router at all, but you don't want NAT involved at all by the sound of it. However, there may be forms of NAT that would work for you, in the unlikely event that the routers support them (have a look at its NAT settings is all I can recommend).

Another option would be to connect the wired LAN to a switch port on the APs instead of the WAN port, although this would mean you have a switched network rather than a routed one. You've mentioned not liking this one already. However, if you have a larger router on the main LAN site, this may be able to do all the routing for you. The local APs (meaning the Netgears) should be able to do all the wireless DHCP. You haven't really written anything about the size of this network.

VPNs would be another option, possibly one you should look into anyway.

Another router I've never used, the Linksys WRT54G, is probably capable of doing what you want from what I've read about it. I'm guessing you're already heading in its direction from what you've written.

Zab

Actually, just to clarify. If you make a connection from a wireless PC to a wired PC, what source IP does the wired PC show for the connection?