OpenWrt Forum Archive

Topic: Using WRT54GL with existing modem/router

The content of this topic has been archived on 28 Apr 2018. There are no obvious gaps in this topic, but there may still be some posts missing at the end.

Post #1
t_r_davies
6 Sep 2007, 00:18

Hi all,

I'm just about to receive a new WRT54GL v1.1 to tinker with and intend to flash it with X-Wrt.  I'm currently using a Netgear DG834G for my DSL connection but would like to play around with my Linksys a bit before buying a separate DSL modem and ditching the Netgear.

My question is this: will I be able to just connect the WAN port of the WRT to one of the Netgear's LAN ports so that the WRT thinks it's just connected through a DSL modem?  My current LAN uses 10.1.1.x addresses (Netgear is 10.1.1.1) so would I just be able to set the WRT's WAN configuration to a static IP of, say, 10.1.1.2 and specify the gateway as 10.1.1.1?  Or alternatively set it to use DHCP and get the Netgear to hand out 10.1.1.2?  My plan for testing the WRT is then to assign it's LAN ports to 10.1.2.x.

I've read around on here and on the X-Wrt forums and have seen posts saying things like disable the WAN port completely and just connect one of the LAN ports to the existing router, or configure the WAN port to be on the same VLAN as the LAN ports so it just acts like another one, would one of these approaches be recommended instead of my idea?  I guess the reason for these may be that OpenWrt isn't designed to work with private IP ranges on both the WAN and LAN sides, am I right?

I'd like to use this approach so that as far as the WRT is concerned it's just connected to a DSL modem, in order that I can get things working as I like and then just drop in a DSL modem in place of the Netgear (when I can afford it) without having to go back and reconfigure things on the WRT.

Any advice on this would be much appreciated, you'll probably see me lurking here a bit over the next few weeks so please be nice to the newbie smile

Post #2
t_r_davies
6 Sep 2007, 20:14

Well my WRT54GL arrived today, I've flashed it with X-Wrt and it's running fine.  I've gone ahead and configured the WAN port as 10.1.1.2 static, with the Netgear as the default gateway and the LAN ports as 10.1.2.x.  My PC works fine connected either to the wireless or LAN ports on the WRT, it's also fine when dual-homed on the Netgear's wireless and the WRT's LAN, so it looks I've answered my own question.  Time now to explore the myriad possibilities available with OpenWrt smile

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