Best way to set up WAR/V2 CPE?

[rafamous]

I'm wondering what is the "best" way to set up a CPE WAR/V2.

I understand that it's best to hand out DHCP from the AP.

Should the CPE then get the IP and then hand out DHCP to the client?

Or is it best to bridge the DHCP ip through the CPE to the client?

Or is it best to have the CPE get the IP from the AP and then have another internal subnet NATing to the outside?

Or something else?

How do the big dogs do it for their system?

[nickwhite]

We NAT at the CPE. Static IP on the outside (wireless) and DHCP IPs on the inside (ether1).

[tog]

NAT'ing at the WAR2 or routing a /30 to the WAR2 are your best choices for large scale deployments right now.

Lonnie has also advocated using VDS as a sort of client bridging if you want to avoid the wasted address space from routing /30s to everybody.

[rafamous]

Thanks for the replies.

I get the Nat part but the VDS I still have yet to look into.

So to hand DHCP from the CPE to the client, I have found that dumb, off the shelf wireless routers, ie.. linksys, netgear, etc. can't figure out how to receive an IP from StarOS.

So do you say to the customer --- your computer is plug and play but a router you will need to set it up as a static? Seems to be the case.

[tog]

Can you be more specific about the particular underlying setup?

If you're referring to StarOS v2's client bridging (bridging wpci1/ether1) DHCP will not work through that and you will have to use a static IP.

[go.fast]

Thanks for the replies.

I get the Nat part but the VDS I still have yet to look into.

So to hand DHCP from the CPE to the client, I have found that dumb, off the shelf wireless routers, ie.. linksys, netgear, etc. can't figure out how to receive an IP from StarOS.

So do you say to the customer --- your computer is plug and play but a router you will need to set it up as a static? Seems to be the case.

We actually use the war cpe as the customer router and install switches or turn off dhcp on the linksys wireless routers and use it as a switch.

Reason we do this is because of the issues we've seen with cheapo wireless routers, Linksys, Netgear, Dlik, Trendnet, etc.

The type of market we service needs more hand holding so we use star's router to handle dhcp for the client.

[rafamous]

We actually use the war cpe as the customer router and install switches or turn off dhcp on the linksys wireless routers and use it as a switch.

Reason we do this is because of the issues we've seen with cheapo wireless routers, Linksys, Netgear, Dlik, Trendnet, etc.

The type of market we service needs more hand holding so we use star's router to handle dhcp for the client.

That's a great idea about turning off the dhcp in the cheap routers and letting it act as a switch and wireless unit.

I tend to have all hands off with the inside network. It has gotten real messy in the past where the line of their monthly service ends and inside networking starts. So I just say we are like the phone company, we keep the line running to the house and they take care of the rest.

The company that owned my wireless company previously did everything for the customer at the cost of the monthly rate. It took a long time to re-educate the customer but now they are becoming more aware of what is included in the monthy payment.

I just can't fix a clients DVD drive for what they pay me monthly.

Infact in the time I wrote this a guy called me cussing me out saying his service has barely worked in the last week, he needs to get some work done, he's about had it, blah blah blah. I walked him through by-passing his router and like magic he has a fast working service. Imagine that.

Anyone else got this problem of constantly being blamed for router and computer errors? Maybe it just goes with the type of business.

Maybe doing the above solution will help with some of that confusion.

[go.fast]

That's a great idea about turning off the dhcp in the cheap routers and letting it act as a switch and wireless unit.

I tend to have all hands off with the inside network. It has gotten real messy in the past where the line of their monthly service ends and inside networking starts. So I just say we are like the phone company, we keep the line running to the house and they take care of the rest.

The company that owned my wireless company previously did everything for the customer at the cost of the monthly rate. It took a long time to re-educate the customer but now they are becoming more aware of what is included in the monthy payment.

I just can't fix a clients DVD drive for what they pay me monthly.

Infact in the time I wrote this a guy called me cussing me out saying his service has barely worked in the last week, he needs to get some work done, he's about had it, blah blah blah. I walked him through by-passing his router and like magic he has a fast working service. Imagine that.

Anyone else got this problem of constantly being blamed for router and computer errors? Maybe it just goes with the type of business.

Maybe doing the above solution will help with some of that confusion.

I understand your point of view. Wish we could just tell our subs "here's the net, your on your own call someone else to help you with your lan" but most likely they will call someone else and they will sell my subs to the competition, so we don't do that. it happens too often....

Just last week I had a customer disconnect and they brought in all their stuff, including a trendnet wireless router that when the lights blink looses it's settings and causes grief. I'm sure we lost that sub because of that issue.

I'll go as far as I can to make sure the sub has a smooth running internet connection. Subs are too hard to come by and too easy to loose to the competition.

Diferent markets have diferent approaches.

Fortunatly, star is a dependable cpe that does do nat and dhcp, so I can mimmick the dsl providers who supply a dsl modem with nat and dhcp.

[palmczak]

We also use the router as a simple switch/ AP. The WAN port is never used and the Star does the DHCP. Typical install puts a private /28 on ether 1. DHCP auto auth does serves the IP's. The router (switch/AP) get the top IP the ether 1 get the bottom this leaves 12 IP's for PC's or other devices, if that is not enough a larger subnet can be assigned to ether 1 in a matter of minutes and RIP takes care of the routes.

We have been unsuccessfull using VDS, not sure if the RIP announcements are causing trouble.

All Natting is done in the router at the NOC. The If the customer need a static we first try to use 1 to 1 nat in the NOC router, if that is not acceptable then a any size subnet can be routed to them very easily.

Joe