[yodamin]

Heya ALL. I'm new here so thank you for all your comments ahead of time:-)

OK. I've been trying to setup a repeater between one wired in router and one wireless only router.

Netgear R6300 (DD-WRT v3.0-r37305 giga (10/10/1 is primary router and connected to switch via RJ45 whic is is connected to PFsense firewall.

Acher C7 (07-04-2019-r40189-factory-to-ddwrt) is on another floor has wireless only - no RJ45 back to switch/router.

I have been trying to follow some online tutorials but they all show the same versions of DDWRT and I have different versions / different devices.

To make matters more complicated neither wireless ruter is server dhcp/dns. DHCP s done by the pfsense firewall (PC) that I have and DNS is being done by 2x internal DNS srv's.

I have attached a network diagram (with needed IP's so you can see what I have here at home).

Any comments, tutorials or "DO exactly this's" would be MOST welcome since I've been banging my head against my keyboard for two days.

Thanks

[bushant]

Have you looked at the wiki?
https://wiki.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Linking_Routers

[yodamin]

Hey.

Yes I did. A few days ago...a more through reading is probably necessary, haven't had time yet. I've been trying this and that in between renovation tasks at home and then there is always work.

I'm like the jack of all trades when it comes to computers (programming being the exception-hate it). Meaning I know enough for normal everyday simple configs and a few intermediate things (pfsense, snort, apache etc,etc). I don't know anything about bridging and/or wifi repeating, never had to set it up.

I do know the wiki said it's best not to use WDS unless you have identical routers or at least chip-sets. Which I do not.

The difference between the versions is, I think, throwing me off. What is "client"? What is "client-bridge". Where is the "repeater" option on the Archer C7 firmware? I'm sure it's there, but which is it?

I'l go over the wiki again and see if I missed something.

Thanks for the response

[yodamin]

Repeater Bridge allows wireless AND wired clients - this is what I want but don't see the option in the Archer C7 firmware.

Assumptions#1

Primary router is configured in a 192.168.1.X subnet and leases DHCP address in the same pool. Secondary router is running DD-WRT.

Question: I assume any subnet will do as long as they're identical - I use 192.168.175.x

Question: - Will, and I assume so, all clients on the secondary router get their dhcp lease from the pfsense firewall as normal?

Assumptions#2

No security setup will be covered in this Wiki. It will be up to the user to set up security between the Primary and Secondary routers, must be identical.

ok, on the R6300 it's simple for me(very typical) "WPA2-PSK AES"
I assume the AES in "WPA2-PSK AES" is SHA256

On the Archer C7 version it's different terminology that, to me anyways, isn't clear. There are 2 choices for WPA2. WPA2 Personal and WPA2 Personal with SHA256.

Question: I assume WPA2 with SHA256 is all I need to check here?

Also, on the Archer C7 Wireless Mode I see choices of:

AP/Client/Client Bridge (Routed) /WDS Station/WDS AP/ and Mesh / 802.11s

I am looking for repeater but maybe I have to settle for one of the bridges and if so which one? I wanted the repeater mode so I could extend the network coverage also, however, it is quite possible to wire in the devices connected to the secondary router, the Archer C7.

Question: Should I choose Client or Client Bridge (Routed?
I assume Client Bridge (Routed) as I want all devices to be able to communicate with each other?

OR, would an easier, better solution be to just purchase another R6300 router ( I saw a few on kijiji in my area:-)run the same firmware on it as I am on the other one and bobs yer uncle?

As you can see, not having much experience with all this I am a little lost.

Any comment would be welcome:-)

[yodamin]

Thanks to djkad frm this thread: https://forum.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=39507

I borrowed HEAVILY from it.

Primary access point Netgear R6300 DD-WRT v3.0-r37305 giga (10/10/1

I have 2ghz radio disabled


R6300 settings

Router Name: Wimpy-DDWRT
Hostname: Wimpy-DDWRT
Ip: 192.168.175.225
Subnet mask 255.255.255.0
DHCP disabled
SSId="WiFi-5g"
Wifi auth WPA2-PSk AES Passkey="whatever your wifi password is"

Secondary Access Point (wireless link to R6300) Acher C7 DDWRT version - 07-04-2019-r40189-factory-to-ddwrt

I have 2ghz radio disabled

Setup > Basic setup:
Connection Type : WAN disabled
STP: Disable (don't know why)
Router Name : Wimp2-DDWRT
Router Hostname: Wimpy2-DDWRT
Router IP: 192.168.175.224
Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
Gateway: 192.168.175.225
Local DNS: 192.168.175.225
DHCP Type= DHCP repeater
Start ip address: N/A
Maximum DHCP Users: N/A

Setup>Advanced Routing:

Operating mode: Rip2 Router

Wireless > Basic settings
Regulatory Domain: (Canada)
Wireless Mode: Client Bridge
Wireless Network Name: WiFi-5g
-- will omit this after 30-30-30 reset: Virtual Interfaces (add one):
-- will omit this after 30-30-30 reset: Wireless Network Name(SSID): WiFi-5g-VAP
-- will omit this after 30-30-30 reset: Wireless Mode: AP

Wireless > Wireless Security
Wireless Security (ath1)
Security Mode WPA2 Personal
WPA Algorithms: AES 128 (not "with SHA256")
WPA Shared Key: (the same wifi passphrase of the main wireless router)
-- will omit this after 30-30-30 reset:: Virtual Interfaces (ath1)
-- will omit this after 30-30-30 reset: Security Mode: WPA2 Personal
-- will omit this after 30-30-30 reset: WPA Algorithms: AES 128 ( not with SHA256)
-- will omit this after 30-30-30 reset: WPA Shared Key: (the same wifi passphrase of the main wireless router)


After all of the above I was going to log back onto the Acher C7 and do Status>Wireless>Site Survey>Join to the SSID of main router to connect to the R6300 to estabilish the client bridge. However, I cannot get the Acher C7 Web GUI to load - it says page cannot be displayed - even though I am connected to it via wire on my laptop. I CAN however browse the web with no issues whatsoever but I cannot connect to the WiFi-5g-VAP I created - it just says cannot connect - no specific error messages AND WORSE thing of all - inssider 4 reports the WiFi-5g-VAP is an open wireless network - but I can't connect to it either way and when I try it does not prompt me for a password - I am 110% sure I put the same passphrase on the VAP as I did on the ATH1 (5g) wireless radio. Dunno what this is all about.

However, I think I might reset and do this all over again - omitting the addition of a VAP (like I said I don't mind connecting 3 devices directly to the Archer C7 by RJ45 - its the wireless link between the two routers that is important to me.

I would be happy without the VAP honestly, but I want to be able to logon to the Web GUI of the Archer C7 -I was just trying it to see if I could get it to work. If I can get the wireless link working (and I know I did simply by the fact I am connected to the Archer, even now, and browsing and the Archer is not connected to anything via RJ45 except my laptop so there MUST be a wireless link established between the R67300 and the Archer.

For now it's bedtime or past bedtime.

Cheers All.

[Per Yngve Berg]

You will not see Repeater on the C7 because it's Broadcom only.

Have you tried to swap the R6300 with the C7?

Why the old build on the R6300 (37305)? You can upgrade it to also run 40189. Then you will have AES SHA256.

[yodamin]

@Per Yngve Berg -thanks for the response. I figured the main wireless should be the R6300. Am I wrong in thinking the hardware is better and will provide better wifi coverage/stability? If so, please explain?

I figured out the reason I couldn't load the web GUI. It had the same IP as the main router .I was tired. Either way, I got logged in again last night and simply changed the Archer router IP to what it should be (192.168.175.224 instead of 192.168.175.225)after applying that change I lost all connectivity on the Archer? No clue why that would happened?

After more than a few reboots I decided to do 30-30-30 reset and start over again. After the 30-30-30 reset the router now has nothing - no LAN connectivity (says cable unplugged on my laptop) and no wireless signal at all (it briefly flashes on boot and about every 30-45 seconds after boot).

Not sure but I may have pooched this router. I will try the 30/30/30 reset once or twice more and if that doesn't work I'll toss it out - had it for two years now and paid $60 for it so meh, whatever.

[foneran]

Pls help me someone with wpa2 in AP-repeater mode, here: https://forum.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=1169562#1169562

Thx !

[kernel-panic69]

@yodamin, which one were you going to junk? Let me know if you decide not to recover it.

[yodamin]

Not sure what happened. I let the router sit overnight unplugged from electricity. This morning I thought what the hell, try one more time. I did not do 30-30-30 reset though, I just hit reset button for 10 seconds and after it was done I had access to wireless and LAN connectivity again.

I think I was "borrowing" to heavily on other peoples posts. Once I figured that out, I threw all the posts out and did what I thought would work on MY network (as opposed to some posters network). And it did work. The client bridge router is now sitting in my sons room with a wireless bridge to the primary wifi router. My sons devices are all wired into the bridged router via RJ45.

His connection speed went from average 20-25mbps to 130mpbs. He is happy, I am happy and more importantly, my wife is happy because the 50 RJ45 cable I had running from the basement office to the third floor is now gone:-).

SO, basically I used ALL of the steps on the bridged router from djkad's thread on how he/she did it with one exception. I did disable the dhcp server but I enabled the dhcp repeater - the only difference.

For the LAN setup of the bridged router I used the settings to get to my pfsense firewall like all the other devices in the house, but the bridged gateway IP I set to the IP of the primary wireless router.

I did not change anything on the primary wireless router at all.

If anyone is interested I can post my exact settings from pfsense firewall to primary wifeless router and then the settings for the bridged wireless router. I'll monitor this thread for the next week or so to see if anyone is interested.

Other than that - THANK YOU all for you comments and especially thank you to djkad for posting his tutorial on client-bridging, that was a game changer for me as it really opened my eyes to what settings would/should work.

[Dr_K]

[yodamin]

Heya,

Thanks for the advice.

I did try it with all dhcp disabled. It only seemed to actually work when I enabled dhcp forwarder (yes you're right no "repeater" in dhcp menu). My setup was fairly unstable at the time I had completely disabled dhcp though so who knows. Learning as I go here.

It most likely won't be an issue for me disable the dhcp forwarding and see if all is well though:-)

I'm just scared to turn the dam thing off or reboot it now though - it's finally working...sigh...

Do you think it is worth the risk? lol

[yodamin]

Hey thanks!

I did disable DHCP completely and it is working just fine without the forwarder.

It's using about 10-15% CPU under load and has about 75-85 mb of memory free so lotsa power for 3 clients, maybe a couple friends laptops every once in a while.

Thanks all.