configure linksys router toa switch

[speedyone]

Hello,

I have a dedicated core with a media director on the lan trying to run Linux MCE 7.10. Could somebody please help me with information on how to configure a linksys BEFSr41 router into a switch. Such as the static IP address, gateway, etc.

thanks for your help!

Speedyone

[pigdog]

Hi,

Well, it helps to describe your connectivity set-up such as dsl, cable, etc. 

Also, where the router is to be located in the network. i.e. dsl modem/befsr41/core/md or dsl modem/core/befsr41/md

Reading the manual helps to configure as per your requirements.  Please try this link.

http://downloads.linksysbycisco.com/downloads/BEFSR41_V43_UG_A-WEB.pdf

Cheers.

[speedyone]

My connectivity is cable: the router location is: cable modem/core/

then out from the core to the befsr41 and then to md and other computers in the network.

thanks

[Techstyle]

I have a Linksys WRT54G configured as a switch.  The devices are different but I think the settings are very similar.  The instructions should be followed in order and as follows:

1.  Connect directly to the router and log on (default IP is 192.168.1.1, leave the username blank and type 'admin' in the password field)

2.  Go to the Security page and disable the firewall (disable all items in the 'block WAN requests' section) - hit the save settings button

3.  Go to 'Setup' page and change the local IP adress to something within the Core's Range.  The Default range for a LMCE Core is 192.168.80.2 to 192.168.90.128 for Pluto Devices and 192.168.80.129 to 192.168.80.254 for non-pluto devices.  set the router's local IP to be in the non-Pluto range - mine is 192.168.80.130. - Again Save Settings

4.  you will now have to re-logon to the new IP address (192.168.80.130 for me). 

5.  On the setup page again, below the local IP address, Disable the DHCP server - Save Settings.

Reconnect the device to the Eth1 port on the core (to a LAN port not the WAN port) and power cycle it and you are all set.

Hope this helps

[speedyone]

Techstyle--thanks for your reply - this looks like what I'm looking for.


I was also thinking about trying to use my BEFSR41 in the following way - from cable modem to BEFSR41 WAN port ----from uplink on BEFSR41 to onboard lan on linux MCE core machine------from  PCI NIC card on linux MCE core machine to MD.

I was thinking that by using the uplink option I could still let the router assign DHCP for my external networked computers and also get external connectivity to the linux core....this way if I want to dual boot the core or shut down the core, I wouldn't loose my connectivity on the external networked computers.

This currently works as in I have internet connectivity to my networked PC's via the router (no changes to the router yet) and I have internet connectivity to the core--------what doesn't work is I can't get the MD to LAN boot....it's like the PCI NIC card in the core is not being recognized.

Any ideas?

thx, Speedy

[tschak909]

I really wish you guys would trust the core to do its job, and put everything on the internal network.

Things really do work much more smoothly this way.

-Thom

[Techstyle]

Speedy,

I used to have my network as you suggest - See the UK network setup section of my user page on the wiki - http://wiki.linuxmce.com/index.php/User:Techstyle.  this was mainly for ease of cable routing rather than any positive reason

However, since then I have reconfigured my Network (see the US network setup Section of my user page) and as Thom says it really does work more smoothly.  I used to have problems with not being able to access media on my windows PC's on the network - windows does a terrible job of managing shares.  Also whenever I reset the core it would acquire a IP address from the router that was not neccesarily the same as before therefore the webadmin page address would change from the external network and non of my favorites would work.  same goes for running the web version of orbiter.

On your second point

How did you conclude it was your Core NIC not being recognized? 

There are a number of possibilities - your second NIC is not compatible or is it the NIC in the media director or Media Director not having a PXE boot rom.

My knowledge of what it would say if the second NIC is not compatible is limited but I would think the table on the Network page (shown below) would be missing numbers in the eth1 section

EXTERNAL_IFACE eth0
EXTERNAL_MAC 00:1D:7D:XX:XX:XX
EXTERNAL_IP XX.XX.XX.169
EXTERNAL_NETMASK 255.255.254.0
EXTERNAL_DHCP 1
INTERNAL_IFACE eth1
INTERNAL_MAC 00:1A:92:XX:XX:XX
INTERNAL_IP 192.168.80.1
INTERNAL_NETMASK 255.255.255.0
GATEWAY XX.XX.XX.1
DNS1 XX.XX.X.10
DNS2 XX.XX.X.11

if it isn't you could always hit the swap interfaces button and see if you have internet access on the core.

in the past I have had more trouble getting MD's to work than the second NIC in the core, but I may have been lucky.

if this doesn't help send us details of your NIC

[speedyone]

tschak909- your advice is appreciated and will be taken. I'm new to the Linux MCE and Linux in general. Some of my home network insists on windows and I'm trying to keep a box with Ubuntu so I can continue to learn. The Linux MCE core is going to trump the Ubuntu box if I can't dual boot the core.



Techstyle - thank you for the reply and further advice!

I only surmised that my PCI NIC card wasn't being recognized because when plugging into the onboard adapter, I got connectivity....then I switch the modem cable to the PCI NIC card and the card wast active and I got connectivity. But, again, no MD boot when switching the cables back the way they're supposed to be.

Question for you, how can I tell which network port on the core is the WAN port and which one is the LAN port?

I went and bought a switch and a new wired network card (Linksys EG1032). I'll first try converting my router to a switch per your instructions and then if I need to, I'll have the switch and a new different brand of network card to try also.

I'll let you know how it goes.


Here are my settings:

From the Linux MCE Launch manager/ open admin website/ advanced/ network/network settings/

the DHCP server on core is enabled

range of IP for pluto devices is: 192.168.80.2 - 192.168.80.128

range of IP for devices not in pluto database is: 192.168.80.129 - 192.168.80.254

the number of adapters is 2

External network card Eth1 - obtain IP address from DHCP

Internal network card eth0 - IP address is 192.168.80.1 - subnet mask is 255.255.255.0


From within the linux MCE launch manager - when viewing IP addresses, I have:

External_Iface = eth1
External_MAC= 00:1F:C6:xx:xx:xx
External_IP = 192.168.1.102
External_Netmask = 255.255.255.0
External_DHCP = 1

Internal_Iface = eth0
Internal_MAC= 00:1E:2A:xx:xx:xx
Internal_IP = 192.168.80.1
Internal_Netmask = 255.255.255.0
Gateway = xxx.168.1.1
DNS1 = xx.xxx.xx.12
DNS2 = xx.xxx.xx.11


My current PCI NIC card in the core is a Netgear GA311
The new PCI NIC card I bought tonight is a Linksys EG1032

My MD PCI NIC card is a Netgear FA310TX REV-D2


Thx again,

Speedy

[Techstyle]

Everything looks good with your setup, you appear to have your interfaces switched (eth1 =External eth0 = Internal) but that really doesn't matter.

It looks like you have your linksys router between the cable modem and Core:

Cable Modem ==> Linksys Router ==> Core

it appears that the external core adapter is on 192.168.1.102 from the router and the gateway is 192.168.1.1 this the default for the gateway on your router.

therefore in your case, eth1 is the one connected to your router and eth0 is the one that should be connected to the switch then MD's - follow the cables and identify which is which.

to check if the internal network is working correctly attach a windows PC to the internal network where an MD would go then goto 'start' --> 'run' then type 'cmd' and hit enter. 

When the dos prompt comes up type 'ipconfig /all' and hit enter.

Look for the connection listed as 'Ethernet Adapter Local Area Connection' under IP address it should say 192.168.80.XXX and in the Gateway, DHCP server and DNS servers should include 192.168.80.1.

You should be able to get internet access on both the core and the internal machine.  If you cannot get access power cycle everything.

we can look into the MD not booting once we have confirmed your internal network is working right

[speedyone]

I have a Linksys WRT54G configured as a switch.  The devices are different but I think the settings are very similar.  The instructions should be followed in order and as follows:

1.  Connect directly to the router and log on (default IP is 192.168.1.1, leave the username blank and type 'admin' in the password field)

2.  Go to the Security page and disable the firewall (disable all items in the 'block WAN requests' section) - hit the save settings button

3.  Go to 'Setup' page and change the local IP adress to something within the Core's Range.  The Default range for a LinuxMCE Core is 192.168.80.2 to 192.168.90.128 for Pluto Devices and 192.168.80.129 to 192.168.80.254 for non-pluto devices.  set the router's local IP to be in the non-Pluto range - mine is 192.168.80.130. - Again Save Settings

4.  you will now have to re-logon to the new IP address (192.168.80.130 for me). 

5.  On the setup page again, below the local IP address, Disable the DHCP server - Save Settings.

Reconnect the device to the Eth1 port on the core (to a LAN port not the WAN port) and power cycle it and you are all set.

Hope this helps

Techstyle,

As soon as I do step # 3 above, I can't get back to the router to continue steps # 4 & 5.


Any Ideas on what to do?

thx,
Speedy

[Techstyle]

you have to put in your browser the address 192.168.80.130 or whatever you have set it to and then type in 'admin' as the password leaving the username blank.  now carry on with 5.

I guess as 3 and 5 are on the same page you could change them both and then save only after 5.

to reset to default hold in the reset button for 15 seconds and then start a fresh

[speedyone]

   Hi Techstyle -

I have my linuxMCE core up and running with the other computers in my home network all working!

Except for the media director.

I went from the router to a switch and my other problem was that I was trying to use a PCI NIC card to go from the core to the switch and it would never communicate from the PCI NIC card to the switch. My MB in the core has two onboard LAN ports so I tried using the second on board LAN port to feed the switch and everything worked!!!

Now, back to my MD

It's diskless and has a PCI NIC card in it. The mother board is an Iwill KK266. It is capable on LAN booting and I have the boot sequence set to LAN boot. Here again, I don't believe my PCI NIC card is able to communicate to the switch.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance!

Speedy

[Techstyle]

Is there an option in the bios to enable a PXE boot rom?  I may be wrong but I think it is unusual for a Mobo without an onboard NIC to have a PXE boot ROM.  The motherboard may allow you to select boot from LAN but without a PXE boot rom it will not do this, the PCI Nic may have one but it is unlikely.  There are a couple of ways around this:

1.  to load up grub from another piece of media. - not easy if you are not that familiar with Linux, if you are: http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/GRUB_PXE_network_boot
2.  see http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=7930.0 or http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=6297.0 to try using gPXE it is quite straight forward if you have a CD rom in this machine and can burn a CD using your favorite windows program to burn an .ISO file.

Good Luck

[Avner]

I have a Linksys WRT54G configured as a switch.  The devices are different but I think the settings are very similar.  The instructions should be followed in order and as follows:

1.  Connect directly to the router and log on (default IP is 192.168.1.1, leave the username blank and type 'admin' in the password field)

2.  Go to the Security page and disable the firewall (disable all items in the 'block WAN requests' section) - hit the save settings button

3.  Go to 'Setup' page and change the local IP adress to something within the Core's Range.  The Default range for a LinuxMCE Core is 192.168.80.2 to 192.168.90.128 for Pluto Devices and 192.168.80.129 to 192.168.80.254 for non-pluto devices.  set the router's local IP to be in the non-Pluto range - mine is 192.168.80.130. - Again Save Settings

4.  you will now have to re-logon to the new IP address (192.168.80.130 for me). 

5.  On the setup page again, below the local IP address, Disable the DHCP server - Save Settings.

Reconnect the device to the Eth1 port on the core (to a LAN port not the WAN port) and power cycle it and you are all set.

Hope this helps

Hello,

I am trying to setup the Linksys WRT54G router as a switch in the internal LAN.

I have the following hardware topology:
1.   Internet modem
  a.   Router (Time capsule / Air  port)
     i.   PC1
     ii.   PC2 (Core)
       1.   eth1 - Internal LAN connected to WRT54G (configured as a switch)

To configure the WRT54G device I connected the WRT54G to the external LAN and used PC1 to followed the instructions above (which are laso in: http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Linksys_WRT54G)
I can complete all the steps and connect to the new IP address (192.168.80.130 for me).
However, after reconnecting the WRT54G router to the Eth1 port on the core and power cycling it, I can not access it anymore.

I assume I should I still be able to access the WRT54G device using 192.168.80.130

I tried accessing the WRT54G device from the Core:
1.   I can not load it through firefox.
2.   I also cannot ping it

How can I control the WRT54G device after it is connected to the internal LAN?

Regards,
Avner

[Techstyle]

I just tried pinging my WRT54G from the core and internal network.  My network is as follows:

Cable Modem --> Core Eth0 - Core Eth1 --> Gigabit switch --> Gigabit Switch --> WRT54G configured as a switch ~~~~~~~~~~~WIFI Laptop

there are various PC's, MD, Printers, and Orbiters connected along the way but the laptop can ping the WRT54G as can the core.  I can log on to the device from the laptop.  Didn't try from the core (wife watching movie).

I have a couple of questions for you:

1.  Can anything connected to the WRT54G access the internet or Web admin?
2.  Can the core access the internet?
3.  If you connect a PC on the internal network to Eth1 directly, can you access the internet now?