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Chapter 5: Configuring the Router

The Setup Tab - MAC Address Clone

The Setup Tab - MAC Address Clone

A MAC address is a 12-digit code assigned to a unique piece of hardware for identification, like a social security

number. Some ISPs will require you to register a MAC address in order to access the Internet. If you do not wish

to re-register the MAC address with your ISP, you may assign the MAC address you have currently registered

with your ISP to the Router with the MAC Address Clone feature.

MAC Clone

MAC Clone Service

. To use MAC address cloning, select

Enable

.

MAC Address

. Enter the MAC Address registered with your ISP. Then click the

Save Settings

button.

Clone

. If you want to clone the MAC address of the PC you are currently using to configure the Router, then click

the

Clone

button. The Router will automatically detect your PC’s MAC address, so you do NOT have to call your

ISP to change the registered MAC address to the Router’s MAC address. It is recommended that the PC

registered with the ISP is used to open the

MAC Address Clone

screen.

When you have finished making changes to this screen, click the

Save Settings

button to save the changes, or

click the

Cancel Changes

button to undo your changes.

Figure 5-8: Setup Tab -

MAC Address Clone

mac address

: the unique address that a

manufacturer assigns to each networking

device.

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Chapter 5: Configuring the Router

The Setup Tab - Advanced Routing

The Setup Tab - Advanced Routing

The

Advanced Routing

screen allows you to configure the firewall, Network Address Translation (NAT), dynamic

routing, and static routing settings.

Advanced Routing

Firewall & NAT

. The Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI) firewall reviews data packets entering your network. NAT

is a security feature that enables the Router to translate IP addresses of your local area network to a different IP

address for the Internet. These features are enabled by default. To disable the firewall and NAT, click the

Disable

radio button. (When NAT is disabled, the DHCP server feature is also disabled.)

Dynamic Routing

. This feature enables the Router to automatically adjust to physical changes in the network’s

layout and exchange routing tables with the other router(s). The Router determines the network packets’ route

based on the fewest number of hops between the source and the destination. To enable Dynamic Routing, click

the

Enable

radio button. To disable this feature, click the

Disable

radio button.

Transmit RIP Version

. To use dynamic routing for transmission of network data, select the protocol you want,

RIP1 v1

,

RIP1 v1 Compatible

, or

RIP v2

.

Static Routing

. Use this feature to set up a static router between the Router and another network. (A static route

is a pre-determined pathway that network information must travel to reach a specific host or network.) To create

a static route, alter the following settings:

Select Entry

. Select the number of the static route from the drop-down menu. The Router supports up to 20

static route entries.

Destination LAN IP

. The Destination LAN IP Address is the address of the remote network or host to which

you want to assign a static route. Enter the IP address of the host for which you wish to create a static route.

Figure 5-9: Setup Tab -

Advanced Routing

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Chapter 5: Configuring the Router

The Setup Tab - Advanced Routing

Subnet Mask

. The Subnet Mask determines which portion of a Destination IP address is the network

portion, and which portion is the host portion.

Gateway

. This is the IP address of the gateway device that allows for contact between the Router and the

remote network or host.

Hop Count

. This determines the maximum number of steps between network nodes that data packets will

travel. A node is any device on the network, such as PCs, print servers, routers, etc.

Interface

. Select

Local

or

Internet

, depending on the location of the static route’s final destination.

Delete Entry

. If you need to delete a route, select its number from the drop-down menu, and click the

Delete

Entry

button.

Show Routing Table

. Click the

Show Routing Table

button to open a screen displaying how data is routed

through your local network. For each route, the Destination LAN IP address, Default Gateway, Subnet Mask,

Flags, Metric, Ref (Reference), User, and Interface are displayed. Click the

Refresh

button to update the

information.

When you have finished making changes to this screen, click the

Save Settings

button to save the changes, or

click the

Cancel Changes

button to undo your changes.

Figure 5-10: Routing Table Entry List

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Chapter 5: Configuring the Router

The Wireless Tab - Basic Wireless Settings

The Wireless Tab - Basic Wireless Settings

The basic settings for wireless networking are set on this screen.

Wireless Settings

Wireless Network Mode

. From this drop-down menu, you can select the wireless standards running on your

network. If you have both 802.11g and 802.11b devices in your network, keep the default setting,

Mixed

. If you

have only 802.11g devices, select

G-Only

. If you have only 802.11b devices, select

B-Only

. If you do not have

any 802.11g and 802.11b devices in your network, select

Disable

.

Wireless Network Name (SSID)

. The SSID is the network name shared among all points in a wireless network.

The SSID must be identical for all devices in the wireless network. It is case-sensitive and must not exceed 32

characters (use any of the characters on the keyboard). Make sure this setting is the same for all points in your

wireless network. For added security, you should change the default SSID (

linksys

) to a unique name.

Wireless Channel

. Select the appropriate channel from the list provided to correspond with your network

settings. All devices in your wireless network must be broadcast on the same channel in order to function

correctly.

Wireless SSID Broadcast

. When wireless clients survey the local area for wireless networks to associate with,

they will detect the SSID broadcast by the Router. To broadcast the Router's SSID, keep the default setting,

Enable

. If you do not want to broadcast the Router's SSID, then select

Disable

.

When you have finished making changes on this screen, click the

Save Settings

button to save the changes, or

click the

Cancel Changes

button to undo your changes.

Figure 5-11: Wireless Tab - Basic

Wireless Settings

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Chapter 5: Configuring the Router

The Wireless Tab - Wireless Security

The Wireless Tab - Wireless Security

The Wireless Security settings configure the security of your wireless network. If you do not want to use wireless

security, keep the default,

Disabled

. There are four wireless security mode options supported by the Router:

WPA Pre-Shared Key, WPA RADIUS, RADIUS, and WEP. (WPA stands for Wi-Fi Protected Access, which is a

security standard stronger than WEP encryption. WEP stands for Wired Equivalent Privacy, while RADIUS stands

for Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service.) These three are briefly discussed here. For detailed instructions

on configuring wireless security for the Router, proceed to “Appendix B: Wireless Security.”

Wireless Security

WPA-Preshared Key

. Select

TKIP

or

AES

from the

WPA Algorithm

drop-down menu. Enter a WPA Shared Key of

8-32 characters. Then enter the Group Key Renewal period, which instructs the Router how often it should

change the encryption keys.

When you have finished making changes on this screen, click the

Save Settings

button to save the changes, or

click the

Cancel Changes

button to undo your changes.

Figure 5-12: Wireless Tab -

Wireless

Security (WPA-Preshared Key)

wpa

(wi-fi protected access): a

wireless security protocol using TKIP

(Temporal Key Integrity Protocol)

encryption, which can be used in

conjunction with a RADIUS server.

wep

(wired equivalent privacy): a

method of encrypting network data

transmitted on a wireless network for

greater security.