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Chapter 5

Customizing Your Network Settings

This chapter describes advanced features of the RangeMax Wireless-N Gigabit Router

WNR3500v2. This chapter includes the following sections:

•

“Using the LAN IP Setup Options”

•

“Using a Dynamic DNS Service” on page 5-5

•

“Configuring the WAN Setup Options” on page 5-7

•

“Configuring Static Routes” on page 5-9

•

“Allowing Inbound Connections to Your Network” on page 5-11

•

“Configuring Port Forwarding to Local Servers” on page 5-16

•

“Configuring Port Triggering” on page 5-18

•

“Wireless Repeating (Also Called WDS)” on page 5-21

Using the LAN IP Setup Options

The LAN Setup screen allows configuration of LAN IP services such as Dynamic Host

Configuration Protocol (DHCP) and Routing Information Protocol (RIP).

The router is shipped preconfigured to use private IP addresses on the LAN side and to act as a

DHCP server. The router’s default LAN IP configuration is:

•

LAN IP address:

192.168.1.1

•

Subnet mask:

255.255.255.0

These addresses are part of the designated private address range for use in private networks and

should be suitable for most applications. If your network has a requirement to use a different IP

addressing scheme, you can make those changes in the LAN Setup screen.

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To configure LAN IP settings, log in to the router, and under the Advanced heading, select

LAN

Setup

. The following screen displays:

.

If you make changes, you must click

Apply

in order for the changes to take effect.

The LAN Setup fields are explained in the following table.

Figure 5-1

Note:

If you change the LAN IP address of the router while connected through the

browser, you will be disconnected. You must then open a new connection to the

new IP address and log in again.

Table 5-1.

LAN IP Setup

Settings

Description

Device Name

A descriptive name for the router, which will be shown in the

Network on Windows Vista and the Network Explorer on all

Windows systems. The

Device Name

field cannot be blank.

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LAN TCP/IP

Setup

IP Address

The LAN IP address of the wireless router.

IP Subnet Mask

The LAN subnet mask of the wireless router. Combined

with the IP address, the IP Subnet Mask allows a device to

know which other addresses are local to it, and which must

be reached through a gateway or wireless router.

RIP Direction

RIP (Router Information Protocol) allows a wireless router

to exchange routing information with other routers. This

setting controls how the wireless router sends and receives

RIP packets.

Both

is the default.

•

Both

or

Out Only

. The wireless router broadcasts its

routing table periodically.

•

Both

or

In Only

. The wireless router incorporates the RIP

information that it receives.

•

None

. The wireless router will not send any RIP packets

and will ignore any RIP packets received.

RIP Version

This controls the format and the broadcasting method of the

RIP packets that the wireless router sends. It recognizes

both formats when receiving. By default, this is

RIP-1

.

•

RIP-1 is universally supported. It is adequate for most

networks, unless you have an unusual network setup.

•

RIP-2 carries more information. Both RIP-2B and RIP-2M

send the routing data in RIP-2 format. RIP-2B uses

subnet broadcasting. RIP-2M uses multicasting.

DHCP Server

For more

information

Use Router as a DHCP

Server

This check box is usually selected so that the wireless

router functions as a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol

(DHCP) server. See

“Using the Router as a DHCP Server”

on page 5-4

.

Starting IP Address

Specify the start of the range for the pool of IP addresses in

the same subnet as the wireless router.

Ending IP Address

Specify the end of the range for the pool of IP addresses in

the same subnet as the wireless router.

Address Reservation

For more information, see

“Using Address

Reservation” on page 5-4

.

When you specify a reserved IP address for a computer on

the LAN, that computer receives the same IP address each

time it access the router’s DHCP server. Assign reserved IP

addresses to servers that require permanent IP settings.

Table 5-1.

LAN IP Setup

(continued)

Settings

Description

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Using the Router as a DHCP Server

By default, the router functions as a DHCP server, allowing it to assign IP, DNS server, and default

gateway addresses to all computers connected to the router’s LAN. The assigned default gateway

address is the LAN address of the router. The router assigns IP addresses to the attached computers

from a pool of addresses specified in this screen. Each pool address is tested before it is assigned to

avoid duplicate addresses on the LAN.

For most applications, the default DHCP and TCP/IP settings of the router are satisfactory. Click

the link to the online document

“TCP/IP Networking Basics” in Appendix B

for an explanation of

DHCP and information about how to assign IP addresses for your network.

Specify the pool of IP addresses to be assigned by setting the starting IP address and ending IP

address. These addresses should be part of the same IP address subnet as the router’s LAN IP

address. Using the default addressing scheme, you should define a range between 192.168.1.2 and

192.168.1.254, although you might wish to save part of the range for devices with fixed addresses.

The router delivers the following parameters to any LAN device that requests DHCP:

•

An IP address from the range you have defined

•

Subnet mask

•

Gateway IP address (the router’s LAN IP address)

•

Primary DNS server

To use another device on your network as the DHCP server, or to manually specify the network

settings of all of your computers, clear the

Use Router as DHCP Server

check box. Otherwise,

leave it selected. If this service is not selected and no other DHCP server is available on your

network, you need to set your computers’ IP addresses manually or they will not be able to access

the router.

Using Address Reservation

When you specify a reserved IP address for a computer on the LAN, that computer always

receives the same IP address each time it accesses the router’s DHCP server. Reserved IP

addresses should be assigned to computers or servers that require permanent IP settings.

To reserve an IP address:

1.

Click

Add

.

2.

In the

IP Address

field, type the IP address to assign to the computer or server. (Choose an IP

address from the router’s LAN subnet, such as

192.168.1.x

.)

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3.

Type the MAC address of the computer or server.

4.

Click

Apply

to enter the reserved address into the table.

To edit or delete a reserved address entry:

1.

Click the button next to the reserved address you want to edit or delete.

2.

Click

Edit

or

Delete

.

Using a Dynamic DNS Service

If your Internet Service Provider (ISP) gave you a permanently assigned IP address, you can

register a domain name and have that name linked with your IP address by public Domain Name

Servers (DNS). However, if your Internet account uses a dynamically assigned IP address, you do

not know in advance what your IP address will be, and the address can change frequently. In this

case, you can use a commercial Dynamic DNS service, which allows you to register your domain

to their IP address, and forwards traffic directed at your domain to your current IP address.

Your router contains a client that can connect to the Dynamic DNS service provided by

DynDNS.org. You must first visit their website at

www.dyndns.org

and obtain an account and host

name, which you specify in the router. Then, whenever your ISP-assigned IP address changes,

your router automatically contacts the Dynamic DNS service provider, logs in to your account, and

registers your new IP address. If your host name is hostname, for example, you can reach your

router at hostname.dyndns.org.

Tip:

If the computer is already present on your network, you can copy its MAC

address from the Attached Devices screen and paste it here.

Note:

The reserved address is not assigned until the next time the computer contacts

the router’s DHCP server. Reboot the computer or access its IP configuration

and force a DHCP release and renew.

Note:

If your ISP assigns a private WAN IP address (such as 192.168.x.x or 10.x.x.x), the

Dynamic DNS service will not work because private addresses are not routed on

the Internet.