[TriLUG] OT: WRT54G bridging

[Owen Berry]

Brian,

I know you mentioned that you wanted copper but some of this might
help, or in case you end up going wireless. I have a 54GL running the
default Linksys firmware as my main router out to the rest of the world,
and a 54GL running OpenWRT bridged over wireless. It's using WPA2-PSK
TKIP.

This was my main source of inspiration:

http://wiki.openwrt.org/WirelessBridgeWithWPAHowto

I think the only change I made to the scripts provided was to remove the
wait for DHCP on the wireless side since I set it up to use a static IP.
To get the static IP working I needed to modify /etc/functions.sh in
order to specify the interface for the default gateway, otherwise it was
ending up being bound to the LAN side of things instead of the wirless,
which resulted in a black hole.

I also had to modify /etc/init.d/parprouted to get it working as it
didn't do a good job of setting options - just a silly bug from what I
can tell.

The author mentions having problems with the bridging and ended up
turning it into a router between two subnets. So far I haven't seen any
problems, but I also haven't used the connection heavily or looked at
how good the bandwidth is. I don't think it would be a big issue
changing it to a router though, and might do so if I have the time and
inclination since it seems simpler and you don't have to depend on
parprouted.

Owen

On Mon, Nov 06, 2006 at 10:32:56AM -0500, Brian Henning wrote:
> Hiya Gang,
>   If I pick up another WRT54G[L] and manage to successfully flash it 
> with OpenWRT, how difficult is it to set up a wired LAN that bridges to 
> my existing LAN by way of the new '54G and my existing '54G?  In other 
> words, I have a section of my house that would be a real pain to get 
> copper to, but I already have a '54G ticking away merrily with 
> WPA/PSK-TKIP that I could link to (but I do want a copper segment in 
> this area).
> 
> I know folks here have done this quite a bit, so I will appreciate 
> someone offering tips or pointing me toward some good HOWTO reading 
> material.
> 
> I am also JFGI-ing, but lately my Fu has been weak...
> 
> Thanks!
> ~Brian
> 
> Was gonna subject this "Stupid WRT Tricks," but figured maybe I was the 
> only one that found that humorous..  (-:
> 
> -- 
> ----------------
> Brian A. Henning
> strutmasters.com
> 336.597.2397x238
> ----------------