Hello, I'm new to the forum, and I hope someone can help me.
I'm trying to use my router (Netgear R6120) as WiFi to Ethernet adapter because I need to connect a NAS in a room that hasn't got an ethernet line.
So I need that my NAS is in the same subnet as the rest of the network, or at least is visible and accessible from the main subnetwork, with the minor performance drop possible.
I tried to follow the dumbAP example, I've changed the wifi settings from ap to WiFi client but it doesn't work.
So I'd like to ask if it's possible to do something similar and how.
Further options:
- Use WDS between the main router and the AP (when WDS is supported by both devices)
- Add a WiFi adapter to the NAS (check the compatibility list of the NAS). However, USB WiFi adapters may not be suitable for 24x7 operation. No idea if any NAS device supports PCIe WiFi adapters.
Do you mean browseable/discoverable as a SMB share? because if you just want to connect to it with a dns name you can do that whether or not it's on the same subnet
It's not something that can be simply "reversed" because the conventional AP -- STA connection is assumed to be one-way. The STA is addressed as one device, there cannot be multiple MAC addresses bridged on the STA end of the link.
Thus placing a STA into the lan bridge like you would an AP will fail, it is an unallowed configuration.
The relay approach is about all you can do if you don't have control of the AP to set it up as WDS or a mesh instead.
Hi, thanks for your reply.
I already tryed this method, but i had some problems downloading the relayed package.
I will reset the router and retry.
The main router does not have OpenWRT installed so i don't know if it supports WDS, and i didn't found any wifi adapter compatibility list for my NAS.
I will make some researches.
Thanks
Yes, i want it to be available via SAMBA so i can access it like a normal folder from my pc.
Thanks
You can put it behind a routed client, and simply map a network drive. the only issue with it on a different subnet is that "discovery" protocols won't work, so if you have some phone app or something that only works if it can see the NAS and you click on it, rather than let you enter in the name, that would be a problem.
Ok, thanks for your explanation.
I will try to use WDS and, if it doesn't work, I will opt for the relay solution.
No, I only have to connect it to my pc, so it shouldn't be an issue.
I can manually make a shortcut to it on my PC's desktop.
Does your main router support static routes? This would allow you to run the routed client without NAT.
Yes, it should.
The main router it's a TP-LINK with stock firmware, but it should have that function.
I'm not an expert, so I'd like to ask if you can explain to me how you want to use the static route and why?
The advantage is that in a fully routed setup, the NAS can be reached from the PC without port forwarding.
Follow this guide: https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/network/routedclient
Ok, thank you very much.
the end of this guide talk about two openwrt devices based on old 12.09. so now with two openwrt device still that the right way to go? that is not really clear. i need that kind of configuration
Using routing : an alternative solution repeats what was previously described in the Using MASQUERADE and Using routing sections. It is not really an "alternative", but nearly the same thing.
It is not coherent with the rest of the article, since it uses different subnet numbering and the network diagram is flipped from left to right.
I find it a bit more difficult to follow, but it adds detail in some places. On top of the fully routed client setup, it also enables the "satellite" AP to serve wireless clients itself, which could be regarded as a "routed WiFi repeater".
Despite the 12.09 reference, I think it is still applicable to current OpenWrt releases.
I suggest to ignore the "alternative" section on a first pass. If something does not work, you can always refer to it later.
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this is very strange i'm trying it rigth now at home, i can surf the internet, but i cannot access from one router to another.
I think I understand what you're trying to do and it's something I've done before.
I used the WiFi as a client (don't use WDS it sucks) and simply bridged all the interfaces together (wired and WiFi) in the LAN network. I basically deleted everything I could in the firewall section and set everything to allow by default and deleted the WAN interfaces. My device became a wireless to wired switch at this point and all devices connected to the wired ports pulled DHCP from the main wireless router.
As a further measure I also went to the startup section and disabled the firewall and dhcpd and other services from running at startup. Just turn off everything you won't be using.
Yes, it's exactly what i tried to do, but my problem was that when I bridged all the interfaces togheter the wifi stops working and disable itself