[mdlug] Setting up a home network

[Michael Mikowski]

Hi Michael:

Updated my firmware to wrt-dd, and it does everything I was hoping for and more.  The key features are reservation of IP per MAC address, and DNS resolution of local clients.  If you decide to give this a whirl, you will *certainly* need to install different packages.  With the v5 router, you will have to settle for the mini or micro version - see here: <http://www.bitsum.com/openwiking/owbase/ow.asp?WRT54G5_CFE>
My notes for v2 router:

Used this as a guide:
<http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Linksys_WRT54G/GL/GS/GX#v2.0>

1. Perform  30/30/30 hard reset with the Linksys original firmware.
2. Upgraded to latest Linksys firmware (in my case, version 4.21.1). ( http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?c=L_CASupport_C2&childpagename=US%2FLayout&cid=1166859837401&pagename=Linksys%2FCommon%2FVisitorWrapper&lid=3740141396B08&displaypage=download#versiondetail ) select version 2 from drop down menu
3. Upgraded through the firmware interface to dd-wrt.v24_micro_generic.bin from http://www.dd-wrt.com/dd-wrtv2/down.php?path=downloads/v24/Broadcom/Linksys/WAP54G_v2/
4. Perform  30/30/30 hard reset.  Web interface then becomes available via HTTP only (HTTPS was turned off).  It asked me for a new username/password combination.  After updating this info, I got the interface!
5. Confirmed from diagnostics that wl10_correv > 5 by going to http://192.168.1.1/Diagnostics.asp and typing in the Commands textarea "nvram get w10_corerev" which returned "7"
Per http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/What_is_DD-WRT%3F this means the normal build shouldbe used.
6. Upgraded through the firmware interface to dd-wrt.v24_std_generic.bin from http://www.dd-wrt.com/dd-wrtv2/down.php?path=downloads/v24/Broadcom/Broadcom+Generic/

In http://192.168.1.1/Services.asp
* ADDED mac address mapping under DHCP Server
    MAC Address: 00:01:80:68:AE:17
    Host Name:   logic
    IP Address:  192.168.1.100

* ENABLED sshd (user: root, passwd is same as router)
* DISABLED telnet
* DID NOT enable local DNS, although this seems tempting.  But I found that
  local host names were already being resolved.

In http://192.168.1.1/Management.asp:
* RESET Router Password
* DISABLED HTTP and set HTTPS only

Hope this is useful to sombody :)

Cheers, Mike




----- Original Message ----
From: Michael S. Mikowski <z_mikowski at yahoo.com>
To: mdlug at mdlug.org
Sent: Monday, January 26, 2009 10:10:42 AM
Subject: Re: [mdlug] Setting up a home network

On Sunday 25 January 2009 20:50:12 Michael S. Mikowski wrote:
> Hi Michael:
>
> The best solution, IMO, is as follows:
>
> Modem -> Wireless Router -> mnewman-desktop + Rest of network
>
> That way, you let the router act as your firewall, name server (DNS), DHCP
> server, etc, and not have to worry about anything else -- it will just
> work. And you won't need to keep a machine on all the time, just the
> router.
>