Wi-Fi needs to be Access Point, but connected to Laptop!

I have a Satellite Internet connection that uses it's own special adapter to connect to my computer (hp laptop, WinXP)

i need to be able to connect my Linksys Wi-Fi router to this same laptop via 10/100 adapter, and use it to share the Satellite Internet connection with a group of Macintosh Powerbook users. it has to be able to server DHCP to these users and it can't be something that i have to change settings on their computers.

all i really need is a way to give the router an IP address, so it can then NAT out to it's Wi-Fi users....

question A] do i need to bridge the connections between the Satellite link and the 10/100 card that's connected to the Linksys?

question B] do i need to install a DHCP server on the laptop to give the router an IP?

question C] basically, what DO i need to do?

thanks

HammerJammer

Firstly, although you've got a router, you don't really need to use the router part of it. Since the Internet connection won't be connected to the router, in the web-based config make sure that the router is not functioning as a router, but only as a wireless access point (I think you've already realised this though).

Then, you can plug the router into the laptop. On the laptop you will then have two connections, the Internet connection and a network connection to the wireless access point. You do not need to bridge these two connections (question A). Instead, you want to enable Internet Connection Sharing on the Internet connection. When you do this, the laptop will be set a static IP address of 192.168.0.1 and it will be configured to share the Internet. Enabling ICS will enable a built-in DHCP server on the laptop (question B).

Then, the router needs to be given an IP address. It can either be configured to use DHCP and get an IP address from the laptop, or you could manually assign it an IP address, like 192.168.0.10. Once you've got the wireless access point with a good IP address, the laptop and it should be able to communicate.

For any other wireless computers, you should be able to set their settings to use a DHCP server. Hopefully, they should be able to communicate with the laptop to get an IP address. They should also be able to access the Internet through the laptop.

will this work even if my users are Macintosh's? normally ICS is incompatible with Macintosh. also, will the ICS being serving IP addresses to these users? or will the Linksys?

also, is there a way to GET to the web-configuration page of a Linksys w/o it having an IP of it's own? i haven't been able to so far....


now, all that being said; i need this setup to be either a one-time setup, or so simple that the computer-iliterate can handle it easily (like an icon they can click). i can write scrips for most of this. my question is: if it turns out i -can't- use ICS, will having a simple DHCP server set up on the WinXP box do the same trick?

i'm just going to assume btw that the Linksys needs to be plugged in via it's Uplink port.....(something i forgot to do today while i was actually AT the site...-grumble-)

btw, out of 6 forums i'm a member of...this one offered the most help (although not really news: i've already tried most all of the above) in the form of ACTUALLY *READING* my original post. most forums scan the title and then comment suggesting something completely random like:
"you need to connect the Linksys directly to the Satellite Transceiver" (<- Actual quote from a different forum. note that in my post i explained that the Satellite transceiver doesn't HAVE an ethernet port...hah)


thanks again...

Hammerjammer

Not sure about the fact that the other computers are Macintosh computers. I've never tried that. If it doesn't work, you'll need to find alternative software on the laptop to share out the Internet. However, if you do use ICS, then it will be the laptop serving the IP addresses. The Linksys should have almost everything disabled so that it merely acts as a wireless access point.

To get to the web configuration for the Linksys you will need an IP address for it.

If you can't use ICS, then a DHCP server won't work. Although a DHCP server would be able to hand out IP addresses to the clients, you also need some way to share out the Internet. If ICS doesn't work, you'll have to look at some other software.

can't use ICS.
WinXP doesn't allow you to change the scope of the DHCP range, so i get IP conflicts.
what's this you're saying about DHCP can't share the Internet? what else do i need other than IP adresses on the clients and a DNS gateway?


the DHCP i found runs BOOTP as well....hmmm

DHCP won't actually share the Internet. It will give out IP addresses to clients, but it doesn't share the Internet. You'll need additional software installed to actually make the Internet connection available to anyone on the network, if you can't use ICS. Otherwise, the clients wouldn't be able to browse to the network.

i mean, what specifically? before i know what kind of software to look for, i need to know what this software will be doing. i know i need a DHCP server and a DNS server....but what else? i mean if i've got a NAT then that ought to do it right??

Internet sharing software will probably include NAT as this is needed to share the Internet. Just search google for Internet sharing software, or something like that. As an example, Kerio WinRoute Firewall (http://www.kerio.com/kwf_home.html) is exactly what would work, but there are others.

it's funny you should mention Kerio.
DataStorm Ground Control -used- to use Kerio, then Kerio 'upgraded' their software package to include the firewall.
now it's completely incompatible with Ground Control for some reason.

on a side note, because of my work with one of Ground Control's clients, i've had to talk to them alot about their product. they're as stumped as i am, and they said:
(quote)
"if you figure something out, let us know because we're DYING here"

i've setup a freeware DHCP server that uses NAT, but my client is in San Francisco for a couple weeks so i can't test it out yet...

i'll let you know if it works and thanks for all your help.
any addition info/ideas would rock.

-HJ

Well Kerio works really nicely where I've installed it.

I've never heard of DataStorm Ground Control or used any of their software, so I don't have a clue why it may not be working