[ExportA]

Hi there, I'm trying to connect another router behind my current router, but I seem to fall behind some problems, it seems to work, but sometimes I get a weird behavior.

My actual main router;
Connected to WAN from ISP modem
Asus RT-AC66U (192.168.5.1)
2.4Ghz SSID = Plante (Channel 3)
5Ghz SSID = Plante5G (Channel Auto)
DHCP ON (gives IP from 192.168.5.100 to 192.168.5.200)

My newly added router;
Connected ton LAN 2 from router 1 and LAN 4 to another desktop computer, WAN is not used here
Asus RT-N56U (192.168.5.2) << IP is tied up to the MAC in router 1 to maintain this IP
2.4Ghz SSID = Asus (Channel 8)
5Ghz SSID = Asus_5G (Channel Auto)
DHCP ON (gives IP from 192.168.5.201 to 192.168.5.240)

Now, I'm directly wired to my main router (192.168.5.1) and I can access both router's admin page (192.168.5.1 and 192.168.5.2).

I can also see devices connected on each admin pages, they are all here on both places.

Is that the <best> setup to have, any advice?

Thanks a lot!

[Sepodati]

What are the problems you're having?

I think it'd be best to have the second router just act as a switch. Have your main router hand out DHCP and connect to the WAN. Your secondary router (now a switch) just switches up traffic over the LAN2 port to the router.

Turn off DHCP on the second router.

-John

[kicken]

Indeed, the second router needs to just be a switch without DHCP. Either configure it as such or replace it with a simple switch.

On a side note, the typical channels for 2.4Ghz is 1, 6, and 11. Using 3 and 8 is a bit odd. Have you done scans to determine those as the best channels or just pick them arbitrarily?

[ExportA]

I will try to connect router 1 LAN(4) to router 2 WAN and then close DHCP on router 2, so that way it means the it will be irrelevant to access router 2 admin page since all the trafic will be handled by router 1?

On a sidenote, what will happens with router 2 wireless? Do I put the exact same SSID for both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz with same security BUT not the same channel as the router 1 or I need to do something else more?

As for the channel, I followed a guide who told to use channel 3 and 8..., maybe I will revert them to 1 and 11 instead.

[Sepodati]

You should be able to set up the wireless with the same SSID/Security and different channels, then your devices will migrate seamlessly. That's if Router 1 is doing DHCP and router 2 is just a switch.

-John

[ExportA]

Originally Posted by Sepodati

You should be able to set up the wireless with the same SSID/Security and different channels, then your devices will migrate seamlessly. That's if Router 1 is doing DHCP and router 2 is just a switch.

-John

Turning router 2 as a switch means technically to reset router to defaults, letting him get a different subnet, doesn't matter, closing down DHCP, setting same SSID and security but different channels and that's it, no need to ever log onto router 2 admin page, right?

[Sepodati]

Router 2 will get the DHCP subnet that Router 1 is passing out. both Router 2 itself and the clients. You'll also need to ensure NAT, firewalls, etc. is turned off.

You can still get to the Admin panel on Router 2 by using the address it was assigned via DHCP by router 1. But yeah, you really won't need to anymore.

[kicken]

To use it as a switch you'd just ignore the WAN port on the second router. You'd connect one of the LAN ports on Router 1 to a LAN port on router 2. Disable the DHCP server on router 2 and you'll probably want to configure a static IP for Router 2 just in case you need to access the administration page later. It might or might not pick up an LAN ip from the other router's DHCP, but either way having a static one is better since it won't change on you in the future.

So the setup would look something like this:

1. Modem to WAN port on router 1
2. LAN1 on Router 1 to LAN1 on Router 2
3. LAN2-4 on Router 1 and LAN2-4 on Router 2 can go to your devices.

Assuming this is your second router's UI, you'd want to make these changes I think:

1. Advanced > LAN > LAN IP - IP Address 192.168.5.2; Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
2. Advanced > LAN > DHCP Server - Enable the DHCP Server? No
3. Advanced > Administration > Operation Mode - Access Point

Note that you could also use a single SSID for both 2.4G and 5G wireless networks and your devices should auto-select whichever one is best capable. If you want to put devices on specific frequencies or you have issues with bad auto-selection then use separate SSID's.

I would configure the channel settings for 5G as well, maybe channels 40 and 48 for example. Auto may be fine though.