Are there any DSL routers that can act as a bridge?

Forums › New Zealand Broadband › Are there any DSL routers that can act as a bridge?

adamshand

22 posts

Geek

#11376 18-Jan-2007 16:49

Hi,

I'm hoping someone can enlighten me. :-)

Currently I have Telecom DSL (that's another problem for another post) which connects to a D-Link 502T which then connects via a crossover cable to a Linksys WRT54G. I like the Linksys but the two features it's missing are PPPoA and the ability to act as a bridge.

At the moment both the Linksys and the D-Link are acting as NAT routers, which works fine for outbound traffic but it's quite irritating when you're trying to port forward into your network.

My question is, does anyone know of a DSL modem (which supports PPPoA) that can act as a bridge so that the Linksys can be the only router?

My other option is to load Linux (probably OpenWRT) onto the Linksys and turn it into a bridge, but that's work I was hoping to avoid :-)

Many thanks for any thoughts or suggestions.

Adam.

grant_k

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#58285 18-Jan-2007 16:56

adamshand: My question is, does anyone know of a DSL modem (which supports PPPoA) that can act as a bridge so that the Linksys can be the only router?

Maybe it's stating the obvious, but why not buy an all-in-one device such as WAG54GP2V2 that lets you do away with your WRT54G?

Specifications for WAG54GP2V2 are here:

http://www-nz.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?c=L_Product_C2&childpagename=NZ%2FLayout&cid=1130279411957&pagename=Linksys%2FCommon%2FVisitorWrapper

It includes a WiFi access point and 2 x Voice ports in case you want to use VoIP later.

Then you won't have the conflict of 2 NAT devices in your network.

BTW, welcome to Geekzone

Cheers,
Grant.

adamshand

22 posts

Geek

#58290 18-Jan-2007 18:12

I didn't think that any of the Linksys boxes supported PPPoA but I just checked and this one does. Not a bad solution, I'll check it out.

I'm still curious if there are DSL routers which can act as bridges though :-)

And thanks for the welcome, hopefully I'll be around a bit more in the future.

barf

643 posts

Ultimate Geek

#58291 18-Jan-2007 18:44

you want a feature called PPP half bridge. 'bridge mode' is something different.
the DSE routers support this, as do Cisco's and most other high-end ADSL modem-routers. some d-links support it they call it zipb

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adamshand

22 posts

Geek

#58329 19-Jan-2007 10:09

barf: you want a feature called PPP half bridge. 'bridge mode' is something different.
the DSE routers support this, as do Cisco's and most other high-end ADSL modem-routers. some d-links support it they call it zipb

Interesting, thanks for the pointers to the terminology, that opened up some new options while searching. I found a link on the WLUG page which suggested that D-Link's sold in NZ have a different firmware which disables zipb/half bridge mode.

It turns out that my D-Link does support bridge mode but there is so little documentation it's hard to figure out exactly what it does. It *appears* that it terminates the PPPoA session and then just passes the external IP through to whatever device is connected to its internal ethernet port (which is what you'd expect from a bridge). However given that most PPP sessions use dynamic IPs it's really unclear how the internal device (my Linksys) is supposed to pickup that IP.

Anyway I just had a forehead slap moment and I've simply used the DMZ feature on my D-Link to put my Linksys "on the internet". Seems to be doing what I need so far.

I think I'll probably just put OpenWRT on the Linksys and then I can do proper wireless <-> ethernet bridging ... but it will have to wait for a rainy day. :-)

Thanks all!
Adam.

coffeebaron

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#58332 19-Jan-2007 11:30

Grant17:
Maybe it's stating the obvious, but why not buy an all-in-one device such as WAG54GP2V2 that lets you do away with your WRT54G?

Often a higher end router is required for VPN, load-balancing, QoS, extra security etc. So having a solution to how to setup an ADSL modem/router to router configuration would certainly be quite helpful.

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grant_k

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#58333 19-Jan-2007 11:48

coffeebaron: Often a higher end router is required for VPN, load-balancing, QoS, extra security etc. So having a solution to how to setup an ADSL modem/router to router configuration would certainly be quite helpful.

Agreed, it is a more flexible way of doing things. I tried it once with a Nokia M1122 operating in bridge mode, connected to a "Broadband Router" responsible for doing NAT etc.

Maybe I was just unlucky, but it didn't work too well, even though both pieces of gear were known to be reliable when used separately. I experienced several disconnections a day on some days, with none at all on others. The connection would eventually come back up by itself, but it usually took several minutes.

I guess this experience has put me off the idea of a separate modem + router for ADSL, given that there are so many all-in-one devices with so many functions now available.

Granted, for VPN and Load Balancing a higher-end router would be mandatory, but QoS and Firewall are well catered for by most of the all-in-one routers now.

Just my 2c worth...

barf

643 posts

Ultimate Geek

#58354 19-Jan-2007 15:59

PPP half bridge works by modifying the DHCP server in the router to assign your Internet IP to a station on your ethernet (usually with a 30 second lease time), thus you will only be able to connect one device to it's ethernet port(s). It works like a charm and at home I use a Linux/IPtables-firewall box connected directly to my modem-router.

Off-loading the IP NAT routing to a PC has definately improved speed and reliability here, VPNs work now too. No disconnections in over 66 days (since the last power cut) and before that 240+ days without a noticeable problem - all on the cheapest router I could find (equivalent to DSE XH1179).

Bridge mode as you see it in most WAN configuration menus is not really usable like this, AFAIK it's for networks that use IPoATM

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adamshand

22 posts

Geek

#58357 19-Jan-2007 16:35

barf: PPP half bridge works by modifying the DHCP server in the router to assign your Internet IP to a station on your ethernet (usually with a 30 second lease time), thus you will only be able to connect one device to it's ethernet port(s). It works like a charm and at home I use a Linux/IPtables-firewall box connected directly to my modem-router.

That makes sense, and ties in with what I was reading in forums.

Cheers!

coffeebaron

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#58380 19-Jan-2007 19:38

Ah well, I guess I'll just have to cross that "bridge" when I come to it - lol

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