Networking Issues - I'm losing my hair :(

[silkstone]

Hi Guys,

I'm trying to set up my network correctly, but after over a week trying to fix the issues and 2 different routers, I can;t for the life of me figure it out.

I basically have a ADSL router connecting to the internet behind my main DD-WRT router.
I wasnt the ADSL router to act as a "dumb" box so it will only connect to the internet and not act as NAT or DHCP server.

There is no option on my D-Link (ADSL) box for bridging.

I only have the following options: -DHCP Server -DHCP Relay -None
So, it's presently set up like this:

With my DD-WRT Box like this:

Now it all works fine, apart from my VPN. I believe the issue is because both boxes are trying to work as DHCP servers.
As soon as I turn off DHCP on the ADSL box, the whole thing stops working. No internet connection, no connection to the ADSL box. I've tried turning it off and keeping the Local IP the same, and chaging the local ip to 192.168.0.2. Neither work. Nor does the DHCP relay option.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, as I'm going out of my mind here

 

[remixedcat]

does this have both the modem and the router in it or is it just another router?

 

[newtekie1]

What VPN are you using? You probably have to put you DD-WRT box in the DMZ of the D-Link.

 

[Steevo]

Are you setting the DSL router to DMZ into the IP assigned to the internal router WAN side, or port forwarding it some way?

It will always act as a NAT device, but that is the purpose of running the DMZ setting to the router you are actually using, it makes the NAT essential invisible.

 

[silkstone]

does this have both the modem and the router in it or is it just another router?

The first one is a modem+router (with only 1 lan port)

What VPN are you using? You probably have to put you DD-WRT box in the DMZ of the D-Link.

I'm using private internet access. Okay I'll take a look at how to do that. there should be some way to tell the modem to allow all traffic from the DD-WRT box, then?

Are you setting the DSL router to DMZ into the IP assigned to the internal router WAN side, or port forwarding it some way?

It will always act as a NAT device, but that is the purpose of running the DMZ setting to the router you are actually using, it makes the NAT essential invisible.

I am not, I'll look at how to do that now and see if it works.

Edit - Thanks guys. That did the trick, all I had to do was enter my DD-WRT router's IP in the DMZ settings for the ADSL router.

Are there any security risks by running it this way? From what I understnad about DMZ, it only tells the NAT and Firewall to ignore requests to that device, right?

 

[hat]

No, there is no security risk (so long as your DD-WRT is configured normally).

You can visualize your situation like this: you have two walls standing between your server and the rest of the world. Putting the DD-WRT router in the DMZ of the ADSL router effectively removes one wall. The other wall, the DD-WRT router, is the one you create a small hole (port forwarding) in to allow traffic to flow through. Alternatively, in your ADSL router, you could forward those specific ports to the DD-WRT router, and from the DD-WRT router forward them to the target machine.

Alternatively, you should be able to just disable NAT, and maybe the firewall, in the ADSL router, basically turning it into nothing more than a switch. Someone who knows more than me might be able to elaborate more on this option.