[SOLVED] Billion BiPac 8800NL as Wireless Bridge?

[billiondepress]

Hey everyone,
I've got two 8800NLs, and I'm trying to create a wireless bridge between the two of them. I set up the primary router as normal, went into the wireless bridge configuration (Configuration > Wireless > Wireless Bridge) and set the "Bridge Restrict" to "Enable" and added the secondary router's wireless MAC Address to "Remote Bridges MAC Address".

I then set up the secondary router, but without entering any information for the WAN (clicking "Done" early in the easy sign-on wizard). I then performed the following steps:

1. WAN > WAN Service > Selected the "Remove" checkbox for the all of the WAN entries, then clicked the "Remove" button. I figure this is the only way to 'disable' the WAN functionality on the router, or am I mistaken?
2. Configuration > LAN > Changed "IP Address" from 192.168.1.254 to 192.168.1.25 to avoid conflicts. I also changed "DHCP Server" to "Disable".
3. Wireless > Changed all of the settings to match the primary router; "SSID" & "Country" in the Basic section, the "Network Authentication" and "WPA/WAPI" passphrase" in the Security section. "Channel" and "Bandwidth" in the Advanced section.
4. Wireless > Wireless Bridge > Changed "AP Mode" to "Wireless Bridge".

I then restarted both routers, but no luck. Any idea what I could be doing wrong?

My hardware configuration is as follows:
Living Room: {Magical Internet Port} <> [Primary 8800NL]
Office: [Secondary 8800NL] <> [Gigabit Network Switch (7 devices attached)]

I can provide screenshots and more information as needed!

Many thanks!

[billion_fan]

Hey everyone,
I've got two 8800NLs, and I'm trying to create a wireless bridge between the two of them. I set up the primary router as normal, went into the wireless bridge configuration (Configuration > Wireless > Wireless Bridge) and set the "Bridge Restrict" to "Enable" and added the secondary router's wireless MAC Address to "Remote Bridges MAC Address".

I then set up the secondary router, but without entering any information for the WAN (clicking "Done" early in the easy sign-on wizard). I then performed the following steps:

1. WAN > WAN Service > Selected the "Remove" checkbox for the all of the WAN entries, then clicked the "Remove" button. I figure this is the only way to 'disable' the WAN functionality on the router, or am I mistaken?
2. Configuration > LAN > Changed "IP Address" from 192.168.1.254 to 192.168.1.25 to avoid conflicts. I also changed "DHCP Server" to "Disable".
3. Wireless > Changed all of the settings to match the primary router; "SSID" & "Country" in the Basic section, the "Network Authentication" and "WPA/WAPI" passphrase" in the Security section. "Channel" and "Bandwidth" in the Advanced section.
4. Wireless > Wireless Bridge > Changed "AP Mode" to "Wireless Bridge".

I then restarted both routers, but no luck. Any idea what I could be doing wrong?

My hardware configuration is as follows:
Living Room: {Magical Internet Port} <> [Primary 8800NL]
Office: [Secondary 8800NL] <> [Gigabit Network Switch (7 devices attached)]

I can provide screenshots and more information as needed!

Many thanks!

I have just setup 2 x 8800NL with 'Wireless Bridge' see my screen shots of my setup, I used the scan version.

1. Setup the 8800NL as usual, SSID, security type, security password and channel number
2. Setup the 8800NL2 with the same SSID, security type, security password and channel number, disable the DHCP server and changed the IP address to 192.168.1.1
3. On the first 8800NL I navigated to the 'Wireless Bridge' section and under 'Bridge Restrict' selected 'Enabled (Scan) and selected the 8800nl2 SSID/MAC
4. On the 8800NL2 I did the same navigated to the 'Wireless Bridge' section and under 'Bridge Restrict' selected 'Enabled (Scan) and selected the 8800nl SSID/MAC
5. Renew the IP address of any devices connecting the to 8800NL2, to ensure there are no IP conflicts

Once done I can ping the other device from the first 8800NL (8800NL 192.168.1.254, and 8800NL2 192.168.1.1)

[billiondepress]

Many thanks for the detailed reply! I'm at work at the moment but will try and match these settings as soon as I'm back home!

[billion_fan]

Many thanks for the detailed reply! What version of the firmware are you running? 2.32d.dh14? I'm at work at the moment but will try and match these settings as soon as I'm back home!

The firmware was 2.32d.dh14 as shown on the screen shots

[billiondepress]

Yep, I just noticed on the last one; edited my post to try and hide my ignorance!

[billiondepress]

Fantastic, thank you very much for your assistance! The problem was that I had only configured Remote Bridges MAC Address on the first router.

On the first router, I had to set the MAC address for the secondary router manually using Bridge Restrict: Enable, as I had already set the secondary router to AP Mode: Bridge (which stopped the primary router from seeing it via Bridge Restrict: Enable(Scan). Before seeing your post, I thought this would be enough to facilitate communication between the two routers, which is where I messed up.

Once I configured the secondary router's Wireless Bridge settings via Bridge Restrict: Enable(Scan), everything worked perfectly!

[billiondepress]

I must ask for your sage advice once again, billion_fan!

(The underlined section has been resolved, it was a result of the HTPC creating a new network profile when it connected to the secondary router for the first time, and defaulting to "public", which was blocking the connection via Windows Firewall.)

Since setting up the bridge, I'm having issues with the server software on my HTPC. Not only when going over the new wireless bridge, but even when connecting directly to it.

For example, connecting to my HTPC via my phone's "remote mouse" software.

The remote software is on my iPhone, which is connected to my primary router's wireless. The HTPC is connected to the gigabit switch, which is connected to the secondary router. So, the route would be as follows:
[iPhone] <Wireless> [Primary Router] <Wireless> [Secondary Router] <Wired> [Switch] <Wired> [HTPC]

I'm sure this is an issue with the wireless bridge. Although I'm also having problems with my Syncplay server, which is a video file synchronisation server hosted on the HTPC.

I initiate playback of a video file on the HTPC, which starts up the Syncplay client as well. The client then uses "localhost:8999" as the syncplay server and connects directly to itself. Ever since putting the wireless bridge in, whenever the syncplay client on my main PC tries to connect to the syncplay server on my HTPC, it attempts to connect, then fails. Its route is as follows:

[PC] <Wired> [Switch] <Wired> [HTPC]

I'm pretty sure with that physical configuration, the PC and the HTPC shouldn't even be speaking to the secondary router when trying to establish a connection to HTPC:8999?

Any idea what could be causing this, and how to get around it?

Hope you can help!

[billion_fan]

I must ask for your sage advice once again, billion_fan!

(The underlined section has been resolved, it was a result of the HTPC creating a new network profile when it connected to the secondary router for the first time, and defaulting to "public", which was blocking the connection via Windows Firewall.)

Since setting up the bridge, I'm having issues with the server software on my HTPC. Not only when going over the new wireless bridge, but even when connecting directly to it.

For example, connecting to my HTPC via my phone's "remote mouse" software.

The remote software is on my iPhone, which is connected to my primary router's wireless. The HTPC is connected to the gigabit switch, which is connected to the secondary router. So, the route would be as follows:
[iPhone] <Wireless> [Primary Router] <Wireless> [Secondary Router] <Wired> [Switch] <Wired> [HTPC]

I'm sure this is an issue with the wireless bridge. Although I'm also having problems with my Syncplay server, which is a video file synchronisation server hosted on the HTPC.

I initiate playback of a video file on the HTPC, which starts up the Syncplay client as well. The client then uses "localhost:8999" as the syncplay server and connects directly to itself. Ever since putting the wireless bridge in, whenever the syncplay client on my main PC tries to connect to the syncplay server on my HTPC, it attempts to connect, then fails. Its route is as follows:

[PC] <Wired> [Switch] <Wired> [HTPC]

I'm pretty sure with that physical configuration, the PC and the HTPC shouldn't even be speaking to the secondary router when trying to establish a connection to HTPC:8999?

Any idea what could be causing this, and how to get around it?

Hope you can help!

Does the connection work if connected directly the main 8800NL??

[billiondepress]

There's no way to check - with the secondary router disconnected, there is no connection to the HTPC.

[billion_fan]

There's no way to check - with the secondary router disconnected, there is no connection to the HTPC.

As the connection is bridged, and the first 8800NL is doing all routing and assigning IP's etc, I can't see where the problem should be.