Need some network setup help, please.

I know there are some super-experts here, so I hope this will be an easy fix for y'all. I have a home network based with the following devices:

* Airport Extreme (Dual Band II - Newest Model)
* Huawei HG556a Gateway/Router (ADSL modem, ethernet router, Wireless router - all in one jobbie)
* iMac (can either be ethernet to Airport, Huawei, or Wifi to Airport)
* iPhone (connected via Wifi)
* WinPhone7 (connected via Wifi)
* Squeezebox (connected via Ethernet to Airport)

I've found the Huawei to be a complete POS as far as WiFi is concerned, so I prefer to use it with Wifi disabled, and have the airport managing all the traffic for me. This worked fine until today, and suddenly the airport isn't working anymore, so I'd like to go back tot he drawing board to figure out the most optimal setup.

I *think* the way I had it working before was to set up DHCP on the Huawei, with a limited IP range - .2-.99. Then I wired the Airport Base Station to this and gave it an IP address of .2 manually. I then set up the Airport to offer DHCP addresses of .100-.200 to all my other devices - wired and wireless. For whatever reason, this no longer works - anything connected to the Airport gets no access to the net. Items directly wired to the Huawei work fine - so I am pretty sure the setup between the Huawei and the Airport has to change.

What is the best way to handle this?

You should be able to turn off DHCP on the airport. I'd see if that changes how things are working.

Ok - but if I do that, what other setting should I use? i.e. If I have 3 other wireless devices that want to connect to the Airport, how will it manage those addresses without DHCP?

Symbiotic wrote:

Ok - but if I do that, what other setting should I use? i.e. If I have 3 other wireless devices that want to connect to the Airport, how will it manage those addresses without DHCP?

Statically assigned addresses on the devices in question?

The DHCP will get pulled from the Huawei as long as everything is on the same subnet, you don't need to be running multiple DHCP servers.

Mysteri0 wrote:

The DHCP will get pulled from the Huawei as long as everything is on the same subnet, you don't need to be running multiple DHCP servers.

This. The DHCP router will detect any new connection.

Set the Airport to 'bridge mode', rather than 'shared network connection' mode. This just copies all the the traffic back and forth from the wireless to the Ethernet without changing anything else. Then your Huawei handles all the DHCP, DNS, and network traffic -- the Airport is doing only AP duty.

You can run into all kinds of weirdness if you try to have the Airport handing out IP addresses -- it may be trying to do NAT for you as well, so depending on how you plug it in, you can end up with two separate networks, with the Airport sitting in between. This will interfere with internal net communication, and some programs are unhappy with two layers of NAT. Going to bridge mode gets rid of a WHOLE BUNCH of potential problems.

Another option would be to put the Huawei into the stupidest possible bridge mode, and then to move all your services to your Airport, but there's no guarantee that'll work right -- the Huawei may not even be able to go into dumb bridge mode.

Ok - you'll have to bear with me - this makes sense, but the Airport Setup Utility doesn't:

* Create a wireless network, Connect to a network using ethernet to extend a network or create a second network, Join a Wireless network, Disable wireless and connect to a computer using ethernet.

So I think I should select 'Connect to a network using ethernet to extend a network..." - BUT, when I select this, the next screen doesn't show me the Huawei router as an option.

If I go into manual setup for the Airport, checking the 'Wireless' tab I only have the option to create or extend a wireless network - not the ability to extend an ethernet network.

The Airport is connected to the Huawei with a wire, right?

edit: assuming it is, you want to go to the second icon (I think it's Network, not sure). Set it to Connect Using: Ethernet, and Connection Sharing: Off (Bridge Mode).

Then have it create a wireless network as normal, and everything should just work. You can use any port to plug into the Huawei.

OK - will give this a shot when I get home this evening. Thanks.

Assuming your on Vodafone, you may want to update the firmware on the router just to make sure it irons out any kinks as the it does claim to improve stability. You'll find the firmware and instructions here on Vodafone's forum. You won't find it on any Huawei site because the HG556a is a custom part made for Vodafone.

Thanks for that, Axon. I did grab the latest firmware. I'm going to try the above setup and also give the Huawei another shot at handling everything. If I can get it to work reliably I'll just sell the Airport. I just discovered that one of the reasons I had trouble before is that Windows 7 apparently doesn't play nice on IPv4 networks when IPv6 is also active on the network adapter. Going to try disabling IPv6 with the laptop at home to see if it is able to reliably connect...

Ok - so I've been using the Huawei standalone for the past few days and for the most part it works fine across all devices - except my work Laptop, which is running Win 7 Professional. About half the time, the laptop will connect fine to the network, will say that it has a connection to the internet, yet none of my applications can actually access anything (i.e. pages don't resolve, sync apps don't sync, etc.)

This laptop connects to my work network (Microsoft) automatically via Wifi, and doesn't have any issues resolving. But occasionally at home, nothing will resolve properly. I've tried flushing DNS cache, renewing the IP, shutting down/rebooting, and nothing seems to work. Then, randomly 15 minutes later everything will sort itself out again.

Any advice on this? Or do I just chalk it up to gremlins?

EDIT: BTW, I did a little test and when I was having the problem (network connected, but no Internet access) I changed the DNS on the IPv4 parameter to manually use 8.8.8.8 (TheGoog). Immediately the system responded and things started working. So this seems like a problem with the Windows machine getting the proper DNS servers from the Huawei router. Is there a way to set this manually but only for my home network profile, so that when I'm connecting at work the DNS is coming from the Microsoft servers?

Finally got this sorted I think...it turns out the Huawei router loses its DNS marbles after awhile, and stops serving the DHCP clients. The solution is to either manually specify DNS on every client, or to manually edit the config file for the router, and manually specify DNS numbers which are served to the DHCP clients. I took the latter route, replacing the default 192.168.1.1 number with the OpenDNS digits, and everything appears to be working flawlessly - and quite a bit faster, too!

So it seems my Airport may soon go on the auction block!

You'd be much better off using the Airport to do that properly. Using OpenDNS will give you trouble with geographic location-aware services, like Youtube. You'll be sent to data centers that are close to OpenDNS, instead of close to you.

Also it has none of your internal addresses so you won't be able to ping other servers/computers on the network by name you'll have to use IP.

You also shouldn't be using a piece of hardware that is pretty much getting ready to permanently sh*t the bed..

Yeah, put the Huawei back into as dumb a mode as you can possibly manage. Ideally, you want it to simply bridge an IP to its internal port, and that's ALL. Then use the Airport for all your network services. it does everything correctly. It's not always as flexible as I'd like (for instance, it will only use certain sets of internal network numbers, which I found very annoying), but within its occasionally-odd limits, it's exceptionally solid.

You can leave those things up for a year at a time and expect them to keep working.

Thanks for the input - I'll take your advice into consideration. We don't do anything within the network that requires connecting via 'name', so that's not a huge issue. And given the fact that the router's DNS server keeps falling over anyway, I don't expect that's a feature I could rely on even if I left the unit to its default state.

Possibly the 'location aware' stuff is a problem, but honestly, I already have that problem just living in Ireland - I miss out on half the content I want from the US due to licensing restrictions unless I'm using a proxy anyway!

I'm going to see how the Huawei works over the course of the next several weeks and if we don't notice any significant issues within our normal usage patterns, I can't justify keeping the Airport. Perhaps with the proceeds from the sale of the Airport, I can purchase a more robust ADSL gateway/router - but honestly, I need to be focusing on spending less on my gear, getting more out of it, and simplifying things in general...

You SHOULD NOT USE the DNS solution you are using. Should. Not. It will screw you up. It completely destroys any ability to geolocate services, so you will get notably inferior results from many major network service providers, including Netflix, Youtube, and Amazon.

If you must hardcode DNS entries, instead of using the router that actually works correctly and is sitting right there in your goddamn house, then find the servers that your ISP provides, and use those. If you have trouble with those, then you'd be better off to just run a local DNS server -- you can practically run one on a postage stamp.

Malor wrote:

If you must hardcode DNS entries, instead of using the router that actually works correctly and is sitting right there in your goddamn house

...ummm...thanks?

The Huawei gives me the option to run it as a DHCP server or not. In either case I can't rely on its internal DNS, so your first solution wont work for me (having the Airport act as an AP only).

So if I disable DHCP on the Huawei, what would my next step be?

Also, Malor, I should note - in case it wasn't clear that I live in Ireland - Amazon, Netflix, and YouTube are crippled by my location already. I have to use a Proxy for Netflix, I don't buy from Amazon unless it is Amazon UK, and YouTube isn't really a big deal for me - but my location already cripples my access to US-based content, so...anyway...

Well, if you're using non-local DNS, if they ever do fix it, you'll probably never know....

Malor wrote:

Well, if you're using non-local DNS, if they ever do fix it, you'll probably never know....

The only way 'they'd fix it' is if I update the firmware myself. The Huawei is a POS, I get it. I'm not doing things 'right'. I get it. I am asking for help within the circumstances I have, relative to my uses. No need to get snarky, really.

Okay, since you don't care about internal DNS why not set the DNS on the Airport to use you're ISP's DNS?

But you've got everything you need, sitting right there, to fix the problem correctly. I do not understand your insistence on not using a piece of gear that you already have. It's not like it'll cost any money. You already own the solution.

This is, of course, assuming that the Huawei is indeed the problem, but it probably is.

Mysteri0 wrote:

Okay, since you don't care about internal DNS why not set the DNS on the Airport to use you're ISP's DNS?

It isn't that I don't care about internal DNS - its that I can't rely on the Huawei to provide if (even if I did want to use it, which I rarely do). Even so, how would this be any different than manually setting the Huawei's DNS to use my ISP's DNS by manually editing the config file?

Malor wrote:

But you've got everything you need, sitting right there, to fix the problem correctly. I do not understand your insistence on not using a piece of gear that you already have. It's not like it'll cost any money. You already own the solution.

Right - I get that, but I still don't know what mode to put the Huawei in, nor what mode to put the Airport in. I assume I disable DHCP on the Huawei and wire the Airport directly to it. Then what?

EDIT: I think I may have found a way to put the Huawei into Bridge Mode. If I do that, then I believe I need to set the Airport to connect to it via PPPoE...does this seem like I'm on the right track?

Yep, bridge mode is what you are looking for. The manual for that router can be found here and the steps to set up bridge mode are on page 31. Once the Huawei unit is set up, you can test it first using your laptop and a PPPoE connection. Once you know it works, just plug in the Airport (the WAN port obviously) and set it up to connect over PPPoE.

Bit of a pain but worth it down the line, I'd say.