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[WarCable]

I live in Belgium (Europe) and bought the D-Link DIR-855 Wireless N Quadband Gigabit Router (http://www.dlink.be/cs/Satellite?c=Product_C&childpagename=DLinkEurope-NL_BE%2FDLProductCarousel&cid=1197366310069&p=1197357770957&packedargs=LeftBusinessSubMenu%3DSmallMedium%26ParentPageID%3D1197337625708%26TopLevelPageProduct%3DBusiness%26locale%3D1195807002105%26packedargs%3DProductParentID%253D1197318703348&pagename=DLinkEurope-NL_BE%2FDLWrapper).

However, when I google that device I get results of a D-Link DIR Xtreme N DUO Media Router (http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=548). Is this the same router or are there differences as I can't really find a website who adresses the difference between both of these devices?!

That being said I still need help or some form of an explanation which tells me what can or can't be done with the DIR-855 since atm it only works well for my wifi connection to the laptop.

I have cable (ISP = Telenet Belgium). The cable modem is then connected to a switch (D-Link DES1005D). From this switch UTP cables go through the wall to the different rooms in our flat. One of those UTP cables goes to an UTP plug on the wall of my living room where the TV also has been wall-mounted.
It is here where I decided to place the DIR-855. I connected the WAN port of the router to the UTP plug present on the wall (just got 1 UTP port coming out that specific wall) and configurated the device and my laptop (Asus G73) is connecting ok to the Wifi signal of the router. (except that it often occurs my laptop keeps on stating that it is 'identifying' to the wireless network while in fact the connection has been already made and I can surf without problems...even thou lappie still says it is 'identifying')

The problem I have is with my digital TV receiver / set top box (HD Digicorder also from my ISP Telenet). I connected the UTP port of that receiver to LAN Port 1 of the DIR-855. Because of this I can't use the interactive content of the device. Googling for this issue lead me to several websites stating you always have to connect that receiver behind a switch and not behind a router because the receiver needs to be in the network of the ISP and not be part of your own one since then it doesn't get the required parameters. However, some of those websites also mention that for some routers it is possible to put the LAN ports in switch mode or something. Some say to change one of the LAN ports to WAN or even use 3rd party firmware (openwrt, dd-wrt, etc).

Does this make sense to anyone and is it possible to set the device up so that I still keeps my wiress connection for the laptop and also allows my HD digicorder to work?

As mentioned above it seems there are 2 different versions of the DIR-855 but many websites state that both have a 4-port switch. Is this true and if so, how do I get it to work.

Thanks in advance and if you want more details, pls ask.
Gunther

[Magnetron1]

  As mentioned above it seems there are 2 different versions of the DIR-855 but many websites state that both have a 4-port switch. Is this true and if so, how do I get it to work.

   They are the same device. Here is a product review from a UK website that explains this mystery. Note paragraph two. http://www.trustedreviews.com/networking/review/2008/10/27/D-Link-Wireless-N-Quadband-Gigabit-Router-DIR-855/p1

   There are several possible solutions to your problem; I will mention two. The first solution involves relocating the router and changing the network wiring. The second solution involves changing the router configuration , but since I don't have cable or an HD Digicorder , this method is theoretical and likely to not work. BTW, I downloaded the HD Digicorder User Manual in an attempt to discover what protocols and ports are used by this device and found the manual was apparently written in Dutch. (End of story!)

Solution 1: Move Router and Re-cable
   1.) Disconnect the short UTP cable from Port 1 on the DIR-855 and the networking port on the HD Digicorder.
   2.) Disconnect the UTP cable from the WAN port on the DIR-855 and connect it to the networking port on the HD Digicorder.
   3.) Move the Router near the D-Link 5 Port Ether switch.
   4.) Using the short UTP cable removed from step one, plug one end into any unused port on the D-Link Switch and the other end into the WAN port of the Router. Since we don't know the layout or size of your apartment, a better plan might be to locate the Router to another room which has been wired with an RJ-45 Ethernet jack. By now you should know how to hook-up the Router!
   5.) Power up and test. With the network connected in this manner, Telenet Belgium will grant one IP address to the Router and another IP address to the HD Digicorder without going through the Router.

Solution 2: Reconfigure the DIR-855 and Hope This Works
   1.) With the network in it's original configuration, establish a session with the Router from your Laptop.
   2.) Click on Advanced => Firewall Settings.
   3.) Click "Enable DMZ".
   4.) Click on the "Computer Name" box and select the IP address of the HD Digicorder from the Drop- down list.
   5.) Click on the double left arrow button to enter the address in the "DMZ IP Address" field.
   6.) Save the changes and reboot the Router.
   7.) Test. The Router will still provide an IP address to the HD Digicorder but disable nearly all firewall protection for it.

   I think I would try Solution 2 first since it doesn't involve moving equipment , is easy to perform and wouldn't take long to test.

   You mentioned using third party firmwares. Openwrt and dd-wrt are not compatible with the UBICOM processor in the DIR-855. Even if they were their use would void the warranty.

   There are more possible solutions to your problem, such as reconfiguring the Router as a Bridge or reconnecting the Router without using the WAN port, or installing an additional Bridge, etc. ,but I would need to spend more time thinking about them.

   Good Luck,
   Magnetron1

[WarCable]

Thanks for what you've written Magnetron1. Was funny to read you tried to read the manual of the HD Digicorder and I again thank you for trying. But let it be a comfort that it doesn't contain anything specific about network settings. However, I did compare the results of that device when connected as it should (behind switch) and connected behind my DIR-855.

When I connect it behind the switch I get the following results in the device network settings:

MAC Adress: 00:31:91:*:*:*
IP Number: 10.188.36.*
Mask: 255.255.224.0
Gateway 10.188.32.*
Primary DNS: 195.130.130.6
Secondary DNS 195.130.131.6

If I connect it behind the router the values change to these:

MAC Adress: Remains the same as above
IP Number: 192.168.0.198
Mask: 255.255.255.0
Gateway: 192.168.0.1
Primary DNS: 192.168.0.1
Secondary DNS: 0.0.0.0

From what I've learned so far is that my ISP needs to get the MAC adress of the device to assign IP, etc. Behind a router all devices seem to be masked to my ISP (telenet) with the Mac adress of the router and that seems to be the biggest bottleneck.
But further as this I don't quite understand how VLAN support on router could help me (read something about that a few days ago) or how changing one LAN to a WAN port would help me.

The DIR-855 was quite expensive , hence why I hoped it came with fancy features to allow this but it seems the only fancy thing it has, is the 5Ghz technology on type n networks and the quadband feauture.

I just learned there is an option to put the DIR-855 in bridge mode (opening network setup page and then in IE view menu you can change layout option to 'no style'. Could this help me? What does this feauture do and if it would be a solution, will it kill my Wifi?

[Magnetron1]

   If your ISP must see the HD Digicorder's MAC address, then configuring the DIR-855 as a Bridge will not solve the problem either. Did you try Solution 1? What were the results? It occurred to me that you probably want to keep the Router in the living room to have convenient access to the OLED panel. So -- I've been working on a modification to Solution 2 to allow the DIR-855 to continue to function as a Router and expose the HD Digicorder's MAC address. In the instructions below I assume that Telenet Belgium uses Dynamic IP to assign IP addresses. If this is not the case please let me know.

   Please follow these steps:

   Solution 2.1 -- Modify Router Configuration....Has Higher Probability of Working

   1.) Perform Solution 2 in my previous post.
   2.) Here's where it gets interesting. Access the Router's web page and click on Setup ==> Internet ==> Manual Internet Connection Setup. Near the bottom of the page find the heading "Dynamic IP (DHCP) Internet Connection Type". In the field labeled "MAC Address" which currently has zeros in it,  enter the HD Digicorder's MAC address and DO NOT press the "Clone Your PC's MAC Address" button. Save the configuration and Reboot the Router. Incidentally this function is not available in Bridge mode.
   3.)Test.     If for some reason you need to restore the MAC address to it's original state you can enter 00:00:00:00:00:00 in the "MAC Address" field.  (Save and Reboot).

   Hope this helps.
   Magnetron1

[WarCable]

Hi Magnetron1,

The several days that passed since your first reply I was quite active in playing around with the device, hence why I am one step ahead of you when mentioning the 'copy mac address solution'  

If I do this I see that my router is assigned all the required setting as if it would be my HD Digicorder. Bringing up the menu's with interactive content does work now and it is in fact even possible to order a film in the cataloque. Then I get an on-screen message that the ordered film is being loaded and will start as soon as it is received. But nothing happens at this point and after 5 minutes or so I receive a time-out error. The HD Digicorder's IP has been put in the DMZ zone of the firewall.
However, if I open the log I see there an entry with the following descroption: "RTSP ALG rejected packet from 192.168.0.198:4247 to 10.16.64.36:554". So I went to the firewall settings again and I disabled the checkbox at RTSP and miraculously the HD Digicorder works when ordering a movie. The downside is that I can't open any website anymore even though the wireless connection states it is connected localy and to internet. If I then change the routers MAC Address back to 00:00:00:00:00:00 I can ge back on internet but then the HD Digicorder doesn't work anymore, even after disabling any active setting of the firewall. Damn...so close  

Why wouldn't a bridge of the WAN port help me? I heard / read that if you do this the LAN ports will become WAN ports and connected devices to these LAN ports will then get their settings from the cablemodem or switch and not from the router anymore. Only problem is that I need to fill in some stuff manually and no clue what have to put in there or even that it will be supported by my ISP since it works with dynamic IP

Gunther

[jhardis]

Why wouldn't a bridge of the WAN port help me?

This is a very difficult thread to follow because two important pieces of information are obscured.

1)  There are three devices in this discussion:  the "cable modem," the "switch," and the DIR-855.  I doubt very much that the "switch" is a switch.  It's more likely a router or a multi-port repeater.  Does either the "cable modem" or the "switch" provide you with a service called "Network Address Translation" (NAT)?  This is what allows an in-home network to be seen on the Internet at large as only one IP address.

2)  What functionality are you trying to get from the DIR-855?  (Why did you buy it?)  One of the main services that the DIR-855 provides is network address translation, which would be redundant if either the cable modem or the switch does it also.  If so, you would have to run the DIR-855 in the dreaded and unsupported "bridge mode."

In addition, this makes no sense...

IP Number: 10.188.36.*
Mask: 255.255.224.0
Gateway 10.188.32.*

The mask means that, in the third byte, the left three bits (128, 64, 32) are part of the network number, and the right five bits (16, 8, 4, 2, 1) are part of the local host numbers.  This would put the Gateway outside of your local network, which is by definition impossible, and the IP Number with the * indicating only 256 out of the 8192 addresses available on your network.  Indeed, the mere fact that the Mask defines a network with 8192 hosts allowed indicates that network address translation is in use, since that is excessive for a home.

[WarCable]

@Jhardis:

Hi, I'm quite the noob when it comes to networks and I'm not sure if I phrased my question as it should've been put down but Magnetron seems to get it.   

Now before we are getting off-topic I will try to explain to you what my question involves and where it came from in the first place.

I have a cable internet subscription combined with a subscription to watch High Definition TV. Both subscriptions are with the same company. This company is my ISP and is called Telenet (Belgian ISP). Telenet works with dynamic IP settings.

The following devices were placed by Telenet at my home:

* Motorola SBV5121E Cable Modem
* D-Link DES1005D Switch (pls correct me if I'm wrong about what this device actually is)
* HD Digicorder DC-AD 2000

From the cable modem an UTP cable goes to the switch (again, correct me). From this switch 3 other UTP cables leave to sevral different rooms. One of those places is my living room. I have 1 UTP connection coming out of the wall there which was used by the HD Digicorder.

This was the situation as it was before I decided to place a wireless router. I wanted to have a wifi router because I have laptop (Asus G73) and to use internet on it I connected a long UTP cable on a free port of the earlyer mentioned D-Link switch. My GF and myself grow tired of that darn cable rolled out on the floor to the table where my lappie was on. So I looked into the different available wifi routers and decided to go for the D-Link DIR-855.

Because I haven't got alot of space in the store room where the cablemodem and D-Link switch are placed I wanted to use the UTP connection of the living room to connect to the WAN port of the D-Link DIR-855 because it is the most central place of our flat and thus would be well suited as the spot to place the router.

I made the connections (UTP connection coming from wall and thus comming from switch to WAN port and HD Digicorder to LAN 1 on the router). My internet worked well but I soon discovered that the interactive features of the HD Digicorder did not work anymore. At that point I decided to look into it and soon discovered that a HD Digicorder isn't meant to be placed behind a router and can only access the required 10.*.*.* if placed behind a switch as the device needs to be reckognised by my IP before it can assigned that IP.

I hope all of this gave you a better insight to the problem I have. I wasn't aware of the fact that the HD Digicorder can't be used behind a router (it is possible for some routers...openWRT, DD-wrt, etc)

So basicly I am searching for any help to resolve this but it is starting to look grim. Magnetron's idea (copying HD Digicorder's MAC address so that router identifies itself with it to my ISP...which I already tried) was a solution that indeed worked for the HD Digicorder but by doing so my router got assigned a 10.*.*.* IP and somehow this causes a problem with internet access on my laptop. It shows it is connected local and to internet but I can't open any webpage.

[jhardis]

The following devices were placed by Telenet at my home:

* Motorola SBV5121E Cable Modem
* D-Link DES1005D Switch (pls correct me if I'm wrong about what this device actually is)
* HD Digicorder DC-AD 2000

From the cable modem an UTP cable goes to the switch (again, correct me). From this switch 3 other UTP cables leave to sevral different rooms. One of those places is my living room. I have 1 UTP connection coming out of the wall there which was used by the HD Digicorder.

Okay.  I've got it.  Let's start over.

Before you do anything else, put things back this way WITHOUT the DIR-855, and get everything working the way it used to.

You are right, the "switch" is a switch.  The manual for the SBV5121E Cable Modem is here http://broadband.motorola.com/consumers/products/SBV5121/downloads/SBV5121_User_Guide_527693-001-a.pdf .  Even though the manual does not say it in so many words, the SBV5121E contains a DHCP server and it does network address translation.  Therefore, these are things that the DIR-855 have to be configured to NOT do.  We will have to run the DIR-855 in "bridge" mode, which is documented in another thread here, but not in the manual.

Magnetron's idea (copying HD Digicorder's MAC address so that router identifies itself with it to my ISP...which I already tried) was...

...wrong.  Since the HD Digicorder and the DIR-855 will have to coexist on the same network, they must have DIFFERENT MAC addresses.  The MAC address that is identified to your ISP is found on the cable modem.

This was the situation as it was before I decided to place a wireless router. I wanted to have a wifi router because I have laptop (Asus G73) and to use internet on it I connected a long UTP cable on a free port of the earlyer mentioned D-Link switch. My GF and myself grow tired of that darn cable rolled out on the floor to the table where my lappie was on. So I looked into the different available wifi routers and decided to go for the D-Link DIR-855.

Okay.  Once everything is back to normal WITHOUT the DIR-855, you need to find out some things about your local network.  Follow the instructions in the SBV5121E manual (linked above) to "verify the IP address" of a computer on your network.  You need to note the following things:

1)  The Subnet Mask, which will be 255.255.255.224.  This means that your network contains 32 IP addresses.

2)  The Default Gateway.  This is the IP address of the SBV5121E.  Now, here comes a hard part.  On the fourth number of this address, you have to separate the network part from the node part.  Express that fourth number in binary.  The leftmost three bits (128, 64, 32) are part of the network number.  The rightmost five bits (16, 8, 4, 2, 1) are node number.  The node number part for the Gateway is probably 1.
Example:  The Default Gateway address shown in the manual is 206.19.86.129.  The last number is 129.  In binary, it is 128+1.  The 128 bit is part of the network number.  The node number is 1.

3)  Now comes the second hard part.  All the different devices on you network must have the same network bits, and they must all have different node number bits.  There can be no duplicates.  1 is already taken (the SBV5121E) and 0 and 31 have special meanings.  (Actually, only one of them does -- but you don't know which.)  Try as hard as you can to figure out all the node numbers in use, because you're going to have to pick (guess) a node number for the DIR-855 that is different from all the ones already in use.

The next step is to configure the DIR-855, and you will have to do this OFF of your network.  Reset the DIR-855 to get it back to factory configuration.  It now has an IP address of 192.168.0.1, which must be changed to something compatible with your network.  Make up a small network consisting of a computer and the DIR-855 (on a LAN port), and NOTHING ELSE.  You can do this by either connecting the two together with a cross-over Ethernet cable, or you can connect both to the switch using regular Ethernet (UTP) cables, so long as you disconnect everything else from the switch during this step.  Temporarily set the computer to a fixed IP address of 192.168.0.2 so that it can talk to the DIR-855.  Open a web browser, enter URL 192.168.0.1, configure the DIR-855 to (1) bridge mode (as described in another thread), and (2) under network settings give it addresses appropriate to your network:  a "Router IP address" (even though it's not really being used as a router) that is a vacant (unused) IP address on your network; a "Subnet mask" of 255.255.255.224, which is true for your network; a "Default Gateway" of the IP address of your SBV5121E; and a "Primary DNS Address"  of the IP address of your SBV5121E.  After this is done, and you reboot the DIR-855, it can work on your network.  Put the computer back to its normal IP address, put things back to the way they were, and attach the DIR-855 (either LAN port or WAN port) to an unused port on the switch.

This should do what you want.  The DIR-855 will pass packets between the wireless side and the wired side, not do anything else.

[Magnetron1]

   Gunther:

   From the results so far I think that we can conclude two things: 1.) Telenet Belgium must see the Mac address of the HD Digicorder  and 2.) Telenet must issue two IP address's -- the sharing of one IP address through NAT to two devices causes protocol errors. Now I see why they installed a cable modem and a Switch instead of a Router as is the usual case.

   Before I give you the procedure for reconfiguring the DIR-855 as a Bridge, you need to have a software firewall such as Norton Internet Security , McAfee Internet Security, or Windows Firewall , etc. running on your Laptop as a Bridge offers no protection from hackers on the Internet and you should be familiar with setting a static IP address on the network adapter in your Laptop (instructions are below) since Bridge mode disables the DHCP server in the Router. Once Telenet has assigned an IP address to the Laptop, you will not be able to communicate with the Web Server in the Router without first making manual modifications.

   DIR-855 Conversion to Bridge Mode
   ==========================
      1.) Using a web browser establish a session with the DIR-855. Click on Setup ==> Network Settings ==> Manual Internet Connection Setup.
      2.) On the browser menu bar click on View ==> Page Style ==> No Style.
      3.) On the web page click on Bridge Mode.
      4.) Under the heading "Router Setting" verify that the following parameters are set:
               Router IP Address: 192.168.0.1
               IP Mask:               255.255.255.0
               Default Gateway:   192.168.0.1
               Primary DNS:         192.168.0.1
               Secondary DNS:     0.0.0.0
       5.) Ignore everything else on the web page.
       6.) On the browser menu bar click on View ==> Page Style ==> Put it back to it's original setting.    
       7.) Save and Reboot.
       8.) Test. Your Laptop should work ok. The HD Digicorder .. maybe.

   Communicating with the DIR-855 Web Server while in Bridge Mode.
   =================================================
       1.) Since I don't know what Operating System you are using these steps are a rough guide.
       2.) Open the Properties page on the wireless network adapter.
       3.) Find "Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)" and open the properties page.
       4.) Click on "Use the following IP address:"
       5.) Enter the following information:
              IP address: 192.168.0.2
              Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
              Default gateway: 192.168.0.1
       6.) Ignore everything else.
       7.) Click OK.
       8.) Click Close.
       9.) Use your browser to establish a session with the Web Server as usual.


   Return to surfing the Internet.
   =======================
       1.) Open the Properties page on the wireless network adapter.
       2.) Find "Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)" and open the properties page.
       3.) Click on "Obtain an IP address automatically."
       4.) Click on "Obtain DNS server address automatically"
       5.) Click on OK.
       6.) Click on Close.
       7.) Surf the Internet as usual.


   Let me know what happens...

   Regards,
   Magnetron1



  

[WarCable]

I will post results of both your instructions. But the weekend is over and I need to get to work also. I will try to do Magnetron's instructions tomorrow (tuesday morning...guess it will we nighttime for you guys then) and because J hardis instructions are way more difficult / time consuming I will give that a try later this week.

BTW, I use Vista Home Premium 64b. However, I think I will manage setting up the properties as you wrote down Magnetron.

Till later

Gunther

[blenchi]

Gunther,

besides the technical stuff: don't forget that Telenet uses a different IP-adres for it's digicorders, because that doesn't count on your monthly consumption.  So, if you use your digicorder behind the router, the consumption of the digicorder will count on your monthly consumption.

As a matter of consumption: if you use iRadio's on your routers, activate the multicast protocols on the 855.  Multicast is kept out of consumption meter.

regards,