Selfnet e.V.
Allmandring 8a
70569 Stuttgart
EN
support@selfnet.de
www.selfnet.de
How to configure your wireless router.
Contents
1 Introduction 1
2 Configuration 1
2.1 Configuration options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
2.2 Comparison between bridging and router mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2.3 Bridging mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2.4 Router mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1 Introduction
It is possible to use your own router in our network to connect more than one device and run
your own Wireless LAN to connect mobile devices.
Most routers will work, but please be aware that some routers (e.g. the ones you got from
your DSL-Carrier) might be more difficult to set up.
The good news is that it should be no problem if you bought the router yourself (even if
it is a cheap router for about 20 Euro!) and of course we will help you as best as we can. In
this HowTo, we will try to explain how you can get your router working the way it should.
Of course, if the following explanation does not lead to a working configuration you can al-
ways come to one of our office hours and bring the device with you. We will try to help you as
best as we can!
http://www.selfnet.de/en/support/oeffnungszeiten/
2 Configuration
2.1 Configuration options
There are two options. The first option is to tell the router to just relay our network and do
the wireless (broadcasting the wireless LAN and doing the encryption which is VERY impor-
tant). This is called ”bridging”. We prefer the bridging mode because if there is a problem
with your connection it is either us or the configuration on your computer and not the router
itself. In addition, it should be much easier to set up.
The second option is using the router in ”router” mode. In this case, the router gets as-
signed one single IP address from our network and builds its own private network. It will assign
its own IP addresses to all devices you attach to it (via network cable or WiFi). You should
know that – while in routing mode – (by default) the router blocks some of the services we
offer (like SelfStreaming, ...).
There is a way to ”unblock” the services but this is (in most cases) not trivial and sometimes
only works with either more expensive routers or by using/installing a custom operating system
(called firmware) on your device like OpenWrt or dd-wrt.
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Selfnet e.V.
Allmandring 8a
70569 Stuttgart
EN
support@selfnet.de
www.selfnet.de
How to configure your wireless router.
• OpenWrt – https://openwrt.org/
• dd-wrt – http://dd-wrt.com/
Using a custom firmware will (in most cases) VOID YOUR WARRANTY! It’s a good way
to learn a lot – but if you just want to ”make it work” you can simply follow this guide.
If you really dare to setup your router with a custom firmware there is an article, that one of
our active members wrote: http://techbl.org/?p=131 (OpenWrt as a Dumb Access Point)
2.2 Comparison between bridging and router mode
bridging mode routing mode
+ easy to setup - can be complicated
+ high probability that it will also work - might not work if it is a ”cheap” one from
with the ”cheap” router you get for free your internet service provider
from an ISP
+ will NOT block any network services - you have to manually unblock certain
provided by Selfnet services which might not be easy or even
impossible
+ You do not need a ”WAN” (wide area - You absolutely need a WAN Port to use
network) port. the router in routing mode. If the addi-
tional Port (besides the LAN Ports) states
that it is a ”DSL” Port it will probably
NOT work.
+ the router takes one IP address and all
devices you attach to it will not concern
us which means less work for us ;-)
2.3 Bridging mode
• Connect a computer to a LAN port of the router.
• Find out the router IP address (in most cases the router assigns all the important
network settings to your computer).
– Usually you can display the current network settings depending on which operating
system you use. If you do not know how you could use the search engine of your
choice then search for ”Show IP address on YOUR OPERATING SYSTEM”.
– The IP address of the router is the one set as the ”default gateway”.
• Take a note of all the network settings you got from your router such as IP address
(looks like 192.168.x.y), subnet (looks like 255.255.255.0) and enter the same things as
static entries of your network interface1 .
1
If you do not know how to set your IP address statically you might want to go to the last page of this pdf. Of
course, for now you set it to the complete opposite of what is told there.
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Selfnet e.V.
Allmandring 8a
70569 Stuttgart
EN
support@selfnet.de
www.selfnet.de
How to configure your wireless router.
• Open your Browser and go to http://router-ip-address (you should exchange ”router-ip-
address” with the actual router ip address you found as ”default gateway” in your network
settings).
• Now the router configuration page will pop up and ask for your login credentials
(username and/or password). If you do not know you can ”reset” the router (please
consult the routers documentation on how to reset it to factory settings). Some routers
have a sticker on the backside which contains the standard login credentials.
• After you logged in, you can (first of all) safely disable the DHCP Server.
• If you did a reset of the router to factory defaults you should set a new password for the
router configuration.
• Wireless configuration:
– Configure your network name (often called SSID) and (if there is the possiblity)
set the ”country settings” to Germany (each country has its own laws/regulations on
wireless radio broadcasts and that way you make sure not to break any laws.
– Set the encryption. You should define a ”pre shared key” and choose WPA2-
AES/CCMP which is the current standard. You should NOT use an outdated en-
cryption method like WEP because it has been broken for nearly a decade and is
therefore HIGLY insecure!
• Now you have to reboot the router. After that just set your computer to get the network
configuration automatically (via DHCP)2 and connect the network plug we provided with
a LAN port of your router.
• Every time you want to change the configuration of your router you just set the configu-
ration of your device statically to the one you wrote down.
DO NOT USE THE ”WAN” PORT FOR CONNECTING YOUR ROUTER
WITH THE SELFNET NETWORK (WALL [NETWORK/RJ-45] OUTLET)
IT DEFEATS THE PURPOUSE OF BRIDGING MODE!
And besides, it will NOT work. ;-)
2.4 Router mode
• Connect a computer to a LAN port of the router.
• Find out the router IP address (usually the router assigns all the important network
settings to your computer).
– Usually you can display the current network settings depending on what operating
system you use. If you do not know how you could use the search engine of your
choice then search for ”Show IP address on YOUR OPERATING SYSTEM”.
2
That is explained on the last page.
git revision: ˜88f6e09,
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commit date: Sun May 24 21:47:55 2015 +0200.
Selfnet e.V.
Allmandring 8a
70569 Stuttgart
EN
support@selfnet.de
www.selfnet.de
How to configure your wireless router.
– The IP address of the router is the address that is set as the ”default gateway”.
• Open your Browser and go to http://router-ip-address (you should exchange ”router-ip-
address” with the actual router ip address you found as ”default gateway” in your network
settings. Some routers have a sticker on the backside which contains the standard login
credentials.
• Now the router configuration page will pop up and ask for your login credentials
(username and/or password). If you do not know you can ”reset” the router (please
consult the router’s documentation on how to reset it to factory settings).
• If you did a reset of the router to factory defaults you should set a new password for the
router configuration.
• Set your router to get an IP address automatically via DHCP using the WAN Port of
your router.
• Wireless configuration:
– Configure your network name (often called SSID) and (if there is the possiblity)
set the ”country settings” to Germany (each country has its own laws/regulations on
wireless radio broadcasts and that way you make sure not to brake any laws.
– Set the encryption. Usually you should set a ”pre shared key” and to WPA2-
AES/CCMP which is currently the standard. You should NOT use an outdated
encryption method like WEP because it has been broken for nearly a decade and is
therefore HIGLY insecure!
• Usually you have to reboot the router. Now connect your router to the dormitory
network using the ”WAN” Port of your router. If it does not have a WAN Port (and only
a DSL marked port instead of a WAN Port) the router mode will MOST PROBABLY
NOT WORK.
Now all that is left to do is to configure the router to ”not” block a network service (like
SelfStreaming3 ) you want to use. But apart from trying to help you in one of our office hours
we cannot help you further than telling you to consult your router’s documentation.
In any case you should look into the documentation of the service that ”doesn not work” you
can always find on our website. We cannot garantee that it will work because that depends on
the model you are using.
3
http://www.selfnet.de/en/netzwerk/dienste/selfstreaming/
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Networ k configur ation
Usually, your computer obtains its configuration from our network (DHCP) and you do not have to do anything
besides pluging in your network cable. If this does not work, you will need to check your computer's configuration.
Choose your operating system and follow the arrows for instructions.
/7
Click Start -> Control Panel -> Network Click the start symbol in the lower left
and Internet Connections -> Network corner -> Right-click Network and choose
Connections -> Right-click Local Area Properties. Click View status on the left.
Connection and choose Properties. Click Click Properties at the bottom. Click
Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) once and then Continue. Click Internet Protocol Version
Properties. 4 (TCP/IPv4) once and then Properties.
In order for your computer to look for his
configuration automatically both options
need to be set like in the picture. The
numbers are irrelevant.
Click OK and connect the network cable.
Does your network work now?
You are finished!
You can now use your network access!
GNU/Linux
Since the permament configuration of linux distributions is
very variable, we present a temporary solution that might be
lost after rebooting your computer.
Enter one of the following commands in your console as root Click OK and connect the
(without #): network cable. Does your
network work now?
# dhclient
or:
# dhcpcd eth0
You are done!
You can now use your network
access!
