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| Thread ID: 117484 | 2011-04-20 22:58:00 | How does DNS work if no box to enter addresses? | BBCmicro (15761) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 1195956 | 2011-04-20 22:58:00 | I'm trying to connect my new wireless router (Netcomm NP121) to the internet. It has a 4-port LAN interface and no dedicated WAN. There is no configuration box to enter DNS addresses. I'm on Telstra cable with fixed IP address. They have given me DNS addresses and they work OK on my old router (D-Link DI-524) which I have temporarily gone back to. So how is DNS supposed to work on my new set up? The NP121 manual says to connect the NP121 to a modem (cable or ADSL) via one of the LAN ports. It does not say that the modem has to be a modem-router (it doesn't even mention router). When I try to access the web, IE8 times out and Windows Network Diagnostics says I'm "trying to use a DNS server that is incorrect or doesn't exist" Windows gives the following map for my connection: Computer Win7pro64 (x.203) - localhost NP121 (x.187) - Gateway Motorola modem (x.1) - red 'X' - Internet The x.203 etc are my IP addresses. Seems odd to have my LAN and WAN the same but what else could I do? I admit I don't know much about what I'm doing (Networking has always been a black art |
BBCmicro (15761) | ||
| 1195957 | 2011-04-20 23:24:00 | As long as the wireless router has an IP address in the same range as the modem/router then it doesn't need DNS as the modem/router will be providing this to all machines on the LAN/WLAN. | CYaBro (73) | ||
| 1195958 | 2011-04-20 23:35:00 | As long as the wireless router has an IP address in the same range as the modem/router then it doesn't need DNS as the modem/router will be providing this to all machines on the LAN/WLAN. Hmm, are you suggesting that the modem is also a router where DNS addresses can be entered... |
BBCmicro (15761) | ||
| 1195959 | 2011-04-20 23:42:00 | I've tried just now to access the modem. I got the message "the device (xxx) is not set up to accept connections on port (HTTP)" Physically it has a USB device port as well the RJ-45 connection I'm using |
BBCmicro (15761) | ||
| 1195960 | 2011-04-20 23:59:00 | You want to enter DNS manually then do it through Windows instead of the router. | pctek (84) | ||
| 1195961 | 2011-04-21 00:27:00 | You want to enter DNS manually then do it through Windows instead of the router. I think what you are saying is that the details I enter in the computer get picked up by the router during configuration and stored in it? But surely they wouldn't make a router with invisible settings, would they? Another possibility is that the computer's DNS details get used 'on the fly', as it were. But that would mean visiting laptops would have to enter DNS settings to use the network. That doesn't seem likely either In any case I have fiddled with DNS settings in my computer, tried various suffixes such as NETCOMM, or my computer's name, and nothing works. I've now returned everything to 'blank' |
BBCmicro (15761) | ||
| 1195962 | 2011-04-21 00:30:00 | As far as I'm aware the NP121 is just a Wireless access point with a 4-port hub, without full routing capabilities. I'm guessing there's no WAN port, just LAN ports, so it's expecting your modem to handle everything except connecting the Wifi devices to the LAN. | inphinity (7274) | ||
| 1195963 | 2011-04-21 00:52:00 | As mentioned above, the NP121 is not a router. Noting you're on TelstraClear cable, this means you'll need to buy another router (unless you want to keep using your old D-Link for this task). TelstraClear's cable modems are *not* routers - they're modems only. If you're wanting to access the internet from more than one device, you'll need to set your network up as follows: Cable modem --> Router --> Everything elseThe DNS information can either be entered into your router's configuration or manually into each device on the network, but note that DNS is a bit of a red herring at this point - it's not the cause of your network problems. The NP121 manual says to connect the NP121 to a modem (cable or ADSL) via one of the LAN ports. It does not say that the modem has to be a modem-router (it doesn't even mention router).This is an error in the manual - a plain modem is no good on its own; you need a router as well. |
Erayd (23) | ||
| 1195964 | 2011-04-21 00:59:00 | I'm guessing there's no WAN port There's no physical WAN port but perhaps a LAN port could auto-configure as one? with MDI/MDIX The NP121 is a wireless access point but it's also a wireless bridge to a physically identical unit, also with 4 x LAN ports. It could become a very popular piece of hardware in the future. The pair of units cost me $173 from Ascent. That's less than the cost of 2 x wireless USB dongles to connect a TV and media player to the network. I'm thinking the lack of WAN port is so that the two hardware units can be physically identical. That would be a siginificant cost saving. (There's a label on each unit showing which end the unit is pre-configured for). Plus Netcomm would save on the cost of the physical WAN socket |
BBCmicro (15761) | ||
| 1195965 | 2011-04-21 01:03:00 | There's no physical WAN port but perhaps a LAN port could auto-configure as one? Not on this device, no. They aren't actually NIC's, they're just switch ports. a WAN port would require it to be a proper network interface, with it's own IP address etc. |
inphinity (7274) | ||
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