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[nestolea]

With help from a nice and supportive D-Link second level support specialist, I finally made it to configure my DIR-857 as home network extension without AP mode. Here is how I did it!

Note: This configuration is not officially supported by D-Link. The supported way is AP mode, if at all.


Definitions
AP mode
AP mode means to connect the DIR-857 with one of it's LAN ports to the first router (providing Internet access) and configure it as being part of the existing network. This will waste one of the four LAN ports and doesn't use the WAN port. More important, many of the device's functions are no longer working when configured in AP mode.

Advantages:
- Easier configuration
- supported/documented by D-Link
Disadvantages:
- Wastes one LAN port
- Some of the devices functions (e.g. time synchronization via NTP) do not work

Router mode
My solution does not use the DIR-857 just to lengthen the existing network. Instead, it creates a second network and uses the DIR-857 to interconnect those two networks. This is a classical configuration using the DIR-857 as a router between two different networks.

Advantages:
- All four LAN ports available for network devices
- All device features are working
Disadvantages:
- More complex setup
- Because of the DIR-857's internal firewall, devices in the second network can not be contacted by devices from the first network. If all devices are clients, this should not constitute a problem. Furthermore, one exception possible by defining it as DMZ device.


Step-by-step instructions for turning a DIR-857 currently used in AP mode into Router mode follow. Assume 192.168.32.0 is the first (existing network) and 192.168.33.0 is the second (new) network. Replace with your addresses as appropriate.
After each configuration step, save, but do not reboot. This can be postponed to the end of all steps and one final reboot is enough.
My Firmware Version is 1.01.


1. Tools --> System --> Save Configuration
   Backup the existing configuration to keep the door back open, just in case...

2. Setup --> Network Settings
   Router IP Address: 192.168.33.3
   Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
   Device Name and Local Domain Name: As you like

   Enable DHCP Server: activate
   DHCP IP Address Range: 192.168.33.10 to 192.168.33.150
      (Choose the range to fit your needs/preferences)

   Add DHCP Reservation
      (If you want to always have the same IP addresses for your devices;
      can be supplemented later any time)

   This configures the LAN side of the router into the new (second) network
   plus support for the IP addresses of the clients.

3. Setup --> Internet --> Manual Internet Connection Setup
   My Internet Connection is: Static IP
   IP Address: 192.168.32.3
   Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
   Default Gateway: 192.168.32.1 (address of your first router)
   Primary DNS Server: 192.168.32.1 (address of your first router)

   This configures the WAN port of the router into the old (first) network.
   Note that you must enter the IP addresses of your primary Internet router as Default Gateway and as Primary DNS Server.

4. Advanced --> Inbound Filter
   Optional: Add inbound filter rules as desired.

   If you would like to restrict access to the configuration GUI from your first (old) network , you can define filter rules here.

5. Tools --> Admin
   Enable Remote Management: activate

   This will make it possible to access the management GUI from the first network, too.

   Remote Admin Inbound Filter: (Configure the hosts that are allowed to access the configuration GUI with the rules defined in step 4., if you want.)

6. Advanced --> Advanced Network
   Enable WAN Ping Respond: activate

   Optional: Configure the router to respond to pings on the old network side. Not required, but will help while setting up and troubleshooting.

7. Physically remove the cable to the first router (Internet access) from the LAN port of the DIR-857 and plug it into it's WAN port.

8. Tools --> System
   Reboot the Device

   Finally, activate the new configuration!

Your DIR-857 should now be working in Router mode. It will believe that your first network is part of the Internet and the second network is your home network. It will happily route/NAT between those two networks. Keep this in mind for future configuration changes or troubleshooting.

Of course, one step still remains: Every client connected to the DIR-857, either via LAN cable or via WLAN, will have to be configured accordingly!

If you configure both, your first and your second WLAN routers with the same SSID and password, you can still have kind of WLAN roaming in your home net. It's possible to use WLAN devices at any place, automatically selecting either of the two routers.


I hope that this will help other customers like me - that bought the DIR-857 because of it's features and powerfulness and became disappointed by crippled functionality when running in AP mode...

[FurryNutz]

So I presume that my Turning a Router into an AP didn't work for you?
Is this process using the WAN Port or only LAN to LAN ports?

Turning a router into an AP.

[nestolea]

Nope, running in AP mode imposed to many restrictions. Important features like the correct time for example did not work.

My solution connects the DIR-857 with it's WAN port to the primary Internet router. All four LAN ports are available for clients.

Now NTP is working and most of the AP mode restrictions seem to be gone.   

[FurryNutz]

Ya, this isn't officially supported however is a good work around for those who need it. Hope this doesn't introduce any port or Internet connection issues though. I presume more testing will be needed to check this out.

This may introduce a Double NAT condition on the network which is not preferred and may cause connection problems with certain applications, gaming, ports, VPN etc. Running 2 routers on the same network is not preferred and not recommended.

An option that should be explored is the use of DMZ on the 1st NAT router/modem. Using this option could be used with 2 routers on the same network.

Users will be always recommended to use the DIR Series routers as main host routers and not as APs or extenders just for simplicity, operation and support reasons. There are other, better suited and better designed devices that do AP or extending functions better, easy to set up and are supported:
Bridge Mode vs Relay vs Acess Point (AP) / Routers vs Dedicated Acess Points (AP) as reference.

Please keep us posted on how it goes.

Thanks for sharing.

[nestolea]

Hope this doesn't introduce any port or Internet connection issues though. I presume more testing will be needed to check this out.

Real live tests are ongoing and quite positive so far.   

An option that should be explored is the use of DMZ on the 1st NAT router/modem. Using this option could be used with 2 routers on the same network.

This sounds like a great idea - if the 1st router supports DMZ. Mine doesn't, unfortunately...   

There are other, better suited and better designed devices that do AP or extending functions better, easy to set up and are supported

Lucky ones know this before buying. Others have to learn it afterwards....


I just have to keep in mind, that the DIR-857 considers my 1st network as "the Internet" and tries to 'protect' the 2nd network from it. Of course, this can be alleviated by configuring it trusting the "Internet side". Like allowing remote configuration or let the router answer pings.

Further, I now found out how to use the "Virtual Server" configuration to enable connections from the 1st into the 2nd network across the integrated firewall. This solved my biggest remaining issue, as I now can login from the 1st network into nodes in the 2nd network.

Only one minor annoyance remaining is that I can't check with a ping from the 1st into the 2nd network if a node is up and running. But since other network services (like ssh) are possible now, this is just a matter of comfort...

[FurryNutz]

Good luck and enjoy.