Luma Home Wifi Cusom Firmware Disable Dhcp Server

Simply considering your old Wi-Fi router has been replaced by a newer model doesn’t mean it needs to gather dust in the closet. Read on equally we show you how to accept an onetime and underpowered Wi-Fi router and turn information technology into a respectable network switch (saving your $twenty in the process).

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mmgallan.

Why Do I Want To Do This?

Wi-Fi engineering has changed significantly in the last ten years, merely Ethernet-based networking has inverse very little. As such, a Wi-Fi router with 2006-era guts is lagging significantly behind current Wi-Fi router technology, but the Ethernet networking component of the device is just every bit useful as ever; aside from potentially existence only 100Mbs instead of 1000Mbs capable (which for 99% of dwelling house applications is irrelevant), Ethernet is Ethernet.

What does this matter to you, the consumer? Information technology ways that even though your old router doesn’t hack it for your Wi-Fi needs any longer, the device is yet a perfectly serviceable (and loftier quality) network switch. When practise you need a network switch? Any time you want to share an Ethernet cablevision amid multiple devices, you need a switch.

For case, allow’southward say you have a single Ethernet wall jack behind your entertainment eye. Unfortunately yous accept four devices that you want to link to your local network via hardline including your smart HDTV, DVR, Xbox, and
a little Raspberry Pi running XBMC.

Instead of spending $twenty-30 to purchase a brand new switch of comparable build quality to your old Wi-Fi router, information technology makes financial sense (and is environmentally friendly) to invest five minutes of your fourth dimension tweaking the settings on the sometime router to turn it from a Wi-Fi access point and routing tool into a network switch–perfect for dropping behind your entertainment center so that your DVR, Xbox, and media centre reckoner tin can all share an Ethernet connection.

What Do I Need?

For this tutorial, you’ll need a few things, all of which you probable have readily on hand or are complimentary for download. To follow the basic portion of the tutorial, you’ll need the post-obit:

1 Wi-Fi router with Ethernet ports
1 Computer with Ethernet jack
1 Ethernet cable

For the advanced tutorial, yous’ll demand all of those things, plus:

1 re-create of DD-WRT firmware for your Wi-Fi router

We’re conducting the experiment with a Linksys WRT54GL Wi-Fi router. The WRT54 series is 1 of the best selling Wi-Fi router series of all time and there’southward a good risk a significant number of readers accept one (or more) of them blimp in an function closet. Even if you don’t take 1 of the WRT54 series routers, however, the principles we’re outlining here utilize to all Wi-Fi routers; equally long every bit your router administration console allows the necessary changes, you can follow right along with us.

A quick note on the difference between the basic and advanced versions of this tutorial before we proceed. Your typical Wi-Fi router has v Ethernet ports on the back: ane labeled “Net”, “WAN”, or a variation thereof and intended to be connected to your DSL/Cable modem, and 4 labeled 1-iv intended to connect Ethernet devices like computers, printers, and game consoles directly to the Wi-Fi router.

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When you convert a Wi-Fi router to a switch, in most situations, you’ll lose ii port equally the “Internet” port cannot be used as a normal switch port and i of the switch ports becomes the input port for the Ethernet cable linking the switch to the master network. This means, referencing the diagram above, yous’d lose the WAN port and LAN port 1, merely retain LAN ports 2, 3, and iv for use. If you lot only need to switch for 2-3 devices, this may be satisfactory.

However, for those of you that would adopt a more traditional switch setup where in that location is a defended WAN port and the residual of the ports are accessible, yous’ll need to flash a tertiary-party router firmware like the powerful DD-WRT onto your device. Doing and then opens up the router to a greater degree of modification and allows y’all to assign the previously reserved WAN port to the switch, thus opening up LAN ports 1-4.

Even if y’all don’t intend to apply that extra port, DD-WRT offers you so many more than options that it’s worth the extra few steps.

Preparing Your Router for Life as a Switch

Before nosotros jump right in to shutting down the Wi-Fi functionality and repurposing your device every bit a network switch, there are a few important prep steps to attend to.

Beginning, you want to reset the router (if you only flashed a new firmware to your router, skip this step). Following the reset procedures for your particular router or become with what is known as the “Peacock Method” wherein you hold downwards the reset push button for xxx seconds, unplug the router and wait (while still belongings the reset button) for thirty seconds, and then plug it in while, again, continuing to hold down the balance push. Over the life of a router there are a variety of changes made, large and small, then it’s best to wipe them all back to the factory default before repurposing the router equally a switch.

2d, after resetting, we need to change the IP address of the device on the local network to an address which does non directly conflict with the new router. The typical default IP accost for a home router is 192.168.ane.1; if you e’er need to go dorsum into the assistants console of the router-turned-switch to check on things or make changes it will be a real hassle if the IP accost of the device conflicts with the new dwelling house router. The simplest mode to bargain with this is to assign an address shut to the actual router address merely outside the range of addresses that your router will assign via the DHCP client; a good pick and then is 192.168.one.2.

Once the router is reset (or re-flashed) and has been assigned a new IP accost, it’due south time to configure it as a switch.

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Basic Router to Switch Configuration

If y’all don’t want to (or need to) flash new firmware onto your device to open up up that actress port, this is the section of the tutorial for you: we’ll comprehend how to take a stock router, our previously mentioned WRT54 serial Linksys, and convert information technology to a switch.

Claw the Wi-Fi router upwards to the network via ane of the LAN ports (consider the WAN port as good every bit dead from this point frontward; unless you outset using the router in its traditional function again or subsequently wink a more than advanced firmware to the device, the port is officially retired at this bespeak). Open the assistants control panel via web browser on a connected computer. Before we get started, two things: first, anything we don’t explicitly instruct you lot to alter should exist left in the default factory-reset setting as you lot find information technology, and two, change the settings in the club we list them every bit some settings can’t be changed after certain features are disabled.

To kickoff, permit’s navigate to
Setup ->Bones Setup. Here you demand to change the following things:

Local IP Address: [unlike than the master router, e.1000. 192.168.one.2]

Subnet Mask: [same as the primary router, e.thousand. 255.255.255.0]

DHCP Server: Disable

Save with the “Save Settings” button and then navigate to
Setup -> Advanced Routing:

Operating Mode: Router

This particular setting is very counterintuitive. The “Operating Mode” toggle tells the device whether or non it should enable the Network Accost Translation (NAT) feature. Because we’re turning a smart piece of networking hardware into a relatively impaired one, we don’t need this feature and then we switch from Gateway mode (NAT on) to Router fashion (NAT off).

Our next stop is
Wireless -> Bones Wireless Settings:

Wireless SSID Broadcast: Disable

Wireless Network Way: Disabled

After disabling the wireless, we’re going to, again, exercise something counterintuitive. Navigate to
Wireless -> Wireless Security
and gear up the following parameters:

Security Style: WPA2 Personal

WPA Algorithms: TKIP+AES

WPA Shared Key: [select some random string of messages, numbers, and symbols like JF#d$di!Hdgio890]

At present y’all may exist request yourself, why on Earth are we setting a rather secure Wi-Fi configuration on a Wi-Fi router that nosotros’re not going to use every bit a Wi-Fi node? On the off gamble that something strange happens after, say, a power outage when your router-turned-switch cycles on and off a bunch of times and the Wi-Fi functionality is activated, we don’t desire to exist running the Wi-Fi node wide open and granting unfettered access to your network. While the chances of this are next-to-nonexistent, it takes only a few seconds to apply the security measure, and so in that location’s niggling reason not to.

Save your changes and navigate to
Security ->Firewall.

Uncheck everything simply Filter Multicast

Firewall Protect: Disable

At this point you lot tin relieve your changes once more, review the changes you’ve made to ensure they all stuck, so deploy your “new” switch wherever it is needed.

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Advanced Router to Switch Configuration

For the avant-garde configuration, y’all’ll need a copy of DD-WRT installed on your router. Although doing so is an actress few steps, it gives you a lot more than control over the process and liberates an actress port on the device.

Claw the Wi-Fi router up to the network via one of the LAN ports (later you can switch the cable to the WAN port). Open up the administration control panel via web browser on the connected reckoner. Navigate to the
Setup -> Bones Setup
tab to become started.

In the Basic Setup tab, ensure the following settings are adjusted. The setting changesare not
optional and are required to plow the Wi-Fi router into a switch.

WAN Connection Type: Disabled

Local IP Address: [different than the primary router, east.g. 192.168.1.2]

Subnet Mask: [aforementioned every bit the primary router, eastward.m. 255.255.255.0]

DHCP Server: Disable

In add-on to disabling the DHCP server, also uncheck all the DNSMasq boxes as the bottom of the DHCP sub-carte.

If you want to activate the extra port (and why wouldn’t you), in the WAN port department:

Assign WAN Port to Switch [10]

At this point, the router has get a switch and you lot have admission to the WAN port and so the LAN ports are all free. Since we’re already in the command panel, withal, we might as well flip a few optional toggles that further lock downwardly the switch and prevent something odd from happening. The optional settings are bundled via the card y’all find them in. Remember to save your settings with the salve button before moving onto a new tab.

While still in theSetup -> Basic Setup
card, change the post-obit:

Gateway/Local DNS : [IP address of master router, due east.g. 192.168.ane.1]
NTP Client : Disable

The next stride is to turn off the radio completely (which not only kills the Wi-Fi but really powers the concrete radio chip off). Navigate toWireless -> Avant-garde Settings -> Radio Time Restrictions:

Radio Scheduling: Enable

Select “Always Off”

There’s no need to create a potential security problem past leaving the Wi-Fi radio on, the to a higher place toggle turns it completely off.

Under
Services -> Services:

DNSMasq : Disable
ttraff Daemon : Disable

Nether the
Security -> Firewall
tab, uncheck every boxexcept
“Filter Multicast”, as seen in the screenshot above, and then disable SPI Firewall. Once you’re done hither, save and move on to the Administration tab. UnderAdministration -> Management:

Info Site Password Protection : Enable

Info Site MAC Masking : Disable

CRON : Disable

802.1x : Disable

Routing : Disable

Afterward this final round of tweaks, salvage and and then employ your settings. Your router has at present been, strategically, dumbed downward enough to plod along as a very undecayed little switch. Time to stuff it behind your desk-bound or amusement center and streamline your cabling.