Bridging 2 networks

[KITT]

Hope someone can help me with a bit of a networking problem.

Situation is, we have 2 networks, one upstairs and one downstairs. The plan is to link to 2 together wirelessly. Upstairs is a Linksys WAG-54g wireless broadband router which serves all the upstairs computers fine. Downstairs is a Buffalo WLA-G54 AirStation with a couple of computers connected to it using RJ45 cables.

Now the challenge is to get the 2 hubs to talk to each other so that the downstairs computers can "see" the upstairs ones and visa versa.

Is this doable with our current equipement? and if so what settings are needed?

cheers

[BliarOut]

RJ45 crossover cable between the two will do it. You can use a straight through cable if either of the devices has a crossover port.

[KITT]

BliarOut said:

RJ45 crossover cable between the two will do it. You can use a straight through cable if either of the devices has a crossover port.

Ah, so is it not possible to do this wirelessly? That was kind of the reason for getting the Buffalo wireless one!

[BliarOut]

It's do-able, but unfortunately not answerable via a general "do this" answer IMHO.

Cabling on the otherhand is answerable via a general "do this"

[KITT]

Hmmm, after spending the best part of a day faffing with both hubs I've come to the conclusion it's not doable It seems the upstairs router doesn't have any way of "knowing" about the downstairs one. Trouble is I don't really know what I'm doing! Cable networks are so much easier to understand but all this MAC address stuff is quite hard to get my head round. If anyone knows of a step-by-step guide I'd appreciate it.

[BliarOut]

MAC address is easy. Usually printed on the bottom of stuff, it's a 12 digit hex number you are looking for.

Next

[KITT]

BliarOut said:

MAC address is easy. Usually printed on the bottom of stuff, it's a 12 digit hex number you are looking for. Next

I'd worked that out but there's a whole load of settings that can be changed. The downstairs hub has:

Routing tables
bridging stuff
SSID

I thought that if I set both hubs to the same channel (frequency) and used the same IP address ranges (192.168.1.x) and subnet masks (255.255.255.0) they would see each other but it doesn't seem to be the case Any suggestions?

[malman]

Sorry, I think you might be on a wild goose chase here unless someone has actually convinced these to work together before.

From buffalo web site:
NOTE: Repeater function is supported with Buffalo bridges and routers, but can communicate with other manufacturer's 802.11b and 802.11g client adapters

From linksys wap54g firmware page
Note: When set to "AP Client" and "Wireless Bridge" mode, this device will only communicate with another Linksys Access Point (WAP54G). When set to "Wireless Repeater" mode, this device will only communicate with another Linksys Access Point (WAP54G) and Linksys Wireless-G Router (WRT54G).