Installation

I have set up wired and wireless networks with internet access before and can muddle my way through Linksys and D-link router configurations.  Have a basic understanding of IP addressing.

I have a friend/client who runs a small auto repair shop with about six computers that connect to the internet through a Linksys WRT54G2 wired/wireless router/switch/access point and a Motorola DSL modem.  I got that connected for him a couple weeks back, but had to leave his m0n0wall v1.1 firewall computer out of the equation to get his network working (AT&T and 2 others couldn't get anything connected to the internet before I went and helped him out).

So, now he wants his firewall back and I said I would give it a shot.

We gave it a real crude try today . . . I knew that wasn't gonna work, but he's pretty bold.  Anyway, it didn't work, so I know I have to get under the hood (get it?) and figure out how to make it run.

I have a few newbie questions.  If anybody can help with any part of this, it would be greatly appreciated.
 
Should I use m0n0 as DHCP server or leave Linksys WRT54G DHCP settings alone?
 
Current m0n0 release is 1.1.  Would it be best to use newer release?
 
I think I have this one answered already.  Assuming I leave Linksys as DHCP server, I think I need to set that to use the LAN IP address of m0n0 as the gateway IP address.
 
After getting m0n0 configured completely, cables should be like this?
    DSL phone line to DSL modem (duh!)
    LAN port from DSL modem (yellow) to WAN port of m0n0.
    LAN port of m0n0 to WAN port (yellow) of Linksys wireless router
    Network clients connect to remaining ports of Linksys router and router-connected switch
 
To get m0n0 configured, I should connect a standalone PC to the LAN port of m0n0 with a crossover cable?  And, somewhere did I read that the PC should have an IP address within the same block as the m0n0 machine or it won't be able to log in to the m0n0 WebGUI pages?
 
The DSL provider is using DHCP to assign an IP address (Linksys router currently connects to WAN this way).  Therefore, m0n0 should leave those fields blank, right?  I apologize in advance for that question.  It will become self-evident to me, I think, as I go through the Web-based config pages while reading the documentation.

Yes, I am reading the documentation.  It is quite rich and I need to get the basics early.

Any advantages to disabling DHCP on the Linksys router and having m0n0 do that?
 
Will I be able to tell the difference on m0n0's WebGUI between DHCP (from the ISP side) and DHCP server for handing out addresses to the LAN?  If I want the WAN side to obtain an IP address automatically, but not activate the internal DHCP server, is that OK?  Should I want that, or is there a better practice?

My friend is pretty sure he acquired 4 new viruses with the Linksys (pretty much default settings) and his Windows XP clients with Windows firewall and AVG virus protection running, but no m0n0wall firewall.  I just nodded.  Does that really seem likely?  I have my doubts.

Anyway, thanks in advance for any help I get.

Steve Johnson

Steve,

first off you want to be using 1.3b15 so burn a new CD or use physdiskwrite.exe to flash your HD or CF card  before you do anything else.  Also, I would not use his old config and don't make any changes to the new config unless you know for sure it needs to be changed and then make a note of any changes you made to the default config.  you want the m0n0wall to do DHCP and you need to turn off the DHCP on the Linksys.  Now connect one of the Linksys' LAN ports up to the m0n0wall's LAN interface and don't ever plug anything into the Linksys' WAN port.  also, if the m0n0wall's WAN address turns out to be a private rather then a public IP, you will more than likely need to reconfigure the DSL modem to be in the bridged mode and change the m0n0wall's WAN interface to PPPoE or something other than DHCP.

CS...

Gotcha!  Thanks, CS

Chainsaw,

I tried as you recommended.  Got into the m0n0wall WebGUI page by way of a crossover cable at first, then by way of connecting LAN side of m0n0wall into one of the LAN ports of the router.  That worked for a while, then I could no longer get into the m0n0wall WebGUI page, nor could I locate what became of the Linksys router's IP address.  Before losing touch with everything, I had enabled the DHCP service on m0n0wall, obtained client IP leases from the m0n0wall DHCP service, and figured we might soon get m0n0wall working through the DSL modem and out to the internet.  Prior to connecting m0n0wall to the router, I had configured the router to stop assigning IP addresses via DHCP.

That is as far as I got.  After losing the ability to get into any configuration pages for any hardware, my only choice was to return to the drawing board, disconnect m0n0wall completely from the LAN again, run Cisco's configuration CD since I wasn't sure what became of the router's IP address, and return to a state where everybody could once again connect to the internet.

So far, I am not sure I like disabling the Linksys DHCP service in favor of the m0n0wall DHCP service.  That seemed like an unneccessary complication and caused the router to obtain a new IP address which made it impossible for me to locate again.  I only knew enough to reconfigure everything from the ground up to get that back.

So, JOY at getting into m0n0wall WebGUI configuration pages.  SORROW at not knowing how to force it to connect to my ISP.  FRUSTRATION at losing connections to both m0n0wall and Linksys.

Thanks for the help.  My reading of more pages does not increase my understanding of how to force m0n0wall to connect to the ISP, so could use more understanding.

Steve

Oh, yes.  I had skipped over the part about setting the DSL modem into bridge mode, as I didn't know how or if it would be necessary.  I've read up on that and will try that when I return to the issue later today.

Not sure about changing from DHCP to PPPoE or something else on m0n0wall.  I suppose that would require me to tell the ISP to change how they deliver their service?  Or am I all wet on that?