If you are new to networking and have never configured a router before, click on Setup Wizard and the router will guide you through a few simple steps to get your network up and running.

If you consider yourself an advanced user and have configured a router before, click Manual Configure to input all the settings manually.

A method of encrypting data for wireless communication intended to provide the same level of privacy as a wired network. WEP is not as secure as WPA encryption. To gain access to a WEP network, you must know the key. The key is a string of characters that you create. When using WEP, you must determine the level of encryption. The type of encryption determines the key length. 128-bit encryption requires a longer key than 64-bit encryption. Keys are defined by entering in a string in HEX (hexadecimal - using characters 0-9, A-F) or ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange - alphanumeric characters) format. ASCII format is provided so you can enter a string that is easier to remember. The ASCII string is converted to HEX for use over the network. Four keys can be defined so that you can change keys easily. A default key is selected for use on the network.

Note that, if you enter fewer characters in the WEP key than required, the remainder of the key is automatically padded with zeros.

Both of these options select some variant of Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) -- security standards published by the Wi-Fi Alliance. The WPA Mode further refines the variant that the router should employ.

WPA Mode: WPA is the older standard; select this option if the clients that will be used with the router only support the older standard. WPA2 is the newer implementation of the stronger IEEE 802.11i security standard. With the "WPA2" option, the router tries WPA2 first, but falls back to WPA if the client only supports WPA. With the "WPA2 Only" option, the router associates only with clients that also support WPA2 security.

Cipher Type: The encryption algorithm used to secure the data communication. TKIP (Temporal Key Integrity Protocol) provides per-packet key generation and is based on WEP. AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) is a very secure block based encryption. With the "TKIP and AES" option, the router negotiates the cipher type with the client, and uses AES when available.

Group Key Update Interval: The amount of time before the group key used for broadcast and multicast data is changed.

This option uses Wi-Fi Protected Access with a Pre-Shared Key (PSK).

Pre-Shared Key: The key is entered as a pass-phrase of up to 63 alphanumeric characters in ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) format at both ends of the wireless connection. It cannot be shorter than eight characters, although for proper security it needs to be of ample length and should not be a commonly known phrase. This phrase is used to generate session keys that are unique for each wireless client.

This option works with a RADIUS Server to authenticate wireless clients. Wireless clients should have established the necessary credentials before attempting to authenticate to the Server through this Gateway. Furthermore, it may be necessary to configure the RADIUS Server to allow this Gateway to authenticate users.

Authentication Timeout: Amount of time before a client will be required to re-authenticate.

RADIUS Server IP Address: The IP address of the authentication server.

RADIUS Server Port: The port number used to connect to the authentication server.

RADIUS Server Shared Secret: A pass-phrase that must match with the authentication server.

MAC Address Authentication: If this is selected, the user must connect from the same computer whenever logging into the wireless network.

Advanced:

Optional Backup RADIUS Server

This option enables configuration of an optional second RADIUS server. A second RADIUS server can be used as backup for the primary RADIUS server. The second RADIUS server is consulted only when the primary server is not available or not responding. The fields Second RADIUS Server IP Address, RADIUS Server Port, Second RADIUS server Shared Secret, Second MAC Address Authentication provide the corresponding parameters for the second RADIUS Server.

There are several connection types to choose from: Static IP, DHCP, PPPoE, PPTP, L2TP, and BigPond. If you are unsure of your connection method, please contact your Internet Service Provider. Note: If using the PPPoE option, you will need to ensure that any PPPoE client software on your computers is removed or disabled.

Static WAN Mode

Used when your ISP provides you a set IP address that does not change. The IP information is manually entered in your IP configuration settings. You must enter the IP address, Subnet Mask, Gateway, Primary DNS Server, and Secondary DNS Server. Your ISP provides you with all of this information.

DHCP WAN Mode

A method of connection where the ISP assigns your IP address when your router requests one from the ISP's server. Some ISP's require you to make some settings on your side before your router can connect to the Internet.

Host Name: Some ISP's may check your computer's Host Name. The Host Name identifies your system to the ISP's server. This way they know your computer is eligible to receive an IP address. In other words, they know that you are paying for their service.

Use Unicasting: This option is normally turned off, and should remain off as long as the WAN-side DHCP server correctly provides an IP address to the router. However, if the router cannot obtain an IP address from the DHCP server, the DHCP server may be one that works better with unicast responses. In this case, turn the unicasting option on, and observe whether the router can obtain an IP address. In this mode, the router accepts unicast responses from the DHCP server instead of broadcast responses.

Enable BigPond: Check this option to connect to the internet through Telstra BigPond Cable Broadband in Australia. Telstra BigPond provides the values for BigPond Server, BigPond User Id, and BigPond Password.

PPPoE

Select this option if your ISP requires you to use a PPPoE (Point to Point Protocol over Ethernet) connection. DSL providers typically use this option. This method of connection requires you to enter a Username and Password (provided by your Internet Service Provider) to gain access to the Internet. The supported authentication protocols are PAP and CHAP.

Dynamic IP: If the ISP's servers assign the router's IP addressing upon establishing a connection, select this option.

Static IP: If your ISP has assigned a fixed IP address, select this option. The ISP provides the value for the IP Address.

Service Name: Some ISP's may require that you enter a Service Name. Only enter a Service Name if your ISP requires one.

Reconnect Mode: Typically PPPoE connections are not always on. The router allows you to set the reconnection mode. The settings are:

• Always on: A connection to the Internet is always maintained.
• On demand: A connection to the Internet is made as needed.
• Manual: You have to open up the Web-based management interface and click the Connect button manually any time that you wish to connect to the Internet.

Maximum Idle Time: Time interval the machine can be idle before the PPPoE connection is disconnected. The Maximum Idle Time value is only used for the "On demand" and "Manual" reconnect modes.

PPTP

PPTP (Point to Point Tunneling Protocol) uses a virtual private network to connect to your ISP. This method of connection is primarily used in Europe. This method of connection requires you to enter a Username and Password (provided by your Internet Service Provider) to gain access to the Internet. The supported authentication protocols are PAP and CHAP.

Dynamic IP: If the ISP's servers assign the router's IP addressing upon establishing a connection, select this option.

Static IP: If your ISP has assigned a fixed IP address, select this option. The ISP provides the values for the following fields: PPTP IP Address, PPTP Subnet Mask , and PPTP Gateway IP Address.

PPTP Server IP Address: The ISP provides this parameter, if necessary. The value may be the same as the Gateway IP Address.

Reconnect Mode: Typically PPTP connections are not always on. The router allows you to set the reconnection mode. The settings are:

• Always on: A connection to the Internet is always maintained.
• On demand: A connection to the Internet is made as needed.
• Manual: You have to open up the Web-based management interface and click the Connect button manually any time that you wish to connect to the Internet.

Maximum Idle Time: Time interval the machine can be idle before the PPTP connection is disconnected. The Maximum Idle Time value is only used for the "On demand" and "Manual" reconnect modes.

L2TP

L2TP (Layer Two Tunneling Protocol) uses a virtual private network to connect to your ISP. This method of connection requires you to enter a Username and Password (provided by your Internet Service Provider) to gain access to the Internet. The supported authentication protocols are PAP and CHAP.

Dynamic IP: If the ISP's servers assign the router's IP addressing upon establishing a connection, select this option.

Static IP: If your ISP has assigned a fixed IP address, select this option. The ISP provides the values for the following fields: L2TP IP Address, L2TP Subnet Mask , and L2TP Gateway IP Address.

L2TP Server IP Address: The ISP provides this parameter, if necessary. The value may be the same as the Gateway IP Address.

Reconnect Mode: Typically L2TP connections are not always on. The router allows you to set the reconnection mode. The settings are:

• Always on: A connection to the Internet is always maintained.
• On demand: A connection to the Internet is made as needed.
• Manual: You have to open up the Web-based management interface and click the Connect button manually any time that you wish to connect to the Internet.

Maximum Idle Time: Time interval the machine can be idle before the L2TP connection is disconnected. The Maximum Idle Time value is used for the "On demand" and "Manual" reconnect modes.

The following options apply to all WAN modes.

Primary DNS Server, Secondary DNS Server: Enter the IP addresses of the DNS Servers. Leave the field for the secondary server empty if not used.

MTU: The Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) is a parameter that determines the largest packet size (in bytes) that the router will send to the WAN. If LAN devices send larger packets, the router will break them into smaller packets. Ideally, you should set this to match the MTU of the connection to your ISP. Typical values are 1500 bytes for an Ethernet connection and 1492 bytes for a PPPoE connection. If the router's MTU is set too high, packets will be fragmented downstream. If the router's MTU is set too low, the router will fragment packets unnecessarily and in extreme cases may be unable to establish some connections. In either case, network performance can suffer.

MAC Address: Each networking device has it's own unique MAC address defined by the hardware manufacturer. Some ISP's may check your computer's MAC address. Some ISP's record the MAC address of the network adapter in the computer or router used to initially connect to their service. The ISP will then only grant Internet access to requests from a computer or router with this particular MAC address. This router has a different MAC address than the computer or router that initially connected to the ISP. If you need to change the MAC address of the rounter's WAN-side Ethernet interface, either type in an alternate MAC address (for example, the MAC address of the router initially connected to the ISP) or copy the MAC address of a PC. To copy the MAC address of the computer that initially connected to the ISP, connect to the router using that computer and click the Clone Your PC's MAC Address button. The WAN interface will then use the MAC address of the network adapter in your computer.

Router Mode

Select this option if the WAN port is connected to the Internet. The device functions as a NAT router.

Bridge Mode

Select this option if the device is connected to a local network downstream from another router. In this mode, the device functions as a bridge between the network on its WAN port and the devices on its LAN port and those connected to it wirelessly. The Router IP Address field below must be set to the IP address of this device. The Gateway must be set to the IP address of the upstream router. Both addresses must be within the LAN subnet as specified by Subnet Mask.

In bridge mode, the device still supports several features not available in ordinary bridges -- features that involve the WAN side of the upstream router.

IP Address

The IP address of your router on the local area network. Your local area network settings are based on the address assigned here. For example, 192.168.0.1.

Subnet Mask

The subnet mask of your router on the local area network.

Local Domain Name

This entry is optional. Enter a domain name for the local network. The AP's DHCP server will give this domain name to the computers on the wireless LAN. So, for example, if you enter mynetwork.net here, and you have a wireless laptop with a name of chris, that laptop will be known as chris.mynetwork.net. Note, however, if the AP's settings specify "DHCP (Dynamic)" Address, and the rou ter's DHCP server assigns a domain name to the AP, that domain name will override any name you enter here.

DNS Relay

When DNS Relay is enabled, the router plays the role of a DNS server. DNS requests sent to the router are forwarded to the ISP's DNS server. This provides a constant DNS address that LAN computers can use, even when the router obtains a different DNS server address from the ISP upon re-establishing the WAN connection. You should disable DNS relay if you implement a LAN-side DNS server as a virtual server.

DHCP stands for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol. The DHCP section is where you configure the built-in DHCP Server to assign IP addresses to the computers and other devices on your local area network (LAN).

Enable DHCP Server

Once your router is properly configured and this option is enabled, the DHCP Server will manage the IP addresses and other network configuration information for computers and other devices connected to your Local Area Network. There is no need for you to do this yourself.

The computers (and other devices) connected to your LAN also need to have their TCP/IP configuration set to "DHCP" or "Obtain an IP address automatically".

When you set Enable DHCP Server, the following options are displayed.

DHCP IP Address Range

These two IP values (from and to) define a range of IP addresses that the DHCP Server uses when assigning addresses to computers and devices on your Local Area Network. Any addresses that are outside of this range are not managed by the DHCP Server; these could, therefore, be used for manually configured devices or devices that cannot use DHCP to obtain network address details automatically.

It is possible for a computer or device that is manually configured to have an address that does reside within this range. In this case the address should be reserved (see DHCP Reservation below), so that the DHCP Server knows that this specific address can only be used by a specific computer or device.

Your router, by default, has a static IP address of 192.168.0.1. This means that addresses 192.168.0.2 to 192.168.0.254 can be made available for allocation by the DHCP Server.

Example:

Your router uses 192.168.0.1 for the IP address. You've assigned a computer that you want to designate as a Web server with a static IP address of 192.168.0.3. You've assigned another computer that you want to designate as an FTP server with a static IP address of 192.168.0.4. Therefore the starting IP address for your DHCP IP address range needs to be 192.168.0.5 or greater.

Example:

Suppose you configure the DHCP Server to manage addresses From 192.168.0.100 To 192.168.0.199. This means that 192.168.0.3 to 192.168.0.99 and 192.168.0.200 to 192.168.0.254 are NOT managed by the DHCP Server. Computers or devices that use addresses from these ranges are to be manually configured. Suppose you have a web server computer that has a manually configured address of 192.168.0.100. Because this falls within the "managed range" be sure to create a reservation for this address and match it to the relevant computer (see Static DHCP Client below).

DHCP Lease Time

The amount of time that a computer may have an IP address before it is required to renew the lease. The lease functions just as a lease on an apartment would. The initial lease designates the amount of time before the lease expires. If the tenant wishes to retain the address when the lease is expired then a new lease is established. If the lease expires and the address is no longer needed than another tenant may use the address.

Always Broadcast

If all the computers on the LAN successfully obtain their IP addresses from the router's DHCP server as expected, this option can remain disabled. However, if one of the computers on the LAN fails to obtain an IP address from the router's DHCP server, it may have an old DHCP client that incorrectly turns off the broadcast flag of DHCP packets. Enabling this option will cause the router to always broadcast its responses to all clients, thereby working around the problem, at the cost of increased broadcast traffic on the LAN.

This option lets you reserve IP addresses, and assign the same IP address to the network device with the specified MAC address any time it requests an IP address. This is almost the same as when a device has a static IP address except that the device must still request an IP address from the router. The router will provide the device the same IP address every time. DHCP Reservations are helpful for server computers on the local network that are hosting applications such as Web and FTP. Servers on your network should either use a static IP address or use this option.

Computer Name

You can assign a name for each computer that is given a reserved IP address. This may help you keep track of which computers are assigned this way. Example: Game Server.

IP Address:

The LAN address that you want to reserve.

MAC Address

To input the MAC address of your system, enter it in manually or connect to the router's Web-Management interface from the system and click the Copy Your PC's MAC Address button.

A MAC address is usually located on a sticker on the bottom of a network device. The MAC address is comprised of twelve digits. Each pair of hexadecimal digits are usually separated by dashes or colons such as 00-0D-88-11-22-33 or 00:0D:88:11:22:33. If your network device is a computer and the network card is already located inside the computer, you can connect to the router from the computer and click the Copy Your PC's MAC Address button to enter the MAC address.

As an alternative, you can locate a MAC address in a specific operating system by following the steps below:

Windows 98 Windows Me	Go to the Start menu, select Run, type in winipcfg, and hit Enter. A popup window will be displayed. Select the appropriate adapter from the pull-down menu and you will see the Adapter Address. This is the MAC address of the device.
Windows 2000 Windows XP	Go to your Start menu, select Programs, select Accessories, and select Command Prompt. At the command prompt type ipconfig /all and hit Enter. The physical address displayed for the adapter connecting to the router is the MAC address.
Mac OS X	Go to the Apple Menu, select System Preferences, select Network, and select the Ethernet Adapter connecting to the router. Select the Ethernet button and the Ethernet ID will be listed. This is the same as the MAC address.

In this section you can see what LAN devices are currently leasing IP addresses.

Revoke

The Revoke option is available for the situation in which the lease table becomes full or nearly full, you need to recover space in the table for new entries, and you know that some of the currently allocated leases are no longer needed. Clicking Revoke cancels the lease for a specific LAN device and frees an entry in the lease table. Do this only if the device no longer needs the leased IP address, because, for example, it has been removed from the network.

Reserve

The Reserve option converts this dynamic IP allocation into a DHCP Reservation and adds the corresponding entry to the DHCP Reservations List.