How to access modem from router when modem is in the bridge mode?
According to https://superuser.com/a/993785/664 answer to the question "How do I access my modem's GUI when it's in bridged mode?" it should be possible to access modem's web UI from LAN when modem – connected to the router – is in bridge mode. However the solution given requires being able to execute shell commands at routers's startup (they have DD-WRT installed on the router) to assign (additional?) IP address to router's WAN interface.
Is something like this possible with the original firmware of R8000 and if so then how?
> [...] it should be possible to access modem's web UI from LAN when > modem - connected to the router - is in bridge mode. [...]
Says who? It depends on the modem. If not, then it's not a router problem.
It's true modem has to support it in bridge mode and this modem does support it which I checked by connecting computer directly to one of modem's LAN ports, obtained IP 192.168.1.4 and accessed modem's web UI at IP 192.168.1.1
Now I'm concerned with what is needed on the router side to access this modem. As shown in the answer cited they had to properly configure router so hosts on the LAN could access modem through it. I'm asking about how to configure R8000 using original firmawe the same way they configured their router using DD-WRT.
Re: How to access modem from router when modem is in the bridge mode?
> It's true modem has to support it in bridge mode and this modem does > support it which I checked by connecting computer directly to one of > modem's LAN ports, obtained IP 192.168.1.4 and accessed modem's web UI > at IP 192.168.1.1
If your "modem" were acting as a modem in bridge mode, then your computer would be getting its IP address from your ISP, not some private address like "192.168.1.4" from the "modem" itself. An actual bridge provides a simple, straight-through connection, and does not provide a DHCP server or NAT.
You seem to think that you understand what's happening here, but I claim that you're wrong.
> [...] As shown in the answer cited [...]
So far, I see no relationship between what you're doing and the material in that discussion.
As explained elsewhere, a router needs no special help to pass data from its LAN side to its WAN side. That's its whole purpose in life.
Re: How to access modem from router when modem is in the bridge mode?
> If your "modem" were acting as a modem in bridge mode, then your computer would be getting its IP address from your ISP, not some private address like "192.168.1.4" from the "modem" itself. An actual bridge provides a simple, straight-through connection, and does not provide a DHCP server or NAT.
Apparently this modem seems to be in some kind of mixed/hybrid mode then 🙂
R8000 connected to one of modem's LAN ports is perfectly able to establish PPPoE connection to my ISP through modem. R8000's web UI, section "ADVANCED Home", subsection "Internet Port" reports
IP Address: <public IP address obtained from ISP>
Connection: PPPoE
Computer connected at the same time to another modem's LAN port obtaines IP address from modem's DHCP server and is able to access modem's web UI.
The question is how to configure R8000 so that computer connected to R8000 can access modem's web UI the same way computer connected directly to modem can?
> If the TD-W8960N-as-modem is actually accessible at some IP address from its LAN side, then I'd expect it to be reachable through the R8000 without doing anything to the R8000. From any system which is on the LAN of the R8000, if you try to reach any IP address which is _not_ on its own LAN, then I'd expect the R8000 to pass that message out through its WAN/Internet port, where it will reach the TD-W8960N-as-modem. You don't need any special routing to make that happen.
This is logical but that is not what I'm observing in my situation. One thing that comes to my mind is that above would work on the condition that R8000 actually obtains IP address from modem's DHCP server but it seems that's not the case.
TD-W8960N is accessible at 192.168.1.1 address from its LAN side but it's not accessible at this address from any host connected to R8000.
You also wrote:
> And if the TD-W8960N-as-modem has its own LAN subnet (because it's really still a router), then _it_ might need some special routing to get a message back to the R8000, but the R8000 would still need no changes, because it would still want to send any foreign-looking traffic out through its WAN/Internet port (to the TD-W8960N).
TD-W8960N is configured with the subnet 192.168.1.0/24 and itself has 192.168.1.1 address and R8000 is configured with the subnet 192.168.10.0/24 and itself has 192.168.10.1 address. TD-W8960N has an active DHCP server with the IP range 192.168.1.2–192.168.1.4
It looks like the problem is that R8000's WAN port does not in fact have IP address in TD-W8960N's subnet 192.168.1.0/24 and that is exaclty what solution given at https://superuser.com/a/993785/664 fixes by assigning such an IP address to router's WAN port.
The question is how to do this using R8000's original firmware and not DD-WRT which is used in that solution?
Re: How to access modem from router when modem is in the bridge mode?
> Apparently this modem seems to be in some kind of mixed/hybrid mode > then [...]
It's certainly not acting as a simple bridge.
> TD-W8960N is accessible at 192.168.1.1 address from its LAN side but > it's not accessible at this address from any host connected to R8000.
If both the TD-W8960N and the R8000 use the same subnet (say, "192.168.1.*") for their LANs, then I doubt that you can make it work.
> TD-W8960N is configured with the subnet 192.168.1.0/24 and itself has > 192.168.1.1 address and R8000 is configured with the subnet > 192.168.10.0/24 and itself has 192.168.10.1 address. TD-W8960N has an > active DHCP server with the IP range 192.168.1.2-192.168.1.4
Ok. With the TD-W8960N and the R8000 using different LAN subnets, there's at least a chance that you can make it work.
Again, the inner router (R8000) doesn't need any special help/configuration to get a message to the TD-W8960N. If the R8000 is at "192.168.10.1", then it will see "192.168.1.1" as foreign/WAN, and send any message with that destination address out its WAN/Internet port (to the TD-W8960N).
I'd expect the outer router (TD-W8960N), however, to see "192.168.10.1" as foreign/WAN, too, so I wouldn't expect it to send any reply back to the R8000. I'm not sure what it will do, but I'd expect its defaults to be wrong.
If the WAN/Internet address of the R8000 really is your <public IP address obtained from ISP>, then I'd say that that's where the TD-W8960N should send anything whose destination address is "192.168.10.x". What I'd try would be to configure a static route on the _outer_ router (TD-W8960N):
Destination: 192.168.10.0 Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0 Gateway: <public IP address obtained from ISP>
I would not bet that that would work, because I'm not sure how the TD-W8960N handles any of this stuff.
But, in any case:
> And if the TD-W8960N-as-modem has its own LAN subnet (because it's > really still a router), then _it_ might need some special routing to get > a message back to the R8000, but the R8000 would still need no changes, > because it would still want to send any foreign-looking traffic out > through its WAN/Internet port (to the TD-W8960N).
That's still my story, and I'm sticking to it.
> It looks like the problem is that R8000's WAN port does not in fact > have IP address in TD-W8960N's subnet 192.168.1.0/24 [...]
That "problem" is what should make the R8000 your only router (at least, as seen from the outside world), which, I thought, was the whole idea.
My claim is still that the R8000 is doing what it should, and that any trouble here is caused by the TD-W8960N, or the way that you've configured it.
If the R8000 had some TD-W8960N-LAN address ("192.168.1.x") for its WAN/Internet interface, then you'd also need (something like) a static route on the _outer_ router (TD-W8960N):
Same as above, except for the actual gateway address. But that would make sense if the _outer_ router (TD-W8960N) were configured as a router, and _it_ had <public IP address obtained from ISP> as _its_ WAN/Internet address. Which, I assume, is not what's true (if the R8000 has it), and not what you really want.
> [...] that is exaclty what solution given at > https://superuser.com/a/993785/664 fixes by assigning such an IP address > to router's WAN port. [...]
And does that "solution" make the inner router the only router? I don't think so. I don't see how it could.
> [...] It's not obvious to me that much of the rest of that discussion > makes sense, or applies to your situation. [...]
Still true.
> The question is how to do this using R8000's original firmware and not > DD-WRT which is used in that solution?
I don't think that that _is_ "The question", and I wouldn't expect different firmware in the R8000 to solve a problem which, I claim, resides on the TD-W8960N.
Which would make this not the ideal forum for advice on the device with the problem.
> TD-W8960N has an active DHCP server with the IP range > 192.168.1.2-192.168.1.4
The original DHCP configuration on the TD-W8960N never was the problem, and an odd-ball (tiny-pool) DHCP-server configuration seems (to me) to be more likely to cause trouble than cure it.
