Connect a wireless router to windows 2003 server network

[calpolymis]

Hi. I have a wireless router connected to our win 2003 network. Rough diagram is internet-> Linksys router -> wireless router & server -> switches

The wireless router's IP is setup as part of our network (given static IP, subnet, gateway, and DNS) It's working now, but the problem is I have to manually setup TCP/IP to conform to our network setup (like IP, subnet, gateway, DNS etc..) for each laptop. So users have to set the settings back to automatic IP setting mode when they leave our office. It's pretty inconveniet.

I just want to make people to type in our password and easily connect. How can I do this? Thanks in advance.

 

[FredWagner]

have you looked into setting up more than one hardware profile on the laptops, so at boot they choose the 'home' or 'away' profile ?

Fred Wagner

 

[rclarke250]

What are the roles for the laptops? do they need access to your network? or just the internet? If just the internet, you could set up guest wireless on the wireless router if it has that ability, the other thing is to turn on dhcp, but limit it to say a block of 10 addresses or however many is needed, and put it in a range outside of what your static ip's are set to. You could keep dhcp off at the routers, but run dhcp services from the server, and setup rules for access there.

 

[calpolymis]

Hello, FredWagner. I'll look into that for a few laptops that are regularly used. My main concern is for the guests who visit our office and want to use internt. I'll see if my router has guest wireless functionality. I'll report it back shortly. Thank you.

 

[FredWagner]

Do you have a Firewall some Network Address Translation in this setup ? Could you configure the wireless router so the Wired side complies with your official network configuration, but the WiFi side offers DHCP for your internal customers AND your guests ? You might want to provide a GUEST account with a specific login and password, which you put on a whiteboard and change now and then - When I was on Jury Duty recently, the WiFi in the Jury room was set up this way. I've brought my laptop to the office, used it in the jury room, and used it at home, never have to mess with IP settings. I can see the networks to connect to at each location, and once I've configured the WPA logins for a network, that's all that's needed.

Fred Wagner