Semi-OT: BEWARE NETGEAR WGR-614

["Sullivan, Glenn" <gsullivan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Before someone else spend hours trying to figure out what is wrong with
their xAPplications...


The NetGear WGR614 series of routers (and maybe others, but I only had a
WGR614v2 to test with) do not relay UDP packets from the wired segment
to the wireless segment.

This means no xAP communications between the segments.

I should have known better... About a year and a half ago, I set up a
Win2K3 server at home, and decided to use it as my DHCP server.  But I
could not, for the life of me, get it to hand out IP addresses on the
wireless segment.

I put a PC running ethereal on each segment, and saw that, while the
DHCP server was sending the DHCP ACK packet out, it was only showing on
the wired segment.

Conversations with NetGear support confirmed that the router was not
relaying these packets onto the wired segment by design.  They claimed
that they were going to fix it in later firmware releases, but they
never have.

Of course, a year and a half later, I didn't remember that conversation
until I had removed/re-installed .NET, all my xAPs, etc... In an effort
to get my laptop (running Desktop) to see the messages coming from the
server (with Weather, TV, News, etc...).

Now that I have grabbed a spare Linksys WRT54GS (<Snagglepuss
Voice>decked out as a kaistation, even</Snagglepuss Voice>) it is
relaying the packets as expected...

So, don't assume it' you that did something wrong...

Glenn Sullivan, MCSE+I  MCDBA
David Clark Company Inc.