Modem and Router configuration for the Slingers.

It is a good idea to put the Slingers behind a router so you can share that Internet connection with your other computers and devices like Vonage. The problem is routers employ firewalls and Network Address Translators (NAT) to keep your devices safe and invisible from the Internet. Not a good idea when your Slinger must be visible to incoming packets to get the latest control words every 15 seconds more or less. To compound problems many cable and ADSL/DSL modems are also NAT devices. Having a Slinger behind a modem's NAT and then your router's NAT is a no no. It is therefore very important that you familiarize yourself with your setup and configure it properly. Even though your modem and router will most likely be different than the ones I based this How To on you can use this document as a template to guide you through the configuration of your devices. The looks and terminology will differ but the ideas remain the same.

First to determine if your modem has a NAT in it or not and if it has configure it as a bridge only.

1. Connect your computer directly behind your cable or ADSL/DSL modem. Make sure you can browse the Internet.

2. Open a command prompt (in Start/Run type cmd and Enter) and type ipconfig then Enter

3. Look at the results displayed and find your IP address. On my computer it looks like this:
    IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.101
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0

4. If your IP address is within the range of:
   10.0.0.0 through 10.255.255.255 OR
   172.16.0.0 through 172.31.255.255 OR
   192.168.0.0 through 192.168.255.255
   it means you already are behind a NAT. You must now configure your modem as a dumb bridge. If your IP is something else you can skip ahead to the Router Configuration.

5. Go to the Internet and Google your modem's model number and try to find websites that explain you modem's configuration options.

6. For example this is how you configure a Westell 6100 DSL Modem as a bridge.

   • Open a Web Browser
   • In the Address Bar enter 192.168.1.1 then Enter
   • Press the Release button. (It is listed as Disconnect on older versions.)
   • Click on Configuration and select DHCP Server

   

   • Change DHCP Server to Off
   • Click on Configuration and select VC Configuration

   

   • On the first connection that has Enable on it, press Edit.

   

   • Under Protocol change the setting to Bridge
   • Under Bridge Settings change Mode: to Bridge
   • Press Set VC

   It will then show...

   

   • Allow the Router to reboot

   After this your Westell 6100 should work with any router or computer. If you got a different modem please search for similar instructions for that one or use this above as a guide to get the idea.

    

   Now configure your router and a DMZ for your Slinger.

    

    

   1. If your modem was configured with  PPPoE (DSL/ADSL and some cable modems) to log into your ISP you must now configure your home router to do the authentication.

       

      

      If you use a cable modem chances are you can have the router configured to use Dynamic IP Address and and you can skip to step #2. If you have to configure authentication click the WAN button on the left and select the PPPoE radio button:
       

      
      
      Enter the User name and the password your ISP assigned you (may have to look into the papers you got when you set your account up or call your ISP)

   2. Now that your modem is configured as a bridge you can turn your attention to your router. Remove your PC from behind the modem. Insert your router (for best results use a D-Link DI-604PU router which you can buy for $12 used but I suspect other D-Link routers with the latest firmware will also work beautifully) between your modem and PC and at the PC's command prompt type ipconfig /renew then press Enter. Make sure you can browse the Internet. Program and hook your Slinger up to one of the LAN ports on the router according to the Slinger Client programming instructions.
      After programming it read your LAN configuration back on the Network Configuration tab and take note of your Slinger's MAC address.
      
      
      
   3. Go to your router's configuration menu, in the D-Link's case type http://192.168.0.1 into your browser's address bar and log in as user: admin with password: password (default) and in the Home tab select DHCP on the left bottom. If the Slinger obtained an IP address properly from the router it will show up on the bottom in the Dynamic DHCP Clients list as ether!
      
      Take note, the MAC address is the same as the one you got when you read your Slinger's LAN configuration back. Also take note of the IP address 192.168.0.102 my router assigned to the Slinger, we will use that to create a static DHCP Client next.
       
   4. Enable Static DHCP and select your Slinger (ether!) from the DHCP Client drop down box then click the Clone button. It will populate all the other fields.
      
      
      
      Click the Apply button and you will find that a static DHCP mapping was created for your Slinger. It means every time you restart your Slinger and/or router it will assign the same, in this case the 192.168.0.102 IP address to it. If you did it properly your Slinger will now show up in the Static DHCP Clients list:
      
      
      
      We need this because we want to put your Slinger into a De-Militarized Zone (DMZ) next.
       
   5. Having an IP address (device) in the  DMZ means that there is no packet filtering done to that  IP (device). To put your Slinger in the DMZ select the Advanced Tab then the DMZ button on your router's configuration page
      
      
      
      Select the Enabled radio button and enter your Slinger's IP address (in this case 192.168.0.102) then click apply.
       
   6. The next step is to configure port forwarding which is not really necessary with this router but may be if you are using a different one. Port forwarding ensures when a server from the Internet (WAN) wants to connect to a device on the inside of a router (LAN) the router is configured to direct the connection to the intended target.
      First we need to make sure we know what port our Slinger is listening at incoming data. On the Slinger software's Network Configuration page enter a port number ABOVE 10,000 AND BELOW 65,000 in the Source Port field. Write this number and read it back to make sure it wrote properly. In this case I chose the number 19,999. Remember this number:
      
      
      
      Click Virtual Server on the Advanced page of your router's configuration. (on other routers such as Linksys you will find this feature under Gaming and Port Forwarding most likely):
      
      
      
      Fill in the fields, enter your Slinger's IP address, select Both protocols, the Private and Public (same) Port numbers (Slinger Source Port 19999 in this case) you programmed in the Slinger above. Select the Always radio button and click Apply.
      If you did it right the new rule will appear on the bottom of your port forward list:
      
      

   This is it your modem and router is now configured.