(tossed this together real quick after reliving my afternoon project. If anyone has any changes or notices issues please let me know and I will edit. I noticed a few posts on this that referenced other posts, i figured id consolidate the information as best I could.)
I have attempted to simplify this process due to the fact that many individuals coming to the automation realm may not be “universal” men or women. I will begin with plugging in your Vera for the first time and help you to configure it as a device that increases your wireless range within your home or office (an access point), while allowing your home router to provide all of the services within the home (firewall security, wireless security, DHCP, DNS, BLAH BLAH BLAH)
Goal:
Extend my wireless network
Use my home router to provide all services
Have home automation
My Config:
Linksys Router in basement running dd-wrt
Hardwire Cat6 to 2nd floor plugged into Vera3
Vera3 Running UI7
Step 1: Configure Vera out of the box.
a. setup a static IP address
a.1 click settings > Network & Wifi > Manual
a.2 (i configured to my needs)
IP: 192.168.1.2
SNM:255.255.255.0
GW:192.168.1.1
b. Disable Firewall (your home firewall/router will be “WAN” you must disable this to control from your LAN and will perform firewall functions
b.1 click settings > Network & Wifi
b.2 drop down to “firewall disabled”
c. Disable DHCP
c.1 click settings > Network & Wifi
c.2 under lan > DHCP server toggle “off”
d. be sure wireless is enabled as default (we leave it as default to test, but will change this later)
Step 2: download and install putty
a. visit Download PuTTY: latest release (0.78) and install the putty.exe
Step 3: SHH into your vera
a. Connect an ethernet cable to port 1 on your vera and your PC
b. configure your PC with a static IP address
192.168.81.1
255.255.255.0
192.168.81.1
c. open putty and input 192.168.81.1
d. type cd …/
e type cd etc/config
Step 4: edit wireless settings
a. type
“vi wireless”
b. use arrow keys to move to line:
option ‘network’ ‘wan’
c. press “i” (enters edit mode)
d. change ‘wan’ to ‘lan’
option ‘network’ ‘lan’
e. press ESC
f. hold shift and press ZZ
Step 5: edit network settings
a. type
“vi wireless”
b. use arrow keys to move to line
option ‘type’ ‘bridge’
c. press “i” (enters edit mode)
d. delete line (press backspace removing all of option ‘type’ ‘bridge’
e. use arrow keys to go to
config ‘interface’ ‘wan’
f. at bottom of section add bridge
type option ‘type’ ‘bridge’
g. press ESC
h. hold shift and press ZZ
Step 6: Disable DNS
a. copy paste and press enter the following lines
uci add firewall rule
uci set firewall.@rule[-1].src=lan
uci set firewall.@rule[-1].target=DROP
uci set firewall.@rule[-1].proto=udp
uci set firewall.@rule[-1].dest_port=67
uci set firewall.@rule[-1].src_port=68
uci commit firewall
/etc/init.d/firewall restart
Step 7: Disconnect \ test \ reset \ connect
a. disconnect ethernet cable
b. test LAN connection to vera
b.1 connect to home wifi
b.2 connect to 192.168.1.2 (or whatever you made the static address of vera)
b.3 confirm youre able to pull up vera UI
c. test Vera DHCP
c.1 connect to vera wireless network
SSID vera_[serial]
PW: found under vera unit
c.2 open command prompt and type ipconfig
c.2.1 confirm you have a 192.168.1.* address
Step 8: mirror main routers network settings
a. click settings > Network & Wifi
b. change channel to the channel you have configured on your router (if youre router is set to auto you need to change it to a static channel)
c. change the SSID to be the same as your main router
d. set encryption to be the same as your main router
f. set passkey the same as your main router
Step 9: Save & apply
Note: this configures the wireless to be an access point or a repeater for your main wireless, however the “LAN” ports on the Vera will not work with a standard configuration. Should you need to connect to Vera with an ethernet cable the device must be manually configured as follows
IP: 192.168.81.2 (2-254)
SNM: 255.255.255.0
GW: 192.168.81.1