Gargoyle Forum

Hi everyone,
I have a TP-Link TL-WR1043ND V2 successfully set up as the main Gargoyle router and is functioning fine. My setup is such that after the primary Gargoyle router, there are other wifi routers and ethernet hubs that supply internet to other small buildings. How can I set up the networks so that I can monitor devices that may be connected to the wifi routers that aren't the main Gargoyle router?
For example, right now the Gargoyle router is sending an ethernet cable to a 8 port ethernet hub which supplies a small computer lab (8 computers) with internet, but I only see the data usage of the ethernet hub as a whole, and cannot see each computer individually.

Same goes for a couple additional wifi routers that are connected to the Gargoyle router, how can I see the individual devices that are wirelessly connected to those wifi routers?
Thanks so much.

Are all the devices on the same subnet?

I believe so. Any wifi router that comes after the main Gargoyle router is just a typical low-end router set up in the most standard way. Subnet masks are 255.255.255.0 and they are all set to Dynamic IP addresses. So each additional router after Gargoyle router is assigning individual devices IP addresses in the usual 192.168.1.xxx range, but only for the devices connected to that router.
I'm also not totally familiar with the in depth technical aspects of routers., just the basics, but I can make changes if I have instructions.
Thanks.

DevinK wrote:I believe so. Any wifi router that comes after the main Gargoyle router is just a typical low-end router set up in the most standard way. Subnet masks are 255.255.255.0 and they are all set to Dynamic IP addresses. So each additional router after Gargoyle router is assigning individual devices IP addresses in the usual 192.168.1.xxx range, but only for the devices connected to that router.
I'm also not totally familiar with the in depth technical aspects of routers., just the basics, but I can make changes if I have instructions.
Thanks.

This tells me that the routers are working as such, creating individual subnets for everything connected to them. In this case, Gargoyle will only see the sub-router, but nothing behind it because the routing magic of the other routers hides it. Replace the sub-routers with simple switches, or connect one of the sub-router's LAN ports to the Gargoyle LAN port and leave the WAN port open, and set the sub-routers LAN IP to a static value somewhere in the same range as Gargoyle.

Disable DHCP in all routers other than Gargoyle!

Any device that is to be monitored by Gargoyle must be in the same subnet defined by the Gargoyle router and either have a static IP in said subnet or get the address via DHCP from the Gargoyle router.


Regards
Ektus.

Great thanks Ektus, I understand what you're saying. If I disable DHCP in all the other routers besides Gargoyle router, how will any devices obtain their own IP address and connect to the internet?
And to confirm, you're not saying put the other routers into Static mode or PPPoE, but to completely disable that setting?

And finally, one last thing to clarify: you said to set the subrouter LAN IP to something in the same range of Gargoyle. Is that the typical 192.168.1.xxx? So you're essentially giving the subrouter it's own IP address, but somehow each device connected to it will be seen by Gargoyle through the subrouter? I don't need any special bridging mode or something like that?
Thanks for your help!!

You're putting each sub router in to a dumb switch mode.

You want everyone on the same subnet.
DHCP requests will flow through the network fine in this configuration.

Lantis wrote:You're putting each sub router in to a dumb switch mode.

You want everyone on the same subnet.
DHCP requests will flow through the network fine in this configuration.

So on all my subsequent routers (subrouters) in the system, the ethernet cable should be plugged into one of the 4 LAN ports, and the router will understand that it should receive network info from that, instead of plugging into the 1 WAN port (often labeled "Internet" as the input)?

Haven't ever done that with wifi routers before.

Correct.
I do it all the time.

Lantis wrote:Correct.
I do it all the time.

Great thanks, I will try it today and let you know if I have any issues. Thanks for the help.

Lantis wrote:Correct.
I do it all the time.

Hi again,
I have one follow-up question. The setup has worked, and Gargoyle is now seeing devices connected to secondary routers, and assigning IP's.
Is there a way to then access those 2nd routers to change settings, like if I needed to change the password for the wireless network?
When I was changing the settings so that the router had a static IP, and turning off DHCP, it wouldn't let me assign a Router IP of 192.168.1.xxx, saying it was in the same subnet of the WAN. So I assigned the router 192.168.0.1, but going to that address doesn't take me to the router login for the router (it just times out). And of course 192.168.1.1 takes me to the login for the Gargoyle router.
It wouldn't be a problem to keep it as a really dumb switch, but since it's also providing a wireless network, I will want to change that password from time to time.

Thanks again for your help.