Continuing from the previous post, Nintendo DS: First Impressions, here’s a more technical bit. Still to come is a post more related to actual gaming - more precisely, Mario Kart DS, the only DS game I own.
As I said, since Mario Kart DS is the first DS game playable online (instead of simply using the DS’s normal wi-fi, which requries players to be near each other), using a normal Internet connection, to access NintendoWiFi. It doesn’t use a cable, though, but connects to a wi-fi access point.
So far, so good. However, since I’m not one of those filthy rich people who own laptops :), my home network was (and is) based on that highly advanced and incredibly modern technology called “ethernet cables”.
Now, Nintendo sells a wi-fi dongle, and you can use any other one as long as it supports WEP encryption. So I thought about buying a dongle. However, I also figured out that, eventually, I’ll have some more hardware, such as a laptop, which will need a wi-fi connection. Therefore, to avoid wasting money, I bought a router, the Linksys WRK54G, which was the cheapest one I could find.
So far, so good, right? Not so fast. Those routers expect - indeed, they’re made for exactly such a purpose - to be directly connected to the Internet, and then to “give” access to other boxes - it can do NAT, port redirection, firewalling and also serves as a DHCP server.
But I already have one firewall, my OpenBSD box, which is also the server where all my blogs and sites reside. And I had no intention of putting it behind the Linksys.
After many tries and changes, what worked was the following:
- I added a third NIC to the OpenBSD box, and created a new network (
192.168.1.0/24, the already active one is192.168.0.0/24), to be used for wireless stuff. The new card has the IP address192.168.1.1. - The Linksys’s “Internet” port was connected to that new port.
- The “Internet” port in the Linksys got a new address in that new network,
192.168.1.2. It also has an “internal” address,192.168.1.3. No other (ethernet) ports on the Linksys are used. - I disabled NAT in the Linksys, and enabled it for the new network in the OpenBSD box.
- I activated a new
dnscacheprocess to listen on192.168.1.1in OpenBSD. - In the Linksys, the default Internet gateway is, of course,
192.168.1.1. - I configured the DS to have a static IP,
192.168.1.4, and the gateway is192.168.1.3. The DNS server is192.168.1.1. (I think I tried using192.168.1.1as the gateway in the DS, but it didn’t work) - I activated WEP encryption in the router, generated a key, and typed it on the DS.
- “Connection test successful”… yes!
- I also configured OpenBSD to do NAT between the two internal networks, so I can use a browser in my desktop (
192.168.0.3) to administer the Linksys (at192.168.1.3).
Most users wouldn’t be in this situation, they’d just use the Linksys to connect to the Internet. But I didn’t want to, so…
EDIT: the above isn’t 100% correct. See Part 2.
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The WRK54G dmz support didn’t work?
Cheers.
I think I had to enable it for the DS’s IP address - the Linksys’ menu said that that option was to disable some unspecified “protection”. Tonight or tomorrow, I’ll try to check whether enabling it changes anything.
Or do you mean something else?
Instead of using DMZ, you should be able to tell your router to only open up the ports that NintendoWiFi needs to play the game online. If you go to the NintendoWiFi website, somewhere in the FAQs it lists the ports that you need to open.
I got my DS online this way, and I don’t have any problems with it.
Andy: thanks for the tip; however, the firewall in OpenBSD is already blocking anything that didn’t start from the inside networks, due to NAT.
Security between the OpenBSD box and the Linksys, or between the Linksys and the DS, isn’t a problem, so I don’t restrict anything there.
You know, you could just plug the ERT54G switch to your internal network, that way, there is no firewall, no nat, no prob.
If you’d like to secure the wireless, you could just use OpenBSD with another network card as you did and firewall that one, but still connected to the WRT switch.
Yes, configuring Linksys routers can be quite annoying, but I’ve gotten a handle of it.
Of course, I’d have to learn how to handle other OSs before doing it in them (sadly, I only wield the “almighty” hazardous Windows), but if pretty much everyone says they rock, at least one of them must be right!
My last “Linksys Router” adventure was related to opening specific ports for the Blizzard Downloader and WarCraft III (which Blizzard Entertainment was nice enough to set up a guide on how to do it on the World of WarCraft Technical Support).
DS does have a few problems. I have a LinkSys WAG54G, I expect it to be pretty simple. I’m sure you could have just port forwarded or something
Joe: the game doesn’t require port forwarding (from the outside to the inside). I’m not paranoid about connections from inside, so I allow them all. From the outside, nothing can connect to the inside network, because of NAT.
4_ever: it’s not a WRT, but a WRK. Doesn’t use Linux.
But I’ve learned a few things since the weekend, which will deserve a new article…
Pedro: n.b. I’m not tech-illiterate
Hello, I also have a Linksys WRK54G and am having problems with my DS. I’m not that technical, so could somebody give me step by step?
Here’s the problem. I search for avalible networks, and mine is unlocked. I tap on it and it starts testing the connection. it takes FOREVER and finally eeror code 52102 comes up. I dont know what to do! Even Nintendo’s site is complicated! Could somebody help me?!?!?
AC: are you certain you’re not using WEP or something like that on your wireless router?
hi i have linksys wrk54g too my ds finds it no probs test connection and it works but when i try to join a wifi match it searches for ages then comes up couldnt connect to wifi cant understand it i think i might try port forwarding
Great blog. Found your blog while searching for more information at yahoo about wireless home security alarm . Your blog has quite a lot of interesting thoughts. Keep up the good work.
Fixed the problem. I just un checked the block annoynomus internet requests and it works fine!
Omg! I finally got my DS working with my belkin F5D8230. I needed to turn on 802.11e QOS on and turn ACK mode off, forward ports 28910 - 29920 UDP/TCP to the ip of the DS (which is sent via DHCP). wooo hooo!
[quote comment="13196"]Omg! I finally got my DS working with my belkin F5D8230. I needed to turn on 802.11e QOS on and turn ACK mode off, forward ports 28910 - 29920 UDP/TCP to the ip of the DS (which is sent via DHCP). wooo hooo![/quote]
will this work for ever game?
It works for me thx.!!
hey
i have wrk54g and want to know if it will work with wii .need help can,t get online tried all i know
Download this classic now